Okay, so today I was messing around with comparing some stuff related to Japan, and I thought, “Why not document this whole thing?” So, here’s how it all went down.
Getting Started
First, I needed to figure out exactly what I wanted to compare. “Japan vs…” could be anything! Japan vs. the US? Japan vs. Korea? Japan vs. Me in a sushi-eating contest? The possibilities were endless. I brainstormed a bit and wrote down a bunch of ideas on a piece of paper.
- Japan vs. South Korea (culturally)
- Japanese food vs. American food
- Tokyo vs. New York City (cost of living)
I decided to go with Tokyo vs. New York City (cost of living) because I figured that would be something practical and maybe even helpful to other people.
Diving into the Data
Next, I needed some cold, hard facts. I opened up my browser and started searching. My first stop was a basic Google search – “cost of living Tokyo vs NYC”. That gave me a bunch of general articles and blog posts, which were good for getting a general feel for things.
I checked out some dedicated * sites usually have detailed breakdowns of costs for things like rent, groceries, transportation, and utilities. I spent a good hour just clicking through different categories and comparing the numbers. It was pretty interesting to see how much things differed!
Organizing My Thoughts
After gathering all this information, I needed to organize it somehow. I didn’t want to just throw a bunch of numbers at you guys. So, I opened up a simple text document and started creating some basic categories:
- Housing: I compared average rent prices for different apartment sizes in both cities.
- Food: I looked at the cost of groceries and eating out.
- Transportation: I compared the prices of monthly transit passes and the cost of owning a car.
- Utilities: I looked at the average costs of electricity, heating, and internet.
Under each category, I jotted down the key numbers and some notes about my observations. For example, I noticed that rent in Tokyo was generally cheaper than in NYC, but groceries seemed a bit more expensive.
Putting it All Together
Finally, I combined all my notes and observations into this * is my hope that by documenting every step of my process, from the initial brainstorming to the final write-up. It is also my hope that by keeping it casual and conversational, it’ll be easier for you to follow along and maybe even inspire you to do your own comparisons!
So, that’s how I spent my day exploring the “Japan vs…” question. It was a fun little project, and I learned a lot along the way. Maybe next time I’ll tackle that sushi-eating contest…
