Japan is a country at the top of bucket lists. It’s known by many for being the sushi capital of the world, the creator of amazing games and worldwide loved anime. It’s filled with beautiful shrines, powerful temples and neon lights illuminating its cities.
Not forgetting the famous cherry blossom season that brings many Sakura admirers to Japan each year.
It already sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But, how much is the cost of travel in Japan?!
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It’s true that Japan is not the most affordable destination, however, it can definitely be done on a budget.
The cost of travel in Japan will definitely depend on your situation, how comfortable you want to be and how you prefer eating. We’re going to explain our situation and how we managed to travel to Japan on a budget. There are ways around battling the expense of travelling to Japan!
In this article, we will show you our cost of travel for a two-week trip to Japan. Including accommodation, transportation, food and activities!
Why did we travel to Japan on a budget?
After travelling in the region of South East Asia for 3 months, we were definitely worried about the cost of travel in Japan. We had read that it was nearer to the prices of London and it’s expensive to travel within the country.
This is not true!!! Japan surprised us! Yes, Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world but it’s extremely understandable and can still be done on a budget.
Our current travelling budget for countries such as Thailand and Vietnam is around £25 a day per person. When travelling we averagely spend around £40 a day as a couple. Sometimes we spend £15 and on other days we spend a lot more. We know that we always reach our average in the end.
The budget has to be raised when it comes to countries like the USA, Japan, Australia or countries in Western Europe. We did a few calculations with estimated accommodation, transportation and food costs.
So we already booked our flights before we began our trip, they were flying from Bangkok – Tokyo and then Osaka – Kuala Lumpur. These worked out the most cost-effective as we could travel down the country and fly out from a different city. The total length of our trip is 16 days – 13th-28th May!
Find our tips on How to Save Money for Travel to prepare for your budget trip to Japan!
Estimated cost of travel in Japan
So Amy always attempts to create a realistic budget of the country we want to travel to. We do this by looking at Skyscanner for flights, Airbnb / Booking.com or Agoda for accommodation and then a quick Google to find out what activities we want to do and how much does transport cost.
We didn’t want the cost of travel in Japan to stop us from visiting this amazing country! Planning is so important if you want to travel to Japan on a budget.
Here’s what our research showed us
(This will be in £GBP£) Click here to translate to your own currency!
Estimated Costs per person for Japan:
Transport from the airport – £10 x 2 journeys = £20
Accommodation – £25 x 16 nights = £400
Food for the day – £15 x 16 days = £240
Bus from Tokyo – Kyoto = £40
Transportation from Kyoto – Osaka = £15
Daily Public Transport – £5 x 16 days = £80
Disney Sea Ticket (A dream of ours) = £50
Activities / Souvenirs / Laundry = £60
Total P.P = £905 for 16 days in Japan – (£1,810 for a couple in Japan)
We actually spent less than our estimate! So, we wrote down everything we spent on our trip to Japan. It’s not something we usually do, but it was interesting to see exactly where our money was going.
It was an amazing trip, we played Mario Kart on arcade machines, visited Disney Sea and explored 6 cities and an island!
The cost of travel in Japan for a 2 Week trip
Our total cost of money spent – £612 (91,524¥) each for 16 days in Japan! (£1,225 (183,407¥) for a couple) That’s an average of £38 per day per person.
After creating our estimated budget, we were already happy with this price and we just went with the flow being careful with our money.
We tried to walk everywhere we could, but you definitely need to use public transport in Japan. The cities are too big to walk everywhere, jumping on a train in Tokyo or Kyoto will save your energy. Our transportation costs also include a night bus that doubled as our accommodation for one night.
Our Total Cost per person for Japan
- Accommodation Costs – £190
- Transportation Costs – £154
- Food Costs – £171
- Activities, Shopping & Laundry Costs – £97
= £612
Our Estimated Costs per person for Japan:
- Accommodation Costs – £400
- Transportation Costs – £155
- Food Costs – £240
- Activities, Shopping & Laundry Costs – £110
= £905
Here’s our full itinerary for spending 2 weeks in Japan!
6 Best Tips to Travel Japan on a Budget
We can’t wait to visit Japan again and we absolutely loved our trip the first time. It’s truly one of our favourite countries to explore, here are our top tips on how to travel to Japan on a budget.
1. Stay in Hostels
Our number one tip to travelling Japan on a budget is to stay in hostels! As you can see they really helped to cut our accommodation costs in half and overall saved a lot of money. We understand that hostels might not be for everyone, but even if you tried it in one location you can see what it’s like whilst also sticking to a budget.
Japan’s hostels are some of the cleanest and most polite hostels we’ve ever been to! The hostel in Hiroshima was a 51 person dormitory, which sounds crazy! You wouldn’t even realise there were that many people inside because you all have individual pods.
The majority of the people we met were so lovely and the hostel rooms are quiet, even the kitchen atmosphere is similar. We found hostels to be a great budget option whilst travelling in Japan, we thought they were a great experience and almost all of the hostels had a kitchen to cook in.
2. Travel the country by bus
We did a lot of research before our trip to Japan and it almost seemed obvious that we had to purchase a JR train pass.
Then we came across Willer Express buses which are a great money saver! These buses connect between all of the major cities and the price is extremely different to the expensive bullet trains.
Of course, travelling on a bullet train sounds awesome and we do hope to travel on one in the future, however, they are not that budget-friendly.
Using Willer Express was a great way of making sure our cost of travel in Japan was budget-friendly.
Also check out our 10 Best South Korea Budget Tips!
3. Use public transport
This may be an obvious one but when you’re in a new country and everything seems a bit too confusing, visitors often look to taxis or uber as an easy way to get to their destination.
In every city in Japan, there will be local buses, trains or metro that can take you to where you need to go for an affordable price.
Similar to other major cities in the world, Japan has a transport card called Pasmo or Suica (the name of the card is different depending on the region). You can purchase these at train stations and top them up if you know you’re going to travel, it saves money compared to buying a metro ticket each time.
4. Eat at budget-friendly restaurants
This may be hard to read, but if you want to visit Japan on a budget you can’t splurge on food as much as you would love to.
Food is a major money factor to consider when travelling anywhere. Japanese food may be the main reason you want to take this trip! There are many restaurants that will be kinder on your budget and this may mean you have to do more research.
We have a few places to recommend: Ichibanya Coco Curry House for its amazing Japanese curries, also vegan friendly! Genki Sushi is a conveyor belt style sushi restaurant that is very affordable and you’ll find budget-friendly Sukiya all throughout Japan. There are many ramen restaurants offering cheap eats too!
Are you vegetarian? Happy Cow is a great app that helped us to find vegetarian food in Japan. We discovered many restaurants that were in our budget as visitors can review the place by price. It’s worth checking out even if you’re not hunting for vegetarian food.
5. Eat the Onigiris
On the same topic as food, we recommend you eat onigiris. What we mean by this, is to eat at convenience stores!
Convenience stores are located almost everywhere in Japan, convenience is taken to a new level. The types of food you can find in these stores range from sushi, onigiris, noodles, salads, full meals and general grocery store food.
Around 60% of our food throughout the trip was bought at a convenience store such as 7-Eleven, Lawson or Family Mart. Some of them even have a small dining area with microwaves to heat up your food or prepare your noodle pots. We ate so many onigiris throughout Japan and cooked toast or stir-fries in our hostels.
6. Free activities in Japan
One of our favourite things to do is to just walk around the cities in Japan. In Tokyo, there are so many neighbourhoods it would take you weeks to explore! We love stumbling across new places and hidden streets and the best part is it’s free! Just make sure to catch public transport if you need to.
There are many free things to do in Japan and even in Tokyo! In Asakusa, the Sensō-ji temple is completely free to visit and so is the famous Shibuya Crossing. In the summer outside of cities, Japan has some beautiful hikes to go on.
There are also paid activities such as the Studio Ghibli museum and also Disney or Universal theme parks, but there are a lot of free activities that can make your time in Japan amazing!
Overall the three main reasons we kept our costs lower than the average:
- Accomodation = Hostels
- Transportation = Night buses, local trains and metros.
- Food = Connivence store’s, hostel kitchens and choosing the right restaurants!
Flights to Japan
Flight prices may also be an issue if you want to visit Japan on a budget. Depending on where you’re based in the world, flights can be expensive. Our best advice is to check Skyscanner regularly for different airlines and prices and you will get a rough idea of how much these tickets will cost you.
Flights are different all over the world, and we have left this out of our cost of travel in Japan although it is a big spend you will need to think about!
As we mentioned previously, we flew from Bangkok – Tokyo and out of Japan from Osaka – Kuala Lumpur. We actually booked these flights 8 months in advance and didn’t think they were overly expensive.
Pro Tip: Check the prices of flights for flying into Tokyo and out of Osaka or reversed, this could save you money as you won’t have to worry about travelling back to Tokyo at the end of your trip!
Will I miss out on anything travelling on a budget?
Yes and no! We personally love travelling on a budget and were so happy to even step foot into the country.
Travelling Japan on a budget meant that we could travel to other places, and we still had the best time. There are only a few ways it could have been done for less such as cutting out a few restaurants and the Disney tickets.
Almost all of our activities in Japan were free such as viewing shrines, castles, temples. Also exploring the neighbourhoods and browsing in all the shops is amazing. It’s a country that is so different to the UK, that everything is new and mesmerizing. Tokyo feels so futuristic.
Near the end of the trip, we wished to see vegetables again as we ate so many onigiris and unfortunately, vegetables and fruit are a bit more expensive than in Europe. We were so excited to visit Disney Sea, (the only one in the world) so it was definitely worth the 14,646¥ (£100) price tag!
It was also necessary that we tried a lot of Japanese food, however, it’s worth noting that we were vegetarian at the time and had to work around this. We would love to talk more about the vegetarian/vegan options in Japan.
What about other activities?
Maybe you’ve finished reading this and you have a full list of paid activities that you still want to do whilst you’re in Japan. That’s completely okay too! We really wanted to visit the studio ghibli museum, the iconic teamLab Borderless Museum and check out Universal Studio Studios.
The temptation to splurge on all of the restaurants we saw was high! At the end of the day, it’s about compromise. We stretched our budget because we were travelling for over 3 months to other destinations and we were honestly so lucky to be visiting the country at all!
We have a list of activities we’d love to do next time we’re in Japan and a list of destinations to discover. After our first day in Tokyo, we knew this wasn’t going to be our only time in this fascinating country!
One activity we would love to do next time is to go skiing in Hokkaido! Stay tuned and maybe it will happen in the future!
EXTRA TIP -When we travel we use Starling Debit Cards. These cards are great for travelling as there are no fees overseas, so when you spend money abroad there is no extra charge. Although, in some countries, there may be a fee to use the ATM. As we are a couple we spend money together and just share most of our expenses, however, we usually carry four debit cards when we travel. Two Starling cards and two ordinary cards as a backup.
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Full Breakdown of Cost of Travel in Japan
SHORT BREAKDOWN (16 days of travel in Japan for 2 people)
Accommodation Costs – 56,882¥ (£380)
Transportation Costs – 46,150¥ (£308)
Food Costs – 51,289¥ (£343)
Activities, Shopping & Laundry Costs – 29,086¥ (£194)
= 183,407¥ (£1,225)
So that’s all of our costs! (excluding flight prices & clothes shopping)
(We bought Disney T-shirts in Uniqlo and Amy bought swimwear for our next destination. We haven’t included these in the price because it’s not completely Japan-related).
All of these amounts below are the total for TWO people eating, drinking and accommodation. Everything!
13th May:
| Narita to Tokyo Train | 2060¥ |
| Metro | 340¥ |
| Metro to Shibuya | 400¥ |
| Travel Cards | 1500¥ (500¥ Deposit) |
| 7-Eleven Onigiri’s & Snack | 362¥ |
| Family Mart Onigiri & Snack | 220¥ |
| Coco Ichibanya Curry | 1452¥ |
| 7-Eleven Sandwich & Inari | 320¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| DJ Hostel Ginza Tokyo | 5080¥ |
| Bunk Bed in 24-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room |
= TOTAL 11914¥ (£79)
14th May:
| Arcade | 500¥ |
| Metro Top-Up | 2000¥ |
| 7-Eleven Breakfast | 258¥ |
| T’s – Tantan Ramen | 1600¥ |
| T’s Tantan Shop – Noodle Pots (for another lunch) | 500¥ |
| Lawson Snacks | 325¥ |
| 7-Eleven Dinner Snacks | 906¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| DJ Hostel Ginza Tokyo | 5080¥ |
| Bunk Bed in 24-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room |
= TOTAL 111,70¥ (£75)
15th May:
| Disney Sea Tickets | 14,646¥ |
| Disney Sea Magnet | 600¥ |
| 7-Eleven Breakfast | 445¥ |
| Family Mart Snacks + Onigiri | 660¥ |
| Toy Story Alien Dumpling Snack | 360¥ |
| Disney Popcorn | 350¥ |
| Disney Lunch | 1640¥ |
| 7-Eleven Bread | 149¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| DJ Hostel Ginza Tokyo | 5080¥ |
| Bunk Bed in 24-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room |
TOTAL 23930¥ (£160)
16th May:
| Metro Top Up | 1000¥ |
| Arcade Game | 100¥ |
| Karaoke | 2000¥ |
| Tooth Paste | 250¥ |
| Kyushu Jangara – Ramen & Ramune | 2200¥ |
| Grocery Store Shop | 1000¥ |
| 7-Eleven Onigiri | 100¥ |
| Karaoke Drinks | 741¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| DJ Hostel Ginza Tokyo | 5080¥ |
| Bunk Bed in 24-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room |
TOTAL 12471¥ (£83)
17th May:
| Laundry | 900¥ |
| Train Top Up | 2740¥ |
| Coco Ichibanya Curry | 1452¥ |
| Family Mart Jam | 105¥ |
| Taco Bell Snack | 250¥ |
| Lawson Snacks | 355¥ |
| Chiba Chan Restaurant | 1400¥ |
| Street Food Snacks & Mochi | 660¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| DJ Hostel Ginza Tokyo | 5080¥ |
| Bunk Bed in 24-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room |
= TOTAL 12942¥ (£86)
18th May:
| Daiso | 432¥ |
| Postcards | 350¥ |
| Postcard Postage Stamps | 260¥ |
| Pokemon Centre Shopping | 350¥ |
| Metro Top Up | 510¥ |
| Genki Sushi | 1290¥ |
| Aeon Grocery Store | 180¥ |
| Subway Dinner | 734¥ |
| Accommodation / Night Bus | |
| Willer Express Night Bus: Tokyo – Kyoto (22:35 – 07:05) | 12,200¥ |
= TOTAL 16306¥ (£109)
19th May
| Tourist Tax on Accommodation | 400¥ |
| Arcade | 100¥ |
| Family Mart | 576¥ |
| 7-Eleven Snacks | 233¥ |
| Lunch | 1400¥ |
| Dinner | 4080¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Nine Hours Kyoto (No longer exists in Kyoto, but there are more in Japan) | 3590¥ |
| Capsule Hostel |
= TOTAL 10379¥ (£69)
20th May:
| Train Top Up | 2000¥ |
| Tourist Tax | 400¥ |
| Mos Burger Lunch | 1350¥ |
| 7-Eleven Snacks | 570¥ |
| Gyoza Dinner | 2240¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Nine Hours Kyoto (No longer exists in Kyoto, but there are more in Japan) | 3590¥ |
| Capsule Hostel |
=TOTAL 10150¥ (£68)
21st May:
| Karaoke | 1800¥ |
| Tourist Tax | 400¥ |
| 7-Eleven Bananas & Snacks | 460¥ |
| Lunch | 1300¥ |
| Coco Ichibanya Curry | 1452¥ |
| Family Mart Snacks (for next bus journey) | 876¥ |
| Mochi | 150¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Nine Hours Kyoto (No longer exists in Kyoto, but there are more in Japan) | 3590¥ |
| Capsule Hostel |
= TOTAL 10028¥ (£67)
22nd May:
| Willer Express Bus: Kyoto – Hiroshima (06:50 – 14:00) | 6000¥ |
| Family Mart | 445¥ |
| Okonomiyaki Dinner | 1510¥ |
| Street Shops | 413¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Santiago Guesthouse Hiroshima | 4000¥ |
| Bunk Bed in Mixed Dormitory Room |
= TOTAL 12368¥ (£83)
23rd May:
| Tram | 560¥ |
| Ferry – A return trip to Miyajima Island | 780¥ |
| Tram Return | 560¥ |
| Laundry | 500¥ |
| Lunch Snacks | 567¥ |
| 7-Eleven Snacks | 376¥ |
| Shopping | 532¥ |
| Okinamiyaki Dinner | 1890¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Santiago Guesthouse Hiroshima | 4000¥ |
| Bunk Bed in Mixed Dormitory Room |
= TOTAL 9765¥ (£65)
24th May:
| Willer Express Bus: Hiroshima – Osaka (16:45-22:10) | 9400¥ |
| Arcade | 400¥ |
| Daiso Shop | 216¥ |
| OTIS Lunch | 1600¥ |
| 7-Eleven Bus Snacks | 453¥ |
| Family Mart Snacks | 740¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Hostel Enisia NAMBA | 2878¥ |
| 51-Bed Dormitory with Shared Bathroom |
= TOTAL 15687¥ (£105)
25th May:
| Daiso | 864¥ |
| Strawberry Mochi | 350¥ |
| Aeon Grocery Store | 855¥ |
| Fruit Market (Bananas & Avocados) | 300¥ |
| Street Snacks | 442¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Hostel Enisia NAMBA | 2878¥ |
| 51-Bed Dormitory with Shared Bathroom |
= TOTAL 5689¥ (£38)
26th May:
| Train Top Up | 2000¥ |
| Daiso | 216¥ |
| Arcade (Mario Kart) | 400¥ |
| Nara Deer Biscuits | 300¥ |
| Lunch | 1800¥ |
| Grocery Shop | 1109¥ |
| Mochi | 150¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Hostel Enisia NAMBA | 2878¥ |
| 51-Bed Dormitory with Shared Bathroom |
= 5975¥ (£40)
27th May:
| Train Top Up | 2000¥ |
| Ferris Wheel | 1200¥ |
| Donut Stump | 100¥ |
| Mos Burger | 1300¥ |
| Biscuits | 108¥ |
| Accommodation x 1 night | |
| Hostel Enisia NAMBA | 2878¥ |
| 51-Bed Dormitory with Shared Bathroom |
= TOTAL 7586¥ (£51)
28th May:
| Arcade | 800¥ |
| Daiso | 216¥ |
| Train Station | 100¥ |
| Family Mart | 560¥ |
| Lunch | 910¥ |
| Lawson | 412¥ |
| Coco Ichibanya Curry | 1452¥ |
Overnight Flight out of Japan
= TOTAL 4,450¥ (£30)
If you’re still here after all of these numbers, thank you so much for reading! We hope this post was useful for you to find out the real cost of travel in Japan and how to travel to Japan on a budget.
Check out our Japan Travel Guides & South Korea Guides:
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