When researching my trip to Japan, the one thing I had trouble finding was some concrete numbers that people were spending every day. So I’ll be posting one of these for each area that I visit to hopefully help people out down the road.
This one will be for the grandest city Nihon(Japan) has to offer — the mighty Tokyo! Most resources I’ve seen have said you can spend anywhere from $70 to $200 a day here, and I can see how that would be true. Over the course of 8 days here, I’ve averaged out at $110/day or approximately 11,000 yen/day (the exchange rate for my trip has hovered right around $1 to 100 yen so the math here will be easy).
So, I’ve spent $880 over the course of 8 days. With my round-trip ticket coming in at a cool $980 (with travel insurance), that’s only $1,860 for a trip to Japan! That’s cheaper than what I’ve heard some people spending state-side for a trip to California or Mexico. It all depends on how prepared you are and choosing your sleeping place wisely.
I’ve stayed at a hostel every night except my first night, and that’s averaged out to $40/night. All of the hostel staff are incredibly nice, and the amenities are essentially the same as a hotel, you just have to sleep in the same area as other people. All four hostels I’ve been at have had curtains for privacy and there have been no weird or rude people, although YMMV.
For the sake of making a bare-bones estimate (not including any purchases that I could have avoided), I’ve spent about $55 on vitamins, $50 on a night out ($5-$8 a drink in a somewhat touristy spot called Golden Gai, awesome spot with dozens of five-seat small bars but that’s for another time), $20 on a hat, $12 on a manga, and about $30 on other assorted things.
So when it comes down to it, I’ve spent approximately $40 on room & board, $50 on food & drink, and $20 on other things each day. If you wanted to go cheap on the food and drink, but didn’t want to eat corner-store food that you have to heat up, you could spend as little as $20 a day. Mine is much higher because I go to lots of cafes to get out of the heat and buy unnecessary drinks/snacks/sweets.
So, theoretically, I think the least I could see somebody spending per day in Tokyo is $65/day. Which would mean eating cheap and staying in hostels but that’s really cheap for being able to see one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
IG: https://www.instagram.com/keith_thomas32/
Email: keith.w.thomas1@gmail.com
Feel free to message me with any questions about traveling Nihon!
