How CHEAP is JAPAN right now for Foreigners? 

If you get paid in USD it’s cheap! I haven’t seen this yen rate since the 80’s.

Woohoooo!!! Street interviews are back!!

If you stay in a hotel away from the tourist areas, they're not too expensive. Don't eat in the tourist areas, even walking 2 blocks away from those areas the price drops by 25% to 40% and it's better food. Get out of the tourist areas and you have just as much fun, it's not as crowded, it's just as Beautiful and the people are very appreciative of you spending your money there instead of the tourist areas

Cathycat is so busy, idk how she does it!!

Here's what I love- if you go to TOKYO DISNEY LAND and buy a drink in a vending machine IN THE PARK it is only 10 or 20 cents more expensive than every other vending machine in the country. If you go to a theme park in the United States, you have to expect to pay at the LEAST 400% more for a drink!!

I am a native Japanese who moved to the U.S. over 50 years ago. I go back to Japan every now and then. I was visiting over the New Year’s holidays this time and I was particularly surprised how strong the US dollars were. To my delight, I over budgeted before I went. I was able to purchase a handmade kitchen knife in Asakusa’s kitchen district where you can find anything for cooking either you are professional or love cooking.

You've heard of "girl math"--I personally justify buying all kinds of stuff using "Japan math." 900 yen? That's only 6 bucks in the US! And so on.

This classic CathyCat street interview (sans the director) was very nicely put together. The camera picture was extra sharp.

When I hear things like this, it seems to make sense for Japanese restaurants to give foreign tourists a menu with different prices. Even if the price is twice as much, they would feel it is cheap.

It was interesting to hear all the comments about alcohol. I remember visiting Japan and being surprised by the difference in alcohol prices compared to my home. I don't know if that has something to do with the tax rate in Japan.

Bermuda, my home is still share the number 1 spot with the Caymen islands as the most expensive place in the world!

During the interview I found it interesting to hear that even though the yen is weaker it does not give benefits to all countries in the same way. Americans seem to have the biggest financial advantage right now. Who else has found things more affordable? Let us know in the comments

Yeah, buying a beer in the konbini is cheaper than buying a soda...but it's been that way for a very long time.

its insanely cheap for US travelers, i paid around $750 for flight and $90 a night for hotel. for food its about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of what im use to paying in California. for example an equivalent bowl of ramen that sells for 900 yen in Tokyo would sell for $16 usd in California

Some places asked if I wanted to play in Yen or US Dollars

Yay for street interviews. 😅 I've had American friends come up to Canada and complain how expensive everything is up here. "Where is the $1 meal at McDonalds?!"... You can't get anything for $1 here. lol I think they Yen used to be take off the 00s and it was equal to the US $... now it's take off the 00s and it's equal to the Canadian $ It sounds like a lot of stuff in Japan is fairly equal to Canadian prices, depends on what and where you go. US $ is so much stronger right now than the yen so It makes sense they'd find it cheap. From what I've heard, the UK, especially London, tends to be very expensive, so it's understandable that they would also find things cheap.

Cathy ready to stack up the videos!

Hi

Katty is so beaitiful.

Yes, flights and hotels not that inexpensive.

It’s absurd how cheap Japan is. We went and GORGED our faces off with A5 Waygu at a nice steak restaurant. I think we each at almost 1.5 lbs each. The total bill was around $200, which is basically nothing when you consider the fact that back home in the USA chick fil a for 2 now costs $42 friggin dollars.

1990頃の話。東京は物価が高く世界一住みにくい都市。円高のせいで訪れる外国人観光客はあまりいない。オーストラリアは物価が安く、オーストラリア旅行は日本人に大ブーム。 　インフレを抑えろ！物価を下げろ！円安にしろ！の大合唱。 実現したじゃないですか。オーストラリアには行けなくなったけど。

Eh… I wouldn’t say so cheap. The exchange rate is great for sure, but how cheap it is depends on how you plan your trip. Like some of the interviewees said, you can decide how much you want to spend, but I definitely spent quite a bit of money on my trip. The bullet trains aren’t cheap, the entertainment isn’t necessarily cheap, and if you want the Kobe/wagyu experience that’s not cheap either.

日本人として円安には非常に危機感を覚えているけれど、それとは別に日本に訪れてくれた人々には良い思い出をたくさん経験して欲しいと思っているよ🖐️😺🏞️ 非常識なことさえしなければ、いつでも遊びに来てくれて大歓迎！

My wife and I went to Japan pre-covid, and came in several hundred euro under budget.

I was just there for a couple of weeks and I can confirm it was quite cheap for me. Coming from Greece, the air tickets were reasonable but transportation within Japan using the JR Pass was significantly higher than last year which was a bit of a downer. The JR pass was around 320 euros for only 7 days so I had to choose wisely which day to activate it and I even had to book a regular ticket for one day. Food was quite cheap and of good quality everywhere. The most expensive meal I had was at a fine kaiten sushi restaurant in Kyoto. Everything else had a great rate of price vs what is offered. Records had higher price than I thought but I still got some good deals. Live shows were quite expensive and beer more or less what we have here. Clothing was pretty high priced so didn't get but a t-shirt and a cheaper haori. Shoes were at a pretty good price, got myself a pair of Fila for half the price of what we get here. Ordered a pair of glasses with no prescription, I had an eye-check on spot, for 70 euros that would cost me 240 here in Greece. Took 10 days, so got them upon returning to Tokyo before heading back. Had an amazing time in Japan. Really want to go back next year :)

Good thing it is cheap since I lost my universal pass so many times in universal Osaka

5:20 He sounds a lot like me!😅

Very true.

For someone going to Japan this year this is so interesting and informative to hear, and with the yen at about 188 to the pound currently in the UK, makes Japan a good place to visit.

Coming from the uk the flight was cheap car rental was also reasonable even hotels not to bad overall i would say its fairly reasonable!y I am returning for a,3rd time as I love it out here!❤😻

With the weak yen, foreigners are getting a good deal on currency exchanges right now. One trick I do to battle the inflation in Japan is to order certain stuff on Amazon and pay for it in US dollars instead of yen.

Thanks! I agree with the Australian couple at the end but really it’s inflation in the USA and taxes that is killing people in the States, our dollar would go further in Japan but getting to Japan is costly i can bet between Airfare and Hotels that’s going to be a small fortune and that’s all taxes and inflation in the States

マクドナルドのチキンナゲットはグローバルに大量生産してるのではないのか。

I was in Japan for 8 days at the end of November 2023 (about 6 months ago), and my out-of-pocket expenses for those 8 days was less than $350.00. This didn't count flight and hotel, but it included all my meals, train/subway charges, etc.

I don't see a vid recommended on my screen lol

At the end, you pointed to a video that was off screen. I couldn't see it :)

Good thing it was cheap when I went since I lost my universal pass like 3 times when I went 😥

This interview lack of people from other regions except the west try asking a sea person they will have other opinions whether japan is cheap rn or not

I’m gonna buy me some doujinshi then

Anyone else click this thinking they caught Tomar in Japan?

やっぱインタビュー系では圧倒的ナンバーワンユーチューバー、圧勝

Apparently they thought it was expensive compared to Thailand and Vietnam. How stupid is it to compare Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan relatively?

Yoooooo please 🙏 ask the homies over there drake vs Kendrick ong

Bro WTF!?! Why aren't you in Japan Railway Journal anymore?

Isn't Japan already putting restrictions on Tourism given all the harassment and broken rules foreigners keep doing in Kyoto? Why are you not mentioning that? And yet here you are pretty much promoting foreign tourists, does the NHK hate Japan or something? I can't say for all but there have been several reports on American & Chinese tourists causing trouble in Japan.

i want to go to japan buy a lot of japaenese stuff to resell in my country, get a japanese waifu and got to akihabara, ropongi etc :D

スカーフ？がかわいい。ヒジャブがこうならイスラム女性のイメージも変わりそう👍️

But no eating food even though you bought the food from a street vendor. No taking an innocent photo of your family even though they want tourists's money Japan is nice but they have quite a few useless and rude rules.

Great & interesting video.

its still expensive for me hahahah, Nice video

Too bad that the video link to which you were supposed to be pointing didn't make it onto the screen! DARN! Now I will never know what it was! DRAT!!! As for the cost, it all depends upon how much of a tourist one is. Don't think and act like one and you can get even better pricing. Shop carefully and have fun. I only wish that we could afford to move there. We really do want to do so because we've had enough of Crazy Land USA!! Come Hell or high water we WILL get out of this looney bin!