Living in Japan

By Daniel Yee

Okay, you're in Japan and you've got a job and even a place to live. But, if you're like most people, you probably only brought two suitcases of belongings. As a result, you're probably in a very empty room. How do you outfit yourself for living in Japan? Here are four places you will find furniture, clothes, and even electronics while saving some serious yen:

1. Gomi (called "trash" in the Western world). Japanese households tend to be short of space, and the Japanese love new things. As a result, old things end up out on the curb. The trick is to find out when a neighborhood's "Gomi day" will be and then go out the night before to find your free treasures. Ask other foreigners: for some, gomi hunting is a serious hobby.

2. Secondhand stores. Japan has been in a spiraling recession, so more and more Japanese are starting to check out the secondhand stores. One of the best shopping secrets in Tokyo is the Salvation Army (2-21-2 Kama Wada; Tel. 03-3384-3769), located just a 10-minute walk from Tokyo's Nakano-fujimicho station. Every Saturday the Salvation Army has a big sale on whatever it has in its store. You can come as early as 8:20 a.m. to get a ticket that allows you to preview the goods.

In the trendy Dogen-zaka section of Tokyo, west of the trendy Shibuya district, is Daimaru secondhand and pawn shop (Shibuya Ward, Maruyama-cho 19-17; Tel. 03-3462-0781), open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with furniture, antiques, and electronics crammed into its tiny rooms.

3. Flea markets. Just like in the secondhand stores, you can find anything, from old kimonos and antiques to fashionable clothes and almost-new gadgets.

The Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, which houses Japanese World War II criminals, located out of Exit #1 of Kudanshita subway station, has a flea market on the second and third Sunday each month. In Kyoto, Toji Temple, located southwest of the gigantic Japan Railways Kyoto Station, holds one of the largest and oldest flea markets in the region.

4. "Sayonara" (goodbye) sales. Haggling with someone planning to leave the country in a few days and desperate for quick cash can get you something for a really good price.

If you don't yet have contacts who know somebody who is leaving, your best bet are English-language magazines such as the free Metropolis magazine (3F Maison Tomoe Building, 3-16-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0062; www.metropolis.co.jp). In the Kansai or Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nara area: Kansai Time Out (1-13, Ikuta-cho, 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 651-0092; www.kto.co.jp) is filled with sale listings. Both magazines are also filled with job announcements and events listings.