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Cheapo News: This may be Japan’s cheapest (and saddest) Christmas dinner deal for singles

Mike Dec 24, 2016
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No Christmas date? No problem! We’ve found one of Japan’s cheapest Christmas dinners at Italian chain, Saizeriya.

We’re sure you’ve probably heard that there’s a whole lot about the Christmas season in Japan that gets lost in translation. There’s obviously the whole weird KFC obsession and, of course, there’s the bizarre inversion of Christmas and New Year’s Eve traditions. Christmas in the west is spent arguing with loved ones about politics and getting yelled at by grandma for forgetting the mashed potatoes again, and NYE is a time for beer bonging and drunkenly vowing to stick to some purposefully vague and halfhearted new year’s resolution. January 31 in Japan, on the other hand, is spent in solemn reflection with family, while Christmas Eve is meant for romantic dinners with your significant other and/or getting trashed with your friends.

But what if, like us, you have neither a significant other nor friends but still don’t want to miss out on all the holiday cheer? Well, our resident perma-bachelor Mr. Sato believes he may have found a solution that’s at least adequate enough to keep you from spending the night bawling in the fetal position on the floor of your apartment, and it’ll save you some serious scratch, too!

Saizeriya, Japan’s foremost discount Italian restaurant chain, may just be the perfect last resort for lonely singles, according to Mr. Sato. First, there’s a ton of the iconic eateries all over Tokyo, so it’s all but guaranteed there’ll be one close by and you’ll never need reservations, especially on Christmas Eve when all of the at least mildly functional human beings will be flocking to whatever fancy French restaurant they booked months in advance.

And, with some savvy menu navigation, says Mr. Sato, you can put together a course that, if you hum a holiday tune and really use your imagination, could optimistically be called something sort of, maybe, resembling a Christmas feast.

Mr. Sato, for his annual Forever Alone Christmas, decided to go with Saizeriya’s standard margharita pizza (399 yen or US$3.39), a plate of spicy chicken (299 yen), a glass of house wine (100 yen) and a dessert of tiramisu (199 yen), for a veritable feast that clocked in at just 997 yen. That’s just shy of a single bill!

Although we were sort of put off by Mr. Sato’s uncanny familiarity with the Saizeriya menu, we have to admit everything in the lineup tastes great (we are no strangers to Saizeriya), and it’s not the absolute worst you could do for a sad, sad Christmas on a budget. Plus, if you’re single and actually do have friends, Saizeriya certainly wouldn’t be a bad place for a last-minute, slightly unorthodox Christmas party, and at just 100 yen per glass of wine, we’re betting you’ll be taken by the Christmas spirit in no time.

And hey, it’s surprisingly not nearly as depressing as the official RocketNews24 Christmas party….

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