There is an innovative new website from Yahoo! - http://www.shufoo.net -- that may be of interest to frugalites.
An interesting Romanization of the Japanese term for housewife ("shufu"), the service is a fully-searchable online database of digitized newspaper inserts. Underwhelmed? These inserts are a gold mine of frugal information for your local area. Many foreign frugalites have a hard time getting a hold of them, particularly if you do not subscribe to a Japanese newspaper. You can search for them all here, particularly advertisements for local supermarkets.
Searching is easing: go to http://www.shufoo.net, and enter your postal code (7 digits, no dashes) into the little red window with a magnifying glass on it at the top of the page. Then, the names of the supermarkets in your area will appear in Japanese on the screen in a band. Click on the name of the supermarket you want to see, and the flyer will appear in a separate window. You can view them in heavier PDF format or the proprietary "BB Chirashi" format. A great way to comparison-shop between stores and keep abreast of prices. (However, it would be best to attempt this with a broadband internet connection.)
By Wendy J. Imura. Copyright 2006.