Tokyo is stupidly cheap

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the travel forum, so I’ll thank the op for flagging how cheap it is as compared to US cities and European destinations where everything is overpriced.

Brace yourself for $20+ burgers at the local DE/MD beaches.

When we were in Miami last year we met a family from the UK (London!) who complained about the cost at restaurants in Miami (where a burger is $25+ and a nice salad with protein is nearly $30).

If you can eat a nice lunch in Japan for $15, that is reasonable.

But what about flights? Hotels?

Flights are the most expensive part, everything, and I mean everything about Tokyo is stupidly cheap with enough planning. We stayed at a very nice boutique hotel right in downtown for about $80 per night. What kind of terrible trash roach motel would you get n West Virginia fir $80 per night in comparison, let alone NYC….

Also, all of these wonderful prices come with ZERO expectations for tipping because Japan doesn’t have terrible tipping culture like the US, so the $15 lunch in a fancy area like Ginza really is $15. Service in Asia also tends to be way better than Europe, on average.

[Anonymous]

I love this info, thanks OP! I am planning to do a long Asia trip in the next 3-4 years and this is good to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dunno why Japan isn't more popular with Americans at the moment - we just got back from there, and it is amaaaaaaazing what the USD gets you there with the current weakness of the yen and a 140:1 exchange rate. Tokyo is so absurdly cheap it is shocking. We walked by real estate agencies and saw so many apartments costing less than $1000 per mo. You can buy fantastic quality lunch sets for less than $15 - and this is in swanky areas like Ginza. Compare those kinds of prices to a sister first tier city like NYC where everything would be 2-3x cost. It's truly remarkable how far the dollar goes currently in Japan. As soons we got back home, we got sticker shock ordering two lattes alone from Starbucks that cost over $11.

Yes, I know there is a lot of macroeconomics issues behind the cheapness of Japan. But I don't think I could recommend the country highly enough of you're looking to travel. The cost is sooooo much better than areas like Europe for what you get. Take advantage of the dollar strength while you can!

yeah, i don't get all the weird excuses in the comment thread. everytime we come back from japan after a decent vacation or work trip we are sticker shocked.

Japan is cheap. Tokyo is cheap. The rural areas are cheap.

Again we are foreigners so there may be weird social undercurrents, but the price of stuff is cheap. Fast food is cheap, michelin starred restaurants are cheap, transportation is cheap, hotels are cheap, homes are cheap (yes even on sqft to sqft comparison), rent is cheap, food is cheap, healthcare is cheap. My comparisions are DC/NYC for urban areas and western MD/WV for rural areas. Japan is cheap, clean, and safe. Prices in Japan are like prices from the early 2000s here. There really is no way getting around it.

When you go you western europe, stuff seems compariable (some stuff cheaper, some more expensive), but Japan just is so cheap.

[Anonymous]

I don't go because its so far away. Spring break is only a week, so that's too far for such a short time. Summer is hot. But anyone who has been in the summer, sell me on it and I'll go!

[Anonymous]

Probably because budget-conscious travelers are not generally the type of people who can drop $1,000+ on a plane ticket and take the 2 weeks off that is pretty much the minimum to make a 16 hour flight each way worth it.

If those things aren't a problem for you, spending an extra $5-10 per meal probably also aren't a problem for you.

[Anonymous]

IDK all these people fighting but I'm learning a lot about Japan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably because budget-conscious travelers are not generally the type of people who can drop $1,000+ on a plane ticket and take the 2 weeks off that is pretty much the minimum to make a 16 hour flight each way worth it.

If those things aren't a problem for you, spending an extra $5-10 per meal probably also aren't a problem for you.

FYI if you can get a nonstop it's 14 hours to Tokyo from Dulles, 12.5 hours back. Still a long way, but not quite 16 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably because budget-conscious travelers are not generally the type of people who can drop $1,000+ on a plane ticket and take the 2 weeks off that is pretty much the minimum to make a 16 hour flight each way worth it.

If those things aren't a problem for you, spending an extra $5-10 per meal probably also aren't a problem for you.

FYI if you can get a nonstop it's 14 hours to Tokyo from Dulles, 12.5 hours back. Still a long way, but not quite 16 hours.

And you can suffer through that in coach without going crazy. I have to visit relatives in Vietnam so I may do 10 days there then 3 days on either end in Japan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the travel forum, so I’ll thank the op for flagging how cheap it is as compared to US cities and European destinations where everything is overpriced.

Brace yourself for $20+ burgers at the local DE/MD beaches.

When we were in Miami last year we met a family from the UK (London!) who complained about the cost at restaurants in Miami (where a burger is $25+ and a nice salad with protein is nearly $30).

If you can eat a nice lunch in Japan for $15, that is reasonable.

But what about flights? Hotels?

Flights are the most expensive part, everything, and I mean everything about Tokyo is stupidly cheap with enough planning. We stayed at a very nice boutique hotel right in downtown for about $80 per night. What kind of terrible trash roach motel would you get n West Virginia fir $80 per night in comparison, let alone NYC….

Also, all of these wonderful prices come with ZERO expectations for tipping because Japan doesn’t have terrible tipping culture like the US, so the $15 lunch in a fancy area like Ginza really is $15. Service in Asia also tends to be way better than Europe, on average.

I'm planning to bring my kids to see Tokyo next spring. Can you share which hotel you were at?
Also any recs with kids (if you went with them)?
Thx!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably because budget-conscious travelers are not generally the type of people who can drop $1,000+ on a plane ticket and take the 2 weeks off that is pretty much the minimum to make a 16 hour flight each way worth it.

If those things aren't a problem for you, spending an extra $5-10 per meal probably also aren't a problem for you.

FYI if you can get a nonstop it's 14 hours to Tokyo from Dulles, 12.5 hours back. Still a long way, but not quite 16 hours.

And always fly ANA. They code share with United, so always check and make sure to take the ANA plane. The food and service is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably because budget-conscious travelers are not generally the type of people who can drop $1,000+ on a plane ticket and take the 2 weeks off that is pretty much the minimum to make a 16 hour flight each way worth it.

If those things aren't a problem for you, spending an extra $5-10 per meal probably also aren't a problem for you.

FYI if you can get a nonstop it's 14 hours to Tokyo from Dulles, 12.5 hours back. Still a long way, but not quite 16 hours.

And you can suffer through that in coach without going crazy. I have to visit relatives in Vietnam so I may do 10 days there then 3 days on either end in Japan.

Yeah that extra flight to get to Southeast Asia is so brutal. I went there many years ago and was in rough shape coming off the flight to Tokyo, but could have done okay. But to then change planes and get on another 6 hour flight was too much.

[Anonymous]

OP, any recommendations on hotels? The hotels/ryokans we usually stay at in Japan have doubled in price since pre-pandemic (e.g. Peninsula Tokyo used to be my mainstay and $550/night or $350 with my corporate discount, now it is $1000+, similar with Amans in Tokyo and Kyoto).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even prepandemic, I found many major 'expensive' metropolitan areas to be surprisingly cheap - top of the list was Paris and Tokyo.

+1, though I haven't been to Tokyo. Many first-class cities are sneaky inexpensive if you know where to look and what to do. Like Paris is always cheaper than London even though I consider them about equal in terms of cultural centers. Copenhagen is always cheaper than Stockholm. Rome is cheaper than Florence. and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably because budget-conscious travelers are not generally the type of people who can drop $1,000+ on a plane ticket and take the 2 weeks off that is pretty much the minimum to make a 16 hour flight each way worth it.

If those things aren't a problem for you, spending an extra $5-10 per meal probably also aren't a problem for you.

FYI if you can get a nonstop it's 14 hours to Tokyo from Dulles, 12.5 hours back. Still a long way, but not quite 16 hours.

And you can suffer through that in coach without going crazy. I have to visit relatives in Vietnam so I may do 10 days there then 3 days on either end in Japan.

Yeah that extra flight to get to Southeast Asia is so brutal. I went there many years ago and was in rough shape coming off the flight to Tokyo, but could have done okay. But to then change planes and get on another 6 hour flight was too much.

I did it once in my early 30s and it almost killed me …. no way can I do it in my 50s!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the travel forum, so I’ll thank the op for flagging how cheap it is as compared to US cities and European destinations where everything is overpriced.

Brace yourself for $20+ burgers at the local DE/MD beaches.

When we were in Miami last year we met a family from the UK (London!) who complained about the cost at restaurants in Miami (where a burger is $25+ and a nice salad with protein is nearly $30).

If you can eat a nice lunch in Japan for $15, that is reasonable.

But what about flights? Hotels?

We just priced tickets to a convention in Japan next April and were SHOCKED! $6000 economy for our family of three! Yikes. We didn’t even look into hotels because we nixed the idea.

I don’t think $30 for a salad with protein in a resort area (especially Miami) sounds astronomical. I always wonder about Europeans who come to popular and known-to-be-expensive areas in our country and then complain about the cost. Do they not know how to do their research like we do? Did someone hold a gun to their heads when selecting holiday destinations?