Gaijin Guide: How To Budget for Japan

For me, one of the most common misconceptions I had before visiting Japan was that it’s soul-crushingly expensive, and having now rounded up 3 weeks there quite a few of my friends have been keen to know if managed to do it on a budget. I decided to keep track of my spending for a multitude of reasons. On the one hand, knowing how much money I had left stopped me from blowing all my accommodation money on Kit Kats (more about that later), or accidentally getting myself stranded somewhere with no cash to hand. On the other, I also thought it might be helpful to share with those of you that stumble across this post in the future that are thinking about making your own trips, especially if you are currently planning how much money to put aside for them.

Before I start, I think it’s fair to mention that because of my blog, I was fortunate enough to receive a few press-perks in exchange for coverage along the way. In the interest of transparency, I’ve marked items/experiences which were gifted with an (*).

Accommodation

Accommodation is almost always going to be your biggest expense if you’re not planning on couch surfing, and in the interest of spending as little as possible I booked almost all of my accommodation through Hostel World. This meant than I prepaid 7% of my total before I left home, leaving me with less to pay on arrival which I personally prefer. The exceptions to this were Kofu (**), where I spent two nights at a friend’s house and thus my stay was free, along with my night temple lodging on Mt Koya (*), which was a sponsored stay organised prior to my departure by Inside Japan Tours. For my night in Miyajima, the hostel on the mainland happened to be fully booked on the day I chose to visit, so I had to look elsewhere. Luckily, I managed to find a cheap deal on Late Rooms, and although it cost me twice as much as a night in the hostel would have done, it still worked out to be less than £30. Plus, I have to admit, it was nice to have a room to myself after sharing for 3 weeks, although ironically it turned out to be my worst night’s sleep!

Location

Tokyo

Kofu

Nagoya

Takayama

Kanazawa

Kyoto

Mt Koya

Osaka

Miyajima

Tokyo

Time(s)

4

2

1

1

2

4

1

1

1

3

.

Total:

Spend

¥8,800

¥0 (**)

¥3,300

¥3,200

¥5,200

¥13,600

¥12,000 (*)

¥3,024

¥5,300

¥10,200

.

¥64,624

Food

After accommodation, food was my second biggest expense, mainly because I kept buying weird and wonderful things, just to try them. Convenience stores are literally on every corner in Japan, and I cottoned on quite quickly that grabbing breakfast, coffee and snacks from them was going to save me a tonne of money. By picking up a pastry or yoghurt and a bottled coffee, most breakfasts came in around the ¥250 mark, depending on how fancy I was feeling. Similarly for snacks, by either picking up nibbles in the morning with my breakfast, or buying fruit and baked goods from local vendor, I usually managed to avoid buying marked-up train station food. Lunch menus in Japan are pretty good value for money, and by eating things like ramen, gyoza dumplings, bento boxes or fried rice dishes in the afternoon, you can save the majority of your money for larger local speciality dishes at night. In total I ate out at least once a day, usually twice in the places where I was only spending one night in order to make the most of it.

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Type

Eating Out (Restaurant)

Eating Out (Street Food)

Convenience Stores

Markets

.

Total:

Spend

¥23,000

¥4,250

¥3,730

¥2,500

.

¥33,480

Transport

Everything you’ve heard about the Japan Rail Pass is true, and if you’ve not seen my review of it yet, be sure to check it out. What may seem pricey and off-putting at first is actually the bargain of the century if you plan to travel as extensively as I did. Teamed with a 2 Day Kansai Thru-Pass, aside from a few inner city bus services and a trip or two on the Kyoto Metro, a perfectly timed validation on a two week pass was enough to cover all of my travel outside of Tokyo, including my inbound and outbound journeys. For my travel within Tokyo, I used a Manaca IC Card (and then a Pasmo IC Card when I lost my first one…), a prepaid Oyster-like card that makes boarding and valid service quick and easy. The one long journey I made without an active JRP was for a day trip up to Nikko, but Asakusa station offer a special tourist pass for anyone who is visiting Japan on a tourist visa. I was lucky enough to have most of my major travel passes sponsored by Inside Japan Tours, but with the exception of the Kansai Pass, I’d already planned to purchase them myself.

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Type

Japan Rail Pass (*)

2 Day Kansai Thru-Pass (*)

2 Day Nikko Pass

Manaca IC Card (*)

Pasmo IC Card

Additional Tokyo Metro Fares

Kyoto Metro Fares

Bus Fares

Total:

Spend

¥46,390

¥4,000

¥2,670

¥500

¥500

¥5,200

¥1,200

¥800

¥61,260

Sightseeing and Attractions

One of the best things about Japan is that it’s main tourism draw is based on its religious history, meaning that many of its most famous attractions are either free, or very cheap. Most shrines and temples do not charge an entrance fee, and with the exception of the Nikko UNESCO World Heritage Site, none charge more than ¥500. Of course, you are free to make extra donations whilst praying (a Buddhist tradition), but this is completely at your discression. Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka all have several big museums, and towers which you can visit to see some pretty amazing views of the city, but again if you don’t fancy the fees, there are plenty of other free or cheap alternatives you can visit. Being on such a fast-paced itinerary, I gave most of these a miss, aside from the Umeda Floating Garden Observatory, and the Giant Ferris Wheel in Osaka, because both seemed too good to miss.

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Location

Nikko

Nagoya

Kanazawa

Kyoto

Nara

Osaka

Tokyo

Spend

¥1,700

¥500

¥620

¥500

¥500

¥1,500

¥2,000

¥7,320

Shopping

For me, this is where things got a little out of hand, but even then I managed to refine myself to stay within my means. I’ve dreamed of going to Japan since I was a teenager, and as such a had a mental shopping list longer than my arm. My first mistake was wandering into Loft, a lifestyle store that I stumbled across near Shibuya Crossing. 2 hours and ¥10,000 later, a bag full of washi tape and notebooks was mine. I then discovered Daiso, the ¥100 shop of dreams, and again several more bags of goodies came into my possession, and of course, the piece de resistance; Kit Kats. As soon as I realised the coveted boxes of oddly flavoured treats were mainly sold at train stations, it became a nationwide mission to find as many flavours as I could, and they don’t come cheap! At roughly ¥840 for a box of 12, it became a costly habit, but what would a visit to Japan be without a Red Bean Paste or Wasabi flavoured finger biscuit, huh? Aside from a few more little souvenirs here and there, a couple of goes on the capsule machines and a brisk walk around Kiddyland in Harajuku, telling myself not to buy everything in sight, I didn’t spend nearly as much as I feared I would; phew! Obviously this section of your own budgets will be entirely dependant on you and your circumstances, so make sure you consider this in your planning.

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Type

Personal

Stationary

Kit Kats / Confectionary

Souveniers

Total:

Spend

¥1,200

¥15,000

¥7,500

¥10,500

¥34,200

My Budget

So there we have it, everything I spent in Japan, bar a few yen here and there, coming in at a grand total of ¥200,884, or a little over £1,100 give or take the current exchange rate. For me, I feel like this was pretty spot-on in terms of my original plans, and for those that wish to do Japan on an even tighter budget, there is plenty of room to do that. The major downside to any trip however is actually getting there. If you’re already in Asia or Oceania, there are a number of low-cost carriers which now offer flights from various points on the mainland or nearby islands. If, however, you plan on coming over from Europe or the Americas, you’re looking at doubling this budget to include the cost of your flight. I used Avios points that I’d accumulated to partially fund my flight, which gave me a little more collateral to spend once there, but originally it was just shy of £1,080 to fly into Tokyo Narita from London Heathrow direct with British Airways; ouch. The other alternative was an 18 hour layover in Mumbai, which was admittedly half the price, but wasn’t that convenient in terms of departure and arrival times.

Planning Your Own Trip

Good food is often surprisingly cheap and by eating in local, independent establishments that are set back from the major attractions, you often get to try speciality dishes for the fraction of the cost that they’d be from a larger chain. If you can do a better job than me and avoid looking at all the kitsch, cutesy and downright cool stores in Japan, you can also avoid splurging on souvenirs. If you also find yourself with an opportunity to pick up snacks and drinks from larger supermarkets rather than convenience stores, especially if you’re spending a few days in one area and don’t have to carry them, there is plenty of room for pinching those purse strings.