The Pope is in Seoul

The pope is in Seoul, and it’s kind of a big deal. It’s the first time a pope has come to Asia in 15 years. Also, North Korea threw a bit of a tantrum at his arrival, launching some rockets into the ocean. I don’t know what they were hoping to accomplish with this action.


Seoul practically shut down at his arrival. There were police EVERYWHERE. Seriously, everywhere. Estimates put the police numbers at around 30,000. Estimates also put the number of attendees at the pope’s mass to be around a million people. An actual million people. So the streets and train stations within a 5 kilometer perimeter were all shut down.


There were also some protests when the pope arrived. These protests weren't against the pope, but were using his arrival as an opportunity to highlight the issues going on in Seoul. Two of these big issues are workers’ rights and wages, as well as the ferry tragedy, which took the lives of hundreds of people, mostly high school aged children.

Overall, it's been an interesting experience to see just how a city reacts when the pope comes to town. Also, pope shirts...

Japan on $30

Question: it’s your last night in Japan. You have no lodging. You have 30 dollars, minus the 7 dollars you spent on ramen. What do you for a whole day and night?

As an icing on the cake, all the hostels, hotels, and couchsurfing spaces are full because of a festival you didn’t know about when you booked your tickets. So even if you had money, you STILL wouldn’t have a bed to sleep in.

The answer to the quandary… Manga café!

Manga cafes are open 24 hours. They have a vast supply of Japanese comic books and computers, and you can even rent a small room. Other times it’s more of a cubicle.

You pay per hour, usually between 3 and 6 dollars per hour. I got my cubicle and it was surprisingly comfortable. The floor of the cubicle was a pad, about as soft as a bed, and it had enough room for me to stretch out in, and even came with a pillow. The people were all very quiet, and there was even a shower in the bathroom.

Now, due to my lack of funds I could only afford a cubicle for 6 hours. 9 pm to 3 am. I was out on the street at 3 am, and had several hours until my 12 o’clock departure.

Having spent 7 dollars on the ramen, 20 dollars on my manga café, I had 3 dollars left. Now, in most countries, 3 dollars won’t get you much more than a candy bar and a soda. Not so in Japan! You actually have a lot of options here.

711, Family Mart, Daily Miyazaki are all convenience stores with some great options. $1.60 slabs of fried chicken. $1 rice balls. $1 cups of sake (for the drinker on a budget). But when you’re looking for cost, taste, and the feeling of being full, nothing beats a Matsuya (or the almost as good Yoshinoya).

You’re gonna want to go with the gyudon. This is a bowl of rice with strips of grilled beef and onions on top. It’s served alongside a small bowl of miso soup and all the water you can drink. The cheapest option and smallest portion size is about $2.30. But a $2.80 bowl is surprisingly filling, and many people actually struggle to finish this one.

So at this point it’s 4 am, I’m out of money, and have about 8 hours left until my departure. Not a whole lot to be done. I had no money for bus fare so I walked to the ferry (about two miles away) and spent the rest of the morning enjoying the sunrise, practicing my Japanese with a homeless man, and trying to stay out of the rain.

Long story short: when you’ve got next to no money, and no substantial options for food or lodging, just know there’s a manga café and a Matsuya waiting for you. Also, bring cash to Japan, never expect a foreign bank card to work, even if it’s worked countless times before.