We interrupt our seoul protest coverage to elaborate a little more on the life of an internet cafe refugee in Tokyo…

The one glaring financial flaw in my little scheme was food.  At the guesthouse, I could enjoy our cheap diet of rice, eggs, bread, eggs, rice, and eggs.  In the field, sorta speak, I couldn’t cook, and the cheapest available food sat in the convenience stores and 100 Yen fast food menus.  But with what I was about to put my poor body through, I couldn’t justify living off corndogs, rice triangles, and McPork burgers, so I needed to get creative, which is to say, desperate.

Meal 1: MOCHINAKO – Mochi, Kinako, Banana (150 Yen)

Mochi balls were like a kind of dumpling made from rice instead of flour, and I dipped those into a bad of mixed fiber and Kinako, a super-cheap protein powder.  I splurged on the banana – I think it was the only piece of fruit I ate in 2 weeks.  This little meal had calories and some pathetic attempt at nutrition.  It was definitely one of my favorite meals…because they did get worse.

Meal 2: TOFANGO – Mango drink and soft tofu (90 Yen)

I was proud of this one, because I think it was my cheapest meal invention.  Tofu is a great source of balanced calories, and the piping hot mango drink from the internet cafe was free.  Unfortunately, soft tofu doesn’t taste too great and even all the sugar from the mango drink couldn’t make me describe as anything other than “edible” and “harmless.”  But at least it wasn’t fried cockroach.

Meal 3: RICEBAILS – Rice, green onion, mayonnaise (30 Yen/ball)

About once/week, I stopped by the guesthouse because I was still tutoring in Kanagawa, and I’d load up on rice prepared in various ways.  Here, I mixed a chopped green onion, rice, mayo, and soy sauce, sometimes even tofu.  Rice + Balls + Failure = RICEBAILS.  Turns out they go kinda sour after 3 days, but my stomach handled that one pretty well…