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🇯🇵 Japan · Asia

Tokyo

Thirteen cities in one — neon, temples, the world's best transit and food.

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Tokyo

The Tokyo guide

📘 The detailed premium Tokyo guide — 38 pages

Thirty-five million people, and the fare rise that made older guides wrong. Budgets, neighbourhoods, markets, stays, day plans and a Top 10 — every venue with a live Google Maps link. See inside →

Inside the premium guide

A preview of the real thing — a detailed premium guide, researched and checked in 2026. Click a page to enlarge.

Tokyo guide cover
THE COMPLETE CITY GUIDE
JAPAN · RESEARCHED 2026
Tokyo
Thirteen cities in one — neon, temples, the world's best transit and food.
sama·sama
The cover
What this guide covers
38 pages, A4 — cover to back. A phone edition comes with it.
What’s inside + how to use
The place & what a day costs
City at a glance — the best-of snapshot
What & how to eat
Where to eat — cheap & local
Mid-range & special occasion
Sweets, cafés & coffee
Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Supermarkets & typical prices
Markets & food halls
Souvenirs & shopping
Where to stay — neighbourhoods
Budget, boutique & luxury stays
Hostels — the backpacker shortlist
Six big things to do
Top 10 experiences — book & compare
Nightlife & after dark
Best day trips
Insider tips + safety & scams
Ready-made day plans
Getting around
Arrival, tickets & transport cheat sheet
When to go + best time to visit
Cash, cards & tipping
Connectivity & insurance
Health, safety & entry
The travel toolbox
Every link, one place
Sama·Sama · Tokyo guide38 pages
Everything it covers

One real entry from the Tokyo guide

The price tables further down give you the ranges. The guide gives you the places — 35 of them in Tokyo, each priced, each one tap from Google Maps.

€10.90–16.30Yakitori under the tracks, Omoide Yokocho€ · SHINJUKU WEST EXIT — ABOUT 80 UNITS, ROUGHLY 60 OF THEM EATING AND DRINKING · COUNTER LEGENDSix seats a bar, grilled offal, motsu-nikomi and a great deal of smoke, in an alley grown out of a post-war black market on burnt ground. Thoroughly discovered, and still real. Two things to know. Most bars levy a compulsory small dish, the otoshi, of about 300–500 yen a head — normal, not a swindle. And several shops forbid photographs of staff or interiors, so ask.📍 Open in Google Maps →

One of 35. The rest are in the guide.

Everything. Two files. One price.

This isn’t a blog post saved as a PDF — it’s a detailed, premium, 38-page A4 magazine — researched and checked in 2026, designed to be used. And every purchase comes as two files: the A4 edition for your laptop, tablet and printer, and a phone edition laid out tall and narrow so you never pinch or zoom — the same guide re-flowed into 123 phone-sized pages. Keep it on your phone or print it, open it at a street corner in Tokyo and it answers the question you’re standing there with.

38A4 pages — cover to back
123phone pages — same guide, re-flowed
253+researched prices in €
313live, verified links
108jump straight to Google Maps
62hand-picked photos

Add it up: 628+ researched details — every price checked, every venue placed, every link live. More usable information than a week of blog-tab hopping, in one beautiful file.

  • Made for the phone in your pocket — as well as the A4 magazine you get a phone edition: one attraction per screen, nothing cut, every link still live. No pinching, no sideways scrolling.
  • Every venue is one tap from navigation — 108 Google Maps links mean you never type an address on holiday.
  • Real prices, not vibes — three honest daily budgets (€61 / €113 / €226) and prices on everything from a dorm bed to a splurge dinner.
  • Zero sponsorships — nobody paid to be in this guide. If it’s in, it’s in because it’s good.
  • Book everything from the page — stays open on Booking.com & Hostelworld, experiences on GetYourGuide, Trip.com & Klook, transport on official operator sites.
  • Plan-it-for-me included — ready day plans, a Top 10, a best-of snapshot, and neighbourhood “best for” labels that choose your base with you.
Buy the Tokyo guide — €9.95 →Or buy Tokyo on Etsy ↗
Was €14.50 — now €9.95, every city the same.
This page gives you the ranges. The guide gives you the places — every venue named, priced and linked.
SHOESTRING
€61/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€113/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€226/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths €790 total

What Tokyo costs, day to day

🛵 Getting around

Metro / JR trains
Taxi
Uber / GO
Metro/JR single€1–€2.2
24-hour metro pass€3.9
Suica/Pasmo (stored value)free
Narita Express / Skyliner€13–€22

🛏 Stays

Per night
Hostel/capsule bed€22–€39
Airbnb / apt 1-BR€61–€122
Business hotel€61–€113
Design hotel€174–€391
Monthly
Studio€781–€1,302
1-BR, decent area€1,042–€1,736

🛒 Groceries & daily life

Gyomu Super — the budget bulk hero
OK / Life — everyday supermarkets
Konbini (7-Eleven, Lawson) — 24/7, surprisingly good food
Don Quijote — everything, cheap, chaotic
Milk 1L€1.2
Bread€1.7
Eggs 12€1.9
Cheese 1kg€10
Chicken 1kg€6.1
Rice 1kg€3.5
Beer 0.5L€1.9
Coffee jar€4.3

🍜 Eating out

Konbini meal€2.6–€5.2
Standing soba / ramen€4.3–€8.7
Donburi / teishoku set€6.9–€12
Izakaya dinner€17–€35
Sushi counter / kaiseki€69–€217

🎡 Things to do — with kids

teamLab digital museum€22–€26
Ueno Zoo + park€3.5
Ghibli Museum (book ahead)€6.1–€8.7

🌙 Things to do — grown-ups

Senso-ji + Asakusa (free)free
Shibuya Sky observation€16–€19
Golden Gai / Shinjuku bar night€17–€43
Tsukiji outer-market food crawl€13–€30

🌤 Climate

JFMAMJJASOND
Day °CRain
Best: Mar – May & Oct – Nov · Wet: Jun – Oct
Four real seasons: cherry blossoms late Mar–Apr, humid summers with a Jun rainy spell, fiery autumn leaves Nov. Typhoons Aug–Oct.

✈️ Getting there

ANAJapan Airlines (JAL)PeachJetstar Japan
Osaka€35–€95
Seoul€78–€191
Shanghai€104–€260
Two airports: Haneda (HND, close in) and Narita (NRT, farther, budget hub). Both link by train; Haneda is far more convenient.

🏧 ATMs & money

Fees: Use 7-Eleven (7-Bank) and Japan Post Bank ATMs — they reliably accept foreign cards with low/no surcharge. Many other ATMs reject foreign cards.
Limits: ¥50,000–100,000 per pull typically.
Best machines: 7-Eleven (7-Bank)Japan Post BankAeon
Japan is still surprisingly cash-based for a rich country — carry more yen than you'd expect. 7-Eleven ATMs are your reliable friend, open 24/7 in every konbini. Decline conversion; pay in yen.

🩺 Health & safety

Vaccines: Routine only — Japan is very low health-risk.
Health: Tap water is excellent and safe everywhere. Pharmacies are ubiquitous; summers are hot and humid (hydrate), and the odd typhoon hits Jul–Oct. Healthcare is superb; carry your insurance details.
Tap water: ✅ Excellent and safe to drink from any tap nationwide.
Safety: Japan is among the safest countries on Earth — lost wallets get returned, women travel solo comfortably, crime is remarkably low. The genuine risks are natural: earthquakes (know the drill) and typhoons. Learn a little train etiquette and you'll glide.
Emergency: 110 police · 119 ambulance/fire

🛂 Visa & entry

For most short tourist trips, citizens of the US, UK, EU/Schengen, Canada, Australia and New Zealand either enter visa-free or get a simple online authorisation (an eVisa or eTA) before flying. Typical visa-free stays run 30–90 days. Some countries want a visa arranged in advance, and a growing number ask you to fill an online arrival or eVisa form even when 'visa-free' — so always check the official portal for your exact nationality before you book.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.

💬 Traveller tips & reports

Eat brilliantly for pocket change — Tokyo has the most Michelin stars on earth, but its budget food is just as thrilling: $4 konbini meals that don't embarrass themselves, $6 standing ramen, $8 teishoku sets. Get a Suica card, ride the trains, and you can eat like royalty on a hostel budget.
@konbini.king · May '26 · ▲ 138
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