Draft:Japan

Locations

Tokyo

Akihabara

Akihabara (google street view), nickname akiba, is the capital of anime/otaku culture. Ikebekuro and den den town claim to be like Akiba but are a far cry.

Harajuku

Harajuku is an excellent place to get clothes.

Observatories

Sunshine 60 (located in Ikebukuro, tickets ¥700 weekdays, ¥900 weekends) has a "park" at the top with a very nice atmosphere, mounds of artificial grass with children playing on them, soft chairs, not very busy, reviewed here. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (located in Nishishinjuku, tickets ¥0, 5-30 min line reported live here) is located in a denser part of Tokyo and is more tourism-oriented.

Logistics

Getting there

Zipair (pricing information) operates a San Francisco to Tokyo Narita (SFO→NRT) flight and how far ahead a flight is booked generally does not affect its price on Zipair. Chinese air carriers (Air China, China Eastern, China Southern) operate the cheapest flights from London to Tokyo which are also not particularly variable in price, typically with layovers of a few hours in China and flight times of about 18 hours.

Telecommunications

Get a SIM card at a local convenience store. Ask for a "SIM kado." WiFi Box and SIM cards at the airport tend to be much more expensive.

The Kesei Skyliner train and Lawson convenience stores usually have wifi.

Housing

Hotels are generally cheaper than AirBnB. Space tends to disappear than in other locales, so book ahead to save money and have more options available.

Distance to a train station is one of the important metrics for finding housing; the two steep slopes in travel-effort are the slope in walking distance from the hotel and then the step from having to get on a train. When booking ahead it's possible to get cheap housing in the commercial area surrounding the train station. Point-to-point travel in Tokyo usually requires at most one transfer. The Yamanote line contains a lot of the good places to go in Tokyo: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Ikebukuro, Akihabara.

Food

Food is generally very cheap. For specific recommendations, check out the dedicated article.

Fast food

Large black pepper beef bowl (right) is ¥1000 ($6.42 as of June 2024) Sold by Pepper Lunch, a Japanese chain restaurant

Ramen, conveyor belt sushi, and chain restaurants like MOS Burger, Yakiniku Like, McDonald's, and KFC are your best bet for obtaining food cheaply (1000¥ or less) and quickly.

Convenience Stores meals

The major Japanese convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart typically mark down their prepared meals (bento boxes, side dishes etc...), in the evening hours as they approach their expiration time. These discounts, indicated by bright yellow or red stickers showing both the original and reduced prices, usually start around 8-9 PM and can range from 20-50% off.

So if you are on a tight budget, this is a good option.

Lunch

Many fancy restaurants that typically charge 10,000-20,000¥ charge merely 1000-4000¥ during lunch due to lower demand.

Dinner

Many places are fully booked and turn away customers at night– book a reservation ahead of time.

References

Numbeo - Compare Cost of Living in Tokyo to your city