On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:55:13 +1000, AABNE <noemail@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> I'm pretty sure the same agency also did the parallel "cost of living for a
>> Japanese expat in Paris"
>> Natto : Tokyo 60 yen, Paris 300 yen
>> 100 g of Japanese rice :  Tokyo 80 yen, Paris 400 yen
>> A yuzu lemon  : Tokyo 100 yen, Paris 500 yen
>> etc.
>
>It's interesting though that in the case of a Big Mac, one would think 
>it was biased towards australia because of our low beef prices, and 
>japan's (alledgedly) outragous beef prices.
>
>I think part of the explanation is that the Yen seems to be doing badly 
>and AU$ is doing very well right now.

I recently saw a beef shabu-shabu all-you-can-eat for 1000 yen (about
US$9.50, have no idea of AU$). Beef and pork in general is indeed
expensive in Japan, but it is well compensated by other much cheaper
food items. If in doubt, just follow the Japanese housewives in a
supermarket and buy what they buy. Japanese restaurants that are not
in the luxury category are almost always cheaper than comparable
European restaurants. Japanese lodging houses can be extremely cheap
but still clean and safe (albeit they usually accept only Japanese or
Japanese-speaking customers, things are slowly beginning to change
though).