Trifter

Japan is a land of contrasts. It is also an expensive place to live.

If you ever decide to visit Japan, or you are already living in Japan, you can access many experiences which will add to your understanding of Japanese culture, while you get the most out of your yen.

Tour Japan: You can do this on your own with a discount ticket from the JR line. You can buy a 5-day ticket at special times during the year that you can use to take you anywhere you want to go on the JR local trains, for about 11,000 yen. If you are patient and plan out your trips, you can see a few cities of Japan that way, without burning up too much cash on transportation. Bear in mind though that this is only available at special times in the year.

Visit free museums and galleries. There are more free museums in Tokyo than in some other Japanese cities but there is a variety of art all over Japan. Work from artists outside of Japan, such as Sisley, and Gaughin, and Japanese artists, such as Fujiwara Takanobu and Yayoi Kusama, can be seen at a reasonable price.

Visit a strawberry farm. Strawberries are grown in Japan all year round. In the winter and the spring, they are produced in large greenhouses. All-you-can-eat strawberry-picking deals are open to the general public at most greenhouse farms.

Learn Japanese. Classes are available all over Japan for as little as 2,500 yen for 10 lessons, not including textbooks and materials.

There’s a lot for gardeners and plant lovers to see. From exhibitions featuring 17th century European botanical illustrations, to those focused on bonsai.

www.noritake.co.jp/mori

Competitions and flower shows serve as an opportunity to see flowers and plants form all over the world and highlight and share the skills of gardeners and florists.

Attend a festival. Fun for both men and women, but in some respects, probably more for women, festivals in Japan quite often feature men clad in nothing more than loincloths. For example, the Hadaka Matsuri, which will be held in late February, will feature 4,000 men clad only in loincloths, marching towards a shrine while carrying heavy bamboo logs over their heads.

At the shrine, the crowd clamors to touch the consecrated men. Crowd control is usually established with the use of cold water.