Mmm, recession cake

Today an intrepid reporter took to the streets to ask trendy "Shibuya girls" aged 18-24 where they were cutting back to save money. The number one response was on food. A few were carrying 500-ml bottled waters and said they had refilled them at home from 1.5-l bottles (illustrated with a helpful bottle-refilling studio reenactment). The woman at right carries her own "my cup."
Quite a few said they are cooking at home now.
What made the reporter's eyes pop out of his head was the number of young women eating udon at a cheap noodle chain called Hanamaru where a small bowl of plain noodles with all the free fried crunchy bits and sesame seeds you can heap on is just 105 yen. Add a semi-raw egg and some scallions for just under 300. I think places like that have always been considered slurp-and-go bastions of salary men. The reporter did a quick census with two of those clicky people counter gadgets and found 20 out of 34 total customers were young women.
They also reported that there has been a jump in sales of pancake mix in the last year. The go is to dump it into the rice maker for a thick, spongy cake.