Melons for 60Euros each – Costs in Japan

I went to Japan somehow anxious about the high prices, i have heard of. Tokyo is said to have been worlds most espensive city up to 2005 now being the second to next.
But as soon as i got here I got more relaxed. Thanks to a strong Euro together with a weak Yen (different interest rates along with a weak dollar the Yen is tied to) the widespread horror stories are definitely outdated today (for Europeans at least...)

In fact there are some things that are really expensive here, especially in Tokyo:

1. Housing (this applies definitely to Tokyo, this is also why so many people taking daily rides of 1h and more).
2. Riding the Shinkansen (Taking the local trains or rapid ones is cheap, but as you have to get along with distances quite often, so you will want to get on a limited express or the said Shinkansen and a seat reservation there doubles resp. tripples the price).
3. Fruits and vegetables: The melons are still expensive, and a single apple costs around laughable 1,5 Euros. But it is possible to get around that somehow. Tangerines (what a stupid word for Mandarinen!) and Banans are ok. Replace lettuce with soy sprouts and it is ok too.
   

But just like the mentioned points above, the real costs are not about about what you need, but what you can get.
This city is defintely a shopping mekka! I always wondered about all the people relating Tokyo to shopping (and consumption in a more general speaking). The point is there is an endless variety of stuff. You can get the cheapest (all the 100Yen shops), you can get the most luxuriest (Ginza), as well as the most kinky (Akihabara, Harajuku) and of course all the traditional (Asakusa) stuff. And you get what you have paid for practically all the time.
Myself surely being far away from a shopping junkie, the more i see, the more difficult for me it gets to set back. Never experienced such a situation in all my life so far...!
Fitting topic for Christmas approaching somehow...