Japan for Budget Travelers, Finally!

One of the "LCC", Peach Aviation

A bad or recovering economy doesn't mean travel to or within Japan can't be done. If anything, it's just the opposite.  This is when some of the best discounts and travel options can be found  The Japanese domestic service industry strives to be competitive to meet customers' needs.  As a result, there are more choices than ever for budget travelers, and include mid to long distance transportation for foreign tourists.



AIRLINES
Now Japan offers a few lower cost airlines called LCC (Low Cost Carriers). No longer are there only two choices: JAL or ANA. In fact both carriers are part owners of the following LCC airlines.

Some routes fly from Narita and Kansai International - pretty convenient for foreign visitors. However, because they are cheap, scheduled flights can be limited to once a day, likely very early morning or late evening. However, if you stay in a hotel near the airport overnight and fly next morning, that is probably a lot cheaper than taking JR bullet trains or regular full price flights.

Here are examples of the LLC carriers:

• Peach Aviation  Kansai International is their hub, so no flights go to the Tokyo area. You can book a cheap flight between Osaka and different cities in Japan as well as in Korea, Kaiwan and Hong Kong.
• Air Asia Japan  Narita is their hub. They fly between Sapporo, Okinawa, Fukuoka and Narita, and they have numerous flights all over Asia and Australia from Haneda.
• Jetstar Japan  You can find pretty cheap flights between Narita and Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka and other cities in Japan as well as cities in Asia and Australia. Since Qantas Airlines is a part owner, they fly to a few places in Australia.

The following airlines are not as cheap as the above three but are still usually cheaper than the classic ANA and JAL carriers.

• Skymark Airlines
• Air Do Shin Chitose (Sapporo, Hokkaido) is their hub.
• Solaseed Air (Skynet Asia)

Shuttle Bus from/to Narita
To go from Narita Airport into the "city" of Tokyo takes some planning.  It is a significant distance! There are a few train services, some extra charge express and regular trains, and limousine (which means shuttle bus services). Both express train and limo services are quite expensive unless you want to ride the regular commuter Keisei Line train, which was not designed for foreign visitors. It is safe but can be incredibly crowded with local residents!

So, now, in order to meet the needs of travelers who use LCC services, two cheaper shuttle bus services between Tokyo Station and Narita Airport have been implemented. Each are 1,000 yen one way.

Tokyo Shuttle: Between Shinonome (Rinku Line), Tokyo (JR) and Narita Airport.
The Narita Access: Between Ginza (Ginza Line or near Yurakucho JR Station), Tokyo (JR) and Narita Airport.

Bus Services
For a long time, "highway buses" have been known a cheaper way of traveling for example between Tokyo and Osaka or one big city to another using highways. I love highway buses since they have overnight services. They leave a city very late night and arrive very early in the next morning, I can use the time from the morning to the evening for something else.

The routes used to be quite limited but now they are numerous. Quite a few companies run the buses. It seems the companies and/or the routes can be divided into two groups. Differences regarding regulations often determine the price. I do not quite understand the differences but people consider the cheap ones less safe. They had some accidents episodes in which the drivers were overworked without a rest. But, hey, trains and buses are a lot more dangerous in other countries. I mean, such accident shouldn't happen but I never felt thrill I do when I board a Greyhound Japanese long distance bus.

Here are some examples:
JR Buses (no English): https://www.kousokubus.net/
Willer Express: http://willerexpress.com/en/

Hotels
Dormitory type of accommodations have been in Japan for backpackers for years, like Youth Hostels (most Japanese Youth Hostels are not members-only, and over aged "youth" can stay). But lately quite a few private run dormitory type "guest houses" are available to travelers in big cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Kyoto, Okinawa, etc. Here are some for back packers:

• Khaosan Guest Houses: Dorm-type accommodations in Tokyo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Beppu (Oita Pref.).
• K's Hostels: Tokyo, Ito (Shizuoka), Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Hakuba (Nagano), Hiroshima
• J Hoppers: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Takayama (Gifu)

Also, the part of cities where day-labor people used to live in cheap residential hotels called doya-gai lost their day-labor customers and some of the hotels renovated the facility for budget travelers. Sanya in Tokyo (Minamisenju is the closest JR station), Kamagasaki in Osaka (Shin-Imamiya is the closest JR station) and Kotobuki-cho in Yokohama (Ishikawa-cho is the closest JR station) are the biggest three in such areas.  I recommend this type of accommodation for people who do not enjoy sharing a bedroom like a dorm but don't care to be spending too much for just a place to sleep. Most of them are very tiny single room, sharing bath or shower and toilet, around 3,000 yen a night.

In my last visit to Japan in 2011, I stayed in one of these places in Minamisenju, Tokyo.
This is the hotel where I stayed, called  Hotel Maruchu.
I booked a very tiny single clean room with a small balcony, refrigerator and TV. There is a women's floor and non-smoking floor, shared bath and coin showers. There are similar hotels in the area, I believe that they are about the same for the facilities. Osaka and Yokohama have these types of accommodations as well. Lots of them have an English website, so you can make a reservation in advance.

This type of hotels can be found in search engine by following key words.

Tokyo: Minamisenju, hotel
They don't have regular expensive hotels in the area so the name of area and hotel should give you the results).
Yokohama: budget hotel, or hostel, Ishikawacho, Yokohama
Yokohama has many hotels from budget to luxury. Ishikawacho and hostel should distinguish the type of hotels from regular hotels.
Osaka: Nishinari, hotel
Like Tokyo, they don't have many regular hotels around the area.

So, in next our Japan visit, we'll try the LCC, budget shuttle and hotels! If you are the owner or PR and want us to be a monitor, please mail us! I'll use your service or stay in your hotel or inn and will report about it on this blog!