Nice job on putting this together Render. For some people this might be a really great idea to take advantage of. However, keep in mind it doesn’t cover the cost of airfare. If there are people out there who can afford airfare but just only a slight bit more, you can honestly stay out here for 5 days for as low as about 100 dollars if you are willing to go the route I usually take. Bare with me now, im being serious.
ElvenShadow’s ghetto but totally doable package…
lodging: you can stay at a number of various Manga Kissa’s in Japan for as little as around $10 for 6 hours. A manga kissa is basically an internet and comic cafe. They vary in what they offer and their cost, but the one I usually stay in is $10 for 6 hours. You can legally sleep there. Sometimes you can get ones that offer private booths with a cushioned floor or recliner chair and those may cost a tad more. The one I stay at often is just reclining chairs in an open booth with a desk. You may be thinking that this is unsafe, but I have been literally sleep at these places every single weekend since October and ive NEVER had a problem. Just keep your belongings close to you and if someone tries to take them you will wake up. Ive never had anyone try to even steal from me. Japan really is one of the safest countries. Sometimes these places even have showers. The waiting lists can be long at times so if you strategically plan when to use them its doable, or if you find one in a less busy area. There are also public bath houses around that can be entered for as little as a few hundred yen. Lodging will cost you as little as $50-75 for 5 nights as long as you can function on about 6 hours of sleep. You can pay extra if you want a little more but the price goes up the longer you stay.
As far as food goes… just like in the US, you can easily find cheap food in Japan. Fast food places have 100 yen menus (basically the dollar menu) and you can easily live off that for a weekend if you have to. Even some places like Matsuya or Yoshinoya have decent meals of like big Curry and Rice plates for as little as like 4 dollars.
Train fare is really not going to cost you that much. For most places within the main Tokyo area, you will pay less than like 200 yen to get from one place to the other. From Narita it will probably cost you like maybe 500 yen from central Tokyo on regular JR trains or the skyliner.
please use this website to check exact train routes, times, and prices. http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi
(the station closest to SBO is Ariake and Narita is the station for the Airport)
If you don’t travel a hell of a lot, mostly stick around like one good arcade or the SBO area and then maybe find somewhere cool to chill at night, you wont need much travel money.
Admission to SBO itself wasn’t very expensive, I think it was only like 10 dollars or something, but I could be wrong. Either way its not expensive.
If you save on the other areas of your trip, you can splurge on drinking, partying, and gaming, as honestly… thats where most of your money is going to go, seeing as how a drink at a bar or club will cost an average of $7 in Tokyo and games will either cost you 50-100 yen depending on where you play.
So to sum it up… basically Render’s package seems very nice and is great for someone who can afford it. If it seems too pricey for you and you still wanna come to Japan and you gotta do what you gotta do, just keep in mind that there are much cheaper and doable options.
If anyone has any questions specifically please just ask as I know my way around Tokyo extremely well.
I will be around during SBO weekend so I can help people out and shit.
If you want to know a bit more, go ahead and check out my blog too.
I hope this post was somewhat helpful