I thought I'd make a quick note on using ATM's. Visa cards (as of right now) work at 7/11 ATM's and you can use them at quite a few stores, like Beisha (the closest grocery store). However, Master cards (which I have) unfortunately only work either at the post office ATM or the ATM's at Viva City in Minami-Hikone. This isn't really a problem, though, since the post office is right by Beisha (which is all only a 10-15 min bike ride) and is open until 4 or 5 during the weekdays, though I'm pretty sure it's not open on the weekends. So really, it's not that big of a deal to get money. Of course sometimes one person or another may have some random issues with ATM's or getting money, but I don't think anyone has yet the two semesters I've been here. I generally get about $200-$300 out at a time.
On the topic of money in general, I'll quickly go over the prices of a few things. Firstly, food--because that's one of the main things one needs to survive. Food isn't too terribly expensive, but at the same time it can be. It all depends on how picky you are when it comes to subtle differences in taste (that I never notice) and things like that. Chicken is cheaper than the other meats, and a $7 bag of rice goes a long way (that would be the 2.5 kg bag, I think...well, it's the smaller bag of rice, in any case). If you're like me and can survive off of things like various types of egg-based meals, gyouza and/or rice, rice with various toppings (mostly $0.77 packages of curry), pasta, and other cheap things like that, then you won't need to worry much. As for fruits, apples are about $4 for a bag of 6, a fairly good-sized bag of mikan is $3, but things like strawberries and a few others can be pretty expensive. Yogurt is about $1.30 for a thing of 4 small things of it. Basically, some things are more expensive, but others are fairly cheap or at least reasonable.
Clothes. Clothes can range from being priced about the same as in the US to incredibly expensive. But! If you go to Minami-Hikone and walk about 10 minutes from Viva City (Viva City itself is only a 5 min walk from the train station, and the train ride is only 3 minutes, being the first stop--local trains only!--from Hikone, and Hikone station is only a 20 min bike ride from JCMU), there's a place called Book Off that has tons of really cheap stuff. Mostly manga and figures and things like that, but there's also a part of the building called Hyper Bazaar (I think) that has tons and tons of clothes. Shirts and skirts and dresses are generally $8, coats can be $8-$20, and so on.Jeans I'm not sure about, but those are probably similarly priced. Shoes (new) are a bit more expensive a lot of the time, I think, but if you're not being too picky, you can probably find some cheaper ones for $20 or less.
Trains. To get to Minami-Hikone (and you have to take the local train, not that there's a difference in cost--it's just a matter of not getting on the special rapid train) it's about $1.80 one way. Kyoto is about $11 one way, and Osaka is about $19. That's all going South. As for places North of here, it's basically Maibara and Nagahama (haven't been to Maibara yet). Nagahama is almost $5 round trip, and is only a couple stops away from Maibara.
And if you're interested in knowing, manga and light-novel-like books tend to be about $4-6 new, but you can get used ones for $1-4, or used ones that come as a set, in which case it's priced so that each book would be (usually) $1 or less. Figures can be anywhere from $5-70 or more, depending on whether they're new or used, and how big or small they are. I've gotten multiple $20 gift cards for bookstores, though, and I've gotten a fair amount by using those. Although, I splurged a little last week and bought a box set of the original 6 novels that Kiki's Delivery Service is based off of, which was $33. I think I also found a movie-to-book version of it, which I might buy for a friend as a souvenir, and possibly either a translated version or movie-to-book version of Howl's Moving Castle. I'm not really sure yet, though, and I'm hoping they'll still be there in a couple weeks when I probably get another gift card.
CD's and DVD's can also be fairly cheap at Book Off, but VERY expensive if new--$30-60 for one CD and about $50 for a DVD. Book Off does have a wide variety of music, but a lot of it does tend to be slightly older music--maybe by a couple years, though they do have some newer ones as well.
One more thing: restaurants. Coco's (the restaurant basically connected to JCMU) is usually about $7. Other restaurants are usually about $6-10 in general. However, there is a nice little udon shop that's only about $4-5 for a nice-sized bowl of udon ($4-5 after you've added a couple of other toppings for $0.70-1.50; I usually only do 1-2 toppings so the price doesn't get too high, and also because I just don't need that much food).
Actually, just one more thing: bread. Bread shops are everywhere, and one piece of delicious pastry bread type of things is usually about $0.80-1.50 or so. I tend to live off of these at times just for breakfast foods. Instead of Club Harie, though, that's a 2 min walk from JCMU (visible from my room), I recommend going to the one just a bit farther down (a 10 min walk, probably) called Vidal's. It's on the road that follows the lake away from JCMU, and if it's open, there will be a flashing light on the small sign. It's a small shop run out of the back of someone's house, but their bread is a bit cheaper than Club Harie and in my opinion tastes a lot better.
Anyway, I think that's about it for now. I'll probably (maybe) be back later as I remember other things I should mention.
Edit: I should mention that in general--as it does change, of course--¥100 is equal to about $1. I'll probably be back to update more.
On the topic of money in general, I'll quickly go over the prices of a few things. Firstly, food--because that's one of the main things one needs to survive. Food isn't too terribly expensive, but at the same time it can be. It all depends on how picky you are when it comes to subtle differences in taste (that I never notice) and things like that. Chicken is cheaper than the other meats, and a $7 bag of rice goes a long way (that would be the 2.5 kg bag, I think...well, it's the smaller bag of rice, in any case). If you're like me and can survive off of things like various types of egg-based meals, gyouza and/or rice, rice with various toppings (mostly $0.77 packages of curry), pasta, and other cheap things like that, then you won't need to worry much. As for fruits, apples are about $4 for a bag of 6, a fairly good-sized bag of mikan is $3, but things like strawberries and a few others can be pretty expensive. Yogurt is about $1.30 for a thing of 4 small things of it. Basically, some things are more expensive, but others are fairly cheap or at least reasonable.
Clothes. Clothes can range from being priced about the same as in the US to incredibly expensive. But! If you go to Minami-Hikone and walk about 10 minutes from Viva City (Viva City itself is only a 5 min walk from the train station, and the train ride is only 3 minutes, being the first stop--local trains only!--from Hikone, and Hikone station is only a 20 min bike ride from JCMU), there's a place called Book Off that has tons of really cheap stuff. Mostly manga and figures and things like that, but there's also a part of the building called Hyper Bazaar (I think) that has tons and tons of clothes. Shirts and skirts and dresses are generally $8, coats can be $8-$20, and so on.Jeans I'm not sure about, but those are probably similarly priced. Shoes (new) are a bit more expensive a lot of the time, I think, but if you're not being too picky, you can probably find some cheaper ones for $20 or less.
Trains. To get to Minami-Hikone (and you have to take the local train, not that there's a difference in cost--it's just a matter of not getting on the special rapid train) it's about $1.80 one way. Kyoto is about $11 one way, and Osaka is about $19. That's all going South. As for places North of here, it's basically Maibara and Nagahama (haven't been to Maibara yet). Nagahama is almost $5 round trip, and is only a couple stops away from Maibara.
And if you're interested in knowing, manga and light-novel-like books tend to be about $4-6 new, but you can get used ones for $1-4, or used ones that come as a set, in which case it's priced so that each book would be (usually) $1 or less. Figures can be anywhere from $5-70 or more, depending on whether they're new or used, and how big or small they are. I've gotten multiple $20 gift cards for bookstores, though, and I've gotten a fair amount by using those. Although, I splurged a little last week and bought a box set of the original 6 novels that Kiki's Delivery Service is based off of, which was $33. I think I also found a movie-to-book version of it, which I might buy for a friend as a souvenir, and possibly either a translated version or movie-to-book version of Howl's Moving Castle. I'm not really sure yet, though, and I'm hoping they'll still be there in a couple weeks when I probably get another gift card.
CD's and DVD's can also be fairly cheap at Book Off, but VERY expensive if new--$30-60 for one CD and about $50 for a DVD. Book Off does have a wide variety of music, but a lot of it does tend to be slightly older music--maybe by a couple years, though they do have some newer ones as well.
One more thing: restaurants. Coco's (the restaurant basically connected to JCMU) is usually about $7. Other restaurants are usually about $6-10 in general. However, there is a nice little udon shop that's only about $4-5 for a nice-sized bowl of udon ($4-5 after you've added a couple of other toppings for $0.70-1.50; I usually only do 1-2 toppings so the price doesn't get too high, and also because I just don't need that much food).
Actually, just one more thing: bread. Bread shops are everywhere, and one piece of delicious pastry bread type of things is usually about $0.80-1.50 or so. I tend to live off of these at times just for breakfast foods. Instead of Club Harie, though, that's a 2 min walk from JCMU (visible from my room), I recommend going to the one just a bit farther down (a 10 min walk, probably) called Vidal's. It's on the road that follows the lake away from JCMU, and if it's open, there will be a flashing light on the small sign. It's a small shop run out of the back of someone's house, but their bread is a bit cheaper than Club Harie and in my opinion tastes a lot better.
Anyway, I think that's about it for now. I'll probably (maybe) be back later as I remember other things I should mention.
Edit: I should mention that in general--as it does change, of course--¥100 is equal to about $1. I'll probably be back to update more.