JAPAN: Where water melons cost S$40 and your wallet shrinks

View of Mt Fuji from my hotel in Lake Kawaguchi around breakfast time. Now I know why it is an everlasting source of poetic inspiration.

Photos by Leong Chan Teik

I HAVE JUST returned from a holiday in Japan and while it was a good time, I remember one thing:  Everytime I mentally converted the prices of things in yen into Singapore dollar, I went 'OMG'.

Kimono show in Kyoto: Another enchanting aspect of Japan.

In the midst of all the sightseeing, I encountered down-to-earth examples of the high cost of living in Japan which I share in this article.

I cannot be certain if comparisons I make with Singapore are fair, so if you are familiar with this matter, please post comments below.

It was our third family holiday in Japan in seven years.

The high cost notwithstanding, Japan offers tourists fascinating experiences.

For a night, we stayed in Westin Nagoya Castle looking out to nearby Nagoya Castle. Lit up, it was awe-inspiring and held our gaze for many a long moment.

We were on a 7-day group holiday with SA Tours, costing about S$2,500 per person. That covered airfare, domestic transport, accommodation and all but 5 meals, so what's left was mainly discretionary spending.

Using an exchange rate of ¥100 to S$1.60, a 1.5-litre of Coca Cola sells for the equivalent of S$3.20 while bottled drinks, S$2.40 each.

Drinks:

In a Narita supermart, a 1.5-litre bottle of Coca Cola sold for ¥198, or S$3.20 using an exchange rate of ¥100 to S$1.60.

In Singapore, a 1.5-litre bottle sells for S$1.95 -- so in Japan, it's not very much more costly in absolute dollars and you wouldn't mind unless you guzzle bottles of Coca Cola daily.

The same holds for drinks from vending machines which, by the way, are commonplace. Prices of bottled drinks are typically ¥150 (S$2.40) each -- twice as expensive as in Singapore.

No mouth-watering deal: Whole watermelons go for S$37 each in one store. Another store sells a quarter watermelon at S$9 (which works out to S$36 for four quarters).

Fruits:

In a Tokyo store, a watermelon went for a whopping ¥2300, or S$37. I presume this is the red watermelon variety we commonly find in Singapore - and not some exotic variety grown in Japan.

Airflown Thai mangoes cost the equivalent of S$7.20 each, about 6X what we paid for in Singapore.

In a store in Narita, the going price of a quarter water melon of the red variety was ¥598 - ie, a whole water melon would be S$36.This pricing would wean me off watermelons instantly.

An entire watermelon ranges between only S$4 and S$6 at Sheng Siong or NTUC Fairprice in Singapore.

It wasn't too long before I realised the reason we never had slices of watermelon in our hotel buffet spread.

Nor, come to think of it, oranges and apples and other fruits we take for granted.

I was glad we have had our fill of Thai mangoes during the recent season at $1.20 on average in Singapore.  In a Tokyo supermart, I found that Thai mangoes cost ¥450, or S$7.20, each. You are just paying extra for airfare reflecting high oil prices and high labour cost of the Japanese.

Expensive dessert: S$8 for a small container of cut pineapples. Oh my....

In a Tokyo supermarket, a bowl of cut pineapples cost ¥500 (S$8) which is hell of expensive even to ardent pineapple lovers who appreciate its anti-ageing skin care benefits.

One can get an entire uncut pineapple for around S$1.50 in Singapore.

Pineapples are probably not grown in significant quantities in Japan and have to be airflown.

On the other hand, they are easily trucked over to Singapore from Malaysia where they are bountiful.

At Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, a set meal sets you back by about S$20 -- and it's not exactly gourmet food.

In Narita, a McDonald's set meal costs S$10 -- not too painful on the pocket.

Food:

Good deal -- Subway sandwiches in Osaka at S$5.

In Osaka: Subway sandwiches looked value for money at ¥320 (S$5.10), which is about the same as in Singapore.

Because it looks like an aberration, I wonder if this pricing is available commonly.

Food cost a tidy sum elsewhere in Osaka.

We had lunch at Universal Studios -- a set meal (above) cost around ¥1200 (S$20). At Tokyo's Disney Sea, it was ¥2000 each (S$32).

It's no surprise that prices were particularly elevated at such places.

In Narita city, certain Macdonald's set meals went for around ¥620-640, or S$10.

I think that's only a little higher than in Singapore and, depending on your appetite, beats a bowl of ramen at ¥1,000, or S$16 each.

It appears that fast food in Japan is not all that overpriced compared to Singapore.

Others:

Spotted in Tokyo: QB House charges ¥1000 (S$16) for a haircut while it charges S$10 in Singapore.    

QB will cut your hair for S$16 in Tokyo, compared to S$10 in Singapore.

 It's no wonder that this month, a survey by human resource consultancy ECA International fournd that the top four most expensive locations for expatriates in Asia are all in Japan - namely Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe.

And globally? You are spot on - Tokyo is the most expensive city. There, I can only dream of S$3 Hokkien mee and S$3 char kway teow.