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Japan maybe epic but it is also notoriously expensive so is it possible to travel Japan on a budget and if so how? The great news is you have come to the right place. In this article, we are going to share our super savvy tried and tested budget tips for Japan in 2025.
We have both lived in Japan and traveled extensively and in-depth. As budget backpackers, we have had to work out the cheapest and most savvy ways of getting around Japan on a super tight budget. We have used all of the tips and the ideas that we share in this article. What’s more, many of our tips cannot be found anywhere else. (These are things that we have worked out from our own first-hand experience)
FIND OUT MORE – Learn to travel Japan on a budget of £50 per day
Is it possible to travel around Japan on a low budget in 2024?
The great news is that it is possible to travel around Japan on a tight budget. Japan is not as cheap as Southeast Asia. You can travel Japan on a tight budget; it will not be as cheap as traveling to a country like Thailand, Cambodia, or Bali. However, you can travel around Japan more cheaply than Europe, the UK, Australia, and the USA. What’s more, if you apply some of the savvy budget tips that we have shared in this article, you will probably be surprised how cheap a trip to Japan can be.
Here are a few things about budget travel in Japan
- Generally speaking you don’t barter in Japan
- Even cheaper things in Japan are high quality – they really love quality in Japan!
- Food and drink can be cheap in Japan – especially if you’re careful
- Public transport can be very cheap in Japan (and in some cases even free)
- Heritage attractions like castles & temples are either FREE or very cheap
- Japanese people are extremely honest – scams are rare to non-existent in Japan
1 Buy food and drinks at convenience stores
Although accommodation and transportation can be quite expensive in Japan, food and drink are relatively affordable. Japan has a fantastic street food culture, and street food is not too expensive. However, if you are traveling on a really tight budget, the cheapest way to eat in Japan is to use the convenience stores. There are plenty of 7-Eleven, Lawson, and Family Mart convenience stores throughout Japan.
You can even find convenience stores in some of the more remote mountain towns in Japan, so you will never be far from relatively affordable and tasty convenience store food. Convenience stores in Japan tend to have a wide range of fresh food, including things like sushi, rice dishes, microwave meals, pot noodles, bananas, cucumbers, tomatoes, baked sweet potatoes, and steam buns. The cheapest option is a pot noodle, which typically starts around 200 to 300 yen. Convenience stores normally have boiling water, so you can make your pot noodle straight away. Alternatively, if you purchase a fresh dish, they will normally heat it up in the microwave. Fresh rice dishes normally range in price between 500 – 800 yen. A tray of fresh sushi in a Japanese convenience store will generally cost 500 – 1,000 yen.
2 Cook simple meals in your hostel
We have already mentioned that convenience stores are widespread and relatively affordable; however, if you’re looking for an even cheaper option, we recommend that you find a hostel or guest house with a shared kitchen. There are plenty of supermarkets around Japan where you can buy rice and fresh products. If you cook simple meals, you can eat very cheaply in Japan. Some of the cheapest foods to cook in Japan include things like rice, noodles, eggs, cucumbers, natto beans, and frozen dumplings, which can be very affordable in Japan. There are also a lot of bakeries in Japan; however, bread is not the cheapest product, and you will also find it difficult to get whole grain or whole wheat bread, as white bread is a lot more common.
3 Use free Wi-Fi
Mobile data is remarkably expensive in Japan. (We’re talking $20 for a few gigabytes!) We do not recommend buying a Tourist SIM card with mobile data if you are traveling on a tight budget. So, you will need to have a different internet plan for Japan. The cheapest option is just to go offline and rely on free Wi-Fi. The free Wi-Fi is relatively extensive in Japan and reasonably fast. You can find free Wi-Fi in coffee shops like Starbucks and Tulleys. Some towns and cities also have public free Wi-Fi networks, and you can often find free Wi-Fi in shopping malls and airports. In fact, some trains even have free Wi-Fi. If you are choosing to rely on free Wi-Fi, there are a few things that you can do to set yourself up to be disconnected.
Firstly, make sure that you have offline copies of important information. (For example, your hotel address and hotel confirmation page.) If you use the Google apps map to navigate on your phone, you can also enable offline maps. As long as your phone has location enabled, you can use GPS to navigate without mobile data. The language barrier can be a big challenge traveling in Japan. We recommend using the Google Translator app. You can actually download the Japanese language so you can use the translator offline. This should at least enable you to type a message, and your phone will translate it into Japanese. (However, you will not be able to use your camera to translate any written Japanese text offline.)
Not for you? You can find some very affordable Japan data solutions on Klook
Cheap internet on the go in Japan
If you can’t abide the idea of being disconnected from the rest of the world, there are a few cheaper internet solutions in Japan. One option is to use an eSIM. If you have a more recent phone, it may already have an inbuilt eSIM; all you need to do is top up your eSIM online. Another option is to rent a portable Wi-Fi router in Japan. This is a cheaper data solution in Japan, and several devices can log on to the router at any given time. Most international airports in Japan have Wi-Fi router rental services.
4 Top up your water bottle in restaurants
One of the secrets to low-budget travel is finding small ways to save money. If you can find lots of small ways to save money, it will add up. Rather than buying water at convenience stores, we recommend taking a water bottle with you and topping up on the go. You can start by topping up your water bottle at your hotel or guest house in the morning. Tap water is perfectly clean and safe to drink in Japan. You will also find that cafes and restaurants have free water for guests. So if you are eating in a cafe or restaurant, remember to top up your water bottle before you depart. Some towns in Japan also have water fountains where you can top up your bottle with drinking water.
5 Use price filters for accommodation
One of your biggest expenses in Japan is likely to be your accommodation. So if you are planning a budget trip in Japan, it is essential that you find relatively affordable accommodation. One way to find the cheapest accommodation in Japan is to use a booking platform like Agoda or Booking.com. When you are searching for accommodation, you can use price filters so that you can focus on accommodation in your selected budget range.
You can also arrange results in order of price from lowest to highest (the default setting does not give you the cheapest accommodation first). In general, hotels are extremely expensive in Japan, so you will need to look for apartment-style accommodation. This is particularly true if you are planning to stay in Japanese cities such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, or Hiroshima. If you use Airbnb to book your accommodation, you can also contact the host directly and make an offer.
6 Be flexible with your destinations
Check out this lovely temple in Tokoname. Many places in Japan look beautiful like this…
Accommodation in Japan can be eye-wateringly expensive. Another way to find cheap accommodation in Japan is to turn your planning on its head. Rather than starting with your itinerary and destinations, why not start by going on Agoda or Booking.com and looking at an entire map of Japan? Both of these platforms allow a map view which also has a price filter. If you spot any great deals on accommodation, you can then investigate and research the area and decide if it is a place you want to visit. Approaching your itinerary this way can really help you get off the beaten track and discover hidden gems in Japan (as well as save serious money on your trip).
7 Reserve your accommodation early
Another way to find cheap accommodation in Japan is to make sure that you are booking sufficiently early. Japan is not the kind of place that you can leave for the last minute; you really do need to plan and prepare your trip as early as possible, especially if you’re planning to travel in high season (Japan is particularly busy in March and April due to Blossom season. There is also a peak in July and August due to the northern hemisphere summer holidays, and another peak around Christmas).
If you are able to book your accommodation three or four months early, you should have more choices and there will be more low-budget places available. If you are unable to commit to your travel dates, then we recommend booking somewhere with a free cancellation policy (this may cost a little more but it is well worth it). Make sure that you take note of your final free cancellation date. If you try to cancel after this date, you will probably be charged a cancellation fee, and you may be liable for the full cost of the booking.
8 Avoid taxis
Taxis in Japan are extremely expensive, and we do not recommend using taxis at all if you’re trying to travel on a low budget. Unfortunately, there are no cheap taxi options in Japan. You will need to work out other options if you are traveling on a low budget. Fortunately, Japan has an excellent public transport system. Many Japanese cities have an extensive subway network. Subway systems in Japan are generally very intuitive and affordable. You can normally travel the entire length of the city for as little as 300 – 400 yen. Many cities also have day passes for subway and bus networks. For medium-length journeys, you can normally get express line trains (these are relatively affordable). You could also consider bicycle rental or plan to walk between destinations. However you choose to travel around, the moral of the story is simple: avoid taxis, even for short journeys.
9 Use long-distance buses
If you’re doing long-distance journeys around Japan, consider using long-distance buses. This is the cheapest way to travel longer distances around Japan (significantly cheaper than trains or flights). Japan has a very good, reliable, and efficient transportation system; most towns and cities are connected by buses, and buses tend to be very regular and relatively affordable. If you have a lot of journeys between cities, you will save a lot of money using buses rather than trains.
10 Explore independently
If you’re hoping to backpack around Japan on a low budget, you will need to be willing to do things independently. Avoid pre-booking tours and trips; this is a relatively expensive way to explore Japan. Doing things independently may seem scary, and it may also require careful planning and research. However, independent travel is also more intrepid and adventurous. You have more flexibility and freedom to go at your own pace and stop when you see things that interest you. It is also a lot easier to escape the crowds and get off the beaten track if you travel independently rather than booking tours.
11 Travel slower
One way to do Japan on a low budget is to have a completely different type of trip. Rather than visiting Japan to see as many attractions as possible, you could visit Japan and travel more slowly. Stay in one area and connect with the culture more deeply. We did exactly this on our most recent trip to Japan and absolutely loved it (we lived in a quaint pottery village called Tokoname on the outskirts of Nagoya). When you travel more slowly, you save money because you can find the cheapest ways to do things locally (for example, cheap food).
You spend less money on transport, and you spend less of your trip in transit. Now, this of course depends on your own personal goals and priorities for your trip. If you’re visiting Japan as a once-in-a-lifetime trip and you have traveled all this way to see Japan, we do recommend that your itinerary includes everything that you have dreams of seeing. There’s no point investing a load of money in traveling to Japan only to try and save money and not to see the things that you really hope to see. On the other hand, if you are like us and you want to experience what it is like to live in Japan, then slow travel may be the perfect budget solution for you.
12 Avoid the JR pass (unless you plan to travel – A LOT!)
In previous years, if you wanted to do a lot of travel around Japan, we would recommend getting a JR rail pass. This allows unlimited travel on particular Japanese railway lines within the JR network. However, in recent years, the JR pass has increased in price, and it is now extortionate. If you’re planning to do a lot of rail travel around Japan, it may still be worth investing in a JR pass, but we strongly recommend that you price this up against the cost of individual rail trips.
If you’re traveling on a very low budget, you may also consider using long-distance buses rather than trains to travel between towns and cities. As a general rule, the fewer destinations you visit in Japan, the cheaper your overall budget. For example, if you only have two or three weeks in Japan, consider keeping your visit to 2-3 main cities or towns. It is important to balance this against your personal goals and aspirations for your trip.
If you do need a JR Pass
You can’t purchase this from the stations in Japan – so you need to book it online in advance. We highly recommend getting your JR Pass on KLOOK. They offer 7, 14 and 21 day Whole-Japan passes and also include a FREE Guide Book to help you make the most of your pass. They also do global delivery – so if you do need a JR pass make sure you book it on KLOOK.
13 Stay in one place for over a month
We have already discussed some of the advantages of slow travel in Japan, especially if you’re trying to keep the price of your trip down. If possible, we recommend booking into one place for more than a month. From time to time, you can find massive reductions in the price of accommodation if you book for over one month. This is particularly true if you use the Airbnb booking platform. If you are booking a longer stay for more than a month, many hosts are willing to offer a much cheaper price. It is worth recognizing that this will probably not include any mid-stay cleaning or other services. So, you will need to be relatively independent and self-sufficient in your accommodation. However, if you don’t mind looking after yourself, this is a great way to save a lot of money on your Japan trip.
14 Share smaller rooms
Another great way to save money on accommodation is to be willing to share small rooms. If you’re traveling as a couple or as a family, try to book a small room and ask if they can accommodate your group by adding more futon beds to your room. In Japan, many of the rooms are surprisingly small for the price; however, there is something unique and cozy about sleeping on a futon in a small Japanese room. Also, watch out for hostels with shared dorm rooms and capsule accommodation.
15 Watch out for cheap sushi belt restaurants
If you’re spending time in some of the bigger cities in Japan, watch out for cheap sushi belt restaurants. For example, you can find Kura Sushi Restaurants in most Japanese cities; they offer a surprisingly affordable menu (in many stores, you can get a two-piece sushi plate from the belt for 130 yen). You can also get additional dishes such as ramen very cheaply. As a solo traveler, you could easily fill up on delicious fresh tasty sushi for as little as 800 yen. This is a fun, tasty, and relatively cheap way to fill up when you are traveling in Japan.
16 Get off the beaten track
As a rule of thumb, cities and popular tourist destinations are more expensive in Japan (in fact, this is true in most places in the world). So, if you are hoping to travel Japan on a low budget, we recommend that you get off the beaten track. Try to visit places that are not insta-famous. Find small towns and villages that other people haven’t heard of and create your own adventures. It is amazing how cheap Japan can be if you are willing to get off the beaten track and travel in some of these smaller towns and villages. If you are visiting popular tourist destinations, then avoid food and drinks in the main hubs.
17 Find the best free attractions
Although Japan is a relatively expensive country, attractions can be surprisingly cheap and, in some cases, free. If you’re traveling Japan on a low budget, make sure you research activity costs. Spend time finding the best affordable activities and watch out for free things to do. Using blogs (like this one) can help you find some of the best unique things to do on a budget.
18 Plan special experiences
If you’re traveling Japan on a very low budget, it is important to get a balance. After all, what is the point of traveling to Japan if you don’t enjoy some superlative experiences? Before your trip, we recommend that you spend some time considering and planning special experiences that you intend to budget for. For example, there may be a special place that you really want to see.
Alternatively, there may be a particular type of food that you hope to try in Japan. Perhaps you want to go to a Teppanyaki restaurant or try some high-end sashimi. Japan is also famous for its themed cafes (these tend to be relatively expensive but fun and very unique). The best way to make sure that you don’t overspend in Japan is to plan for those special experiences. Think about the things that you really want to see and do and research in advance so that you know how much it will cost you and you can make sure that it fits in your budget.
