Japan has a reputation for expense that no longer matches reality. Accommodation and transport are the two costs that hurt; food, at the level most travellers eat, is remarkable value.
This is a real accounting of a fourteen-day trip through Tokyo, Kanazawa and Kyoto, travelling as a pair and splitting rooms.
The daily average
¥9,200 per person per day, excluding international flights. That breaks down roughly as:
- Accommodation: ¥4,000 (guesthouse dorms and business hotels)
- Food: ¥3,000 (three meals, one of them proper)
- Local transport: ¥1,000
- Entry fees and incidentals: ¥1,200
Long-distance trains sat outside this at about ¥28,000 total per person for the whole route.
Where the savings are
Business hotels beat hostels for pairs. A twin room at a chain like Toyoko Inn or APA runs ¥9,000–12,000 including breakfast. Split two ways that beats most dorm beds, with your own bathroom.
Eat where the queue is at lunch. The same restaurants that serve a ¥6,000 dinner often do a ¥1,200 lunch set. Standing soba counters cost ¥400–600 and are genuinely good.
Convenience stores are not a compromise. Onigiri, egg sandwiches, cold noodles and decent coffee. A breakfast for ¥400 that you will not resent.
False economies
- Skipping the IC card. Paper tickets cost more and waste time at every gate.
- Buying a national rail pass "just in case." Since the price rise it only makes sense for genuinely long routes. Price your actual itinerary.
- Staying far out to save ¥1,500. Two extra train journeys a day cost most of that back, plus an hour.
- Cheap luggage strategy. Hauling a suitcase on rush-hour trains to avoid a ¥2,000 courier fee is a poor trade.
What is genuinely expensive
Fruit, imported anything, taxis after midnight, and coffee at a specialty roaster. Also, unexpectedly, museums: ¥1,500–2,500 is normal.
What we did not cut
One ryokan night with dinner and breakfast, at ¥22,000 each. It was the single most expensive night and the one we would repeat first. Budget travel works best when it protects one or two things entirely and economises hard on everything else.
For the full trip structure, see the complete Japan travel guide; for timing, the best time to visit Japan.