my wallet hurts

i'm beginning to figure out how to live cheaper in japan. key points: 1) wherever there is one, sleep at a manga kissa (those peculiar but convenient as hell comic cafes where you can rent a little cubicle for any length of time - i've got one rented for 8 hours right now - in which you can use the net, play games, watch movies, sleep, read from their enormous comic library, and also available is food, showers, and everything!) - or instead, for sleeping arrangements just take the night bus (night trains are rare); 2) take buses instead of trains whenever possible - they're always cheaper, and often take the same amount of time as trains; 3)using this one discount ticket i managed to find (seishun juhachi kippu) you can use one multiple times in one day, but only on the slooooooowest trains, thus the way to do that is stop partway along your journey, see some stuff while taking a break from the train, and continue on. 4) of course there's hitchhiking - i've been getting promising reports from other people about hitchhiking success, so i'm keen to get that rolling - and it's a superb way to meet people and practice my japanese.

and about using my japanese, though i find i don't speak it as frequently when i travel (often i'm just walking around alone, and i don't have family and friends to go home to at night), i am finding that my kanji (character-word) recognition is improving. having to read so many signs and place names is really helping. so, that somewhat assuages my fears that hanging around so many international hostels and walking around by myself would lead to a disuse of my freshly learned language. sweet.