Over Chinese New Year I’m planning to visit Japan for the first time. Osaka and Kyoto. In anticipation of the trip, I’m checking the prices of cocktail bars, and bars in general, and I’m surprised that even the ritziest places seem to be cheaper in Japan? Like, the most expensive cocktails, and not even like the average price, are around ¥1500, which works out to about 330 NTD, whereas here in Taichung, upscale cocktail bars commonly charge 400 and up. The hotels also seem to be priced on par or more cheaply than Taiwan. I don’t know - I always thought that Japan was more developed and expensive to visit in general than Taiwan, but I’ve never been, and this is all I can glean from Google Maps and booking apps like Agoda. Am I wrong, or is Taiwan surprisingly expensive compared to other countries in Asia that are frequently contrasted against it as more developed, wealthy, etc?
The Japanese yen is really really cheap right now, so that is in your favour.
For years, even before the devaluation of the yen, Japan has been excellent value for accommodation, especially when compared to similar quality in Taiwan.
With booze, however, be careful. Some bars in Japan are basically private clubs, no prices indicated, girls inside, you get the picture. The larger more open izakaya places are more accessible and will have clearly marked prices. I wouldn’t recommend you try any place that does not have prices clearly indicated (not just booze but sushi places too).
Enjoy!
Guy
There’s a common perception that Taiwan is a cheap place to live in / travel to, but many of my friends were surprised after they got to Taiwan at how expensive hotels were. Maybe because countries that start with the letter T are generally poor and people automatically associate Taiwan to Thailand?
Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu…
You will also find food to be cheaper and bigger portions. They don’t have culture of raising prices.
Food is not cheaper or of bigger portions in Japan.
They don’t raise prices because for the longest time Japan had deflation, but thanks to the outrageous QE their inflation has finally picked up and now everything is getting more and more expensive for the Japanese (not so much for foreigners because yen is very weak). Their VAT is higher too. For regular folks in Japan things are really rough, which explains Kishida’s atrocious approval rating.
The sad thing is even with the severe devaluation the Japanese economy is still doing terrible.
Their stock market is doing well though.
Japan is extremely cheap for tourists.
Went there recently, and saw many bars/food joints that had all you can drink draft beer for like 1000 yen an hour or 1500 yen for 90 minutes. All kinds of meals cheaper than in Taiwan.
Japan has been frozen in a time warp and staid prices together with yen so frickin cheap make for great economic traveling.
You should also take into account the fact that Japanese bars and restaurants sometimes would charge a private booth fee. The price tag you see also excludes VAT so you need to add 10% when you pay (though they normally don’t have service fees).
I ate cheaper and better food connecting a flight in Narita than in Taipei.
Yes, the food is cheaper and same proportions. Was just there with family.
A friend of friend also went there over the summer and said the same thing.
Udon noodles the size of 牛肉麵 and bigger, four of us four big bowls, equivalent of US$11 in total, that’s NT$87 per bowl. Many places can ask for more free noodles.
There are many more examples of food cheaper there than in Taiwan. Train/MRT tickets are more expensive there.
Udon has no beef in it. Beef is more expensive. Noodle soup without beef is more comparable to Udon in Japan and they are definitely cheaper in Taiwan.
K.
Booze (excluding tw beer or gaoliang) is more expensive in TW. Import duties r high on alcohol. Most overpriced is wine, then strong liquor.
JP is a better deal for that, you even have all I can drink izakayas!
Anyway…we were making comparisons all over the place for food and drinks, all cheaper than Taiwan. Your experience may have been different.
This is a terrible shift in Japan’s system, where wealth is being stripped away from workers and into the hands of investors.
Guy
You can also try some of the Izakaya places which do all you can drink for a certain period (e.g. 3 Hours).
Not really. A lot of these investors are foreign institutions. That has very little to do with the wealth of Japanese people.
Me, vs. Kyushu, JP (Fukuoka) where family is from and other places where we work. Vilnius<Fukuoka<Tallinn (EE)< Brescia(italy)< Kaohsiung for drinks in restaurant/hotel mostly, so yes in some areas Taiwan is expensive.
Public transport in Taiwan is much much cheaper though, so expect higher transport prices (airfares are lower than the bullet train in japan, I always feel in Taiwan the trains are super bargin!). Taxi’s too tend be expensive in Japan compared to Taiwan, so better use taxi’s only for short trips. If you plan do inter-city travel look into rail passes (for non resident short term visitors only).
Also some areas very busy, lots of American and Euro visitors this year (along with lots of Taiwanese too!)
P.S. not all Japanese love tourists haha, so some cities have stopped discounts/passes
also interesting from the story (used to be Taiwanese):
Travelers from the United Kingdom, China and Australia are the biggest spenders. In 2023, Chinese tourists were largely absent from Japan during the Chinese October holiday season, despite the Chinese government [lifting the ban]
That is exactly my point. It’s an awful development for workers there.
Guy
And Japan government. Aside from its continual buying of JGBs, as of June this year the government held 81% in book value of all Japanese ETFs.
Why? Because it’d be harder for workers there to buy stocks?
There might be some government intervention but it’s still mostly foreigners driving it up.
TWSE’s soar on the other hand is mostly domestic investors as foreign investors are weary of China.