How Expensive is it to Travel Japan? | Budget Travel Tips 

I MENTIONED I travelled with some friends for two weeks; the total cost of our accommodation and transportation came in at £530 ($690) each. On top of this we spent at least another £600 each on food/drink, as it was their first time to Japan and they wanted to splash out and try everything. So in total around £1100 for the two weeks (NOT including their return flights to Japan from the UK). IF you have any budget travel wisdom, please share away below!

One day I'll go to Japan. One day.....

I’m a Japanese and I watched this video to improve my listening skill. This video is easy to understand! I think this video will help many foreigners who plan to visit Japan. I want to say Japanese fast foods like Sukiya and Yoshinoya are cheap and really taste good! I enjoyed watching this video. Thanks for introducing Japan!

I wonder why I'm seeing random Japan stuff more when traveling is all dead.

I’m japanese. This video is explaining about Japan exactly. I like it.

Lived in Japan. Don't shop in the convenience stores. Go to supermarkets it's a lot cheaper.

I’m a Japanese but I watched this entire video. I don’t even have enough budget to travel domestically. Why did I watch this?!

I am Japanese.I use WILLER when I use the night bus.It's the most comfortable night bus.However, there are some ranks of buses in WILLER, and I recommend the "Relax" rank bus.

Please come to Japan after COVID-１９！！

Vacation??? Brotha you got me ready to move.

Chris your content is so professional and high quality. I feel like i'm watching a BBC documentary every time i watch

I'm watching this video during quarantine period, trying to sate my love for Japan (as we've canceled our trip to Japan this year 'coz of the pandemic 😭) 🇯🇵❤️🇯🇵

My de-facto cheapo strategy when I was living in Tokyo was to head to any of the numerous 'Yayoi Ken' restaurants and order the cheapest 'ichiju sansai', a set meal (which is either grilled miso mackerel or deep fried chicken) with unlimited top ups (it's self service, so don't feel shy) of plain, white rice. I would basically fast till as long as I can till about 3-4 pm (there was once I hit a 6 pm record, but it was the summer and I did nothing but hang out at Tower Records listening to records) and head to Yayoiken and eat 6 bowls of rice or something. It's immensely fulfilling for a mere 590 yen. The meal will last you an entire day. Comes with free cold unlimited green tea, pickles and miso soup too. It gets pretty packed during rush hours, but at other times, you can sit there as long as you wish without anyone bothering you, which basically means you can eat as much rice as you like. Some of these branches (like the one in Ginza, several in Shinjuku) are open 24 hours!!!!! That's insanely awesome!!! : )

All you can drink for 10 bucks? That's awesome. Man, if pubs did that in Europe, they'd be bankrupt within a few months.

I’d just Mumen Rider my way across Japan

I'm currently binge watching all the videos of Chris, since nobody can go anywhere at the moment. Really looking forward to going to Japan sometime again...

2:44 ah yes cages, exactly what i was looking for in a hotel room

Man I wanna go to Japan just to eat the food

4 years ago my ex-girlfriend and I spent 3 months travelling around Japan. We did it very low budget. We hitchhiked everywhere. It turned out Japanese people loved to have us in their car. They were very nice in general. It was hard to have a conversation though, as they hardly understood English and we din't speak Japanese. But guess what? If you got your hands to gesture with and a friendly smile you don't really need to speak the same language. We had a small 2-person tent with us in our backpacks. We camped in forests, city parks and... well... anywhere really. It was wonderful, and we never felt unsafe. Japan is the safest place in the world. Another great thing: Japan had many (very clean) public toilets, which offered a way to wash ourselves in the morning. We ate a lot of onigiri from the convenience stores. We sometimes ate at the Japanese fast food places like Matsui. Of our 3 months we spent 1 month in Tokyo, volunteering at a hostel. We had to do the beds and clean the place for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. In return they gave us free accommodation and free lunch. We also spent a couple of weeks volunteering for an oyster farmer in Kumihama Bay. In return he gave us free accommodation and 3 excellent meals a day. They were a lovely family. If I have to guess what our average spendings were, I would say not even 5 euros a day. (Not including flights.) It does include entrance fees to a couple of museums (like the ones about the atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima). It also includes a nicer meal every now and then, like sushi. And it includes some unforgettable nights at karaoke places and a few refreshing onsen visits. Sure, we did our trip in Japan on a low low low budget, but thanks to our hitchhiking we met hunderds of Japanese people. We spent our nights in our tent often surrounded by nature. We spent 1 month in one of the most expensive cities in the world, Tokyo. If we hadn't travelled the way we did it, we would have spent our entire budget after two weeks. Now we got to spent 3 months in that great country - AND it made our experience a whole lot better! I hope my little story inspires others who also don't have a lot of budget, but who want to see Japan badly, to go there anyway. :-)

I remember searching about flights to Tokyo in my bedroom in Brazil, which was a mattress on the floor and literally nothing else, just dreaming of one day going. Now im in a far better situation and I'm maybe going next month to Japan, can't believe how things can change.

Would love an updated video on this if applicable Chris! Especially with Japan re-opening, I'm interested how things have changed money wise after/during the pandemic.

Thanks so much for recommending our JR Pass calculator. I hope viewers find it useful.

I'm Japanese. I don't recommend that you use low cost carriers or night buses. Their quality is awful and uncomfortable, so you will be exhausted before you arrive at the destination. And those who travel only to Tokyo better buy Tokyo one-day ticket(and if you figure out a good route((for examlple you never use Yamanote-line or other JR lines)), Metro&Toei 1day pass will or only Metro 1day pass might be enough). Those who travel only to the central area of Kyoto need only 1-day bus ticket, but if you go to Arashiyama(not cental) or Todai-ji(in Nara), you have to purchase train tickets as well.

I would love to see an updated version of this with the different proces for 2022 and later

Somehow I read the title as “How expensive is Japan” and thought “ The British started colonizing again? But now with money?!?!”

I appreciate the “Hotel, motel, holiday inn” line

I stopped paying attention for a few seconds and all of a sudden you're in a sex cage.

I went to Japan in 2019, I watched a ton of your videos. For anyone thinking about going to Japan; do it!!! You can have an inexpensive trip and still have an amazing time. Just watch all of Chris's videos

Man, Japans culture makes me want to learn its language so bad.

6:14 - What is this magical skateboard that can traverse an ocean?!

I've heard a lot of these suggestions before, but I think you're the first person I've ever heard of recommending a love hotel as a budget accommodation option xD

That’s the great thing of living in Switzerland, nothing feels that expensive, you go to London, Tokyo, Dubai and you’re like, eh…

I wish all traveling videos were this simple and straight to the point.

Wonder how the Love Hotel rooms would look under ultra violet light 🤔

How do you save money on accomodation, travel and dining? - Cook yourself - Sleep in a tent - Learn to swim

This needs a 2022 update!!

If you say "Nomihoudai" in El Salvador, you are saying "Don't f*ck with me" .

“This is beef” “Wakaruyo” lol that was funny

Guy wastes 33 days traveling by skate board... Saved money: 60$ Me: Yep totally worth it...

I really like your videos. I wish they existed in 2000-2001 when I visited Japan. I travelled to Kyoto for a short visit and I stayed at a Buddhist temple that had layperson lodgings. It was in an out of the way neighborhood, quite and cheap. It was actually off tourist season in October and, other then the monks, I was there by myself. It was one of the greatest cultural experiences I had while in Japan.

Night buses really are amazing. The ones in Europe can be pretty uncomfortable and expensive, but we used Cruz del sur in Peru. They were so comfy and cheap plus we didn't waste our days travelling! Definitely a good way to go if you want to save money and time on a short trip.

When I went to Japan, I found loads of free events or sights to checkout! Hit up 7/11 for free wifi and cheap food. Last but not least, let the good times roll!

+Abroad in Japan I am an English teacher, and I teach in Hispanic countries (currently Dominican Republic). I exploded with laughter when you said Nomihoudai, that being that even though I have studied Japanese, I have yet to fully learn it, and I actually do speak Spanish, so the word Nomihoudai in pronunciation is almost identical to the rude Spanish expression " No me Joda" which translates to " Do not F**k with me". When I get some students that are interested in learning Japanese and are from a Spanish speaking back ground I motivate them by always mentioning that at least in pronunciation they have it easy with learning Japanese due to both languages sharing mostly same phonetics. Great video mate :)

I found the train travel pass only worked out if you literally travel the whole circular route from Tokyo and back again. If you don’t want to go to Hiroshima for example, it was much cheaper to buy local trains and take a domestic flight from Tokyo to Osaka. It was also more fun trying to figure out the local trains, took about 3 days to learn the colour system and train companies 👍👍

Ever since I subbed, I've been watching all your videos one by one. And absolutely love them. It gives a great impression while being educative and hillarious ^^

My partner and I lived in Japan for 4 years, and whenever we were travelling, we almost always used Business Hotels. The rooms tend to be small, but they're clean and comfortable, a perfectly good place to rest your head at night, and much cheaper than regular hotels, but with the quiet and privacy you won't get a hostel. And Japanese fast food is brilliant, so much better and more satisfying than McDonalds. Along with the donburi (rice bowls) I was a huge fan of the Doutor coffee chain coffee & sandwich lunch set for ~¥400.

A Manga-cafe is a great place to sleep if you don't have a reservation. Usually under 20$ for 8-12h including hot drinks and a PC. Also over TripAdvisor I found enough hostels starting at 10$ a night, and enough capsule hotels starting at 15$ all over Japan. One capsule hotel in Tokyo I can recommend is Capsule Value Kanda. I payed 12€ a night, and it is 1 stop from Akihabara and Tokyo station. Also very nice and clean, with a traditional Japanese bath. Thought the capsules are a bit older. In Kyoto I stayed in a private double room with a friend for 10€ a person (20€ in total) per night. The place was called small world guest house. It was a bit far from the city centre and the room was tiny, but it was still good, and the building was a very old traditional Japanese House.

Hi Chris. Thank you for doing this. I find your videos great and informative. Keep it up.

Without a doubt its your chanel boosting tourism

Do you usually spend 30 minutes comparing prices? Not anymore. Hotel? Trivago.

I haven’t really thought about visiting Japan but it seems so cool and you’re super encouraging lol. This place looks amazing I want to visit now

I really want to go. I love the culture and a lot of things from Japan. I've even thought about moving there. But, I plan on going to visit a few times in the future before even looking into that. I just hope this pandemic ends soon so myself and my friends can all go together.

Great video! Yeah, a lot of people make out Japan to be a super expensive place but, it is actually quite affordable. Since Korea is really close to Japan I've visited on multiple occasions for shopping and touring. From those experiences I guarantee you can save A LOT of money if you plan properly. A lot of the parts people make mistakes in when planning is transportation. You can literally spend days worth of hotel fees on transportation if your not smart about it. So here are some rules to keep in mind if your traveling on a budget. RULE #1 Never use a taxi! You might feel a little lazy or bewildered on how to get to your destination. But, in most major cities of Japan public and private transportation is very well developed. And taxis are EXPENSIVE. A twenty minute drive will land you over 2000 yen. If you happen to lose your way to a destination just ask for directions. :) Japanese are very kind in that aspect. Even if you can't speak a word of Japanese, showing them a destination in google map is often enough and they will help you out as much as possible. Seriously in several occassions strangers walked me all the way to the destination! RULE #2 Always check where you are visiting. I advise people who visit Japan to check where they want to visit before hand(or at least the major stops) and check if their subway pass or any sort of travel pass they've got covers the locations. I've seen a lot of people having to get new tickets or passes because the train lines they wished to take were not covered by there travel pass. For instance Osaka has like three different subway/train lines all with seperate payment because they fall under different companies. So the pass you have might only cover one of those lines and not the others. RULE #3 Check your travel objective. This might be a little overlaping with Rule #2 but, hear me out. Depending on your travel objective the type of travel pass or transportation ticket you'd want to get will vary. Drastically. If you look up the different travel passes, you can easily find that there are passes designed for shoppers, sight seekers, long term or short term travel. They also come with different perks for specific people, like discounts to museum or castle entrance fees and so on. RULE #4 Step away from that hotel. Not being able to stay at a hotel might seem like a bummer. But if your going to half ass and stay at an average hotel it is much better to go for guest houses or Air Bnb deals. Especailly if your traveling with friends of 3~4 Air bnb can be a god send. Some guest houses will also have interesting tourist guides to the local area. The kind of experiences you'd normally not know if you went to a fancy hotel. Woah this has gotten out of control... Well you can sense my excitement with traveling to Japan. I've said rules and what not, but remember its just a trip. You don't have to follow your plans by the book. Just have a blast and enjoy your stay in Japan like I've did. :)

I'm looking forward to my pilgrimage to the holy land, Akihabara

i travelled to japan 22 times... usually i stay there for 3 to 4 weeks. 1st time i went i spent around 7000 dollars...now as im used to it i spend an average of 3300 dollars. the thing is that you need to experience it couple of times till you find your sweet spot. the most expensive stuff i found are shopping (dont go near expensive brands as theyre much more expensive than europe or middle east). alternatively, use their brands as they are really really good. especially beauty stuff and food. second, taxis (avoid them as much as possible). third use jr pass ONLY if youre travelling to many long range cities (usually 3 or more). forth, try to avoid hotels at the HEART of the city centre as it gets much cheaper as you go further (there are many nice hotels with cheaper fares). fifth, for the bullet trains (shinkansen), do not use green cars as they are way expensive. sixth, there are much cheaper stuff in asakusa jump shops than ordinary shops. make sure to visit them first. seventh, pre book your activites as they are slightly cheaper. eighth, japan tends to be cheaper as you go away from tokyo or osaka. for example hokkaido is cheaper than tokyo. these are the tips i got in top of my head so far. extra: if you like hiking and stuff, visit explore-shareDOTcom. their rates are much cheaper.

Went to Tokyo for ten nights and I know it isn't the same as living there. But I found attractions, travel, groceries and restaurants amongst other things to be relatively cheap. Spent about £600, ate out a lot, did a load of activities and bought a few goods to take home. This was in december mind, so could spend a bit more in spring/summer.

Now we need : How expensive is living in japan

all of this doesnt even compare to my anime figure budget

I really am glad I found this channel. So much info

After 6 years, this video is still useful. Love it!

I went to Japan this summer, everything was so, so cheap! As a Norwegian it was astonishingly cheap for great products

"For next time when you travel to Japan" heh in my dreams.

I went there in 2018. Gotta say Japan is out of this world. Had to spend my whole yearly salary on it but it was definitely worth it.

Eak school tour/trip to japan in two years and I'm learning as much as I can!

*Can someone get me a skateboard - I'm on a budget*

If you go to a normal supermarket in the evening you can find ready meals with the price lowered since they want to get rid of everything. You can get some pretty big boxes of food for a very small sum that way:)

Ive always wanted to go to japan ! Planning my trip soon!

Gotta love your "friendly smile"

I stayed at Airbnb almost exclusively in Japan for my 3 week stay. Ended up at about 20-30 per night. I had great hosts and they really helped with everything!

-yeah, i would've just flown there. the guy that literally travelled across japan in a bike.

travelled to Japan twice before I get to see this. Thankfully I followed some of the guides listed apart from just using a suica card... As well as staying in a guesthouse on my 2nd trip. Glad to say I didn't spend too much by eating at konbini and matsuya most of the time lol.

I spent $1000 a month for room, food and transportation. I was living in Tennoji Osaka. Ate a lot of the all you can eat refill rice at the cheap Teishoku restaurants! Room was $400, food was around $400 and transportation was $200.

WARNING: Restaurants generally don't accept credit cards, but convenience stores do. Even McDonalds doesn't accept cards.

Watching this at 5am in America

I visited Japan in 2007 for ten weeks and saved a lot of money by hitchhiking through Hokkaido and Tohoku. I did take trains in Kansai, but Osaka was as far West as I went. I got to meet plenty of interesting people and have some great hospitality stories. I also stayed on farms doing work-exchange, so my entire ten week trip including airfare was under $3000. I even bought a tent and camped out for a few nights at various campgrounds (and one temple). Oh and the ferry from Maizeru to Otaru was quite the experience.

Need an updated version of this 👌🏽

I have visited Japan twice now, once last summer 2016 and just now Dec. 2017. Yes, there are definitely things that are expensive especially in Tokyo but boy, you also have lots of cheap options. This video is really good but I just want to clarify some things and/or add info. The Tokyo subway is vast and is operated by multiple different lines (private and government). One is a private company which is Japan Rail who also operate the Shinkansen. You can only get the Japan Rail pass outside of Japan as a tourist and is definitely worth it. Like the video says, it only takes one long ride on the Shinkansen to make the 1 week pass worth it and on top of that you can ride the Japan Rail trains in the city for free. BUT, here is the clarification, JR is not the metro/subway, it is only a portion of it. There is a massive network of trains. If you ONLY got the JR pass, you cannot ride the rest of the subway system in Tokyo. You can only ride on the trains operated by JR. Now the video is wrong in that it says you have to stand around buying tickets if you don't get the JR pass. That's also not true. What you should do is to buy a PASMO or SUICA card. These are literally train debit cards and they work across all these different train companies. They come preloaded with amounts and you can just tap your way through all the trains and it will deduct an amount each time. No need to go buy a ticket each time and figure out how much it costs. When the balance runs low (and you'll see your balance every time you tap), you can just re-charge them in the ticket machines. I got mine from Haneda airport and when I left I just returned it at the airport and I got a 500 Yen deposit refund for the card. Concerning the food, I would definitely pick Yoshinoya over the other ones. I find its quality just a bit better and the prices just as good. But I had a lunch at Nakajima in Shinjuku and it is a 1 Michelin Star restaurant. Guess how much the lunch is: 800 Yen! So how's that for a budget lunch at a 1 Michelin star restaurant. It opens at 11:30am so lineup early. I waited just short of an hour but if you get there like 11:30am your wait should be shorter. There is also a 1 Michelin star ramen place in Tokyo (near Sengoku) and cheapest ramen is 1000 Yen, its name is Tsuta. And there are many other top notch ramen shops whose prices are cheaper too. I also find 7 Eleven, Lawson, Family Mart to be full of good stuff to buy but you can try their local grocery stores and they have even MORE items with the same prices. And the food shops in the train stations are amazing and tons of selection with excellent prices. I also agree with the video's recommendation of business hotel. I got one last year and it slept 3 of us plenty well with a kitchen/dining table too and it was just a bit higher than the capsule hotel prices. Happy travels in Japan!

THe difference with Japans Low-Cost Living for tourists, it doesn't look like shit. Try finding cheap food and cheap places to sleep in the West, you'd be lucky you don't get food poisoning or get murdered in your sleep.

I am doing my research into my Japan holiday planning, this video helped immensely.

Going to Tokyo, Spain, and Sweden next year I love travel

You can drink in public in UK. Unless they have city law against it.

Plane tickets the only thing holding me back :/

Thanks for this video... Now while the Covid ends, I'm going to work 96 hours non-stop after this! Greetings from Mexico!

Bullet Train from Hiroshima to Tokyo in 2009 for me was $170ish one way. Compared to flying from Florida to Michigan in 2019 cost me $190 round trip. I also remember getting into a taxi on the US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and the meter reading ¥700, roughly $7 at the time.

The Japan rail pass is really worth it. You can’t use on the subway but you can on some busses. Also a Japan data sim for your phone makes getting around really easy. Unlimited data so just keep that phone charged

I went to Tokyo for a week this last April. It was a 14 hour flight as I'm in Tulsa Oklahoma. Flight & Hotel an APA Hotel had just been built earlier this year in Sugamo so it was new and up to date and most of all cheap cause they were filling vacancies. So that part was $2,000 for flight & Hotel. I only took $1000 with me ......I ate like a king every day and it came to about $325 my whole trip. That is amazing. I found Tokyo (if you stay in Tokyo) to be extremely cheap. My opinion. I'm going back after first of year in Feb 2018 cause I loved it so much. I can't wait. In just a year I've already got nostalgia for Tokyo. Hell I may go back every year for next foreseeable future

Would love to see an updated version of something like this from you mate! ;)

Great quick short-cuts for understanding the ins-and-outs of travel in Japan Of course things are probably a bit different now, for better or worse. But as a general rule for transport between major points it spot on!

I lived in Japan from 2012 until late 2015 and I loved the country and culture. Glad I experienced it.

Planning my 3rd trip to Japan from Canada and I find it cheaper and more accessible than most places in Europe. I think the biggest obstacles for newcomers is feeling lost in translation (but it's changing fast due to the Olympics).

Very useful information mate thank you 💯

Iv watched this video a couple of times now. love it. Im actually learning Japanese now so we can one day possibly move there.

This was by far the most helpful budget video I’ve watched! Makes me even more excited for my trip!

Who else is just a big weeb and wants to go to Japan

This is Perfect! I'm planning to go to Japan next year. I honestly don't have an itinerary because I don't know where to start. Thank for this

We've always done DIY trips since you don't really save much from packaged tours. There's not much time constraint when touring around because you have your time on your hands. We got a deal from Veltra for our Mt. Fuji Tour, you pay about USD200 for 4 people. It included the bus from Shinjuku to mt. Fuji and back, Mt. Fuji fifth station stop, 3 course lunch at Fuji Q-highland, Boat ride around Lake Kawaguchi, Ropeway and soft serve in the afternoon. Then you get a rebate of half of what you paid for if you leave a review on their site. 👌

Me An average Brazilian: Hope he shows something that on my budget! 11min later: i think I'll save 3 years to go there

The all you can drink and eat meat for $13 is amazing.. I wish they had that in America, they would be so popular that they'd go out of business for $13.

This man is so entertaining! Binge watch begins now

I love your sign-offs!