Living Well on a Small Income in Japan 🇯🇵 | $20 Weekly Grocery Haul & Tohoku Summer Dish
Tuma - daily in japan🇯🇵
64,073 views
Hi! I'm Tuma, a Japanese woman living in Tohoku, Japan. Enjoying the solo life. 🇯🇵
Weekly grocery day in Tohoku. Budget in hand, discount corner in sight.
For dinner: Yamagata-style dashi — summer vegetables, finely chopped, mixed with seasoning and poured over rice. No stove, no heat.
It didn't turn out quite as planned. It was still good enough.✌️
I hope you enjoy a quiet grocery day in Tohoku with me.🫶🌱
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▶ RECIPE
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🥒 Chinese Jellyfish & Cucumber Salad
Ingredients (1 serving)
・Cucumber — 1
・Chinese jellyfish salad (pre-seasoned) — 1 pack
・Salt — a pinch
Instructions
① Slice cucumber into rounds and sprinkle with salt. Let sit ~10 minutes.
② Rinse and squeeze out the water.
③ Mix with Chinese jellyfish salad.
─────────────────────
🍚 Yamagata Dashi
(*a Tohoku summer dish — not soup stock, but a finely chopped vegetable topping*)
Ingredients (1 serving)
・Eggplant — 1 small
・Cucumber — 1
・Myoga ginger — to taste
・Ginger — to taste
・Okra — a few
・Shiso leaves — a few
・Shiro dashi — 3 tbsp
・Mentsuyu — 1 tbsp
・Powdered dashi — 1 tsp
・Bonito flakes — to taste
・White sesame seeds — for topping
Instructions
① Cut eggplant into small pieces and soak in water to remove bitterness.
② Finely chop cucumber, myoga ginger, ginger, okra, and shiso leaves.
③ Drain the eggplant and add to the bowl with the other vegetables.
④ Add shiro dashi, mentsuyu, and powdered dashi. Mix well.
⑤ Add bonito flakes and mix.
⑥ Pour over rice and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
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🎬 Quiet daily life of a solo woman living in rural Tohoku, Japan.
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#livingalone #japanvlog #Tohoku #ruralJapan #dailylifeinjapan #groceryhaul #japangrocery #yamagata #japanfood #dashi #japanesefood #summerfood #japanbudget #sololife #obon
Your support helps me keep sharing good food and simple moments ☕️
Thank you always 🤍
🍙 https://buymeacoffee.com/Tumadaily
20 Comments
I know you read your comments, so I hope this will come across to you.
Thank you, for being you, for showing your life and the simplicity of it. This has helped me deal with so much of my own life that mirrors yours. Your videos really resonate with those who are like us, single, soloing life and doing our best. I feel sometimes we become lost in the world, with all the noise about what our life should be, and end up staring at the muddled paint water instead of the masterpiece we're building. So thank you for being a comfort during these times and helping me realise that I'm not alone. Thank you for sharing your day-to-day life with us.
Something that has quietly faded is the lightning bugs or fireflies. We used to catch them every summer and release them before bed, but they grow less and less with each passing year. I also would spend a day playing in a yard with sprinklers with friends; afterwards, the families would get together and do a cookout/ grill, there was so much community, and now there isn't. It's really sad how much community has drifted from being a foundation.
As for a childhood memory disappearing, I definitely had that with my mom's side of the family. BIG annual family reunions when I was a kid, lots of cousins to play with at the grandparent's house, lots of love and laughter. As everyone grew older and schedules changed, visits and reunions faded. It always becomes more difficult when everyone lives far apart, too. But I hold onto those good memories, and I'm very grateful to have had them in my childhood; it means my childhood was one full of love and goodness! :)
I also grew up quite modestly, and I have had to portion my money for groceries and other things as well. A few times I was close to being homeless, but I got lucky.
My current job's campaign is made redundant, so I have been anxious while looking for new jobs, but your videos give me hope.
One day I too want to start my own thing, so I hope we both make it <3
Living Well on a Small Income in Japan 🇯🇵 | $20 Weekly Grocery Haul & Tohoku Summer Dish
Tuma - daily in japan🇯🇵
64,073 views
Hi! I'm Tuma, a Japanese woman living in Tohoku, Japan. Enjoying the solo life. 🇯🇵
Weekly grocery day in Tohoku. Budget in hand, discount corner in sight.
For dinner: Yamagata-style dashi — summer vegetables, finely chopped, mixed with seasoning and poured over rice. No stove, no heat.
It didn't turn out quite as planned. It was still good enough.✌️
I hope you enjoy a quiet grocery day in Tohoku with me.🫶🌱
─────────────────────
▶ RECIPE
─────────────────────
🥒 Chinese Jellyfish & Cucumber Salad
Ingredients (1 serving)
・Cucumber — 1
・Chinese jellyfish salad (pre-seasoned) — 1 pack
・Salt — a pinch
Instructions
① Slice cucumber into rounds and sprinkle with salt. Let sit ~10 minutes.
② Rinse and squeeze out the water.
③ Mix with Chinese jellyfish salad.
─────────────────────
🍚 Yamagata Dashi
(*a Tohoku summer dish — not soup stock, but a finely chopped vegetable topping*)
Ingredients (1 serving)
・Eggplant — 1 small
・Cucumber — 1
・Myoga ginger — to taste
・Ginger — to taste
・Okra — a few
・Shiso leaves — a few
・Shiro dashi — 3 tbsp
・Mentsuyu — 1 tbsp
・Powdered dashi — 1 tsp
・Bonito flakes — to taste
・White sesame seeds — for topping
Instructions
① Cut eggplant into small pieces and soak in water to remove bitterness.
② Finely chop cucumber, myoga ginger, ginger, okra, and shiso leaves.
③ Drain the eggplant and add to the bowl with the other vegetables.
④ Add shiro dashi, mentsuyu, and powdered dashi. Mix well.
⑤ Add bonito flakes and mix.
⑥ Pour over rice and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
─────────────────────
🎬 Quiet daily life of a solo woman living in rural Tohoku, Japan.
─────────────────────
#livingalone #japanvlog #Tohoku #ruralJapan #dailylifeinjapan #groceryhaul #japangrocery #yamagata #japanfood #dashi #japanesefood #summerfood #japanbudget #sololife #obon
Your support helps me keep sharing good food and simple moments ☕️
Thank you always 🤍
🍙 https://buymeacoffee.com/Tumadaily
Obon is coming — a time in Japan when families gather to remember their ancestors.
Is there a tradition from your childhood that quietly disappeared over the years?
Tell me in the comments!☺🌻