How Much Does a Trip to Japan Cost

A Glance of Tokyo Haneda Airport

If you would like to travel to Japan for a week, the budget can be $1,200-1,500 for a DIY tour in the cheapest case, exclusive of the airfare to and back from the country. A guided tour would be somewhat more expensive, which reaches $2,000-2,500 in a week.

Airfare to Japan

Taking the trip from USA as an example, the airfare from Los Angeles to Tokyo costs $420-1,300 averagely for the economy class of a one-way journey. If you book the air ticket early, you may find some budget flights at a cheaper price.

What should call your attention is that, the cost we provided at the very beginning is the expense when you stay in Japan, and the airfare is not included.

Accommodation in Japan

If you have a partner to share the fare for hotels, it would be somewhat cheaper for accommodation in Japan. For the economic hotels, the average fare can be kept under USD 170 per night. For a comfortable hotel, the fare would be around USD 170-250; while a luxury hotel costs more.

Admission Tickets for Attractions

Ticketing of Shinjuku Gyoen

It is money-saving to hang out shrines, as the most shrines are free to enter. For example, Fushimi Inari Taisha is free in Kyoto, while Kiyomizu-dera Temple requires a ticket of only JPY 400 (USD 2.7). The amusement parks like Tokyo Disney Resort and Universal Studios Japan are more expensive, such as a floating price is applied for Tokyo Disney Resort within JPY 7,900-10,900 (USD 52.6-72.5).

Local Transportations

Shinkansen: Popular High-Speed Train, A Little Expensive

To travel in Japan, Shinkansen bullet train is a fast way but costs a little much. You can shuttle between the major cities around Japan at a really high speed by Shinkansen. Here are the one-way fares of some routes for your reference.

Route	Overall Time Needed	Non-Reserved Seat	Reserved Seat (Standard/Ordinary Class)
Tokyo ↔ Kyoto	2h 15min	JPY 13,320 (USD 88.6)	JPY 14,370 (USD 95.6)
Osaka ↔ Hiroshima	1h 40min	JPY 9,809 (USD 65.2)	JPY 11,150 (USD 74.1)
Kyoto ↔ Osaka	30min	JPY 1,450 (USD 9.7)	JPY 3,280 (USD 21.8)

Cheaper Urban Transportation: City Bus, Subway & Other Urban Railways

Urban transportation is relatively cheaper in Japan. Averagely, the cost is $20-30 or so per day for the public transportation. The ticket fare of a city bus ride is about JPY 200 (USD 1.3); if the bus is metered by distance, the fare would be higher slightly; the more stops you have gone through, the more expensive of the ticket. Usually, the subways are connected with urban railways as well as the long-distance railway to other cities. Thus, it’s very convenient for passengers to transfer.

Expensive Taxi Ride: The Means of Transportation in Highest Price

Taxi is the most expensive way of transportation in Japan, as the flag-down fare of taxi in Tokyo is JPY 500 (USD 3.33) for the first 1,096m (1,199 yards), later JPY 100 (USD 0.67) is charged every 255m (279 yards). In addition, the highway toll fee, night surcharge, time-distance combined fare when being caught in traffic jams, etc. are all included in the taxi fare. If you take a taxi from Haneda Airport to Shinjuku in the city center of Tokyo, the fare would be about JPY 10,100 (USD 67.2) in around 80 minutes.

Read more about How to Travel around Japan

Taxi in Tokyo

Food Stall in Nishiki Market

Expense on Meals

Referring to having a meal in a restaurant in Japan, it takes USD 9-15 merely to fill up if you choose fast food or simple snacks. Actually, that’s also the average expense overall for a meal in Japan per person. If you want to eat better, it may spend USD 20-30 in an elegant restaurant. Also, if you would like to have your dinner in a higher-end restaurant, it would be much more expensive.

To sum up, the cost is about $140 per day except the accommodation. You could make a reasonable budget before travelling to the country.

Tips

The exchange rate is changing from time to time.

In peak season of tourism in Japan, such as the cherry blossom season from March to April and fall foliage season in October and November, the prices may be much more expensive or even doubled.

The specific fares are a little different in each city of Japan. This article offer the overall averages for your reference.

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