The whole of Japan for a thousand dollars: instructions of a professional traveler

Daniel Juan, a popular travel blogger who has traveled to more than a hundred countries, has reached Japan for the first time. In three weeks, he traveled by train from Tokyo to Kagoshima, one of the southernmost cities in the country, and described in detail all the items of expenditure.

Visa

Since 2017, obtaining a visa to Japan for Russian citizens has become dramatically easier. Now it is no more complicated than a visa to China: you only need a plane ticket and a bank account statement, plus on one sheet to sketch out a route by day with the addresses of any hotels (booking is not required).

Housing

In Japan, the Airbnb service rules. For $ 15-25, you can rent a great room in any major city. I even had a studio apartment in Hiroshima. In Tokyo, it was a private house, but, apparently, all eight rooms there were rented to tourists. In Kyoto, a Japanese—style hotel (ryokan), with a futon mattress on the floor and a kotatsu table under which you can warm your feet. My accommodation in Kyoto, about $17 a day:

In smaller cities, there may not be such a freebie with Airbnb. But there are also alternative options. Hostels in Japan are not bad and resemble capsule hotels in that the beds are curtained there.

Finally, in Matsumoto and Kagoshima, I spent the night in an Internet cafe. This is a specific Japanese feature, you can say local attractions. These cafes are equipped with a kind of office cubicles with doors, but without a ceiling. Inside there is an armchair or mattress and a computer, in the common area there is a vending machine with free drinks and a library with manga (Japanese comics). There is also a shower, but usually for a fee of 100-300 yen (about 50-150 rubles).

Intercity transport

Nine out of ten tourists in Japan buy a JR Pass. This is a railway pass that is valid throughout the country, but is sold exclusively abroad. Seven days cost 29 thousand yen. For those who want to save as much as possible, there is an even cheaper option — a night bus from $ 30. So if your itinerary only includes Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka:

— if you want cheap — go by night bus, — if you want fast — fly by plane, — if you want interesting — go there by slow trains through Fuji and Nagoya.

All trains are divided into high-speed (shinkansen) and ordinary. They have different platforms and sometimes even different train stations. There are divisions inside: there are the fastest shinkansen, which travel from Tokyo to Osaka in 2 hours without stopping, there are slower ones with several stops. It's the same with regular trains: there is the slowest with all stops (Local), there is faster (Rapid/Express) and even faster (Limited Express).

Meal

The Japanese supermarket is just a temple of food. If there is no way to cook, it's not terrible, there are a lot of ready—made dishes in the assortment. Hundreds of types of o-bento are such boxes of food that Japanese schoolchildren eat during the big break. There's rice, noodles, vegetables, meat/fish in different variations with different sauces. Yakitori kebabs, salads and, of course, sushi and sashimi.

If you come to the supermarket at 9-10 pm, all this will be sold at a 50% discount. The only thing that is very expensive is vegetables and fruits. In many supermarkets, there is even a microwave after the checkout, so that you can immediately warm up.

It will be significantly more expensive to eat in restaurants, but still much cheaper than in Europe. Ramen or udon noodle soup can be found from 400-500 yen if you search very hard. You can take a business lunch from donburi (rice with meat and sauce), salad and soup for 800-900 yen in a network like Yoshinoya. What to say, even at the airport, not in the cheapest-looking establishments, the dish costs between 1000-1500 yen.

What to see

Japan is a country where everything is arranged in a human and convenient way, everything is thought out to the smallest detail and is understandable to any child. Well, there are still some shoals, but there are more of them in other countries (except Switzerland, perhaps).

Marugame Castle

There are much fewer old cities in Japan than in Europe, because, firstly, everything was wooden until the XX century, and secondly, the country was specifically ironed during the Second World War. Fortresses and samurai castles were built of stone, but they were destroyed purposefully in the XIX century after the restoration of the imperial power as a symbol of feudalism. As a result, there are now 12 whole ancient castles left in Japan, all at a distance from major cities.

Matsumoto Castle

Old towns with wooden houses are also not easy to find, you need to try, but I found a few.

Imai-cho District, Kasihara City

Magome City

The nature is very beautiful, most of the country is mountainous. There are also tropical islands in the south that you need to go to sometime next time.

Mount Fuji

Sakurajima Volcano

Rabbit Island

I was lucky to catch momiji — the Japanese golden autumn, the second most popular period after the spring cherry blossom.

Modern cities are cool, they look juicy at night.

In total, I spent almost exactly one thousand dollars in 20 days, plus $ 487 for the flight to Tokyo and back. In general, Japan is not a particularly expensive country. Much more expensive than India, of course, but about on the same level with South Korea.