as recently as 10 years ago the words Japan an affordable trip didn't quite compute it always felt a world away a trip of a lifetime perhaps Out Of Reach for many and yet today with a significantly weakened Yen and a country that's put tourism at the absolute Forefront of its future you might be surprised to learn that a trip to Japan isn't quite as expensive as you might think flight aside it's currently possible to spend 14 days in Japan on a budget of just $11,000 for overseas tourists it's almost as if all of Japan has a voucher code on right now according to the economist tongue-in-cheek Big Mac index while the cost of a Big Mac is almost $6 in the US and the UK respectively Japan is almost half the price nestled all the way down the list between Romania and Vietnam at just over $3 from accommodation and transport to dining out and attractions we'll discover just how much it costs to get around Japan as well as if the JR Rail Pass is actually worth it and how much you can expect to pay for a convenience store lunch and at the end of the video we'll put it all together to give a breakdown of the total cost of a trip whatever you want to do and however you want to experience Japan we've got you covered in this video flights aside the biggest expense when coming to Japan is of course the accommodation and you certainly sport for Choice when it comes to the sheer variety of options on hand from Tiny capsule hotels and traditional roran ins to creepy themed love hotels and sprawling palacial rooms Fit For A King so out of curiosity I wanted to find the cheapest hotel room I could in all of Tokyo and you know just cuz it's Japan a land of cleanliness honor respect doesn't mean that all accommodation is going to be good you know I've stayed at hotels here that I still have nightmares about case in point a few years ago stayed at a hotel with mold in the wallpaper blood in the sheets and a floor that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the fall of the Berlin Wall I've actually found a single hotel room here one stop away from Shinjuku the absolute Center of Tokyo at the insane price of $2,500 Yen about $16 again that's not a bunk bed this is a a room a whole room to yourself with a double bed it's just one catch look at the reviews and it reads a little bit like a Stephen King novel carer says I didn't have a room key there were dead cockroaches and the bed and the floor were dirty could have been worse living cockroaches Martha from America says do not stay here scammers no lock on the door and then she provides a photo of the door held not in place by screws but by Scotch tape don't worry Martha no one's coming through that door Scotch tape oh my it's almost audaciously brilliant I'm actually tempted to stay there to see it for myself so when you see a combination that's cheap and too please read the reviews first because while this place was $16 a night you can find good accommodation in central Tokyo for about $25 hotel rooms where you don't have to end up with chera along the way having nearly frozen to death on an island camping trip in a previous episode I'm making it up to my good friend nazki today with a luxury weekend away in Tokyo but before it gets under way I've lined up a capsule hotel for us that I suspect he won't be very happy about all aski your hotel rembrand mag thank you so much good spin so in a capsule Hotel the first stop is the locker where you can keep your valuables cuz you don't want to clutter up your uh your capsule given how small it is naturally oh my room this is the capsule oh capsule with 45 capsules packed into one dorm aesthetically it does all look like a futuristic spaceship right don't Control to Major time one oh my God it's Nat's first time in a capsule hotel and he seems to have been won over by the atmosphere but as he clambers up into his capsule it's time to deliver the verdict where come my dog house dog dog oh dear it might seem like a dog house but from my personal experience I generally sleep better in a capsule Hotel than I do in a hostel dormatory as the capsules are cozy and the capsule dorm tends to be quieter however areas where hostiles do win are generally on price with an average of 3,500 Yen per night and above all they're far more sociable typically featuring bars and more friendly conversational sty as opposed to the more introverted capsule Hotel experience either way you can stay in a good hostel or capsule hotel in Tokyo for around 25,000 Yen per week and that is pretty damn good value for money even if natski might disagree I do have one surprise we're not actually staying here Hulk really oh really my God I don't think I've ever seen thaty so relieved we'll be catching up with him in his luxury skyscraper hotel room later on so this room is 9 square m and if you bring enough luggage you may need to become a worldclass gymnast to move between the bed and the bathroom nevertheless for 9,000 Yen this is what you get your own private room your own private slice of Tokyo complete with uh humidifier and fridge TV rudimentary coffee making facilities a bed with no less than three pillows and of course the iconic modular bathroom with a tiny or beer usable tub you also get a good old Tokyo view complete with a Pachinko parlor thrown in woohoo but that's a pretty good price given we're three stops away from the action in shabuya and if you want a double room for two people because God forbid you try and pack two people into this thing it costs about 12,580 Yen for a double room but I'd say for a compact hotel room in Tokyo you're looking at around 7 to 9,000 Yen a night bearing in mind we're on the west side right now where things are a little bit more pricey over in weno and asua you can find somewhere for about 1,000 yen cheaper than this now if you want a more Western size hotel room prices are generally closer to 25,000 Yen just outside the window I can see sui Garden Hotel lard Dar where for 23,000 Yen you get an 18 squ me hotel room and a nice lavish double bed and perhaps more importantly sound insulation something you come to appreciate staying in compact hotel rooms where you can often hear your neighbors every move there are some more Niche hotels aimed at families and group Travelers for example mimaru hotels offer more spacious apartment star rooms complete with a kitchen to best of all they've infused it all with a pleasant Japanese aesthetic with tatami mats and shy sliding doors as you travel around Japan you'll come to associate different cities with different types of accommodation and in more traditional cities like Kyoto or canaza I'd recommend staying in a machia townhouse staying in a MAA used to be a luxury but given the recent boom in renovations you can now find a really impressive townhouse between 20 to 50,000 yen a night meanwhile I associate party capital or sucker with love hotels while you can't typically reserve a love hotel and it's certainly not fun turning up to one with luggage it is worth trying one for the night as there's so damn Bonkers and you get more bang for your buck here than you could ever hope for at a business Hotel an overnight stay typically cost 8,000 Yen but of course you can also swing by for an hourly rate of between 2 to 3,000 yen now let's catch up with nazki who switched out his so-called dogghouse for a luxurious Tokyo penthouse suite high above the city oh good key good key Havey door Havey door oh I need a door even the KY is better wow thank you so much better than a capsule Hotel so good big I feel like a god oh god Godzilla oh yeah yeah Godzilla down there tiny tiny Godzilla I'm I'm God you're braver than I am going on that window oh ring oh my I'm not going to lie this is a terrifying VI uh I think it's because there's no other tall buildings in this area so you do feel like you're almost in the clouds like a God view as nki put it I must say though I don't really see the attraction to staying somewhere like this this is 150,000 Yen you can get this view for free just across the road as we'll see later on in the video if you do have the money to spend on a room like this maybe you're on your honeymoon I'd say save the money go somewhere a little bit cheaper with with a slightly less good view but that money will go a lot further out in the mountains staying at a Japanese in like a traditional real car where you'll get a nice kisii multi-course dinner and if you're lucky you might get a private hot spring bath in your room and I think that's where the money will go a lot further than just getting a room that is incrementally higher up with a bigger view spend it elsewhere unless you're trying to impress naski and uh repay him after nearly freezing to death camping on a night now even though the Japanese yen is at a magic price right now I still think a trip here can get very expensive very fast indeed and so I want to share with you three quick tips for saving money with today's sponsor expressvpn expressvpn is an app that lets you change your online location and why is that useful well number one when searching for accommodation hotels often give you different prices depending on which country you're searching from sneaky case in point so I'm looking for a hotel in Tokyo at the end of February here in Japan this one costs $142 but if I pop over to expressvpn and switch my location to the us check this out it's only $129 and that's for two nights on a whole trip this can add up to hundreds of dollars in savings saving number two by the time you get to your now discounted hotel and crash on a bed to watch your favorite Studio dribbly movies on Netflix you quickly discover they're not available in Japan and yet thankfully a couple of clicks and we're off to Canada where it's all yours for the watching who needs $800 of endless subscription Services a year when you can jump around the world at the click of a button instead and finally while on the go traveling using public wif your devices are at the most vulnerable from hackers I personally never use public Wi-Fi without Express VPN running in the background save yourself the time Hassle and genuine nightmare of stolen passwords and credit card details by encrypting all your traffic online with one simple click instead I've been using expressvpn for many years now and you guys can grab 3 months free for yourself over at expressvpn.com abroad injapan Linked In the description box [Music] below now first things first let's let's cut to the chase on the Japan Rail Pass is it worth it anymore no unfortunately not until last year was a pretty sweet deal the 29,6 Y you got 7 Days of travel on shinh kanen buses local trains all included however at the end of last year the price went up 70% to 50,000 yen and for some context if you make a return Journey between Tokyo and Kyoto would stops to Osaka anara that still comes in at only 30,000 year likewise Tokyo to Hiroshima a return ticket is about 39520 y I don't think it's worth it and most people that I pulled online didn't either unless of course you intend to speedrun all of Japan in 7 Days get off the train Himi Castle take a 30 back on the train look at sji turn for good in it historic cultural history red Lac of facade back on the train oh it's fish in AR TAA Shrine and it's it's red and lots of wood I would die I hate this far but that's not to say there aren't still some some good Bargains out there on Regional Japan Rail passes last year while riding a train in Hokkaido I met a guy who was traveling the whole of the island for 7 days for 27,000 Yen having a whale of a time until he was forced to sit next to natai for the duration of the journey wow likewise tohaku North Japan has a rail pass for 30,000 yen for 5 days it costs 20,000 yen to get to send back alone and if you're doing a trip to multiple cities in the North like alore or AKA then you should definitely be able to save some money [Music] I used to live and die by the night bus it's such a great way to save money not only is it cheap but you save the money on the accommodation that you would have slept in as well when I used to travel in my 20s around Japan with friends we would always get the Night Bus between Tokyo and Kyoto or Kyoto and Hiroshima where it costs as little as 5,000 yen one way on a weekday compared to the shinhan S which is 14,000 Yen but it means you going have a good night hour in Tokyo eat drink be merry and then at 1000 p.m. call at an early night hop on the Night Bus and arrive in Kyoto having saved 8,000 Yen on accommodation in Tokyo and 9,000 Yen having not ridden the bullet train one important note to add is why you may save some money if you're like me you might not sleep on the night bus at all and your day walking around Kyoto may be somewhat ruined as you're turned into a walking talking zombie from your sleep deprived State definitely something to weigh up and consider when choosing the night bus one of Japan's most overlooked Budget Travel options are actually lowcost Airlines there companies like Peach skyark jet star and airo it's kind of annoying it looks like airo but it's pronounced airo and I hate that name it's just really annoying anyway point is it's quite cheap a lot cheaper using one of these carriers than Ana or Japan Airlines case in point to travel from Tokyo to sapo costs around 20,000 yen on Peach Airlines the same route on Ana cost a whopping 62,000 Yen three times the amount for a slightly bigger chair money much better spent in Hokkaido or mis Ramen and cookies of course God bless lowcost airline travel most people will be traveling around on local trains especially in cities like Tokyo Kyoto or Saka and it is very reasonable to go on the ginsel line subway train from Asaka in East Tokyo all the way west to shabuya 34 minutes 19 stops all for the price of just 260 y it's a real bargain like to put it in perspective to make that same journey in a taxi cost 6,000 yen absolute joke price when you can almost do it for free on an underground train likewise to get across Kyoto by train costs around the same amount and honestly if you're riding around local trains in Tokyo CTO or Osaka odds are you're not going to be spending more than around 500 to 700 Yen a day to get around just make sure you grab yourself a Saker card the moment you arrive in Japan it's the first thing you should do because it will mean you can tap in and out of stations without needing to Fumble for coins or cash because there's a chip shortage right now it's actually really tricky to get hold of one of these green Saker cards however for Taurus you can get a welcome Saker card at the airport which works for a limited 28-day period or you can grab a sua card like this on your phone just a nice NFC card on your phone there however you choose to do it make sure you get one of these and it'll save you an absolute nightmare getting stuck at ticket booths around stations I love shinan C it might be my favorite thing fast comfortable and frighteningly reliable you can get from Tokyo to Kyoto in Just 2 hours 12 minutes all for the price of 14,170 Y one way and when you do it make sure you're sitting on the side facing Mount Fiji it's half the fun of making that journey and if you're feeling not so Thrifty there's green car Japan's answer to first class or traditionally it was first class as we'll see in a minute with bigger more comfortable seats leg rests a seat light and all for the price of 19,000 yet it is a pricey upgrade but maybe if you're looking to get some work done or you just want to have a nap maybe you can justify it might be be a little bit more difficult to justify Grand class where the seats almost reclin into a flat bed you get a complimentary meal and drinks and a sound insulated cabin so nothing interrupts your precious Journey you can only get it on Jr East going to places like Sendai and alore and you do have to pay a steep price for it one way from Tokyo to Sendai in a regular seat cost 10,000 Yen green class cost 14,000 Yen and Grand class cost so whopping 19,000 Yen almost twice the amount I'm not sure what situation really justifies his ground class maybe he just want the best train seat in the world maybe he want free flowing Sak as he rocket 320 km per hour across the T hawu Countryside now that really is a premium experience and we did film a video on it if you do want to see just how far the rabbit hole of luxury travel goes now before we talk about dining out on a budget under 2,000 Yen a day I've noticed more recently uh restaurants popping up catering towards tourists charging ridiculous prices in fact it's got a name inbound Don a reference to inbound Taurus and Don buy The Rice Bowl Dish as a rule of thumb if you're in a touristy area like toyosu fish market or senoji Temple and you see a shop plastered in English usually that means bad food and extortion at prices so bear that in mind I mean just the other week I was in Oraka and I saw a restaurant simply called Sushi and Wu Samurai the physical manifestation of Taurus cash grab and yet surprisingly it was somehow very busy who knows maybe Sushi wagu Samurai is the hottest ticket in town I missed it I should have should have gone in now naturally while traveling around Japan there's going to be a day or two where you pop into a convenience store for lunch or dinner what can your money get though this is some stuff I brought from family Mark let's have a quick rundown on the prices starting over here with lunch I think this is a good little lunch here a cheeky lunch that I might modify in just a moment but you've got a Philippines Highland banana oh oos protein yogurt a uh apple drink and good old Chino and egg sandwich all washed down with some delicious family Mark coffee for 180 Yen now this is pretty good value for money about $6 for all this but I'm going to add in a few optional extras and make it a bit more realistic for what I would probably have for my lunch and of course it starts with adding in family Mark chicken that's 220 Yen uh then we got Pringles they're about 159 Yen and uh onary rice bowl with some chuno mayonnaise that's about 155 Yen so now this costs about 1,400 Yen that's still under $10 so for less than $10 a day you can have a fairly well-rounded lunch at a convenience store in Japan um I might make a few other adjust I might have maybe more than one maybe maybe maybe three maybe two maybe four Coke is obviously ubiquitous the world over and here in Japan a 500 mL bottle costs 172 Yen from family Mark you can probably find it a little bit cheaper in some places and that is I believe cheaper than you'll find in the UK or North America by a fair bit best beer in Japan sapo beer 224 Yen very reasonable uh this is kind of worrying this is strong zero the cheu high drink and it's 9% right and it costs 162 Yen which is a joke they're actually considering Banning strong zero drinks at the moment because 9% at such a ludicrous price is uh rather dangerous three cans of this won remember your name four cans you get a free ticket to naria now of course you didn't come to Japan just to eat from a convenience store hopefully Japan's most nourishing budget meal is gudon the Hearty Beef Bowl found at stores like Sakia Yoshinoya and Mata expect to pay about 400 Yen for a regular size beef ball one well-rounded option are Japan's family restaurants my favorite of which his Royal host where natski and I find ourselves grabbing lunch back over in Shinjuku so Japanese family restaurants often get a bad wrap usually from me admittedly but there's one that is good and it's called royal host look at this first of all this cost 1,700 Yen you've got chicken avocado bacon tomato egg potato garlic bread onion soup again all for about $11 is that insane welome morning beer and also you get a drink bar thrown in as well or you can drink like got anle you can find much cheaper family restaurants but the food is not to this sort of quality real host light like very go that's now if there's one meal you break the bank for on your trip to Japan make it tapa Yaki whenever friends visit Japan I find this is the meal that they remember the most as much for the theatrical experience of watching a Master Chef meticulously prepare the meat as the taste of the rich buttery beef itself and as I continue my charity work of appeasing natski we find ourselves devouring a plate of Kashi raised Waggy beef 1 to 10 19 19 wow that's a little bit more over 10 well teaki is pricey one little hack is to visit the restaurants at lunchtime where set lunch courses are typically several th000 Yen cheaper than the dinnertime option but what's the verdict has Nai finally let me off the hook good friend so nice good friend you're a good man no you're a good man you heard it here first not next up guys we've got attractions and things to do in Japan like come on down to Tokyo Disneyland we're into a small world after all it it's not is it it's a green screen after all because I'm a grumpy 33y old man and I don't want a key for 4 hours to ride Space Mountain never [Music] again okay so clearly I have some issues to work through after some traumatic experiences at Disneyland but let's start by seeing what kind of attractions and things you can do in Japan on a budget of 500 yen or less one of the highlights of exploring Japan is getting lost around a temple or Shrine and for the most part they're free to do so including the biggest shrines in Tokyo and Kyoto Magi jingu and fimi and Ari respectively three of the most popular spots that do have a fee are K midera King kakaji and toi but seeing as toi is home to the spectacular d syst it's money well spent while strolling around Yori Park is free the slightly more curated Shinjuku Park does cost 500 yen although up until a few years ago it was free well sort of in a wild story it turns out the park attendant was so scared to charge foreign tourist money he led 160,000 tourists enter for free costing the garden $200,000 and lost Revenue my God if only he worked at Shake Shack meanwhile games arcades are reasonably cheap as well costing me just 400 yen to get beaten by n tyon or [Music] T it's broken broken maybe broken broken broken oh yeah still revenge is Swift as I cough up yet another 400 Yen for the both of us to play Mario Kart and in which Victory is finally mine the key word is humble a humble Victory the last second yeah not broken not broken good game good game now while Tokyo has no shortage of observation decks with which to enjoy the city it can get pricey pretty fast to enjoy the privilege with a newly opened shabua Sky Deck costing 2,200 Yen with a nasty queue to match or the Tokyo Sky Tree clocking in closer to 3,000 yen per person but why bother queuing or paying at all when you can visit the Tokyo Metropolitan government building home to the office of the mayor no less and having spectacular views of the the city all for the price of free just make sure if you do go up you pick a better day than we did weatherwise this is the OG of observation decks this is actually where I came for my first day in Tokyo wow jet lag dead I came up here and I sat by the window and had a chocolate cake the chocolate cake wasn't free that was very expensive don't do that when I'm up here though I feel like nostalgic kind of remember you know how I felt that first day confused jet lag tired and it's crazy to see how much Tokyo Skyline has changed in that time it's probably 30% more skyscrapers no but not changes the parks the same J yeah yeah yeah you can see the top of the major jingu Shrine Maj jingu Maj jingu maor jingu maor I don't know what that was [Music] but and that's how we roll let's get out of here while visiting a Japanese in and getting your own private hotring bath is certainly pricey getting to experience a Japanese Cento public bath house is surprisingly cheap where you can enjoy the soothing Waters and retro atmosphere for as little as 500 yen maybe a traveling solo or with a friend but swing by one and I promise you you won't regret it moving up the scale visiting a theme park here might be pricey but compared to the US or Europe it can be a lot cheaper Disneyland Tokyo is almost half the price of Disneyland Orlando so if you've got kids or you want to meet Goofy that might well be the best place to do it my favorite theme park is called Fuji Q it's 90 minutes from Tokyo and as well as having the biggest baddest rides in Japan you get a spectacular view of Mount Fuji thrown in and as a bonus you get to terrify Charlotte what a barain F now over the years we've gotten to do some pretty luxurious things on AB BR Japan and two luxury attractions that I think justify the price tag are number one taking a private plane over sakurajima Japan's most active volcano name I'm someone who doesn't enjoy flying but this was easily one of the best things I've ever done it cost 44,000 yen for the three of us to fly for about 45 minutes but the view was honestly jawdropping and it's a journey I'll never forget likewise for a trip to okena we charted a yacht for the day which cost 100,000 Yen which wasn't so bad when you factor in there was six people in our group and it was a $800,000 catamaran if you've got a group of friends that can split the cost it's definitely worth [Music] doing still both of these pale in comparison to Japan's most luxurious sleeper train the Seven Stars in Kushi where the three nights aboard Japan's answer to the Orient Express you'll be coughing up 1.3 million yen for the cheapest room even if you could justify the cost good luck getting on it as it has a formidable waiting list but as far as luxury experiences in Japan go it can't be beat now we've covered every aspect of traveling Japan let's put it all together and see how much a 14-day trip here would cost we're going to do it at those different price points again budget and standard I don't really see the point in doing luxury like a a luxury Mega trip by Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg although as we've seen by Mark Zuckerberg he eats McDonald's and thus he's a simple man just like everyone else oh that being said the trip we did on our 14 days in Japan itinerary video was kind of between standard and luxury so we'll put a figure on that trip as well so first off overall what is the cheapest possible trip that you can have in Japan for 14 days staying in capsule hotels and hosts you're looking at about 70,000 Yen for transport that comes in around 18,000 Yen with an average cost of 600 Yen per day and including that night bus to West Japan and back spending 2,000 Yen per day on food that's about 28,000 Yen and finally for attractions about 7,000 yen put it all together and you get 123,456 Yen which comes to $987 or ÂŖ780 which is an insane price point you know this is a a pretty strict holiday is a No Frills trip you aren't going to be going to the best hotels or the finest restaurants but it is still a good solid 14 days in Japan you can see and do a lot next up standard travel now the cost can go up dramatically here particularly when switching capsule hotels and hosts for actual hotel rooms with an average of 8,000 Yen for 14 days that takes us to 112,000 Yen switching out night buses for bullet train almost triples the cost there as well eating out at slightly pricier restaurants doubles the cost there to 56,000 Yen and likewise going to attractions like Universal Studios or shabua Sky quickly raises the price there too again adding a 20% risk margin taking us to 267,000 Y finally for the 14 days in Japan itinerary we did go on a slightly longer route around kazawa and takayama and we also stayed in those tow houses and a yoram traditional Inn factoring all that in this trip was closer to about 350,000 y well I can't predict what the Japanese Yen will do next there's no doubt it is a very good time to visit the country and I hope if this video has done one thing it's perhaps encourage some of you guys to come here and see Japan for yourselves now we do have a series of budget travel Japan videos including the AFF forementioned 14 days in Japan trip itinerary and an entire video on dining out in Japan on a budget be sure to check those out as well many thanks for watching though guys if I learned one thing from this video from this experience it is don't ever do anything nice for natski The Ungrateful swine did you sleep okay natski no because tonight how noisy animal sound what do you mean in midnight I listen to oh the Picker theer Chris pcker my God no no this is you were way worse than I that was you were just as bad right I could didn't sleep I must have woken up 30 times cuz of you go there that dys and stuff full of tissues honestly stupid I'm not sharing a room with you again honestly
