When I saw that one of my favorite blogs, Tokyo Eats, put out a book I ordered it immediately!

You can order the Tokyo Eats Guide Book here.

It’s a great little book. The look and feel is exactly what I expected. All the aesthetic details, like MT style tape headers and grid paper backgrounds, make it a real joy to flip through while the list of cafes by neighborhood makes it easy to find a great place on the fly.

I think this is a really great guide for first time travelers to Tokyo. Having been a handful of times myself I’m already familiar with a lot of the recommendations in the book. However I still love the Foodie side to this. I’ll be bringing it with me on my next trip. It’s lightweight and will come in handy when I want to grab a quick bite without having to research exactly where on my own first.

I highly highly highly recommend this guide for anyone travelling to Tokyo for the first time. It’s full of popular tourist spots, great shops, and fantastic cafes while recommending some of my personal favorite places such as Kichijoji, Kamakura, and shops like Loft and Maison de Reefur!

I received mine within a few days of ordering (being located in the US and all.)

I decided to write my usual answers in a post. Basically so I can just link to it when someone asks because 25 messages back and forth isn’t fun for either party. And though I really don’t like discussing money, I understand why it’s asked.

Honestly, I find the question difficult to answer.
Because unless you live in Washington DC, stay at the same hotels for the same length of time buying similar stuff and eating similar foods and times that by 2 people (the perils of married life) our budgets will likely look quite different.

Airfare is the most costly part of my trips to Japan. DC to Tokyo is on average $1,200 round-trip per person. My flight takes about 20+ hours.

Hotels vary greatly. For Tokyo I prefer staying on the edge of Shinjuku. There’s a 12-hour time difference between DC and Tokyo so I like the plethora of late night & 24hr places located in Shinjuku for when I’m awake at 2 or 4am. Keio Plaza Hotel & Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku are examples of places I’ve enjoyed staying at while in Tokyo.

I budget more than I expect to spend.
If I think I’ll probably spend about $2K on shopping I make sure I have $3K set aside. It’s a safe buffer for unexpected purchases or fees like parking, luggage, room service, etc.

For budgeting I always start off with what I want to do on the trip.

Pretty obvious, huh? I’ll have stores or cafes or day trips already in mind and I budget around those ideas for metro fare, food costs, bus fare, taxis, etc. I also usually know what I want to shop for be it makeup, beauty item, or clothing.

I like to recommend Good Luck Trip to help spark ideas. They do have sponsors so they may recommend the same touristy place over & over. But I did find Ainz Tulpe through them which helped me get most of the beauty products and makeup I wanted in a single store visit!

You can budget down to the exact fare you’ll need for day trips just by using Google Maps and choosing the rail directions. It’ll display the fare for each stop or transfer. You can also check rail fares and highway bus fares online too.

Because of all these variables I don’t think mentioning my exact costs is useful. I’ll just say that for us, our tax return roughly covers the cost of one trip (2 people.)

Entries about my Japan trips are all tagged “Japan trip” and show some of what I did, where I went, and what I bought while there. I’ll say that my 2008 trip was the most expensive because we traveled to Mt. Fuji and stayed at a ryokan with a private onsen and ofuro connected to our room.

It really depends on what you do, where you eat, where you sleep, how long you stay, and how much stuff you wanna buy.

I’ll end this entry by saying,
“How much would a trip to Japan cost you?”
Probably a few thousand.

I’m rambling because I’ve been on a sugar-high since receiving all those Country Ma’am.

I thought I’d post a few photos from when I visited Yokohama. It was a really cold rainy day. Also I met up with some friends I hadn’t seen in about a year, so most my photos are of all of us. So here are a few in between I wanted to post :)

Yokohama

Face towels from CATS by Tsumori Chisato.

More towels! Mini hand towels for bringing with me. Many are pouches actually. There are ones from Laduree’, Kitson, Paul & Joe Sister, Olive des Olive, etc.

Dayan hand towel and pill case. Also a free year wall calendar from the Dayan store.

Ne-net eco bag. It has a hook so you can bring it with you and unfold it into a fairly large shopping bag when you need it + zip pouch! This is the shopping bag I use now when out. So if I’m at Madewell you’ll see me use this, hahaha! New laws in place now so everyone uses eco bags in my area now :)

Rubber rings for making clean lines with nail polish like color blocking, tips, etc.

More Airou things! I just bought the socks and the clerk gave me a bunch of little free things with it. :)

Sleeping socks/high pressure socks for swelling, etc. One on the left is Kumicky’s line which I haven’t used yet. The Slim Walk (right) ones are my favorite though in terms of comfort! I also have the original Qtto tall sleeping socks which I liked a lot. This trip I bought the Qtto full sleeping leggings. I LOVE THEM. They keep my legs and tummy from retaining water and I wake up less bloated when I wear them.

First a prize I won from an UFO Catcher. It’s a reusable heat pack. I use these a lot in the winter.
Next, a cool pack! Pop it in the freezer and it stays nice and cool for hours. I suck at remembering to use it though.
Lastly a rose-scented head pillow! Oh how I wanted the extra large full size pillow but I couldn’t fit it in my suitcase :P

A little rose scented bear for closets, cars, wherever.

A cat shaped massage roller from Afternoon Tea.

Old-fashioned ice or heat pack! I used this so much lately when I had the flu. Feels amazing for fevers and headaches.

Some iPhone cases. The luggage one on the far left is so, so cute but it’s best for left-handed users so I hate using it :(

First, my favorite iPhone case!! I use this one most of the time. I absolutely love it. The price seems high but it’s actually a whole kit with extra screens, screen wipes, and extra plugs for the headphone jack and power port in the same color. It’s from the brand SwitchEasy. My friend actually uses the pink one too (exclusively.)

Oh and the thing on the right is a keyboard duster :)

Do you play Mew Mew Tower? This is a toy stacking game based on the app :)

Starting off with my favorite indulgent dessert, HONEY TOAST.

This honey toasts was great because it was already cubed toast on the inside of the crust! Easy to eat! Got it at a cafe Pianeta in Yokohama’s World Porters

Though by the way this place looked freaking awesome but I was too full. [Tai-parfait]

Shrimp donburi from a place called Tontake [とん竹] in Shinjuku. Absolutely loved this tiny place. Low lighting, limited seating, amazing food. :deco10:

Rosu Katsu Curry from Go Go Curry. Hahaha, had to. We were near it, hungry, and it’s so hyped since there’s a NYC store. It was OK. I liked the shredded cabbage and the fact you can get your own refills.

Fruit mitsumame I got while in Kamakura.

Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki meal at a Family Restaurant. I can’t ever remember the name. I just enjoy the fact that a friend of mine’s family is sweet enough to schedule time with us in order to take us out for a big family dinner with them. Honestly this has been a grand highlight of my two recent trips. It feels special like I’m visiting my own family over a big dinner out. We all overeat and waddle out into the parking lot and drive away in separate cars. :deco3:

Salted Caramel Latte drink. Why do I buy these? I never finish these sort of drinks because they are too sweet! But they do taste so, so indulgent for the first few sips!

My “last hurrah” so to say. I got this at a cafe in Narita because, basically, I don’t eat so many sweet desserts when I’m home! :cry: This DID NOT DISAPPOINT. It was filled with krispies and cornflakes with the soft serve ice cream. I love cereal in my ice cream. :deco2:

AloAlo has a peach and rose tea hip. TWAS GOOD. Your mouth feels strangely aromatic with the scent of rose. It’s like a more fragrant rose infused tea but the flavor was mostly sweet peach. :deco1:

:arrow: peach juice, rooibos, rose hips, hibiscus

I usually dislike anything with rooibos tea in the mix, but this was very mild… AND pretty :)

Doutor Houjicha Latte

Doutor had a houjicha latte campaign. I’ve had matcha latte which I think is OK. Though I like matcha tea, I enjoy houjicha the most! I think it’s just a fantastic roasted flavor and I love it any time of day, hot or iced. More so than sencha or genmaicha. This latte did not disappoint. It tasted delicious. Especially since it was a chilly rainy day out. It was sweeter than I expected but, then again, I don’t drink the super sweet Starbucks beverages either. :deco13: So I’m just not used to it.

Caffe Veloce coffee

This cafe chain, Caffe Veloce, was literally next to our hotel and opened pretty early. Tons of seating with a refined sort of European cafe atmosphere at this particular one. Loads of seating with a laid back “come & go as you please” vibe. Went here a few times as a morning pit stop.

This is their Café au lait and Primo Cafe which has soft serve ice cream on top.

Finally posting this. These are the bath salts I picked up on my trip~ I mostly focused on getting ones I haven’t tried before :ok:

Got some soaps, face masks, etc bath goods too.

Through the wooden blinds in the private table seating

Stopped one night with some friends at Kin no Kura where we ate & drank & reminisced. I had some sort of dessert. I can’t remember what it was anymore! Cheesecake? :deco13: All I remember is it tasting fantastic and maybe mumbling “this is the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten.” But to be fair I had already downed a Rickey.

The Humax Pavilion

The Iceberg building

I thought the bears were too cute to pass up even though I don’t usually get filled donuts because they are too sweet for me. The churro was nice. I wish Krispy Kreme would serve churros :(

I have a Country Ma’am addiction. I always buy them when I can. My friend is kind enough to send them as well. Sadly they don’t seem to easy to get in the States. They’re a perfect blend of chewy and crispy baked. Much like Keebler’s Soft Batch but less lard tasting to me. Country Ma’am also constantly has special limited flavors.

This time I picked up the flavors -

• Vanilla & Cocoa combo pack
• Polar Bear (shaved ice)
• Matcha Latte
• Rich Luxury Chocolate (Mother’s Day themed!)

Otona Kit-Kat
I adore this kit-kat series. It’s meant to be an “adult” kit-kat and has biscuits instead of wafers and uses a bitter dark chocolate.

Rose themed candies.
The fuwarinka soft candies were fantastic tasting and have added collagen, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin C. The other is gum.

The UHA candy on the left is a hard rose mango flavored candy. It’s sugar-free and contains 3300mg of vitamin C! :deco1:

TEAS!
Various teas. Rose flavored and more. A yuzu flavored one even. The far left are the hanging tea bags with a Dayan of Wachifield in London theme!!

The Cosmetic CHARMING tea really caught my eye. Basically promises you a beautiful suppin (or no makeup) look. Contains rooibos, rose hips, ginger, etc. etc. Sorta strange taste but not necessarily bad. It’s quite roasted and full body tasting.

DOUTOR coffee bean candy and instant mixes.

Van Houten cocoa mix. Nothing like the ready to drink conbini Van Houten cocoa but still not bad.

Torte which is like a soft wafer cookie. This one is apple pie tasting. And Meiji Strawberry Marshmallow Chocolate. I like the marshmallow Meiji bars because they taste light.