How to Experience Japan on the Cheap

I can't afford to go to Japan. I know, I know. Millennials are supposed to value travel over all else. We're supposed to save for "experiences," not "things." But whatever, I don't even have time to dream about traveling, let alone actually travel. So thankfully we have our own sort of divey slice of Japan right here in Jakarta.

Little Tokyo is the cultural hub of Jakarta's Japanese community. It's not where a lot of Japanese people live—that's a short distance away in Senayan. Little Tokyo is where the city's Japanese community goes to eat, shop, and party. The tiny neighborhood grew organically in the shadow of the Blok M Plaza mall after taking root in the 80s.

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You see before the 80s there was a serious fear in Indonesia about Japan's expanding economic might and what it could mean for developing countries in Southeast Asia. When Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka made an official visit in 1974, the capital descended into two days of riots that left 11 dead.

But by the 80s, a lot those fears were over. Indonesia's Japanese community was slowly establishing a foothold in South Jakarta. But as these new arrivals set up offices at Wisma Aldiron, they started to look for somewhere that felt a little bit like home.

"All of a sudden there were Japanese restaurants everywhere," Kuswandi told VICE. He's been a security guard in the area for more than 20 years. "At first there were only one or two restaurants, but soon almost all buildings became Japanese restaurants."

The area hasn't changed much since. There's still the row of karaoke bars—the ones with hostesses hanging near the front door—restaurants with authentic Japanese cuisine, and even supermarket with some of the cheapest Japanese food available in the city.

"As business areas develop all over Jakarta, Little Tokyo is not as crowded as it used to be," Kuswadi told VICE. "Now many Japanese expats work and live in areas like Cikarang."

But as far as I could see, the area was far from quiet. It wasn't even 7 p.m. and motorcycles were already parked everywhere. I went there with my colleagues and we were starving. And I thought, what's a better way to get to know one's culture than through its food, right?

I asked Kuswadi for suggestions, and he pointed me to Kashiwa. "It's like a Japanese warteg," he said. "It's cheap. As night comes, the queue gets longer. People line up to the front side of the building."

I walked towards the two-story building. As I climbed up the stairs and stepped into the restaurant, I realized that it's probably been a long time since Kuswadi last visited a warteg. Because Kashiwa didn't look anything like a traditional street stall to me.

A waitress opened the door for us. The restaurant wasn't very big, there's only around 20 tables inside. That night, I saw around 12 customers dining in. In one of the corners, there's a bookshelf of manga and magazines. The TV was on, but it was on mute.

"Our most popular menu are Chicken Nanban, Aburi Gyuchasyu, and Gyuniku Enokimaki," the waitress told us.

In the end, we ordered Torikawa, chicken skin satay; Agedashi Toufu, soft tofu with Dashi sauce; Gyuniku Enokimaki or enoki mushroom wrapped with sliced beef; Chikuwachizu Age, cheese fried fish; Chuka Idako, baby octopus with ketchup; and a bottle of cold beer.

I finished a cigarette before our orders came out. Although this is no warteg, I guess Kuswandi was right in a way; anything on the menu is only Rp 29,800 ($2.23 USD). It's pretty cheap, all things considered.

My second destination for the night is Marufuku, which is located 15 meter from Kashiwa. The restaurant looked pretty fancy to me.

There was only one table available. Two chefs looked busy preparing sushi. After a long hmmmm… we finally decided on sushi sashimi combo, tekka maki, and tori karaage with wasabi sauce.

We only had to wait for 15 minutes. And it took us even less time to finish everything. The highlight was the tuna sushi roll for sure.

Filosofi Kopi is one of the few Indonesian-owned business in Little Tokyo, and the only coffeeshop too. The place is always crowded, but it was doubly so when the movie was just released.

"So many people came here because they were intrigued after seeing the movie," said Asep Safarrullah, the manager of Filosofi Kopi. "We got in trouble once because the long line of people waiting to buy our coffee disturbed other tenants. Even the mayor had to come here because of the complaints, and we were not allowed to set tables and seats outside for a week."

The most sought-after drink on the coffeeshop's menu is called Tiwus, the coffee that was mentioned in the book. Tiwus is a regular kopi tubruk made from Arabica beans that originated from the highlands of Malabar, West Jawa. Another popular drink is Lestari, which is a nod to Dewi Lestari, the author of Filosofi Kopi. Lestari is made out of beans from Bali.

People often come to buy just the coffee beans to resell in their own coffeeshop. Asep thinks that this poses no threat for Filosofi Kopi, because people already know where the beans come from. He told us that there's no secret ingredient to their coffee, but he believes that the barista's moods play a big role in how the coffee's taste turns out.

"When you make a coffee at the end of a bad day, you just know it'll turn out bad," he said.

Papaya is a Japanese grocery store, so expect a lot of imported ramen noodles, bags of sushi-grade rice, and little plastic bento boxes. But what really makes Papaya a must-visit is it freshly prepared food. The store sells Japanese comfort foods like onigiri, brown curry, and sushi platters. These dishes are typically expensive, but the store heavily discounts everything when it's almost closing time.

Kashiwa may be warung cheap, but late-night Papaya is even cheaper. Stop by after 8 p.m., grab some sushi, onigiri, and a few cold Sapporo beers and take a seat on the metal benches near the bootleg DVD vendors outside for what might be the cheapest approximation of Japan out there.