We’ve all heard it that Japan is so expensive, or you gotta bring a lot of money for a couple of weeks in Japan, or this vacation will bankrupt your teeth. I don’t understand your obsession with large-breasted figurines. Please move out of our basement to a 35. Well, good news! I got a couple of tricks and tips for you that will save you some buckaroos while enjoying your massage at Kabuki Joe—I mean, your stroll through Osaka Castle Gardens. Hey guys, penny-pincher in Japan here, and today I’ve got some local tips for you so you can save some money while you’re budget traveling around Japan. It is, in fact, doable, and by listening to my tips here, you won’t have to eat Top Ramen and Ritz Crackers for a month after you get back home. All right, so pay attention.
How to find budget Accommodation
Some of you guys are freaks and actually prefer hostels or capsule hotels, which, you know, good on you. For hotels, I prefer staying at Fresa Inn nowadays, the same type of hotel as APA but with a bit more space and no Bible pushing. You can join their club for free and get 500 yen cashback a night when using the check-in machine. Another great chain with free minimalized breakfast and some spots evening curry included in the room price is Toyoko Inn. Their club is a one-time fee of, I think, 2000 yen? But you get discounts every night as a club member. They also have some extra rooms for regular pricing for members only when the hotel is sold out. And each 10th night, you get a token for a free night. So you can save a lot of money with them.
But if you already like the hostels and the capsule hotels, good on you. That’s already a very economical solution. You can find dorm-style hostels in Tokyo for around 2549 yen for the bare-bones bunk bed style hostel. You know, where you share showers and toilets with everybody, even the obese guy named Matt from rural Arkansas who just shut all over the toilet. Very nice. This is what you’re paying for, by the way. A capsule hotel you can get for a little less, usually around 1500 to 2000 yen. Again, location matters, so if you’re in rural Kanazawa, the capsule hotel will probably be a little bit cheaper if you find one there.
Then again, it isn’t Shinjuku, right? But I know all of you guys are like, “Oh, Tokyo, that’s where I’m going to spend most of my vacation,” so you know, I’m using Tokyo as a reference point here. You know, if it were up to me, I’d go for the capsule hotel for the added privacy if I fit. But my suggestion here would be to especially put your political worries aside and stay at an upper hotel, a business hotel. You get your own, albeit very small, private room with a private shower, private toilet, so, you know, you don’t have to worry about Keith and his effing diarrhea. And a nice little desk and a huge TV. I mean, these business hotels are usually very central in their locations as well, which makes them pretty economical. There is always an upper hotel no matter where you are in Japan.
The best thing, if you have time to scroll through, is Airbnb. Of course, I’ve had great success with Airbnb. I think me and my girlfriend, when she visited, we paid like 350 bucks for like 10 days or something for a huge apartment, pretty central and also good. So you can get pretty good Airbnbs, just gotta scroll a while. And you also need to be in contact with the owners because some of the owners of the Airbnbs, they don’t charge per person, they have like a flat fee for the entire apartment, so, you know, bring four friends, roll out some futons, and you’ll split the bill and boom, who’s bust saving money now? Very nice. Airbnb is definitely the best solution if you’re traveling with somebody. Now, trying to cram two people into an upper hotel room is almost worse than getting shoved into a Tokyo train during rush hour. Walmart, almost.
Budget Foods & Drinks
Food is usually a pretty big expense for people who travel to Japan. You know, everybody’s like, “God damn, boy, I’m in Japan, I’m gonna eat Kobe beef every day.” Well, nothing wrong with that, except for cardiovascular disease. But there are many budget options that will keep you full and satisfied. But before we get into that, I have a huge protip for you guys that you might not know. You know, restaurants that are usually pretty expensive, you know, where you have to pay like ¥5000 or more per person to dine there, they usually have half that price during lunchtime, the lunch rush. You can get the same sets that you get for dinner, maybe sometimes they’re a tiny bit smaller, for like half the price. You can add a huge portion of exactly what you were going to have for dinner just for lunch. And then when dinner time comes, head to a local combini store, like FamilyMart or 7-Eleven, and then you can bring all of that into your upper hotel or Airbnb, and then smack your belly, count your money, and eat all of that stuff, feeling good that you have enough money to survive another day.
But budget traveling in Japan, Tabelog is a fantastic site for this because you can see, like, the little sun means the lunchtime and the little moon means the dinner time. You can see the prices at every place, so if you had a place in mind, check out Tabelog. You can see if it’s way cheaper during lunchtime, go there for lunch, man, come on, have dinner for lunch.
So everybody knows about the combini stores, but, you know, in malls in Japan, usually the bottom floor or on the underground floors, those are deli shops. The prices at these delis are a little bit more than the usual combini stores, but again, you get freshness and you get handcrafted, well-made, delicious bentos that are really healthy for you.
Lastly, when it comes to economical drinking and eating in Japan, let me introduce you to two terms that you absolutely need in Japan: tabehodai and nomihodai. Some restaurants have this, and it literally means “eat all you want” or “drink all you want.” If you’re a big drinker or either or both, it’ll imprint this country into your brain and your eyeballs. Write them on to one of those dull-ass allergy cards. I have a soy allergy—forget that, nomihodai tabehodai arimasu ka? Print that on your allergy card, my man.
How to get around Japan
Everyone has done three minutes of research into their Japan trip, you know about the JR passes, the Japan Rail Passes, freedom to travel as much as you want within a 7, 14, or 21 days period. The prices have gone up for this pass, but for many people, this is the most economical way to get around Japan. But I gotta tell you, if one economical and so is domestic flying. Local carriers like Peach Aviation, the Asian equivalent, will not only save you time, but it can be more economical than trains if you’re flexible with the dates and time is money, right? You’ll save a hell of a lot more time flying from Fukuoka to Tokyo than having to pass through Mie and Okayama, then Kyoto, and also going to Tokyo with the shinkansen, and it’s gonna take hours on a 55-minute domestic flight. So, you know, check out some LCCs in Japan, low-cost carriers. You’d be surprised.
Free Wi-Fi
When it comes to internet access, most restaurants and izakayas have free Wi-Fi for you. Malls too, but malls require you to sign up with your email and then you’ll get spammed by ads, so I wouldn’t recommend that. But restaurants and izakayas usually have the password and the Wi-Fi name somewhere on the menu or the table that you’re sitting on. That doesn’t help you from getting lost in the concrete jungle that is Tokyo without Google Maps, now does it? No, it does not. The normal thing to do here is to either rent a pocket Wi-Fi or buy/rent a limited 4G SIM card. Some countries might offer you like a 4G package from your local carrier while traveling to Japan. I know, minor region one, US, I have a dual SIM, if I switch over to it, I’ll be able to say I have 5 bucks for 100 MB, which is, they’re ripping me off right there. So, that’s not the economical solution. If you’re more than one traveler, though, the pocket Wi-Fi is like the gold standard of things because you can have like, I think, 5 to 45 connected to it at the same time without losing too much speed, and you can have it in your pockets, or everybody in your anthropology will be online, and you can do Snapchat or do whatever, watch porn, I don’t care. If you can do whatever you do online, you can thrift the pocket Wi-Fi. Just don’t do piracy though, torrenting is very highly illegal in Japan. Don’t do it. You don’t want to see the inside of a Japanese cell. The prices for these pocket Wi-Fi ads are usually very good. When I first came to Japan before really moving here, I had one for 3 months that I used at home Wi-Fi, and it’s pretty cheap and pretty good. So, hopefully, these tips will help you to save some money while traveling in Japan. I know it can get expensive if you let it, so, you know, don’t let it and do what I said here, I guess.
If you want to travel Japan but some might say its expensive and you feel worry then this tips for you. I hope you enjoy it, if you need more information just comment blew. And subscribe our blog for important update direct to your mail box.
