How to cut costs on vacation to Japan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just came from spending time in Tokyo and Osaka last week. I only have a few recommendations, but to be honest, I didn't find it that expensive. In fact, we found food to be much cheaper there than here at home.

As for recommendations, set a price alert on Google and watch flight prices. Also, we found it cheaper to book the flight there and home separately, which is unusual. We ended up American the entire way but on two separate reservations.

We've been to Tokyo twice. The first time we stayed at Hotel Groove Shinjuku, which was an amazing hotel with an awesome view, but there weren't that many places to eat, especially with kids, in walking distance.

This past time, we stayed at Karaksa Tokyo Station Hotel, which had a ton of stuff within walking distance, especially in Tokyo Station itself. We much preferred the location. We even let our 15-year old teenagers go walk around the neighborhood and Tokyo Station on their own to get food, go to 7/11, shop at Character Street, etc.

You let your 15 year old kids walk around Tokyo without you? Did you at least have armed personal security with them? What a wild life.

Ha ha! I love this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Japan can be really cheap once you get there. While I didn't stay here, lots of people endorse Dormy Inn as a clean, safe, and inexpensive Japanese hotel chain.

I'm a foodie, but my second fave meal after the insanely expensive two Michelin star meal was an $8 omurice from a famous spot.

The trains aren't very expensive either. People complain about the price of bullet train, but it's like 20% of the price of the Acela and a million times better.

Besides the plane tickets for ~$1,200 (I flew middle seat economy), it was a pretty inexpensive trip for me.

I strongly disagree with this...it's tough to find accommodations under $100/night. Ryokans are not exactly friendly to westerners that don't speak Japanese AND you have to be cool with sleeping on the floor. Meals will still be at least $50/pp. It's slightly cheaper than DC but only because of the currency difference.

When was under $100 a night? Yeah, that's pretty cheap. I was finding places closer to $150, which I consider extremely cheap given that an awful hotel room in Manhattan is $400.

In any event, Dormy Inns aren't ryokans. They're like Japanese Holiday Inns. Depending on the season, you actually can find them at <$100 a night. But more often in the low $100s. And meals can absolutely be well under $50/pp. That's ridiculous. Ramen. Street food. Omurice. There are lot of options if you want to keep prices down. Personally, I enjoy indulgent meals and so mixed it up. But you could definitely stay under $25 for all your meals if you wanted to.

[Anonymous]

My hotel points with Hyatt and Marriott went really far in Japan and between two adults covered 10/12 nights lodging at nice places in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Perhaps look for a good credit card deal to max out points.

[Anonymous]

Last time we spent a little less than 20K all told, for 4 people, in 2015. Sunrise Prince hotel in Tokyo, which is a prime activity spot but definitely for tourists. We spent a few days in Hakone, in a traditional ryokan. Didn't have time for Kyoto or Nara, but we'd done those previously. We had a packed schedule of family visits, and museum and shrine visits.

If you are at all a fan of the Ghibli movies, I HIGHLY recommend you visit the museum. Back then, they were only available by lottery months in advance, so please plan for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Japan can be really cheap once you get there. While I didn't stay here, lots of people endorse Dormy Inn as a clean, safe, and inexpensive Japanese hotel chain.

I'm a foodie, but my second fave meal after the insanely expensive two Michelin star meal was an $8 omurice from a famous spot.

The trains aren't very expensive either. People complain about the price of bullet train, but it's like 20% of the price of the Acela and a million times better.

Besides the plane tickets for ~$1,200 (I flew middle seat economy), it was a pretty inexpensive trip for me.

I strongly disagree with this...it's tough to find accommodations under $100/night. Ryokans are not exactly friendly to westerners that don't speak Japanese AND you have to be cool with sleeping on the floor. Meals will still be at least $50/pp. It's slightly cheaper than DC but only because of the currency difference.

Ryokans are traditional inns, NOT budget accommodations. The entire point is to have an experience from past centuries, to sleep in futon on tatami mats, and eat traditional meals seated on the floor served by wait staff in kimono! Often there are onsen (hot spring baths) attached. You pay for the experience: I love sleeping in a futon on tatami and the food is usually delicious. It's my favorite part of going to Japan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just came from spending time in Tokyo and Osaka last week. I only have a few recommendations, but to be honest, I didn't find it that expensive. In fact, we found food to be much cheaper there than here at home.

As for recommendations, set a price alert on Google and watch flight prices. Also, we found it cheaper to book the flight there and home separately, which is unusual. We ended up American the entire way but on two separate reservations.

We've been to Tokyo twice. The first time we stayed at Hotel Groove Shinjuku, which was an amazing hotel with an awesome view, but there weren't that many places to eat, especially with kids, in walking distance.

This past time, we stayed at Karaksa Tokyo Station Hotel, which had a ton of stuff within walking distance, especially in Tokyo Station itself. We much preferred the location. We even let our 15-year old teenagers go walk around the neighborhood and Tokyo Station on their own to get food, go to 7/11, shop at Character Street, etc.

You let your 15 year old kids walk around Tokyo without you? Did you at least have armed personal security with them? What a wild life.

We let them walk around Tokyo Station and Ginza without us, major shopping/tourist areas, and within a few blocks of our hotel, in the middle of the day. Have you been to Tokyo? It's incredibly safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just came from spending time in Tokyo and Osaka last week. I only have a few recommendations, but to be honest, I didn't find it that expensive. In fact, we found food to be much cheaper there than here at home.

As for recommendations, set a price alert on Google and watch flight prices. Also, we found it cheaper to book the flight there and home separately, which is unusual. We ended up American the entire way but on two separate reservations.

We've been to Tokyo twice. The first time we stayed at Hotel Groove Shinjuku, which was an amazing hotel with an awesome view, but there weren't that many places to eat, especially with kids, in walking distance.

This past time, we stayed at Karaksa Tokyo Station Hotel, which had a ton of stuff within walking distance, especially in Tokyo Station itself. We much preferred the location. We even let our 15-year old teenagers go walk around the neighborhood and Tokyo Station on their own to get food, go to 7/11, shop at Character Street, etc.

You didn't find it expensive...? We spent 13K on plane tickets and the AirBNB for 5 before money spent there

I'm the pp. The plane tickets were expensive, about $1K per person for economy seats. The hotels weren't any more expensive than city hotels in the US, especially b/c we're a family of 6 and always need large rooms or 2 rooms, so hotels are always pricey for us.

[Anonymous]

Something else to keep in mind is that while the trains are amazing, it may be cheaper to fly from one place to another. JAL and ANA sometimes even offer free domestic fares within Japan when booked with your international flight.

We did Osaka at the end of our trip. I was going to book the train back to Tokyo to get our flight home. But, it was much cheaper to fly out of ITM (Osaka's city airport, like the equivalent of DCA) directly to Haneda and then fly home. In addition, there is no direct train to HND or NRT from Osaka, so we would have had to go into Tokyo and then switch trains to get to the airport. And, finally, many trains don't have a lot of luggage storage and are very crowded, especially at holidays. Overall, flying from ITM to HND on JAL was super easy. I think we took 7 or 8 flights on our trip to Asia, and the short JAL flight was the nicest and easiest.

[Anonymous]

Tokyo is an amazing city, and Japan as a country is one of the safest places in the world. Kindergarten students walk to school alone - yes, all you other posters that are acting like kids could never be alone in a city, that's correct.

I have been twice - as an adult/couple and as a family with 2 teens. The most recent time, we stayed at the Oakwood Azabu Tokyo, which was two twin beds so we had two rooms. There was a kitchenette and washer/dryer in the room, so depending on the duration of your stay, you could do laundry if you needed. Breakfast was included every day and that saved us a lot of money - Japanese breakfast includes Miso Soup, Onigiri and Green Tea and the hotel had more "Western" options to include bread, cereal, fruit, etc. I believe there was a Nespresso machine in our rooms. We also went to the 7-11 and stocked up on Ramen, Sushi, etc that we could make in our rooms. The 7-11 food is amazing and you'll be surprised at how good it is (and even the locals eat it daily). Some 7-11s offer different unique food they make there at the specific location as well. Family Mart (another local chain) is known for their Fried Chicken.

We booked a private tour, and that guide showed us how to buy four day unlimited-use Subway passes, and that saved us a ton of money. The subway system is amazing, and there are multiple lines (JR, Tokyo Subway, etc). The streets are clean, wide and very pedestrian friendly.

As far as shopping, you could spend as much as you want. Each neighborhood is unique - Ginza, Harajuku, Shibuya, etc. The department stores are something to see, and they have dining halls and restaurants within them. Don Quixote (the jingle will rattle around in your head forever) is a store that has everything from Paperclips to Louis Vuitton bags, and maybe even a suitcase if you need one to bring all of your souvenirs home. They will do a tax/duty-free purchase so that will save you a ton of money (just have your passport on hand). You'll be amazed by the packaging and wrapping-up of things. There is a high-end mall (Shinjuku) with stores like Lululemon (it was fun for my daughter and I - they have "Asia Only" styles) and it was cheaper - again, bring your passport when shopping.

There is very little to no language barrier. Most (especially younger) Japanese speak English and are happy to accommodate you and they are so helpful - they may even walk to you where you need to go!!

It's a fascinating and wonderful place. I will tell you the jet lag takes about a week to wear off. We arrived at night (7pm?) and went right to sleep, but were waking at 2,3 am for a few days. Around the time we had fully adjusted on day 5 it was time to go. We never even ate a proper dinner - rather 7-11 food in our rooms! - and crashed happily with our bellies full.

Enjoy your vacation!

[Anonymous]

We were staying in a five star hotel with an incredibly expensive breakfast buffet but skipped that and just had breakfast at the coffee chain in the subway station in the basement.

If you're taking trains, there are different companies besides Japan Rail. We got the Nikko pass which gave us the train up to Nikko as well as buses and local trains during our visit, and was much cheaper than getting a JR pass for tourists. (Nikko is worth visiting). Research where you want to go and see if travel passes are worthwhile.

There are massive shopping areas in the suburbs, such as Kawasaki, which are easy to get to and not full of lines of tourists like Ginza.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just came from spending time in Tokyo and Osaka last week. I only have a few recommendations, but to be honest, I didn't find it that expensive. In fact, we found food to be much cheaper there than here at home.

As for recommendations, set a price alert on Google and watch flight prices. Also, we found it cheaper to book the flight there and home separately, which is unusual. We ended up American the entire way but on two separate reservations.

We've been to Tokyo twice. The first time we stayed at Hotel Groove Shinjuku, which was an amazing hotel with an awesome view, but there weren't that many places to eat, especially with kids, in walking distance.

This past time, we stayed at Karaksa Tokyo Station Hotel, which had a ton of stuff within walking distance, especially in Tokyo Station itself. We much preferred the location. We even let our 15-year old teenagers go walk around the neighborhood and Tokyo Station on their own to get food, go to 7/11, shop at Character Street, etc.

Thanks for your detailed response!

How long were you in Tokyo?

On both trips, we did 3 nights in Tokyo itself. On our first trip, we also did 3 nights (including the night we arrived, so that day was lost) at Disney. My 15-year old daughter is a HUGE kawaii/Hello Kitty fan, so she just loved all the shopping. She also loves cosmetics and J-Fashion. So she loved just exploring all the stores, including Shibuya 109, which is 9 stories of J-fashion. We also loved Don Quixote, but it is VERY overstimulating but has tons of cute stuff. She also loved all the gacha capsule machines

My 15-year old son loved all the Pokemon centers (as did my DD and 12 year old DS and 7 year old DS), the various aquariums, the Samurai museum, and trying new foods. They both loved picking stuff out from 7/11. Our most recent trip was very low-key and we didn't do as much as we hoped b/c half of us ended up getting sick. DH did take DS1 and DS3 to the zoo and natural history museum in Ueno Park, and he said both were very underwhelming, especially compared to what we have here in DC.

We also did 4 nights in Osaka. We did 1.5 days (actually 1 full day and a late afternoon and evening) at Universal, our arrival day at the Osaka Aquarium and Universal CityWalk, and 1 day at Osaka Castle and Dontonburi/the main shopping area. I would have liked more time in Osaka and to go to Kyoto and Nara, but not enough time on this trip.

The other thing that was cheaper in Japan was Disney and Universal. The tickets to the parks are a LOT cheaper than Florida, and we've been to WDW a lot. However, they were also unbelievably crowded. Our first day at Universal was crazy with the number of people, like wall to wall, the most humanity I've seen in one place. You 1,000% need express passes b/c the Japanese think nothing of waiting 3-5 hours in line for rides. We also were there at the probably absolute busiest time of the year, so that didn't help. I'm sure results would differ if you went another time.

Did you visit anywhere else?

What did your teens enjoy most?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just came from spending time in Tokyo and Osaka last week. I only have a few recommendations, but to be honest, I didn't find it that expensive. In fact, we found food to be much cheaper there than here at home.

As for recommendations, set a price alert on Google and watch flight prices. Also, we found it cheaper to book the flight there and home separately, which is unusual. We ended up American the entire way but on two separate reservations.

We've been to Tokyo twice. The first time we stayed at Hotel Groove Shinjuku, which was an amazing hotel with an awesome view, but there weren't that many places to eat, especially with kids, in walking distance.

This past time, we stayed at Karaksa Tokyo Station Hotel, which had a ton of stuff within walking distance, especially in Tokyo Station itself. We much preferred the location. We even let our 15-year old teenagers go walk around the neighborhood and Tokyo Station on their own to get food, go to 7/11, shop at Character Street, etc.

Thanks for your detailed response!

How long were you in Tokyo?

On both trips, we did 3 nights in Tokyo itself. On our first trip, we also did 3 nights (including the night we arrived, so that day was lost) at Disney. My 15-year old daughter is a HUGE kawaii/Hello Kitty fan, so she just loved all the shopping. She also loves cosmetics and J-Fashion. So she loved just exploring all the stores, including Shibuya 109, which is 9 stories of J-fashion. We also loved Don Quixote, but it is VERY overstimulating but has tons of cute stuff. She also loved all the gacha capsule machines

My 15-year old son loved all the Pokemon centers (as did my DD and 12 year old DS and 7 year old DS), the various aquariums, the Samurai museum, and trying new foods. They both loved picking stuff out from 7/11. Our most recent trip was very low-key and we didn't do as much as we hoped b/c half of us ended up getting sick. DH did take DS1 and DS3 to the zoo and natural history museum in Ueno Park, and he said both were very underwhelming, especially compared to what we have here in DC.

We also did 4 nights in Osaka. We did 1.5 days (actually 1 full day and a late afternoon and evening) at Universal, our arrival day at the Osaka Aquarium and Universal CityWalk, and 1 day at Osaka Castle and Dontonburi/the main shopping area. I would have liked more time in Osaka and to go to Kyoto and Nara, but not enough time on this trip.

The other thing that was cheaper in Japan was Disney and Universal. The tickets to the parks are a LOT cheaper than Florida, and we've been to WDW a lot. However, they were also unbelievably crowded. Our first day at Universal was crazy with the number of people, like wall to wall, the most humanity I've seen in one place. You 1,000% need express passes b/c the Japanese think nothing of waiting 3-5 hours in line for rides. We also were there at the probably absolute busiest time of the year, so that didn't help. I'm sure results would differ if you went another time.

Did you visit anywhere else?

What did your teens enjoy most?

On both trips, we did 3 nights in Tokyo itself. On our first trip, we also did 3 nights (including the night we arrived, so that day was lost) at Disney. My 15-year old daughter is a HUGE kawaii/Hello Kitty fan, so she just loved all the shopping. She also loves cosmetics and J-Fashion. So she loved just exploring all the stores, including Shibuya 109, which is 9 stories of J-fashion. We also loved Don Quixote, but it is VERY overstimulating but has tons of cute stuff. She also loved all the gacha capsule machines

My 15-year old son loved all the Pokemon centers (as did my DD and 12 year old DS and 7 year old DS), the various aquariums, the Samurai museum, and trying new foods. They both loved picking stuff out from 7/11. Our most recent trip was very low-key and we didn't do as much as we hoped b/c half of us ended up getting sick. DH did take DS1 and DS3 to the zoo and natural history museum in Ueno Park, and he said both were very underwhelming, especially compared to what we have here in DC.

We also did 4 nights in Osaka. We did 1.5 days (actually 1 full day and a late afternoon and evening) at Universal, our arrival day at the Osaka Aquarium and Universal CityWalk, and 1 day at Osaka Castle and Dontonburi/the main shopping area. I would have liked more time in Osaka and to go to Kyoto and Nara, but not enough time on this trip.

The other thing that was cheaper in Japan was Disney and Universal. The tickets to the parks are a LOT cheaper than Florida, and we've been to WDW a lot. However, they were also unbelievably crowded. Our first day at Universal was crazy with the number of people, like wall to wall, the most humanity I've seen in one place. You 1,000% need express passes b/c the Japanese think nothing of waiting 3-5 hours in line for rides. We also were there at the probably absolute busiest time of the year, so that didn't help. I'm sure results would differ if you went another time.

Did you visit anywhere else?

What did your teens enjoy most?

[Anonymous]

I found accommodations expensive, but food is cheap! Trains and metro cheap and easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found accommodations expensive, but food is cheap! Trains and metro cheap and easy.

Yes agree that food and transportation is cheap. But accommodations about the same. Hostels with room and private bathroom are a good option, I stayed one night for 7000 yen (less than $50 usd) in Tokyo.

Even Uniqlo items were much less than here, even before the no tax.
You have to spend a minimum amount (5000 yen) to purchase tax free. You have to show your passport at the store, which is much better than trying to fill out forms at the airport.

[Anonymous]

100% agree you can do Tokyo cheap. I actually can do Paris and many cities around the world cheaper than you can imagine. The trick is going where tourists don't go. So you have to manage your expectations. Culturally Japan is crazy safe. A lot of global cities are in fact. A lot of cities in the US are as well you'd be surprised. Again you can't just go anywhere but you can def be safe. 7-11 in Japan are amazing. Def to be experienced - totally not what 7-11 here are. Everything Japan does culturally is high end. I am not kidding.

This all being said, not sure you want to eat all your meals from 7-11?

Again any major city you can mix it up. People who travel often would know this - more than most countries however it's applicable to Tokyo because of their culture.

The must expensive part of going will def be the flights I agree.