Many people have asked me since I got back from Japan how much I spent.
I think they assume it's super expensive, just like I did. So here's a breakdown of how much I spent in 20 days in Japan.
First of all I stayed in the Kansai region, which for me was just Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. I didn't take the bullet train anywhere. I didn't go to Tokyo. And I didn't go skiing or snowboarding.
I ate out all my meals and was not stingy. I drank almost every day and smoked almost a pack of cigarettes a day. I went to clubs, I bought other people drinks, and I went on a couple dates where I bought dinner/lunch etc.
I stayed at youth hostels and capsule hotels. The average cost was 2400 yen ($16) per night.*
The normal cost for a beer was 500 yen ($3.33) and 800 ($5.32) where I thought it was "expensive" like at the club.
A solid breakfast for me was a coffee with thick butter toast and an egg for 500 ($3.33).
But my typical meal for myself ranged from 750-1250-1800 ($5-$8-$12).
If I had a really nice meal with a friend or lady friend, it went around 3000-4500-7500 ($20-$30-$50). And that last one was a frickin' feast with hella drinks and a smorgasbord like it was Thanksgiving.
You live like a king. If you want.
Overall, it was about 20-30% cheaper than I expected, from hotels to food.
I'm gonna go on, but if you wanna just hurry up and hear the grand total, scroll down a little farther.
Before I went, people complained about the cost of trains, but even if you zip around a lot, it wasn't more than 800-900 yen for the whole day ($5 or $6).
Among the activities and explorations you can do, these include:
renting a bicycle 500-1000/day ($4-$7)
going to a sento or public bath 490 ($3.26)
chilling at a manga kissa or internet cafe where you get a desk with a computer and a library of manga right behind you and free coffee/soft drinks 450/hour ($3)
renting a recording studio where you can jam on whatever instrument you want 500/hour ($3.33) - I played drums and I found a place where it was free! I played for two hours and went back the next week.
all you can drink alcohol, whatever you want 3000 ($20) - this guy's Japanese girlfriend talked to someone and got us in for 1100 ($7.33) I had like 10 draft beers.
club entrance, which includes two drinks 3000 ($20) - another club entrance was 1000 for foreign passport holders ($6.66) and the promoter gave me a free drink coupon for leaving a 5-star Google review, and then she gave me another one because I was nice to her (so I got 3 drinks and entrance for $6.66)
watch Japanese porn in your own private room, selecting up to 7 DVDs from a whole library for an hour 800 ($5.33)
Not bad, right? $100 a day.
You could do it a lot cheaper anyway. If you're not an idiot like me and say yes to everything including drinks and girls.
How you could do it cheaper:
don't drink every day
don't buy dinner for girls you just met
don't go during Chinese New Year
don't be impulsive and pay for other peoples' drinks 3200 ($21)
don't be impulsive and follow the boys to the titty-touching bar 6000 ($40)**
don't go to a love hotel 8550 for 8 hours ($57)***
If you really didn't want to spend money, you could:
Go nowhere
Eat nothing
Do nothing
But then again, why are you traveling?!
* For my Taiwan peeps, this is 500NT per night. For yen to NTD, just divide by 5. For USD to NTD, multiply by 30. The latter is a rough estimate. For example, that hotel example would give you 480NT when it's really 505NT.
** This was for 40 minutes where the girls switched ever 20 minutes and you lied down in a booth where you can feel on their fake tits and chat. I justified it by learning as much Japanese as I could and drinking as many highballs as they could bring me in that time
*** It was worth it.
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Enjoy!