Eating
There are many people assuming food in Japan is expensive. This might be true in some aspects but actually you can get food pretty cheap too. With a budget of 1,000 Yen per day and person you won’t starve in Japan. Here are a few suggestions for the poor traveller.
Yoshinoya / Matsuya
The above restaurants are well-known and widely spread all over Japan. Those large restaurant chains specialising in gyuudon (beef bowl) are pretty popular among japanese, especially businessmen who want to have a quick and cheap lunch. You can choose between small, medium and big size bowls. You get a bowl of gyuudon (medium size – which is pretty big) for 380 Yen. And if you don’t have 380 Yen to spend, how about the Plain Curry with rice for 290 Yen (Yoshinoya)? They also offer a variety of lunch sets including miso soup, rice, beef bowl or similar that cost an average of about 500-600 Yen.
You can check their menu’s here (japanese only):
http://www.matsuyafoods.co.jp/menu/index.html
http://www.yoshinoya.com/menu/index.html
Ticket Restaurants
A nice invention. Usually you’ll find them inside of bigger train stations or near train stations. Ticket Restaurants offer all kind of stuff..be it ramen (noodle soups), bowl dishes, curry rice etc. You have to choose the dish you want using a machine located by the entrance of the restaurant. Usually they offer small, medium and big size dishes. You throw in your money and press the button of your chosen menu. Then you’ll get a ticket that you give to the staff. Then you sit down and wait until they call out your dish. If you are not familar with japanese you should take someone with you who is able to speak or understand japanese. The next time you’ll be able to do it alone. I guess the cheapest dishes in ticket restaurants are ramen (seen for 250 Yen) and Curry Rice (240 Yen).
Fast Food Chains
Okay, maybe you don’t want to eat burger while in Japan but actually you can get them pretty cheap too. You might want to try Wendy’s (the best imho), MOS Burger, Lotteria and if you want to stick with the things you know go for McDonalds or Burger King. Each of those chains has 100 Yen burgers, snacks etc. So you might try this as well.
Convenience Stores (Konbini)
Everyone loves them. Little stores that have basically everything and that are open 24/7. There is a huge number of konbini in Japan… 7-11, Lawson, Sunkus, Family Mart, AmPm, Daily Yamazaki, Poplar etc. You can buy bento (usually rice with some meat or fish and vegetables) or other food for cheap. I usually go with the onigiri (rice balls with different fillings) for about 100 Yen each.
100 Yen Kaiten Sushi
tokyovisitors favorite! There are quite a few 100 Yen Sushi restaurants where you pay 100 Yen for each plate. Aside from Sushi they offer soups, ice cream, pudding, cakes, fruits, rice bowls etc. too. Most of them for 100 Yen too, some do cost 150 Yen. Tokyovisitor recommends Kura Sushi – they have the freshest and best 100 Yen sushi in Tokyo. Unfortunately most of their restaurants are in suburbs, but there are also two in the more central areas of Tokyo. Check out their website (japanese only): http://www.kura-corpo.co.jp/index.php
99plus Supermarket
At the 99plus supermarkets you will get everything for 99 Yen. If you have the chance to cook by yourself you should consider buying some basic stuff there. Pasta is always a cheap meal. Pasta Sauce (one bag for 2 dishes – so if you’re alone you can eat twice) for 99 Yen and pasta (250gram pack) for 99 Yen too. Sometimes you get better bargains in normal supermarkets though…like 500 gram pack pasta for 100 Yen or such. Sometimes the 99 Yen store can be more expensive than a normal supermarket, so you need to check it out by yourself. But basically you can’t do anything wrong. Go and check their website and see if there is a 99plus near your place (alternatively you can also search for 99 Yen Lawson konbini).
