*WARNING : This post can make you SALIVATE & FEEL VERY SATIATED! 
Enjoy!
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Dear Tina and Gabby,
My 14-day-stay in Tokyo could not be any happier if not for (my colleagues) our memorable weekends and these Japanese gastronomic delights. You know how I like sushi and eating it as authentic as it gets was just divine! 
My very first bite of sushi costs Y890 (PhP 445). Funny that I have to share it with our head nurse, because we both didn’t know if it’s too pricey or not, since it was our first night in Tokyo then.
Luckily after we transferred accomodation, our colleagues told us of a department store called Remy that sells all other things but most importantly bread, sushi, salad, bento boxes and other food items at 30 –50% off every 8:30PM (and those aren’t expired yet; they just want to dispose everything within the day to keep things on shelves fresh). Buying discounted food is one of the best things I have experienced in Tokyo (everything else other than Remy’s are expensive in Japan including train fares, particularly when you convert prices into pesos!).
These are some of my Remy purchases that kept my stomach full every dinner!
Each sushi set at Remy costs around Y480 –900+. So it’s really a good buy when it’s discounted at night; although one has to wait until it’s labelled as such.
There’s this microwavable- Tonkatsu-set that was originally priced at Y480; then after 8:30PM, I bought it only at half of it’s price. I had to keep most of my food spending for dinner on a low key for the rest of my budget per day was allotted for water (yes, we even had to buy 2-liter-bottles of drinking water), food for breakfast and lunch, laundry and laundry essentials, pricey train fares and other expenses. Remember, Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world! And EVERY MOVE IN TOKYO COSTS A YEN!
At some nights, I bought salad and a cup of dessert -sweet and fruity; in addition to my main dishes.
I love that salad set; it’s a combination of potato topped with kani strips, mac and cheese topped with boiled egg, and some cold salad made of cucumber and other veggie strips. I like it so much that I bought it for 3 or 4 times when I was there!
I like how Japanese are so keen on their calorie-intake. Most if not all purchases, contain calorie counts to guide those diet-conscious consumers (not me! LOL!). Like this Fish and Tamago bento that costs Y498 had 675 kilo calories.
I also found this bacon-wrapped rice so easy and convenient to eat; a real-whole-meal-in-one! Not to mention it’s few of the things in Tokyo that comes in affordable price…
Their iced tea doesn’t taste that sweet even if it’s flavored. But their coffee is something else, sarap!
Here are proofs that I also cooked and cooked and cooked in my room to save, save and save…
Ugh, the agony of staying abroad on a budget! We all had to buy our own frying pan and syanse , cooking oil, soy sauce, some dozen eggs, (canned goods like spam for my colleagues) and chicken nuggets from convenient stores and groceries.
Still from Remy’s, I was able to cook some Aussie Beef slices that I bought for a cheaper price (compared to local price in Manila).
Those rice patties wrapped with nori were already tasteful at Y120 (PhP 60) each at regular price; I just can’t eat them sans ulam.
On one of those nights, I had Gyoza, Y260 (PhP 130) and nothing more; then the next night I had pig-out again by buying another microwavable dinner from Remy (I really love that store in Gotanda!).
That set on the right of 4-piece-fried chicken and fries (Y580) were so huge that I had it for dinner and breakfast too!
My lunch with my colleagues were also remarkable.
Rememeber I showed you this Sukiyaki set on one of my first letters to you…
This Sukiyaki set that costs Y1000 (PhP 500) was a lunch treat from the 2 Japanese guys I met there. It’s one of the best-tasting Sukiyaki that I’ve tried. Yummy!
Here are the other lunch sets that I had from a buffet spread of one of those restaurants…
One afternoon, I had salad, miso soup, desserts and an assorted tempura plate all for Y950 (PhP475 ). Then another lunch time, I had salad again, miso soup, desserts and a burger steak plate all for Y850 (PhP 425).
In Tokyo, one of their famous and affordable 24-hour fastfood chains, more like of our Jollibee or McDo here is Yoshinoya. I know we haven’t eaten in Yoshinoya here in Manila, but my first take on it in Tokyo wasn’t that bad. For a Y500 coin (PhP 250), you can have a set meal with Japanese tea in less than 5 minutes; really convenient especially on nights when I was too lazy to shop or cook for dinner (read : it was always single-digit-celsius when I was there; was always a “bed-weather” before and after dinner!).
Is it not too obvious that Sukiyaki is one of my favorites ? LOL!
Remember I told you that our colleagues also treated us in aYakiniku lunch buffet near Ginza Street; the resto is called Don.K! (pronounced by Japanese as donki). It’s like Yakimix that we have sampled in SM Mall of Asia. The price per head was just similar with Yakimix; Buffet at Don.K! per pax costs Y1000 for lunch and Y3000 for dinner.
and TOKYO DISNEYSEA , my late lunch and dinner sets were simple (but quite expensive too at Y790 and Y1450 with lunch box)
My last lunch at Tokyo was with Doc B.P.S when we were in Akihabara. It was good that a day before my flight back home, he introduced me to a common Japanese eatery that requires diners to choose from a menu display of plastic food on the window and pay via vendo machine (due to lack of cashiers); get the stub and hand it in at the counter…
I found this dining system very efficient and wish we could have the same here in Manila.
Katsudon at Y455 (PhP 227.50) for my last lunch in Tokyo…
You may drool and burp now, hehehe!
I may have had the best tasting sushi, sukiyaki and bento boxes in Tokyo, but every dining experience was still less without the two of you, naks!
These foods may be authentic Japanese but nothing beats home-cooked foods shared together on our very own table.
I love you, ‘ney and Gabby.
Here’s to more simple indulgences together!
Tatay-doc
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To my Kind Readers,
There will be more of my Tokyo experience that I’ll share with you on my next posts . Thanks for following this series.
-gelo
just had japanese dishes earlier. syempre iba pa rin yung diyan doc, very genuine!
i love what you and chyng had for eater brunch–dusit thani’s sunday family crossover brunch! Umu is one of my favorite restos in the metro. sarap-sulit ano?
Gutom na ako sa kuwento mo about Jap food! And it’s only 10.30!
you have the license to be hungry, sheng. hehehe
grrrrrrrrrrrrr…. kagutom!!!! love your food pics!
super foodtrip ata sa Japan talaga. 
yup, you wrote it perfectly, cza!
Wah, doc! Everything looks soooooooooo oishii!(And yes, it can get super-expensive!) The Mr. Ranier brand of pre-mixed coffee is actually available here in the Philippines, usually at Yamazaki Grocery or Choto Stop in Little Tokyo – just in case you miss it when you return here.
oishi, indeed, midge!
we’ve been to little tokyo once and tasted delights from hana and kagura and had window shopping at those jap stalls outside little tokyo. mr. ranier coffee brand is tasteful particularly that caramel cappuccino i had. funny, that i didn’t try my favorite starbucks there, haha! (FYI, i only stayed in tokyo for 14 days and i arrived last holy tuesday).
Doc, tumataba ako ng husto sa pagbasa ng blog mo hehehe. Tokyo is really an expensive place to visit and to live. The only thing we can save here is we don’t give out tips hehehe so it’s better if you’re in a group of people dining in. So did you bring with you the pan you bought from Tokyo? hehehe
virtual lang naman ang pagkabusog mo, sardz hehehe
yup, thank you for mentioning that there’s a NO-TIPPING-POLICY in Tokyo. ang saya! unlike in US and here in Manila, everyone should leave a tip after dining.
I left the Y200-fying pan to my colleagues there; 20-23kg lang kasi ang allowed sa PAL, di ba? Sayang, I didn’t get to fly Delta that allows 40kg luggages! Ang inuwi ko kay Tina yung syanse na binili ko din sa Daiso (100yen store) sa Harajuku. Even the hangers I bought there, iniwan ko din sa mga Pinoy-MDs at nurse dun.
..kaka-miss din ang Tokyo. I know soon I’ll get to bring Tina and Gabby there, in God’s time.
kakagutom mga. hahaha!
Glad dito sa Syd maraming jap resto kaya nde ko rin masyadong namiss. Kahit saan meron. a piece of sushi roll here which is about 3″ long cost 3aud (so around 126pesos) Mahal pero sobrang kabusog ang isang piraso. Then me sushi store dito na pag 5pm na they have this buy 2 for 2.50aud. Pwede na kaso nde ko naman maubos hehehe!
heheh..correct ko lang buy 2 for 2.50 each
Have a nice day Doc
hi jeanny. i know you’re counting the days to home from sydney! thanks for sharing the cost of japanese food there. pwede na rin ano? busog naman ata e.
ah! daming nagpopost about sushis and sashimis. tatlo na kayo nina dyanie at chyng. may ibig sabihin to. im addicted to that.
sukiyaki! sarap din talaga.
hey, dom! musta? thanks for visiting my blog.
yup, ako nagsuggest kay chyng during our binondo walk last feb to try dusit thani’s sunday brunch. sarap sa umu, ganda ng ambiance dun. you should try it some time.
glad that she tried dusit buffet with another common blogmate, dyanie.
now, get yourself some sushi! haha.
im really convinced that you’re there in Tokyo for a food trip and not for training. hihi
oohh, did you see Mike Licauski in Disneyland? Inngit ako!
you can say that, chyng.
actually, there was no training for me; after the orientation i decided something private for myself. nonetheless, i am grateful to those japanese people who brought me to tokyo and let me experienced the beauty of their country.
go view my disneyland and disneySEA posts. there are more to come so stay tuned! thanks!
like your dusit buffet post! nice!
Wow! It really is a gastronomic delight. Now I feel like eating some sushi …right now. Not later, but now. LOL
hi mari, welcome back here.
will swing into your site too soon.
get yourself some sushi too, hahaha
They all look good but one thing that is quite similar to NYC is labeling calorie count on food items – this is a law in the Big Apple which serves to remind us on how far we are on our daily caloric intake. Sadly, I can’t even keep track hehehe!
i’m also guilty of being worry-free about caloric counts, dennis. haha!
fud, fud and more fud. i wish there’s something we can gobble up without any caloric contents at all
if only we could eat anything we want without the guilt of taking tons of calories, then munching will be a whole lot of fun, right?
I guess when you stay in one place long enough, you get to know the places where you get the best deal for your money – especially when you are eating out everyday. That’s how I stretched my limited government allowance when I was there.
I am surprised at how much you were able to see between your training and free time in the two weeks you were there. You were able to keep your letters to your dearest ones flowing, too. I need to get pointers from you on how to budget time – retirement spoiled me rotten LOL.
it’s really an extra challenge to stretch a budget that’s so limited. so it was really a blessing buying food stuffs from remy after 8:30PM when almost fresh supplies are on sale.
i don’t have pointers on how i managed my days there (let’s not talk about the training that never was to begin with); what i can honestly tell you bert is the fact that I SLEEP LESS even after my Tokyo trip, which i know is bad but that’s me.
What I did in Tokyo to squeezed in blogging : At night, i shop for food, cook, eat, do laundry at times, take shower then SPENT HOURS ON YM VOICE CALL with TINA and GABBY (who else?). Then after those things, mga midnight till 2AM, I WATERMARK MY PHOTOS, BLOG, EDIT AND SAVE THEM ALL IN MY DRAFTS.
Our days in Tokyo then usually officially starts at 10AM, so I do updates on my posts, read emails, surf the web while eating breakfast or after taking showers and getting ready for the day. There! hahaha
My goodness! When do you have time to breathe? Now I am upset with myself for having all the free time in the world and I can’t even get my tax returns done! I still have a few days left and I got to do it or else….I need some of your energy to shake off the lethargy that is slowly enveloping this old retired fart LOL.
Japanese food in the real sense!!! great!
oh oh oh my… iam hungry indeed. Did you eat all that? grabe ang dami.
makapag saisaki kaya hahahah eat all can
Boy, someone is eating like a king. You are making me homesick.
Hi Doc! Consider this my first post on your AWESOME blog. This specific post made me craving for Japanese food. Like you, I love eating Japenese cuisine and would like to try various venues to test various specialities. Though as of the moment setting off to its origins (Japan) is quite impossible.
Ohhhhh- I so envy you for having a taste of exquisite and all authentic Japanese food.
For reference, I will be stalking this blog of yours for places to dine in
thanks for this post, i got the idea of buying bento boxes at night here,although in osaka and kyoto mas maaga ang sale sa groceries.as early as 6PM may sale na.may nabili ako na tig 500 yen,medyo mahal pa rin.
thanks, melvin and welcome to my blog!
i really appreciate you read my posts about tokyo!
good for you that you experienced osaka and kyoto