Tokyo + Japan in 4 Days on a Budget
Four days is enough to stop rushing and actually eat well, which is where most of your budget goes anyway: three city days, then Kamakura as the payoff day trip. The 3-day version drops Ueno; the 5-day itinerary adds Hakone on top of this plan.
Book these before you go:
- Hotels: check rates on Agoda , Shinjuku or Shibuya keep everything below on the Yamanote loop.
- teamLab Borderless or Planets, if either is on your list, both online-only.
- Shibuya Sky, only if you’re skipping the free Shinjuku deck for it.
| Day | Focus | Distance/time from Tokyo |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Asakusa | In the city |
| Day 2 | Shibuya and Shinjuku | In the city |
| Day 3 | Akihabara and Ueno | In the city |
| Day 4 | Kamakura | ~1 hr by JR train |
Before anything else: get an IC card. Welcome Suica Mobile on your phone if it’s an iPhone (free, 180-day validity, skips the airport counter entirely), a physical Welcome Suica if it isn’t (no deposit, 28-day expiry, counters at Haneda, Narita and Tokyo Station). Skip the nationwide JR Pass , at roughly ¥50,000 for seven days it’s built for long-haul criss-crossing, and a Tokyo base with one local day trip never earns that back.
Base in Shinjuku or Shibuya, both on the Yamanote loop. Keep cash on you, plenty of small shops, shrines and market stalls still don’t take cards, and don’t tip, it isn’t done here and can genuinely confuse the staff.
On rooms: a capsule hotel or hostel bed near Shinjuku Station runs a fraction of a business-hotel room, and with four days of early trains ahead of you, proximity to a Yamanote stop matters more than square footage. A mid-range business hotel buys you an actual door and a window; save the ryokan splurge for a Hakone or Nikko overnight later in a trip, not this one.
Day 1: Asakusa
Senso-ji costs nothing, walk Nakamise-dori for snacks over a sit-down breakfast. Ramen for lunch runs ¥800-1,200. Evening: an izakaya in Omoide Yokocho, ¥2,500-4,500 a person with drinks, or an all-you-can-drink plan for ¥1,500-2,000 if you’re settling in for the night.
Day 2: Shibuya and Shinjuku
Cross the Scramble for free, then decide on the view. Shibuya Sky is ¥2,700 online before 3pm (more after), sunset slots from ¥2,500 sell out days ahead. Or walk to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building instead, both observation floors are free, similar height, open into the evening, and if you time it for sunset the east facade runs a free nightly projection show. Dinner: conveyor-belt sushi (Sushiro, Kura, Genki) from ¥120 a plate, full meal ¥1,500-2,500. If you want a sushi splurge, put it here rather than at a formal omakase counter, first-timers usually get better value from a good conveyor-belt spot or a sit-down breakfast near the Toyosu market (¥4,000-8,000+) than from a reservation-only tasting menu costing three times as much for similar fish.
Day 3: Akihabara and Ueno
Akihabara is free to wander, electronics, anime, arcades, save your yen for whatever actually tempts you. Konbini lunch, ¥300-800, holds up fine. Afternoon at Ueno Park, museums and a zoo in one green space, then Yanaka if you want the old shitamachi feel and a cat cafe. If teamLab is on your list, book it before you land, not same-day: teamLab Borderless at Azabudai Hills runs ¥3,600-5,600, teamLab Planets in Toyosu runs ¥3,800 weekday, ¥4,200 weekend, and both sell out their online slots.
Day 4: Kamakura
The JR Yokosuka Line from Tokyo Station gets you to Kamakura in under an hour for about ¥1,880 round trip on your IC card, no pass, no reservation. The Great Buddha sits outdoors, free to view. Spend the day on the temple trail around Hase and Kita-Kamakura, then Komachi-dori near the station for cheap food on the way back. Get back before the last train, weekdays around midnight, weekends 12:30-1am, or budget ¥2,000-4,000+ for a night-surcharge taxi. Book a Kamakura day trip if you’d rather have someone else handle the transfers.
Departure tip: if you’re flying out of Haneda, the monorail or Keikyu Line gets you there for under ¥520 in under 20 minutes, don’t book an airport taxi out of habit on your way out.