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Originally Posted by josebrown
Capsule hotel sounds out of the picture, I'll look at toyoko inn. I dont mind sharing facilities so I will look into hostels also. I was thinking about Shibuya, but I would prefer to put the cash towards going out vs hotel so a train ride is fine.
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Toyoko Inn is definitely a good option. On top of being a very inexpensive standard hotel with a good reputation - if you join their members club, you will be able to get a free night when you stay more than 10 (they don`t have to all be in one stay.) If you plan to stay for two weeks, then you can save a night`s hotel cost.
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Hmm, since credit cards are not as good as cash, vs US where most stores prefer credit cards, Ill up my cash count to $3000. Kind of weird carrying around that much.
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When it comes to cash, it is pretty normal to carry around that much. But, in my experience, I don`t really think Japan is as much a "cash based" society as is frequently said. You can use a card pretty much anywhere other than tiny shops - and even half of those do accept cards if you ask. The difference is that Japan tends to have more tiny shops, so there are more chances to stumble into one that doesn`t accept credit cards.
I live here and buy everything here, and our household "cash" budget for a month is 50,000 yen. 35000 of that is for my son`s kindergarten (cash or bank transfer)- so in reality only 15000/month in regular cash
needs to be set aside for incidentals.
And really, most of that is used for small purchases where a credit card
could be used but just isn`t - for example buying a drink at a convenience store (they accept credit), riding the train (could buy a pass with credit), etc. I`d say that we use the most cash buying things at the drugstore (the closest drug store doesn`t take credit cards - I could go to another that does, but why bother?), for parking, or for eating out in tiny restaurants.