Bullet -trains, bento boxes and a dream called Japan in £ 5.5 lakh

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. How this family packed food, fun and fuji in a £ 5.5 Lakh Japan Adventure Shipra Singh 6 min read 09 Jun 2025, 02:50 IST Mihir and Payal worked Japan at £ 5.5 lakh – with Ramen Stops, Temple Walks and Smart Travel Hacks. Summary a well-planned budget, smart discussions and very local taste-how this family saw the best of Japan in 12 days, in 4 cities, for £ 5.5 lakh. In 2024, the Indian trip to Japan rose by 40% the previous year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Behind the boom: timeless culture, striking food – and a softer yen. For the author and financing professor of Mumbai, Mihir Patki, the timing was just right. He, his wife Payal and their ten -year -old daughter Mira finally tapped Japan from their travel list in May. “A fantastic flight agreement and a favorable exchange rate made it difficult to resist,” Patki said. ‘Japan has always been on our list, but we constantly postponed it – our daughter was younger, and it felt like a journey that needed time, planning and the right moment. In 2025, everything finally aligned. ‘ In 12 days and £ 5.5 lakh, the family of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Hiroshima had covered-which had the planning of the budget with a immersive experiences. As part of Mint’s travel series, Patki shares exactly how they made it work. Also read: Schengen, US visas: How to crack the application process and ensure that your summer travel plans continue with booked, packed, budgeted planning with cheap tickets during all Nippon Airways’ (ANA) Blue Sale. We booked a Mumbai -Tokyo Retoer and a Tokyo -saka bone for only £ 38,000 per person. The six -month advance discussion helped, just as a few weeks compiled our itinerary with Instagram roles – especially to keep the tourist places away. We booked refundable hotels early on Booking.com to close good rates while staying flexible. It did well – we have set up our discussions several times to land the most suitable. Our focus was on hotels near Metro Stations, with large double beds and within the budget. Triple occupancy rooms are rare in Japan, and most places recommend two rooms for three people, which were not feasible. In the end, we found 3-star options that cost an average of £ 16,000 a night for all of us. For Payal, which is a genuine stores, convenience stores were a lifeguard. The packaging, variety and taste at these stores is worth experiencing. All our breakfasts and snacks came from there, while lunch and dinner were mostly at restaurants. We became Ramen regular and tried all three types – Shio, Shoyu and Tonkotsu. Vegetarian options in places like Teamlabs and T’s tantan were also a hit. We also discovered a money -saving trick: Many restaurants offer the same meals at lower prices for lunch. So we dedicated to extensive Tempura Omakase lunches and kept meals light with the purchased places. The itinerary Deep Dive our itinerary is planned until the hour. We created an Excel page that constitutes train routes, hiking distances, food stops, shopping lists – even for weather forecasts. Rainy days were reserved for indoor experiences such as Teamlabs and the Harry Potter studio. A month in advance, we discussed major attractions and bullet trains and selected for group tours to places like Mt. Fuji, Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama on Klook to save on planning effort and time. We spent five nights in Tokyo, three in Osaka, two in Kyoto and the last day again in Tokyo. A flight within Japan part of the Ana agreement-we gave us to Osaka, and the rest of our journey between the city was by train. We used Yamato’s luggage residue service to travel between cities with just cabin bags. It worked like magic – our bigger bags always reached the next hotel before we did. On our last day, they even delivered everything directly to the airport. Each transfer costs about £ 1500 per bag; We spent a total of £ 16,000. Honestly, even at double the cost, I would use it again – for the convenience of navigating subways and transfers without dragging heavy bags around. Also read: How the off-season offers helped this Mumbai couple to enjoy a two-week budget-friendly Christmas holidays in Europe. Our return to Tokyo was aboard the iconic bullet train Shinkansen and it met to the hype: lightning, perfectly in time and strange meditative. I even tried a self-charging bento box from the fridge, but warm and ready within a minute with just a pull of a rope. In Tokyo, we explored a new neighborhood every day. One day was set aside for the magical Harry Potter studio, and another for an Mt. Fuji tour, which includes stops at Oshino Hakkai and the Gotemba Outlet Mall. For city trips and even airport transfers, we used the Suica card-a prepaid tap-and-go that works for public transport and shopping. We were not happy with the weather on our Mt. Fuji -day – it rained a lot and everything became cold and foggy, with no visibility. But the mountain made a big, unexpected appearance on our second last day as we drove the Shinkansen to Tokyo. We were excited – to be excited, but to do our best not to be ‘that’ hard tourists. In the Harry Potter studio we recreated old memories. We visited the original studio in London about 12 years back, but this time we had a new Potterhead with us – our 10 -year -old! Mira was both excited and gently embarrassed by her butter bear -by -law. Shinjuku Gyoen was a quiet highlight – we almost skipped it and thought it was “just a garden”, but it seems to be a peaceful refuge. Another jewel was the Aoniyoshi luxury viewing train to Nara, which booked a month in advance for only £ 1,800. Nara’s bowing deer, and our detour to Nigatsu-do and Urasando brought a tranquil, crowd-free view of the city. At Nakatanidou, we tried Mochi -s that reminds me surprisingly of Puranpoli. Visiting Hiroshima was powerful; A funny reminder of destruction, but more than that it is a place that tells you that, no matter how bad the situation is, you can always jump back. Memory Lane each of us brought home different favorite memories. For me, it was the food – not just the scents, but the passion behind every dish. For Payal, it was the calm of Miyajima Island: deer wandering freely, the sea on one side, mountains on the other, and the three of us have it all in week. For Mira, it was finding out that the Metro system of Tokyo is. On day three, she read signs, changed trains and led us like a local. We did not hold back to souvenirs – souvenirs, local art and more. As part of our Mt. Fuji day tour, we visited Gotemba Premium Outlets, a luxury shop havors that offers brands at a 50% discount. Shopping there was a race against time – two hours, quick decisions and incredible transactions. A beautifully made automatic seico finally replaced my smart watch. I also picked up the Platinum 3776 Fountain Pen – named after the highlight of Mount Fuji – and some Onitsuka Tigers at half the Indian price. And then came the chopsticks: Customized engraved, beautifully packed … so many, Payal joked that I had to start eating Varan Bhaat with them. We have mostly used zero forex-forex-federal bank scapia and au ivy debit for payments. Both generally worked well, although Scapia rushed to a few back-to-back livestock. We also carried cash for self-ups, Yamato services and small sellers who did not accept cards. Japan left us in awe. The discipline, the tranquil sense of purpose and the joyous attention to detail – it has all stayed with us. We came back that life had two chapters: Before Japan and thereafter. And yes, we will definitely return! Also read: How this Pune couple planned a budget journey to the second most expensive country in the world, catch all the business news, market news, news events and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #Travel #Money #personal Finance Read Next Story