Can't cook, won't cook - come to Japan!

Japan is a haven for people like me, who don't naturally enjoy cooking. As I wrote in my previous post, I didn't really cook my first five to six years in Japan! Yet, I remained healthy and well fed thanks to having lunch provided almost daily and an abundance of take-out options available in Japan. 

When I first came to Japan, I stayed with a homestay family were all my meals were provided. Occasionally, I would have to organize lunch myself, but there were cheap food options available at the university I was attending at the time. Following that I did an internship and stayed in a company dormitory. Not only was I able to eat lunch at the company every day, but I was also able to get my dinner there too. Moreover, my lunch was free and dinner was heavily subsidized, so it worked out cheaper for me to eat at work than at home. 

But without working at a company that provided meals, there is such a huge range of food options in Japan that you really can get away without cooking. Prices have gone up in recent years, so you do need to budget for that, but it is still possible to get one-coin meals, even in a restaurant, if you look hard enough. There are a wide range of bento meals available too. Moreover, they are healthy balanced meals, and if you buy at somewhere like Hotto Motto they are made fresh. There are countless examples, but the take-away, if you'll pardon the pun, is that Japan is a great place to live when you can't cook, won't cook!