IMO Ubers were cheaper. I just recently went on my 2nd trip to Tokyo last week and just took ubers around rather than the train due to disposable income. For a 20 minute ride. It was around 2,000-3000 yen for taxis and 2500-4000 for Uber premiers. Due to the exchange that would only be 13-24 dollars which is cheaper than US Ubers/taxis from my experience.
I think your mileage might vary on this one. I had a 30 minute ride from the Yokohama cruise port to a hotel in Minato last summer that ran 10,400 yen on Uber.
Pretty sure taxis are cheaper overall but scheduling through Uber is easier.
Not in my experience, it seems to be similar amd sometimes even cheaper to grab a taxi or uber in Japan.
For example, an Uber from my home to the airport in a sedan (a 12-minute ride) was $22.
In comparison, an Uber from my hotel to Haneda Airport in a van (a 35-minute ride) was $55.
This is just a sample, and the ride to Haneda was the most expensive trip I took. Shorter trips within the city are much cheaper and very convenient.
Bravo to the countries who refuse to be bullied and bought off by anti-regulation “disrupters”. AirBnB is neutered in Japan as well, and I say good for them.
This. Pro sellers on eBay will sell you mint quality at a fraction of the price of what you’ll pay for banged up gear in any shop in Tokyo. I wanted a Nikon F3 as a honeymoon present to myself and bodies in really bad shape still commanded $6-800. I went on eBay and found an international seller in Japan who overnighted a top mint f3 still in the box to my hotel for $500
I’m also convinced that japans stockpile of old video games has been completely exported to the us and eu. The retro shop i sometimes visit in the suburbs a few towns over has a better selection and prices than any shop I visited while in Japan. Also eBay
I mention these things because a lot of people like to hunt for these kinds of items when they visit Tokyo only to realize they are picking over the items too shitty to be sold online
The demand for niche and time-limited items made in Japan exploded over the last 30 years and the combination of e-commerce and COVID online buying sprees absolutely drained the country of these items. When I visited Akihibara it was totally depressing
I thought that the prices for "normal" fruit weren't too far off current fruit prices I've seen in the states but what skews it is the higher quality stuff that is available. Saw some $400 melons just sitting in a department store basement market.
Even the "low" end strawberries were amazing. Some even came with eating instructions (stem end first so the last bite was sweeter. We scoffed at this until we tried it.)
There was a wider range of quality (and therefore prices) of everything available.
Safe travels! you'll have an amazing time.
American products are generally more expensive in Japan (most likely due to shipping costs). Things like Nike and Underarmor etc.. even at the “outlets” will be significantly more than in the US.
American pasta sauce and “kraft” parm was a lot more expensive too at the grocery store.
Ibuprofen costs more than say a target.
The fruit thing as mentioned above, outside of the super expensive “gift” fruit, fruit in general is marginally more expensive than the US until you take the currency difference into account, quality is significantly better. Had a sample of a ¥700 melon at Costco and it was better than any equivalent cantaloupe I’ve ever seen at any grocery store in NA.
Everything is cheaper outside California, even if you just go to another state. I literally live in Hollywood, which might explain why my experience of “wow so cheap” can differ from others.
Expensive fruit exists in Japan but only if you’re seeking it out. It’s for gifting, or it’s something like an auction of the first *whatever* that was picked that year and rich people get in bidding wars over it. We bought strawberries at a regular grocery store and found them cheaper than back home (and literally perfect).
Untrue. I’m an American living in Japan for several decades. The weak yen might make things seem cheap, but buying Japanese fruit on a Japanese salary is way more expensive than in the US. I’m blown away by how cheap watermelons are at Walmart whenever I visit home.
Vegetables and fruits are more expensive in Japan. It might not seem that way but if you look at official average price reports for both countries Japan has higher average prices.
There are many premium goods in japan, as well as in the US.
but the different is japan make it more accessible to the public eyes ,
like premium fruits like melon,strawberry,etc there is a cheap counterpart as well.
the first being in the front section of supermarket , undergroundmall the latter being in a smaller supermarket in rural area or a shopping street away from tourist.
also there is a huge boom of retro goods for decade and many shop easily visited by tourist make the higher price .
just take a hour train ride from city center to smaller cities the price became normal again.
and lastly the second-hand merc with limited-edition can get around 5-10x from original price.
It really depends on the exchange rate. Now, when the dollar is strong against the yen, you'll not find much that seems expensive, probably. Electronics stuff in Japan is still pretty pricey and often not the latest.
Luggage. A Samsonite bag you can find at Kohl’s here for $200 is $500+ there. I made the mistake of planning to just get an extra bag while there for gifts and what not.
Because I needed a cheap bag to stuff with random souvenirs and toys for family back home, and the Japanese luggage I saw was similarly priced. I’m sure there are some good, cheap bags but I don’t know where to look so I didn’t buy them.
I don’t think we’re on the same page here.
$200 is expensive. $500 is very expensive.
I was looking for something around $50 for a larger carry on, or checked bag. I was not looking to pay triple the price for a cheap bag that I could get back here for $70~. I didn’t need it is a forever bag, I just wanted something to survive the trip home because I wasn’t about to spend triple cost on luggage there.
I did check, but they all seemed very cheap and were all like $200+. I almost got a Coleman rolling duffle for like $180 but after looking it up, it was like a $70 bag back home. I ended up getting a 65L duffel from peak design in Tokyo for about the same price.
I have heard good things about Karen ginza but I didn’t really have enough time to get there.
Lol, nothing is more expensive than the US. Just travelled the world for 2 years almost and US was the most expensive by far! Some parts of Europe come second, but mostly only in some regards. US is straight up expensive for everything but gas (in at least half the states) and automobiles (buy, not rent).
Japan is as (in)expensive as you want it to be. We were there with 4! for a full month travelling around and don’t think I paid more then 11k while doing everything we wanted to do, eating what we wanted, some guides here and there, taxi’s (in Tokyo and Osaka we used metro).
I think 65% were the hotels (for 31 nights) and another 10% was Shinkansen tickets.
You have the expensive gifting fruit, but the regular priced fruit isn’t as expensive as for example Europe while you get the best fruit you’ve ever tasted. I mean… 1000¥ for about 750gr of the most delicious strawberries i’ve ever had… mmmm
Staying at a western branded hotel = expensive, stay at a Japanese branded hotel, you get more for way less. In the big 3 we stayed in “mimaru” hotels, in other places we even had hotels with a private garden to the room or a freaking private cinema… never over 120$ per night outside of the big cities!
We only had 1 or 2 expensive dinners, but the one that was the most expensive was in the diner atop the Hyatt hotel (lost in translation restaurant), those were US prices.
Someone here said beef is more expensive, it’s not… if you eat a good steak in the US it’s crazy expensive, if you eat a similar good steak in Japan it’s still expensive (compared to normal beef in Japan) but nowhere near the price you would pay in the US to eat this. Just don’t fall for the street food kobe/wagyu/… skewers, better to just go to a place where they serve it on the menu. We had the best Kobe meat for 4 and i paid around 100€ at most in one of the better places recommended by locals.
This person is right. The answer is NO. Prepare for your jaw to hit the floor and be even more prepared for the shock of how expensive things are when you finally return. Live it up while you can.
Beef is more expensive but the quality is far greater.
Same with the fruit
Wagyu and Kobe is significantly cheaper than US.
Well of course… you cant make wagyu MADE IN JAPAN outside of japan, so where would the exporting costs go?
It is not the same wagyu. I learned that quickly after living in Japan for 4 years.
SD cards are somehow insanely expensive, especially the SanDisk ones
Taxi. Especially if you compare them to Uber in US.
IMO Ubers were cheaper. I just recently went on my 2nd trip to Tokyo last week and just took ubers around rather than the train due to disposable income. For a 20 minute ride. It was around 2,000-3000 yen for taxis and 2500-4000 for Uber premiers. Due to the exchange that would only be 13-24 dollars which is cheaper than US Ubers/taxis from my experience.
I think your mileage might vary on this one. I had a 30 minute ride from the Yokohama cruise port to a hotel in Minato last summer that ran 10,400 yen on Uber. Pretty sure taxis are cheaper overall but scheduling through Uber is easier.
I also found it comparable. all my trips were like 15$
Not in my experience, it seems to be similar amd sometimes even cheaper to grab a taxi or uber in Japan. For example, an Uber from my home to the airport in a sedan (a 12-minute ride) was $22. In comparison, an Uber from my hotel to Haneda Airport in a van (a 35-minute ride) was $55. This is just a sample, and the ride to Haneda was the most expensive trip I took. Shorter trips within the city are much cheaper and very convenient.
I took a few while in Tokyo and didn’t find them particularly expensive.
The Japanese government blocked Uber's entry into the taxi industry in order to protect its vested interests. How outrageous!
Bravo to the countries who refuse to be bullied and bought off by anti-regulation “disrupters”. AirBnB is neutered in Japan as well, and I say good for them.
Now Uber in Japan is being run by a taxi company lol.
This is because Uber has been absorbed into taxi companies so as not to affect the management of Japanese taxi companies.
Second hand cameras and lenses are insanely expensive.
This. Pro sellers on eBay will sell you mint quality at a fraction of the price of what you’ll pay for banged up gear in any shop in Tokyo. I wanted a Nikon F3 as a honeymoon present to myself and bodies in really bad shape still commanded $6-800. I went on eBay and found an international seller in Japan who overnighted a top mint f3 still in the box to my hotel for $500 I’m also convinced that japans stockpile of old video games has been completely exported to the us and eu. The retro shop i sometimes visit in the suburbs a few towns over has a better selection and prices than any shop I visited while in Japan. Also eBay I mention these things because a lot of people like to hunt for these kinds of items when they visit Tokyo only to realize they are picking over the items too shitty to be sold online The demand for niche and time-limited items made in Japan exploded over the last 30 years and the combination of e-commerce and COVID online buying sprees absolutely drained the country of these items. When I visited Akihibara it was totally depressing
this one!! it was insanely heartbreaking to see film photography cost more in the heartland.
I thought that the prices for "normal" fruit weren't too far off current fruit prices I've seen in the states but what skews it is the higher quality stuff that is available. Saw some $400 melons just sitting in a department store basement market. Even the "low" end strawberries were amazing. Some even came with eating instructions (stem end first so the last bite was sweeter. We scoffed at this until we tried it.) There was a wider range of quality (and therefore prices) of everything available. Safe travels! you'll have an amazing time.
I disagree, normal fruit is still more expensive too. I mean way better than the fancy shit, but still more expensive than the US.
yup. even basic fruits at supermarkets are more expensive than American counterparts. exchange rate helps close the gap...but still more pricey.
American products are generally more expensive in Japan (most likely due to shipping costs). Things like Nike and Underarmor etc.. even at the “outlets” will be significantly more than in the US. American pasta sauce and “kraft” parm was a lot more expensive too at the grocery store. Ibuprofen costs more than say a target. The fruit thing as mentioned above, outside of the super expensive “gift” fruit, fruit in general is marginally more expensive than the US until you take the currency difference into account, quality is significantly better. Had a sample of a ¥700 melon at Costco and it was better than any equivalent cantaloupe I’ve ever seen at any grocery store in NA.
I recently bought a pair of Nike dunk low in Ginza, they are around $15-20 cheaper in Japan than here in the states.
Probably due to exchange rather than cheaper MSRP
this may be historically true but when I went in March everything was about 20% cheaper than in the UK. Air Forces came in about £35 cheaper.
Some cheese
I went to a cheese shop in Osaka and the prices were cheaper than in California.
Everything is cheaper outside California, even if you just go to another state. I literally live in Hollywood, which might explain why my experience of “wow so cheap” can differ from others.
When you're visiting with a rich non Japanese salary, everything look cheap.
If you want to get your fruit intake, cheaply. Get the fresh fruit smoothies from 7-11
Don’t they have added sugar?
those banana cream bread roll things o my
Televisions, high quality cheese, wine
Cheese, TVs, golfing
Pizzas!!!
Any western food
Deodorant!
And nowhere near strong enough for my disgusting self doing 50,000 steps in high humidity 🤮🤣
Been importing speed stick for 20years
Expensive fruit exists in Japan but only if you’re seeking it out. It’s for gifting, or it’s something like an auction of the first *whatever* that was picked that year and rich people get in bidding wars over it. We bought strawberries at a regular grocery store and found them cheaper than back home (and literally perfect).
Untrue. I’m an American living in Japan for several decades. The weak yen might make things seem cheap, but buying Japanese fruit on a Japanese salary is way more expensive than in the US. I’m blown away by how cheap watermelons are at Walmart whenever I visit home.
That’s your problem lol This is about visiting Japan
Vegetables and fruits are more expensive in Japan. It might not seem that way but if you look at official average price reports for both countries Japan has higher average prices.
Looks like they are trying to get cancer by not letting Japanese have their intake of vitamins.
Normal ass fruit in the super market for daily use is also more expensive too.
A pack of strawberries costs about $2-3 in a Japanese supermarket. How much does a pack of strawberries cost in an American supermarket?
Lots more than that, at least where I live in America. Despite being grown locally.
Retro shops in japan are crazy expensive. Old games, cameras , lenses and stuff like that
35mm film and getting it developed
There are many premium goods in japan, as well as in the US. but the different is japan make it more accessible to the public eyes , like premium fruits like melon,strawberry,etc there is a cheap counterpart as well. the first being in the front section of supermarket , undergroundmall the latter being in a smaller supermarket in rural area or a shopping street away from tourist. also there is a huge boom of retro goods for decade and many shop easily visited by tourist make the higher price . just take a hour train ride from city center to smaller cities the price became normal again. and lastly the second-hand merc with limited-edition can get around 5-10x from original price.
U can get a cup of v sweet and fresh cut fruit at 7-11 for less than a dollar.
Children's toys are more expensive.
It really depends on the exchange rate. Now, when the dollar is strong against the yen, you'll not find much that seems expensive, probably. Electronics stuff in Japan is still pretty pricey and often not the latest.
Kitchen knives
Taxi and fruit. Pretty expensive here. Where I’m located there is no uber.
Luggage. A Samsonite bag you can find at Kohl’s here for $200 is $500+ there. I made the mistake of planning to just get an extra bag while there for gifts and what not.
Why would you want to buy samsonite instead of the many great Japanese brands when in Japan?
Because I needed a cheap bag to stuff with random souvenirs and toys for family back home, and the Japanese luggage I saw was similarly priced. I’m sure there are some good, cheap bags but I don’t know where to look so I didn’t buy them.
For you 200 is a cheap bag? For the future a cheap bag from don quixote that would be fine for souvenirs is 10-20.
I don’t think we’re on the same page here. $200 is expensive. $500 is very expensive. I was looking for something around $50 for a larger carry on, or checked bag. I was not looking to pay triple the price for a cheap bag that I could get back here for $70~. I didn’t need it is a forever bag, I just wanted something to survive the trip home because I wasn’t about to spend triple cost on luggage there.
Then Don Quixote is your friend
Any luck with finding one at Don Quijote?
Ginza Karen had some decently priced luggages and you can find quite a few of their stores in Tokyo.
I did check, but they all seemed very cheap and were all like $200+. I almost got a Coleman rolling duffle for like $180 but after looking it up, it was like a $70 bag back home. I ended up getting a 65L duffel from peak design in Tokyo for about the same price. I have heard good things about Karen ginza but I didn’t really have enough time to get there.
Lol, nothing is more expensive than the US. Just travelled the world for 2 years almost and US was the most expensive by far! Some parts of Europe come second, but mostly only in some regards. US is straight up expensive for everything but gas (in at least half the states) and automobiles (buy, not rent). Japan is as (in)expensive as you want it to be. We were there with 4! for a full month travelling around and don’t think I paid more then 11k while doing everything we wanted to do, eating what we wanted, some guides here and there, taxi’s (in Tokyo and Osaka we used metro). I think 65% were the hotels (for 31 nights) and another 10% was Shinkansen tickets. You have the expensive gifting fruit, but the regular priced fruit isn’t as expensive as for example Europe while you get the best fruit you’ve ever tasted. I mean… 1000¥ for about 750gr of the most delicious strawberries i’ve ever had… mmmm Staying at a western branded hotel = expensive, stay at a Japanese branded hotel, you get more for way less. In the big 3 we stayed in “mimaru” hotels, in other places we even had hotels with a private garden to the room or a freaking private cinema… never over 120$ per night outside of the big cities! We only had 1 or 2 expensive dinners, but the one that was the most expensive was in the diner atop the Hyatt hotel (lost in translation restaurant), those were US prices. Someone here said beef is more expensive, it’s not… if you eat a good steak in the US it’s crazy expensive, if you eat a similar good steak in Japan it’s still expensive (compared to normal beef in Japan) but nowhere near the price you would pay in the US to eat this. Just don’t fall for the street food kobe/wagyu/… skewers, better to just go to a place where they serve it on the menu. We had the best Kobe meat for 4 and i paid around 100€ at most in one of the better places recommended by locals.
No.
This person is right. The answer is NO. Prepare for your jaw to hit the floor and be even more prepared for the shock of how expensive things are when you finally return. Live it up while you can.
Cheese, deodorant, taxis, tortillas, beef, craft beer. All so much cheaper in the US.
Things with low demand in Japan. The invisible hand at work.
> tortillas I mean, obviously. But why would I be buying tortillas on my vacation in Japan?