Going to Tokyo?
Your Money Goes Further Than You Think.
A bowl of ramen is ¥950, a convenience-store breakfast is ¥400 and a subway ride is ¥180 — Tokyo is cheaper day to day than London or New York. The expensive parts are specific and avoidable: the Kabukicho bar bill, the ¥2,800 tourist-menu sushi set, the rail pass you didn't need. This guide shows you every fair Tokyo price and the 12 traps visitors fall for.
Prices updated September 2026 · One-time payment · Money-back guarantee
The quiet overcharge
Tokyo has almost no everyday overcharging. Prices are printed, tipping doesn't exist, and a taxi meter is a taxi meter. That's exactly why visitors let their guard down in the few places where the rules change.
The first is the otoshi — a small dish placed on your table at an izakaya that is a seating charge of ¥300–800 per person, entirely normal, and completely invisible if you don't know it's coming.
The second is Kabukicho and parts of Roppongi, where touts steer visitors into bars with no printed prices and bills of ¥30,000–100,000 backed by an escort to an ATM. Third is transport: the wrong rail pass, the wrong ticket, an airport express that costs four times a local train.
What a day in Tokyo should actually cost
Based on real local prices for food, transport, and sights — not hotel-concierge prices.
Hostel or capsule, convenience-store and ramen meals, subway everywhere, free shrines and viewpoints.
Business hotel, one restaurant meal a day, IC card transport, a couple of paid attractions.
4-star hotel, sushi counters and izakaya dinners, taxis at night, day trips to Hakone or Nikko.
What visitors arrive for
The four prices nearly every visitor checks in their first 24 hours — the everyday rate against the tourist-facing rate.
| Item | Local | Tourist |
|---|---|---|
Ramen bowl per bowl | $6.50 | $19 2.9× local |
Sushi lunch set per person | $11 | $42 3.8× local |
Subway ride (IC card) per ride | $1.25 | $4 3.2× local |
Draft beer, izakaya per glass | $3.80 | $11 2.9× local |
The otoshi: the small dish you didn't order is a seating charge — normal, legal, ¥300–800 a head, and the reason izakaya bills surprise people.
The full guide costs out a whole day, stop by stop.
This is 4 of 20 items in the full guide.
What's inside the guide
You're about to make dozens of small spending decisions in a city that rounds every one of them up for visitors. Here's what the full guide gives you:
- The 12 Tokyo tourist traps — and exactly what to say to avoid each. Kabukicho and Roppongi touts, the otoshi charge, no-price bar menus, tourist-menu sushi in Tsukiji Outer Market, the rail pass that doesn't earn out, airport express upsells, and the "free" temple fortune. Real tactics, real scripts.
- Every fair Tokyo price — all 20 items, everyday price vs tourist price, side by side, in yen and dollars.
- A first-90-minutes arrival cheat sheet — Narita or Haneda to the centre without the ¥4,000 express, which IC card to load, and whether the JR Pass is worth it for your trip.
- A full day costed stop by stop — Senso-ji → Ueno → Shibuya → izakaya dinner, what it should cost, and where people get overcharged.
- Daily budgets for 3 travel styles, so you know if your trip is on track before you land.
- Works offline — pull it up at the counter or the ticket machine, no signal needed.
Kabukicho and Roppongi touts, and the bill with no menu
In Shinjuku's Kabukicho and around Roppongi Crossing, touts — often approaching in English and unusually friendly — offer a "cheap drink, no cover, my friend's bar". The bar is upstairs, has no printed prices, and the bill arrives at ¥30,000–100,000 for two drinks, itemised with charges nobody mentioned: seating, service, a hostess sitting down, a "set". Refusing gets you a group of men, a card terminal, and sometimes an escort to a nearby ATM. Drink-spiking cases are documented in the same handful of streets. Tokyo police put up multilingual warning signs about exactly this, which tells you how routine it is.
That's one. The full guide has eleven more — including the ones that cost real money.
Less than one izakaya beer in Ginza. A rounding error against one Kabukicho bill. If this guide doesn't save you more than it costs, we'll refund you — just ask.
One-time payment · Instant access · Works offline · Money-back guarantee
The full guide
Here's one full section, free — the arrival cheat sheet you'd read on the way in from the airport. The rest of the guide is below.
Your First 90 Minutes in Tokyo
One screen. Narita or Haneda to the centre, IC card, and money — solved before you land.
Getting from NRT or HND to the centre
- Haneda — Keikyu or Tokyo Monorail. ¥300–500 to Shinagawa or Hamamatsucho, 15–20 minutes. There is no reason to pay more from Haneda.
- Narita — Keisei Access Express. About ¥1,300 to Ueno or Asakusa, roughly 60 minutes. The Skyliner is ¥2,570 and saves about 15 minutes.
- Narita — Airport Limousine Bus. ¥3,200–3,600 direct to major hotels. Worth it with big luggage; otherwise the train wins on both time and money.
IC card and transport
Load a Suica or PASMO (including in Apple Wallet) and tap for every subway, JR and bus ride — fares are ¥180–320 across the city and the card also pays at convenience stores and vending machines. A Tokyo Metro 24-hour pass is ¥600 and earns out at four rides. The JR Pass at ¥50,000 for 7 days only makes sense with at least one long-distance return shinkansen trip; for a Tokyo-only trip it loses money badly.
Cash and cards
Cards are widely accepted, but small ramen shops, izakaya and shrines are still cash-only. Carry ¥10,000–20,000. Withdraw from a 7-Eleven or Japan Post ATM — they reliably accept foreign cards where bank machines often don't — and always decline conversion to your home currency. Tipping does not exist anywhere in Japan; leaving money on a table causes confusion, not gratitude.
The one phrase for an izakaya
"Otōshi wa arimasu ka?" — is there a seating charge? A ¥300–800 per-person otoshi is normal and not a scam, but knowing about it turns a surprising bill into an expected one. Bars without printed prices are a different matter: walk out.
Prices as of September 2026, in yen with dollar equivalents. The exchange rate moves — treat the dollar figures as close guides.
Unlock the full price table + 12 trap warnings
Every one of the 20 prices, plus the 12 specific Tokyo tourist traps with the exact phrase to avoid them.
