Tokyo on a budget

[disturbman]

It's actually even truer if you go to places where gaijins don't go. If you go out of the Tokyo to Hiroshima trail, it's starting to get difficult to find hostels. Kyushu is still ok and from what I've heard Hokkaido have seen some new oppenings in the last years but Shikoku for exemple doesn't have any cheap offering. Your best bet there is crapy hotel for 3.500 Yen a night. I think Hokuriku and Tohoku are more or less in the same case but I'm not 100% sure. Well... you can always sleep in some random Internet Cafés, I think a night there in a "comfortable" cublicle (with tatami mat or crazy chair) is around 2.000/2.500 Yen a night.

 

And you can always sleep in trains if you have a JR pass...

[Guest ___]

I recall when I went to Japan on the 08 trip, the cheapest I could find in Tokyo was about 150 USD a night, but when I got to Miyazaki a week alter my room was in the $60 a night. (that room was also bigger) Part of the issue in Japan is just not where, but when. Japan has so many of these out of the blue holidays that really generate hotel biz. It's almost like if we our hotel rates would jump 40&% mid week for Groundhog day. I remember the first trip inm 05, I paid n extra surcharge in Kyoto for two nights because of the spring solstice. 

[disturbman]

150$?! Jeez! I never paid more than 25€... but I'm a backpacker, that can help.

[Tecchan]

150$?! Jeez! I never paid more than 25€... but I'm a backpacker, that can help.

 

Even not backpacking, you can find a single room for less that 5000¥.

And even one at 2500¥ at New Koyo (http://www.newkoyo.com/). It looks more like a prison cell than an hotel room but it's a good deal if you want to travel really cheap and have your own room.

 

Of course you have to share the bathroom but it's part of the japanese way of life. A good bath and a cold beer just after! :-)

[Guest ___]

In my case, 150 was the lowerst I could find, but it at the time was during the sakura matsuri. golden week is another one where the rates can double.

[Ronincat]

Depending on where you're going and the length of your stay, try a serviced apartment.  We spent 2 weeks in an apartment for ~ CDN $200/ night - which gave us full kitchen, laundry facility and lots of room to stretch out.  I believe there are apartments that might be cheaper yet.  There seems to be lots available. (The place we stayed was great - close to the Tokyo Tower, near 3 subway lines, and right next door to a grocery store).

 

Maybe not as cheap as $50/ night, but a much better option than a shoebox of a hotel room!

[spacecadet]

Depending on where you're going and the length of your stay, try a serviced apartment.  We spent 2 weeks in an apartment for ~ CDN $200/ night - which gave us full kitchen, laundry facility and lots of room to stretch out.  I believe there are apartments that might be cheaper yet.  There seems to be lots available. (The place we stayed was great - close to the Tokyo Tower, near 3 subway lines, and right next door to a grocery store).

 

Did you stay in an Oakwood?

 

My wife and I stayed at the Oakwood Shinjuku two years ago, which unfortunately seems to be gone now.  (Other Oakwoods still exist, just not that one.)  It was great, for all the reasons you mentioned, although we had the "studio" apartment so we didn't have the "room to stretch out".  We did have a balcony, though.  The best part was the washer/dryer in the room, and the kitchen was really nice too.  That particular Oakwood also had 37" HDTV's in all the rooms, with literally *every* possible TV channel - it was hooked up to like 3 separate TV systems.  Really great lounge on the top floor, too, and this was one of the tallest buildings in Shinjuku so the view was amazing.  And like you said, it was not expensive at all.

 

I think the government started cracking down on the practice of "renting" apartments for less than 30 days, though.

 

It was pretty funny when we checked in; I remember we had to sign a lease and then something that was like the equivalent of an eviction notice.