Here it is! A cost breakdown of our entire 10 day trip to Japan. Today we’re going to take a look at just how we kept our costs so low. If you want to “go deep” on what exactly Margie and I did during our trip, you can pick a day below and read the travel log.
Day 1: New York
Day 2: Japan Airlines first class
Day 3: Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto
Day 5: Kyoto & Osaka
Day 6: Nara
Day 7: Nara
Day 8: Nara & Tokyo
Day 9: Tokyo
Day 10: Tokyo
Day 11: Flight back to New York
I found Japan to be a surprisingly affordable place to visit. And just like our trips to Peru and Switzerland, we kept our total trip costs (including airfare, hotels, transportation, food and activities) around $2,000. Throughout this breakdown, I’ll be using US Dollars instead of yen to make this easier on you. I’ll be converting prices using the early October 2015 exchange rate of 120.4 yen to the dollar.
Total Cost: $2,052.17
Flights
| 2 Tickets | Retail Cost | Miles Used | Our Cost |
| Japan Airlines First Class, JFK-NRT, Round Trip | $34,000 | 250,000 American Miles | $161 |
First class seat
Flights are usually the most expensive part of any trip. That is, if you’re paying cash. Since we’ve been churning credit cards for the sign-on bonuses, we’ve paid for our last 7 or 8 flights just by using frequent flyer miles. This is a simple way to keep your vacation costs very low, especially if you want to travel abroad like we like to. We are middle class folks, so if it wasn’t for frequent flyer miles, we would never be able to take trips like this.
After getting so many Citi American Airlines cards and Barclays US Airways cards over the years, and especially after those two airlines merged, we are absolutely swimming in American Airlines miles! So we redeemed them to fly first class, which is normally a $17,000 ticket. Although I doubt many people pay the price tag quoted on the Japan Airlines website. I’m guessing most people either have their employer pay for it, or they’re flying as part of a free upgrade or something. But if you were to pay cash… well, you’re better off using that $17,000 for something else. It is just a flight, after all!
That said, it was incredible! This was our first time flying in honest-to-goodness First Class. The food was phenomenal. The service was ridiculous. The seats turned into comfortable, wide beds. Unfortunately, soon after our trip, American Airlines announced a change to their awards prices, and that same pair of tickets which cost us 250,000 AA miles, or about five credit card bonuses, would now cost us 440,000, or almost nine credit card bonuses, in the future. So this award will be difficult, maybe impossible to get in the future, and at any rate, maybe not even worth spending the miles on.
Transportation
| Transport for 2 | Cost | Miles Covered |
| Japan Rail Passes (7 day) | $467.00 | 694 miles |
| Kyoto Subways | $23.07 | 23 miles |
| Osaka Subway | $7.97 | 6 miles |
| Tokyo Subways | $35.36 | 62 miles |
| Narita Express, Tokyo to Narita Airport | $21.91 | 45 miles |
| Total | $555.31 | 830 miles |
| Avg Cost Per Mile | $0.67/mile | |
| Per Person | $0.33/mile |
Woah! Compared to the other trips I’ve analyzed, Peru and Switzerland, Japan has the cheapest transportation per mile by a long shot. Peru came in at 79 cents per mile, and Switzerland at $1.16 per mile! Even without the Japan Rail Pass, the cost would’ve been only marginally higher buying tickets for each trip.
And we didn’t even get the full use out of our pass! We had been planning on going to Takayama until our darn AirB&B host backed out. That would’ve added another 200 expensive miles round trip, since Takayama is in the mountains, bringing the per mile cost down to 27 cents per mile! It’s true: Japan’s rail system is comfortable and incredibly cheap.
Osaka Intercontinental
Accommodations
| Hotel | Nights | Cost Per Night | Total Retail Cost | Our Cost |
| Air B&B, Kyoto | 3 | $130.66 | $392.00 | $392.00 |
| Osaka Intercontinental | 1 | $275.00 | $275.00 | $49.00 |
| Air B&B, Nara | 2 | $99.00 | $198.00 | $198.00 |
| Conrad, Tokyo | 1 | $680.00 | $680.00 | $47.50 |
| Intercontinental, Tokyo Bay | 2 | $280.00 | $560.00 | $119.00 |
| Total | 9 | $2,105.00 | $805.50 |
Nara AirB&B
Through the strategic accumulation of hotel points and free nights, we spent (practically) nothing for four out of our nine nights in Japan. Our nights in Osaka and Tokyo cost us only the annual fees on the Hilton and Hyatt credit cards that earned us the free nights. Doing this kept our average night’s cost just below $90. Still this was more expensive than our average night in Switzerland ($71) and Peru ($65).
Nodoka, Kyoto
We had a nice mix of modern, conventional hotels and traditional Japanese accomodations. The luxurious Conrad and Intercontinentals were not far from what you would experience in the US. But staying in the AirB&Bs we got to experience real Japanese homes, and for a 6 foot tall person like myself, the experience of repeatedly banging my head on door frames. Also handy was finding a place to stay in the middle of our trip, Nara, that had a washing machine. That way we could do laundry halfway through the trip and had to bring half as many clothes. Handy when you’re only carrying a backpack.
Sushizanmai, Tsukiji, two sushi dinners, $28.15
Food
| Food for Two | Cost |
| Okonomiyaki Zen, Kyoto | 16.60 |
| Yatai Sushi, Kyoto | 24.56 |
| Sushi at Osaka mall | 17.68 |
| Street food on Dotonbori Street, Osaka | 23.49 |
| Aoniyoshi, Nara | 11.62 |
| Nara Pickle Store | 9.13 |
| Sushizanmai, Tsukiji | 28.15 |
| Genki Sushi, Shibuya | 24.22 |
| Sushi breakfast at Marukita, Tsukiji | 33.20 |
| Ramen at Ichiran, Shinjuku | 17.76 |
| Bakery breakfasts (Little Merimaid, Sizuya, Krispy Kreme!) | 27.14 |
| Freshly made mochi | $1.08 |
| Various takeout lunches and vending machines | 50.84 |
| Various groceries | 24.11 |
| Total | $309.58 |
| Average Cost Per Day, Per Person | $17.20 |
Coming in closer to Peru than Switzerland in our food averages ($13.67 vs. $25.42), Japan was a relatively affordable place to eat, especially considering the quality! The food in Japan was consistently great. Part of this had to do with the freshness of the ingredients, and part of it is that the Japanese do care about quality. I’m ashamed to admit how many lunches we had that were just pre-packaged meals from 7-11 and Family Mart. But they really were good!
One of the things I wish I could transport to America is the triangular onigiri. It’s a pad of rice wrapped in seaweed, usually stuffed with some kind of filling, and usually costing 100-130 yen, or about a dollar or less. The perfect snack for tourists on the go.
On the other side of the equation, we had some relatively expensive meals. But still, nothing close to our most expensive meals in Peru and Switzerland ($45.91 and $52.78 respectively). Our most expensive meal in Japan was the tuna sushi breakfast just outside the gates of the Tsukiji fish market. It was the most melt-in-your-mouthy fish I’ve ever had, and at $33.20 for two, still cheaper than a sushi dinner in the US!
We are spoiled rotten for sushi now. A sushi dinner in the Albany area can easily be $16.00, and that’s before tax and tip, so call it $20.00. So it’s more expensive here and it won’t taste nearly as good. Let’s move to Japan!
Heian Shrine Gardens
Recreation
| Tickets for 2 people | Cost |
| Heian Shrine Gardens, Kyoto | $9.96 |
| Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto | $9.96 |
| Anraku-ji, Nanzen-ji, and Okazaki Shrines, Kyoto | Free |
| Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto | 4.98 |
| Nijo Castle | 9.96 |
| Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto | Free |
| Handicraft Museum, Kyoto | Free |
| Tenryu-ji, Arashiyama | 9.96 |
| Osaka Castle, Osaka | 9.96 |
| Todai-ji, Nara | 8.30 |
| Robot Restaurant, Tokyo | 108.90 |
| Total | $171.98 |
| Average Cost Per Day, Per Person | $9.55 |
Fushimi Inari
Another real surprise in affordability in Japan was the attractions! So many museums, temples and historic sites charged about 500 yen. That’s less than $5.00. How many museums do you know cost less than five dollars? Heck, many of them were free! Many of the lesser known temples in Kyoto were free. You can just walk onto the grounds of the Fushimi Inari shrine whenever you want! (I recommend very early, before the crowds)
Tenryu-ji Temple grounds
The handicraft museum in Kyoto? Also free! I recommend this over the enormous art museums nearby since those are mostly filled with international art. If you’re in Kyoto, don’t you want to see the local crafts anyway?
Our most expensive activity by far was the Robot Restaurant. (It’s not really a restaurant) Tickets were $50 a pop, but it was totally worth it. I mean, if you’re in Tokyo, what are you going to do? Not see the Robot Restaruant show?
What should you skip? Osaka Castle. It’s not worth your time. We were just looking to fill our time before hopping on our train to Nara.
Other
| Postcards and postage | $2.82 |
| Candy for co-workers | $4.48 |
| Souvenir kimonos | $41.50 |
| Rice crackers for Nara deer | $1.25 |
You has crackers?
For our last few trips, we’ve tried to to travel very lightly and bring as few clothes as possible. This makes it easier when you’re moving around a lot and using a lot of public transportation. So we’ve only carried backpacks with us. This basically means no room for souvenirs, which is both a good and a bad thing. Bad because sometimes I’ll actually see something I want to take home, but good because I’m not spending any money on dumb stuff. Photos are the real souvenirs anyway.
The one thing that’s easy to bring home is textiles. We did buy a scarf from a Quechua woman in Chinchero, Peru. And in Japan, Marge also bought our only souvenir: Kimonos for herself and her sister.
Here’s a hot tip for buying kimonos in Japan: Go to a vintage shop. They won’t be the fanciest, but two kimonos cost us just over $40 total. We found our place walking from the Arashiyama train station to Tenryu-ji temple. No photos, but here’s a Google Streetview of it!
Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
Summary
I calculated the total cost of our trip to be $2,052. If you really wanted a rock bottom price vacation to Japan, you could stay in cheaper AirB&Bs the entire time, skip some of the activities we did, use less transportation, and make all of your food in your own kitchen. But I don’t think it would be worth it. Considering we flew around the world, stayed in pretty luxurious hotels, did every activity we wanted to do, ate everything we wanted to eat, and got to see several cities, I think $2,000 is a fine price tag.
For fun, here’s the total cost of our three big international vacations I’ve calculated so far:
| Japan | 9 Nights | $2,052 |
| Switzerland | 7 Nights | $1,821 |
| Peru | 9 Nights | $1,711 |