Ramen Osaka
How much should I bring for 5 days in Japan?
I’m flying to Japan this October for 5 days on a very tight budget. I don’t mind being a cowboy – planning on backpacking around most of the country, walking instead of taking a taxi, eating from convenience stores or ramen stalls on the street, etc. Eating cheap is not a problem and we’re planning on taking the late-night trains to wherever we’re going so that we can sleep there instead and not need to book a hotel. We’ve already got a J-rail pass so taking the train/certain buses is already covered and doesn’t need to be factored into the computation.
I’ll be flying into Osaka and then taking the train to Shizuoka and to Tokyo (to see the 1:1 scale Gundam and the life-sized Evangelion bust). Itinerary doesn’t involve much shopping, it’s more of walking around and taking lots of pictures.
How much do you think this would all cost? Any advice would be appreciated. Also if anyone knows whether there’s a charge to see the Gundam/Eva and could let us know would be great.:)
If you’re really frugal you should be able to get by with like $50 or less a day. Capsule hotels are about $35 a night, or Minshuku for about $50-70 a night if you do decide to get a hotel.
Fast food can be expensive, don’t even go there. If you’re travelling by train it’d be a great idea to pick up an ekiben for dinner- train station lunch box, there will be somewhere at most train stations that sell them, usually $7-10 but shouldn’t cost more than $15 depending where you are. Also onigiri from konbinis are a really good way to eat. Otherwise at a lot of traditional Japanese food places you can get like miso soup, rice, tea and a main meal altogether for about $10. With the J-Rail pass you may find that you don’t need to walk- Japan’s rail system is excellent although I suggest if you can’t read Japanese you pick up a guide to it first ;P
Although keep in mind that if you’re inclined to catch the shinkansen it can be very expensive- Osaka to Tokyo could set you back up to $85
Hope you have fun sightseeing in Japan!
Eating Ramen in Matsumoto
