How to Enjoy Japan with Small Budget
In 2020, Olympics is going to be held in Japan. You will see so many
Japanese news or culture on media. You may already know about japan or have
some knowledge through movie or other media, but it could be different from
current Japanese culture. So many food, culture, and full of hospitality are in
that country. It has 4 seasons in one year and each season has different
enjoyment: cherry blossom bloom on spring, lots of beaches open on summer, red
leaves cover mountain on autumn, and it snows on winter. Japan is created with
several islands and spreads north and south. Each part has different weather,
nature, and dialect, so many things to discover there. However, Japan is a
country that is known as one of the most expensive country in the world. Their
average income of 20's is around JPY 2,700,000(MYR109,000). It's ranked on 11th
of highest living fee in the world. Average living fee is around JPY
180,000(MYR 7,312). Average budget for tourists coming to japan is around JPY
110,000(MYR 4,240), for one week stay.
On this writing, I'll introduce things that you can enjoy with small budget
in japan.
First of all, accommodation is one of expensive part of any travel
especially in Japan. Average fee of hotel in Tokyo is around JPY 5,000(MYR
200). This is price of basic hotel; small single room, single bed, private
bathroom, without meal plan. Accommodation is one of requirement of traveling
and can’t be ignored. Here is a suggestion of accommodation, which is Internet
cafe. It sounds like such a poor place to stay as an accommodation, but recent
Internet cafe in japan is the way above of your expectation. There are some
reasons that I recommend to stay in Internet cafe. First, it's not a small tiny
room that you may expect. There are bigger rooms which have enough space to sleep,
massage chair, and some more options depends on store. You don’t have to sleep
in a narrow room with holding your knees. You can sleep as same as your in bed.
Second, it has so many free services. Of course you can use Internet for free,
because it is Internet cafe. You can have free drinks which is all you can
drink, and sometimes ice cream also, you can take free shower, you can read
comics, there are so many things that you can get for free. Third, Internet
cafe is usually located in city places, means you can seek around city and stay
there as well. If you try to find a cheaper hotel, it's usually located out of
city or inconvenient place. However, you can stay in quite good location with
much cheaper price if you stay in Internet cafe. Comparing price, hotels in
Tokyo usually cost more than RM200. If you stay at Internet cafe, it costs
around RM40. You can save more than RM150 and can get free stuffs.
Second, transportation is required to seek around. You may think travel with any transport, unless you are thinking about hitch hike travel. In Japan, especially in Tokyo, there are so many train and bus lines, and it's enough to seek around almost all of Tokyo. However, It's not free of course. Usually, it costs RM5 to take a train to the next station. It may sound like just a small amount, but it could be bigger if you take a lot. If you are sure that you will take train a lot, it's better to buy a one day ticket. Tokyo metro, subway in Tokyo, provides 24, 48, 72 hours ticket. You can chose the hour depends on how long you will stay and seek around by train. You can buy 24 hours ticket for RM32(JPY800), 48 hours ticket for RM45(JPY1200), 72 hours ticket for RM57(JPY1500). You might take a different train or get off at a wrong station. You don’t have to be worried about it if you have these ticket. Because subway in Tokyo is really complicated and stations are so big. It's quite difficult to change like or find an exist even for local Japanese. As you see on the train map, there are so many lines and they are crossing each other. You don’t have to waste your money to pay unnecessary train fee for mistakes. And it is much cheaper than buying ticket every time to take train. You can buy one day ticket at the airport, some hotels, stations, and some stores. I prefer to buy at the airport. You can find the place easily and you can use English normally in airport. One thing You have to know about Japan is that there are quite a few English speaker. It's hard to manage everything in English. It's better to settle issues or process of travel while you are in airport as much as you can.
Third, you must eat something while you are traveling. Japanese food is famous as expensive. But you may want opportunity to have real Japanese food while you are in Japan. Then what I suggest is go to fast- Japanese food restaurant. There are so many Japanese food that you can have with cheaper price. For example, Hanamaru udon is the one you can taste with cheaper price. This has branch in Malaysia, but it's little different from original Japanese one. Price is almost same as Malaysian one. There is a restaurant chain store called Nakau. It provides Japanese home food, such as nimono(simmered fish or meat), grilled fish, curry and rice, and more. These cost around RM20(JPY500) average. Sushi is one of the important food to try in Japan. We also have reasonable sushi restaurant, like Sushi king in Malaysia, but you will see the difference. One plate, two sushi cost RM4(JPY100). Price is almost same, but therr so many kinds of fish and way of cook. Iwashi, kohada, ei, you will see many fish that you have not seen.
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