10 Days in Japan for only Php50,000

It may sound crazy but yes, I finally did it! I just came back from Japan where I took advantage of my 1-week JR Pass and went to Sapporo, Tokyo, and Fukuoka.

But before I completely lay out our itinerary, let's first talk about the JR Pass. The JR Pass is exclusively available to all tourists visiting Japan. You can't buy it upon arrival, you must purchase it before entering Japan. This pass authorizes the holder to have unlimited train rides under the JR line so it's very recommended to those staying for a week or even a month! ;)

Before, we used to buy our passes from Japan-Rail-Pass.com (London-based travel agency), but now we prefer buying direct from Attic Tours here in Manila. The rate of the JR Pass depends on the forex so by the time we got our 1-week JR Pass, it already costs us ₱13,682 (per pax). To know more about the JR Pass click here.

Our point of entry was in Tokyo via Narita Airport. This was also my first time to see the beautiful facade of Tokyo Station.

Halloween is always fun in Tokyo and I'm glad my fiancé agreed to stay here for a couple of days. 

For our accommodation in Tokyo, we stayed with my cousin so obviously, we did not have to pay anything for that. But based on our previous trips, you can find a decent Airbnb in Tokyo CBD for ₱3,500 per night. For the benefit of this blog post let's just say we spent ₱10,500 for our 3-night stay in Tokyo.

The real adventure started on November 1 when we had to leave Tokyo for Sapporo. This video was taken around 8:20AM and was uploaded on The Travel Junkie Facebook page. Our estimated time of arrival in Sapporo Station was around 5:30PM but there was a bit of a delay (SURPRISINGLY!) and we arrived at our final destination (which was our Airbnb) around 7:30PM.

Our Airbnb was located in the red light district of Susukino in Sapporo, you may read the review here. We stayed here for another 3 nights for a total of ₱11,200.

Sapporo is beautiful but I'm gonna reserve photos for another post so watch out for that.

November 4: We checked out early just to make it in time for our 6:00AM trip going back to Tokyo. This one was quite memorable since we had to take a cab to get to the station. We never ride taxi's in Japan 'coz we know it is expensive. If I'm not mistaken we paid around ¥800 for a trip that only took like 5 mins. HAHA. We actually have the option to walk but it was freezing cold outside and it's been raining during our stay. Better safe than sorry folks!

TIP: Save time by getting reserved shinkansen tickets at least a day before the trip.

The regular express trip from Sapporo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station takes around 3.5 hours and from here we're riding the Hokkaido Shinkansen that will take us back to Tokyo. This is Japan's newest bullet train with a maximum speed of 300km/h. I'm gonna blog about this in another post too so please watch out for that. ;)

By 2:30PM we finally arrived in Tokyo and here's a selfie before riding another train that will bring us to Osaka. You really need a ton of patience if you want to experience this kind of trip! Haha.

Here's another video but this time from Osaka Station. If I'm not mistaken this was around 6:30PM and we had to transfer to another train for one last time before reaching Fukuoka Station. The train you see above is called the Sakura Shinkansen.

By 8:30PM we finally arrived at the Hakata Station in Fukuoka. You have no idea how happy I was to be finally walking around. LOL. I think the trip took almost 15 hours. We had to skip parts of central Japan since we've already been to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya.

Good thing our Airbnb was literally just 5 minutes away from Hakata station and was walking distance from nearby tourist spots. This one costs us ₱16,000 for 4 nights.

Let's add up everything, shall we? So ₱13,682 (JR Pass) + ₱10,500 ₱5,250 (Tokyo) + ₱11,200 ₱5,600 (Sapporo) + ₱16,000 ₱8,000 (Fukuoka) = ₱32,532 NOTE: Accommodation was divided to two since my boyfriend and I share all the expenses. Airfare and food not included in the computation.

But to give you an estimate, we more or less spent ₱50,000 each if we will include food in the computation. This just goes to show that it is indeed possible to travel around Japan within that budget (or even lesser than that!) for 10 days. The best way to do so is to definitely book in advance. Our accommodations were actually booked while we were already in Japan so it was a bit expensive as expected.

Overall, I think this was one of our most productive trips. It might sound crazy at first (taking the train from Sapporo to Fukuoka) but it was actually fun hopping from one train to another. This type of trip is not for everyone but if you're feeling adventurous then I highly recommend that you go!

P.S. According to Google Maps, our trip to Fukuoka from Sapporo would've cost us almost ¥45,000. The JR Pass might sound expensive at first but once maximized, you'll realize that it is actually worth it. ;)