Japan on the cheap-possible?
 

Is it possible to see Japan "on the cheap"? We got a great deal on Qantas frequent flier for departure mid May to Tokyo and are now panicking at some of the prices we've seen quoted here, for accommodation.

How can one see Japan on a tight budget? I speak Japlish very well and hope to negotiate our way around for 19 days!

Any tips, much appreciated. Did a search here and have some great info-just way over my budget! Many thnaks to those who bother responding!

here is what i have.. cos i am also going in May :P

Nikko:
Hoshinoyado Konishi from Tocoo! website
$3840per person J style

Fukouka:
Hakata Green Hotel
$9000 for 2.

Kyoto:
1. K's House Kyoto
$2900/person
2. Toji-an Guesthouse
$2300/person

Toyko:
1. Tatami Guesthouse
$3400 yen for 2
2. Juyou hotel
From own website, print out coupon to enjoy $5960/person
3. Hotel Mikawaya
$12k for 3.

Hi elffie-thanks for the info. Will check out these places. Much appreciate your input!

lyndie; what is japlish????

Japlish is Japanese/English! My Japanese is a bit rusty so I speak Japlish! Have fun!

naruhodo. okini very much! you also have fun in nippon!!

kuranosuke-such lovely words "naruhodo. okini".....pls tell me what they mean. Cannot remember those two words.....flat out recalling "o'tearai ni ikimasu!" Most important phrase for me!

BTW.... Priceline to the rescue for reasonable hotel prices in Tokyo....Crowne Plaza Tokyo US93 plus tax equals US110 per night for 4 nights. It's more than we wanted to spend, however still cheaper than the very awful Crowne Plaza, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Hi Lyndie. Definitely do negotiate for hotel rooms. I asked for a better rate in Hakodate and Hiroshima and got discounts of 20 or 25% from the walk-up rates last May.

Some inexpensive (by Japanese standards) lodging can be found here:
http://www.itcj.or.jp/indexwel.html

I got the Crowne Plaza Metropolitan in Ikebukuro through Priceline, too. It is something like the HI Silom but with smaller rooms (actually, that is probably not a valid comparison since I'm comparing the tower club room in BKK with a standard double in Tokyo).

tks a lot mr wunrfl for the hotel bargaining info and the website. 20%-25% off is good stuff!

lyndie; sumimasen, naruhodo means i see/i understand. okini is osaka slang for thank you. can't blame you for not understanding it. i wouldn't be surprised if alot of japanese people don't understand it.

btw, you are being too modest, your phrase of going to the bathroom/restroom is excellent.

have a good time in japan, and if possible, post a report, as i too, like to travel on a budget.

btw, if you are into good kaiten sushi, and cheap delicious ramen, let me know.

Hi Ooishi san,

Just for the record, ookini (kansai DIALECT - not SLANG - to be exact in my understanding of the term slang and dialect) is a very popular word so I would be more surprised to find any Japanese who does not understand the word. I espcially like the intonation with which women say ookini (that I can't tansfer here in written form.)

Lyndie - Aside from Tokyo, where else do you intend to travel in Japan? I just finished planning my accomodations, and I'm quite pleased with how little I'll be spending for some places and how reasonably priced my other accomodations are. For my first three nights in Kyoto, I am spending around 5500 yen/night. And, it's well recommended, so I don't think I'm making a mistake there. This low rate justifies my spending a little more at other places.

You can definitely find nice budget accomodations, you'll just have to look a little more diligently in some areas. In other areas, the accomodations are just less expensive. I'll be staying at an inn in Magome, which looks just lovely, for around 8700 yen for one night. This includes dinner and breakfast.

I too was shocked when I first started planning. I contacted a travel agent and told her that I needed to keep everything as low budget as possible, which she seemed to understand. She told me that her "ground operator" said I would need a driver and a guide for all of the places that I wanted to go to, which for eight days would run me around $15,000 USD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really did not know how I would go about planning it on my own until I came across this board, which has apparently saved me a little over $14,000 on this trip alone!!! Thanks everyone!!!!!!!

I'm leaving next Thursday and cannot wait to get on that plane! :)

kappa-san, genki? thanks for the correction. now that you mentioned it, i remember that usually women use ookini, right? boy, did i make a mistake.

your contris have always been helpful to me. domo.

This a good site for short overall of various areas. http://english.itp.ne.jp/content/dis...kyo/index.html
Highly suggest Hakone but plan for two days - there is so much to do there. The open air art museum is fantastic ! Yokohama and Kamakura are good day trips out of Tokyo also. Mt Takoe is a great day trip also - nice hiking and great view once you get to the top ! Beautiful area. If you crave American food while there here are some inexpensive but good places: West Park Cafe in Akasaka, Wolfgang Puck Jr (sorry for this one ! chain but.. it was good), Hobgoblin is a nice British pub for a pint. Sorry for offering 'American' food but I was there for over two weeks and craved a burger or chicken :) Be sure to visit the fish market in Tokyo too... quite interesting and great sushi ! I found a great book "Fodor's Citypack Tokyo's Best". Probably THE best book I have ever had. It had tons of good info and the "Top 25" things to do in Tokyo were actually wonderful - the only one I didn't do nor care for was Disney ! Great book with a map and both will fit in your back pocket ! Have a great trip !

Sorry to Lyndie because this is off topic but, kunanosuke-san, I should rather have said, every Japanese knows what ookini means as they know kuranosuke's family name is ooishi (not to be confused with oishii). Cheers!

You might see if you can find the book "Tokyo For Free" by Susan Pompian. It was recommended to me not just for "cheap" but also for "good". One feature that worked great for directions is that the places include the Japanese character name as well as the English name, so you can show to a taxi driver or subway attendant to get you in the right direction. There are chapters for all interests, museum, gardens, temples, martial arts, sports, art galleries, music. Like all big cities, Tokyo has many things that can be enjoyed without a lot of money. Also, for cheap and quick eating, do something I would never do in the US and eat the sushi sold at 7-11 and their equivalents all over Japan. There are also similar items like a cross between sushi and a sandwich (omiogi?) that is a triangle about the same size as half a sandwich but is really a bundle of rice, wrapped in the same seaweed wrapper as sushi but with a sandwich-like filling (we liked tuna salad best). They also have good old fashioned ham and cheese sandwiches if you get tired of Japanese food. It is all good and healthy, not at all creepy like here at a US 7-11. Enjoy planning your trip!

To piggyback on Laurie Ann's comment re: 7-11 - the same is true for the food that you can purchase at the subway stops. Incredible selection. The 'top 25' things to do in the book mentioned in my previous posting contains many 'freebies' also ! Cheap food is great and plentiful there ! If you like sushi you will be surprised at how good and cheap it is. Also, if you are not aware - there are no street numbers used in their address. The concierge at my hotel was a lifesaver - they had a huge drawer of folders with map/directions to every place I inquired about - even the Harley Davidson shop ! I took for granted there would be street names/numbers but I was surprised !Luckily, I did read that before departing so I was somewhat prepared.

Wow-domo arigato gosaimasu/okini to everyone for the great information posted here. Much appreciated!

kuranosoke-I love sushi, sashimi,tonaktsu,ramen,shabu-shabu, agedashi tofu etc. Worked for a Japanese company for years so got to love the food. The co. owned 2 restaurants, among other businesses and for my farewell my boss gave me siz months free eating at one of them! Sushi is one of my fave foods! Pls let me in on your tips!
Linda05-would you pls post some feedback here during/after your trip? How long are you in Japan?

We are planning to stay in Tokyo for 4 nights then hop a train or bus to Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya then fly to Beijing for a few days. We've been told Hokkaido may be too cold in May so thought we'd see some of the south for 10 days. All up we're planning 2 weeks in Japan and a week in Beijing/Xian. We've visited Shanghai and are keen to see Beijing.

Flbronc and laurie_ann-much appreciate your valuable input. People here are full of wonderful knowledge and it's great to have these magic tips from all of you. Happy travels & if anyone wants to add anythin, pls go right ahead. All info, much valued!

Hi Lyndie
I thought it was about time that an Aussie replied..at least we do have a bit of an idea about how expensive it is for us given our Aussie dollar against the yen or even the US dollar!! Anyway, we were there in September and had a fantastic time .. you could have a look at my report for some ideas. Every now and then I look back at this site. The people on this site were really helpful in terms of their advice and so I like to give some help back as well as salivate about some of the memories the various questions engender. Maybe we might go back...? Anyway, in terms of accommodation try the Toyoko Chain. They usually have a hotel in every major city. They are business hotels which mean that local Japanese business men use them. They are quite small but they have the basics!In Kyoto I did try and book at the Tour Club which sounded great but they did not have room. Eventually, I booked through Hotel.com (I'll have to check) a room which was on special at the Kyoto Tower Hotel (again I'll have to check). It was almost on the Kyoto station and fantastic value. The Granvia was way beyond our budget!!!
I would strongly recommend that you purchase a JR pass if you intend to travel. We did our sums after and we would have paid double if we had not used them. Having the JR pass was very very convenient!! We could also use it on the subway system in Tokyo. Enough for now. Will check back every now and then...

lyndie; lucky you, free food for 6 months. i hope you took advantage of this, as i am sure you earned it.

my favorite sushi place is sushizanmai in tsukiji fish market. take the hibiya line to tsukiji station, and its about a 10 min. walk to the fish market.

if you like kaiten sushi, and some do as you can pick and choose with abandon, i like maguro hito in asakusa, about a 5 min. walk past the big red chochin on the main road. if you can't find it, just ask the police and the police koban near the red chochin.

i think florence had a great tonkatsu restaurant she recommended. just click on her name. i think it was also in asakusa.

tks albaaust and kuranosoke for the info. alba-did you buy your JR pass in Oz? If so. who from?

Have fun you two!

my spelling is hopeless-should preview! sorry kuranosuke for spelling errors!

Click on "Oceana" on the following page for a list of places in Australia where you can buy an exchange order for a JR Pass:
http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en05.html

tks mrwunrfl. I'm thinking the overnight bus (www.nightbus.info/ourservice.htm) from Tokyo to Kyoto or Kobe is good value at 4800 yen per person. Then maybe buy a JR West pass or JR East pass depending on where we decide to go. These passes are much cheaper than the JR pass for 7 days, which I don't think we can use to our financial advantage. What do you think?

Hi Lyndie
You said earlier you got a good deal on Frequent Flyers so did we - the flight from Sydney cost us 40,000FF from Sydney! Hope your deal was better. What was really good was that we actually flew JAL to Tokyo. I can fill you on some tips about maybe flying on that airline if you want.Anyway,ever mindful of building up those Frequent Flyers I purchased them from the Qantas head office (in Perth)-meant we got bonus points. Also purchased insurance from them... ditto

Sorry..bit ambiguous..We purchased the JR passes from the Qantas Head Office. They took about a week to process.

OK me again the hotel site we used was http://www.hotelclub.com.au/
and we stayed at the Dai-ni Tower Hotel. It is currently offering a hot deal of 10,000 yen a night for a double room.

I think it depends on your actual itinerary. The 4800 yen bus fare is certainly cheap.

The JR East Pass is 20,000. That plus a Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo bus trip costing 9600 would be more than a 7-day pass. The JR West passes may be useful.

You need to read the restrictions on the passes to understand what trains you can't take and to see what region the passes cover. It ends up being a trade of time and effort for money (e.g. 6.5 hours Kyoto to Hiroshima with two changes of local train vs 1.5 hours on a shinkansen).

I've seen Uji give bus travel advice on the japan-guide forum.

Here is info about a variety of rail passes:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

Thanks, guys, for the info.

albaaust-yep 40,000 points Syd/Tokyo. Bargain I say! Emailed Qantas ff and am awaiting their reply on JR pass, so thanks for forward info. Seems we are flying on QF so whether they codeshare with JL or not, not sure. Thanks also for hotel website. Any airline tips appreciated, please! We are both around 180cm tall so seat tips on seatguru are first thing I seek!

mrwunrfl-appreciate those web addresses!! and yes I'm leaning toward the JR west pass. Will do some costings and check out those sites.

Of to cook some dahl now-the Hunter Valley has turned on a magic day today! Have fun all!

I just realized that I made a mistake in describing the JR West Sanyo Area Pass. It does cover the Sanyo shinkansen, including Nozomi, from Kyoto to Himeji to Hiroshima to Hakata. It also covers the Haruka Limited express between Kyoto - Shin Osaka - Osaks - Tennoji - Kansai Airport. It is 20,000 for 4 days.

http://www.westjr.co.jp/english/travel/jrp/index.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_04.html

Hi again.Firstly, my husband is 190cm so he does have a problem with being comfortable when flying. Our flight was Qantas from Sydney to Brisbane and then JAL from Brisbane. We had to catch a special train from Brisbane Domestic airport to the international airport to connect to the JAL. What I did when we got to Brisbane was simply to explain to the guy doing the ticketing about leg space and he then organised for us to have two seats with one between us and to keep it free. I'm small so don't need the space. On the way back what we did just before the plane took off was have a quick look at empty places then put various belongings on them. You have to be quick but you will know the regular travellers because they will all be doing it. One couple who were obviously together actually had four seats to themselves (in the middle of the plane)and slept across all the way back. Bet you have the midnight flight back!!
Obviously, strictly speaking this is not legal but I bet because Qantas has these specials on at this time that the planes are not full!

Just re-read what I wrote.I have to tell you that the Japanese are so polite that they are not the ones swapping seats. The other thing is that some people actually swapped seats completely before the plane took off!! Another thought I had is if you are able why not hire a bicycle while you are in Kyoto? It is cheap, you keep fit and you certainly experience more than catching a bus! We came across a French couple who were doing this- they had hired bikes from somewhere near Gion and we were envious. I'm sure that other people would be able to provide you with more information on this if you are interested.

Me again... sorry...stream of consciousness stuff..if you are tall you will laugh at how small some of the bathrooms are in the hotels.Japanese hotels have not caught up with the fact that their population is growing taller!