Travel cheaper in Japan

Travel Cheaply in Japan

Edit: Article dating from June 2012

I am going on a trip to Japan and China this summer and I will tell you how I organized it step by step and then give you some tips for a cheaper trip to Japan.

  To know: Cheaper Japan

• Administrative documents to prepare:

Traveling to Japan does not require a visa for a European citizen, it is better to have a passport that is currently valid where the expiration date does not come within 6 months. Take some cash for arrival! I prefer to withdraw from bank ATMs rather than exchange money in France because if you withdraw several hundred euros, the fees are cheaper than the exchange offices which take a higher percentage.

However, for China, you must go to the embassy and give them the visa application form for the People’s Republic of China which costs 70 euros (Tourist Visa or Transit Visa).

• Booking your plane ticket

I mainly look at several flight comparison sites. This gives me a good idea of the price; to get a better price you have to do it case by case and compare the different offers from the sites. I managed to get fairly honest prices for the high season.

I much prefer to make a stopover in another country even if it is more tiring to discover another country. If you want a cheap plane ticket, you have to fly with Aeroflot (a Russian airline) and by juggling dates, you can get a ticket 100 euros cheaper (around 600 euros or less). I paid my ticket a little more because I absolutely wanted to make a stopover in Beijing.

 

• Cheapest mode of transport in Japan

One convenient thing in Japan for foreigners is the J-Rail Pass. There are also other passes, such as the Kansai pass for travel in the Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Nara, Himeji region, the Sanyo pass for traveling in the western part of Honshu island, within an area ranging from Osaka to Hakata, in the north of Kyushu island, the Kyushu pass to travel across the entire Kyushu island, the Hokkaido pass to travel across the northernmost island of Japan).

The J-Rail pass is a 1, 2, or 3-week package to use the JR (Japan Railways) network; you can also use it to take train lines in Tokyo, since it is a very large city. By taking this pass, you can make unlimited trips throughout Japan. If you use the train service, you do not need to buy train tickets; however, you must purchase it before arriving in Japan and you will pick it up at an authorized point—see the J-Rail pass purchase website or at the airport upon arrival—but you cannot buy it on site. It offers very competitive prices; for example, if you take a round trip Tokyo – Kyoto and a short trip, you have already made it worthwhile.

Example: 1 week adult J-Rail pass 2^nd class, (source Japan Tourism Office 2012): 28,300 yen  Round trip Tokyo/Kyoto fare: 26,440 yen.

• What to do in Japan?

  Item	Daily cost	Money-saving tip
  Accommodation	€40-80	Capsule hotel or hostel
  Meals	€20-40	Konbinis + conveyor belt sushi
  Local transport	€5-10	Day metro pass
  Intercity trains	~€20/day	JR Pass if 3+ cities
  Visits	€10-20	Many free temples

For all information related to Tokyo, I will consult friends who have been advised there and who recommended certain neighborhoods such as Shibuya (the youth district), Shinjuku (a huge district with the atmosphere of Tokyo), Asakusa (district of temples and monuments), or Roppongi (nightlife district very popular with tourists and foreigners).

Tokyo is quite a huge city, so one could stay there for a very long time. I also consult blogs about Japan, including Aala’s blog (See friends’ blogs), which is very comprehensive. As for other places outside Tokyo, I decided to follow a classic route: Mount Fuji (Fuji-san), Kyoto (for its traditional aspect of Japan and its surroundings), Nara (one of Japan’s historical centers), after spending a long time in Tokyo. I chose this itinerary because these are the places in Japan I want to see.

• Finding Accommodation in Japan

  Along the same lines, the article on what Japan brings provides useful insight. Our feedback on 2 of the cheapest countries also gives good leads, and the guide dedicated to budget and cost nicely completes the picture.

To find accommodation, I rely on the site I always check, namely hostelworld.com. This site is very good because it lists a variety of accommodations with ratings, but I mainly look at youth hostels. Accommodation prices are expensive in Japan. So I prefer to take a youth hostel which costs a bit less. I would also like to try the capsule hotel, which is a hotel where you sleep in capsules that are not too expensive in Japan, an experience to try.

• The finishing touch

All that’s left is to pack your bag, not forget your papers, your camera, etc. There you go, mid-August, I will be in Japan! I thank Aala (see friends’ blogs) who has a very good blog about Japan. Find other articles on Central Asia or Japan in my section: Travel tips Asia