Japan is often thought to be an expensive place to travel but these days this isn’t the case. It’s relatively easy to enjoy cheap drinks and food throughout Japan. Many Western countries have seen high inflation over the past 20 years, Japan’s economy has remained flat meaning you can still grab a beer for US$2 or a bento box for US$4. You just have to know where to look!
Here are our tips for traveling and eating your way through Japan on a budget – Kobe edition.
Fill yourself up with some lunch time specials
There are thousands of cafes and restaurants spread across Kobe and Japan that offer very reasonably prices lunch sets. Most lunch plates in Kobe go between ¥800 ~ ¥1500. This usually includes a side dish, a main and a tea or coffee. Many places also have a bread, salad and soft drink bar where you can help yourself. You can even find some Kobe beef at half the cost you would pay at dinner.
Kobe is a great place to wander the streets and stumble across a place that’s to your liking. Along with Japanese restaurants you can find Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese and many more eateries that offer lunch sets. So start exploring and fill yourself up at lunch time so you can save some coin at dinner.
Get 20% to 50% off supermarket ready-to-go meals.
Sticking with the food theme, supermarkets have a range of meals prepared and ready to be eaten. Bento boxes, sushi, fried foods, sandwiches and more can all be purchased at reasonable prices throughout the day. If you want to grab a real bargain though, head to the supermarket around 8pm (depends on supermarket closing time) when a lot of these foods are heavily discounted.
Most ready-to-go foods are reduced 20% to 50%. So that ¥500 bento you had your eye on is suddenly ¥250. Bargain!
There are many supermarkets across Kobe, but for location and variety you can’t go past Daiei (Aeon Food Style) just near Sannomiya Station.
Cheap drinks with happy hour and standing bars.
Heading into the evening it might be time for a Suntory (or a Kirin, Asahi, sake, cocktail, you get the idea) and there are plenty of izakaya (Japanese pub/restaurants), tachinomi (standing bars), cafes and western style bars that offer early bird happy hours. Usually from 5pm to 7pm most places run half price specials on weekdays.
Tachinomi (standing bars) are great places to grab a drink and some food through the evening. Usually open from 4pm to 11:00pm these bars, as the name suggests, are standing room only with cheap drinks and food. It is believed this style bar started in Kobe after the 1995 earthquake and has since spread around Japan.
There are about 10 standing bars around Sannomiya Station but our favorite is Stand Gonta with beer at ¥190 and glass wine at ¥300 (plus tax), great food and 2 shops in Sannomiya. At these prices though they fill up quickly.
*Our Kobe Tachinomi guide is coming soon!
Catching a train on the cheap.
Jumping on and off trains and traveling between cities in Japan can eat into your budget quite quickly if you’re not careful. There are a few options though that can save you considerably.
First on our list is the Japan Rail Pass. This pass is quite an expensive initial outlay for a 7-day pass costing ¥30,000 but if you are planning on catching trains from one end of the country to the other it can save you a bundle. It’s best to work out your itinerary, train routes and costs using the free online Japan Transit Planner first.
If you are just planning to travel around Kansai area only, JR West has a variety of passes. If you are catching subway trains and lines other than JR, perhaps the Kansai Thru Pass or Kansai One Pass will be better for you.
Finally, discount ticket shops (kinken shops) sell all kinds of tickets, including train tickets. I Love Ticket is one of these shops, located under the train line near Sannomiya Hankyu West.
Are you a frequent visitor to Japan? Have any tips for traveling in Japan on a budget? Please share them in the comments below!