Some folks back home in Hong Kong jokingly call traveling to Japan “visiting the hometown.” Critics label this unpatriotic or even treasonous, but they’re overthinking it. Truth be told, it’s just people voting with their feet. We simply enjoy good food, entertainment, courtesy, honesty, cleanliness, quality, and order. Plus, in recent years, another huge perk has been added: it’s cheap.
For Hongkongers of my generation, our old impression of Japan was expensive—painfully expensive. Back in the 1980s at Sha Tin Yaohan, a bowl of ramen cost around HK$40, roughly what a bowl of local noodles costs forty years later today. Times have changed. With the yen hovering around 0.05 against the HK dollar, conversions are dead simple: divide by two, drop a zero. Suddenly, everything feels astonishingly affordable. A bowl of ramen costs the same as Hong Kong cart noodles; plenty of goods cost half of what they do in Hong Kong and are even cheaper than in Taipei. Convenience store drinks, onigiri, and snacks often convert to single digits in HK dollars. Seeing prices that low feels like stepping back in time.
Pundits with an “international perspective” tell us that the Motherland’s economy keeps booming while Japan’s has stagnated for decades. But as an ordinary civilian, I care about lived experience, not macroeconomic theory. Consumer prices and housing have stayed steady for years, which hardly seems like a bad thing. Most importantly, the underprivileged are looked after, the country is self-sufficient, people are fed and housed, and there’s democracy on top of that.
Better stop there before I get carried away; let the photos speak for themselves.
kin 2026.09.16
Fresh oysters at Sendai Morning Market for just ¥100 each; the plumpest ones are only ¥500.Sendai’s signature treats: zunda mochi in front, and the edamame shake i drank almost daily during my trip. We don’t have this in Hong Kong, so i had no idea how delicious it was. Another pleasant surprise was the butter-baked sweet potato, though that actually hails from Hokkaido. While i don’t know when i’ll taste them again, i secretly hope they don’t go international—places are better off keeping their own local flavors.The fanciest meal of the trip: eight dishes, fine sake, and flawless hospitality, all for under ¥5,000 per person.Even Japanese post offices are fun to browse. Full of color, eye-catching goods, and gorgeous postcards for just ¥110 each.When I told C I was visiting Sendai, his immediate reaction was, “Isn’t that where Lu Xun studied?” Exactly. Lu Xun studied medicine here at Sendai Medical College (now Tohoku University School of Medicine) hoping to “save the nation through medicine,” before famously turning to literature instead.Ginzan Onsen, the setting that inspired Spirited Away. (By the way, I’m not the biggest Spirited Away fan—I don’t hate it, but Miyazaki’s work goes over my head; I prefer Makoto Shinkai.)Happened to catch the annual Jozenji Street Jazz Festival. Over two weekend days, more than 5,000 musicians played over 870 free sets across 50 stages throughout Sendai. I caught a few, including this super cool saxophonist with her son sitting right in front of her.Matsushima Bay, one of the Three Views of Japan. Truly breathtaking (don’t judge it by my casual snapshots).The epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude 3/11 earthquake in 2011 was off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, where Sendai sits. From what i could see on this trip, the buildings have been rebuilt and Matsushima’s greenery has recovered. May Japan and the rest of the world be spared from natural disasters.i like watching local films or shows whenever i travel. This time, i picked up Until the T-Shirt Dries right before leaving, which prompted a pilgrimage to a local laundromat. Just like in the show, it was spacious, completely empty, and stocked with free manga. The only false advertising: no Yu Aoi in sight :U
P.S. This postcard makes me sound like a total Japanophile, but truth is, i can’t let go of Hong Kong—i mean the local noodle shops and iced lemon tea.
Leave a Reply