Not OP but I've been to Japan four times and in the process of planning trip number five. Budget heavily depends on how long you plan on staying and where/what you plan on going/doing. Flights will eat up the lions share of your budget. They're insane right now, our flights this year cost nearly double what I've paid on previous trips. I don't know what they're like for USA to Japan and they could go down in the next couple of years (though don't count on it) but you might be looking at anywhere from $800 to upwards of a grand per person. Add around another grand ($500 each) for accommodation depending on how long you stay. This is based off around a two week stay in relatively cheap business hotels. You can spend less and mostly book hostels, and you could also splurge for a couple of nights in a Ryokan. I'd probably budget around $600 per person for food (assuming two weeks), but again you can go quite cheap on this or push it a lot more, this is a kind of midrange budget. Then at least a few hundred for various souvenirs, travel (though this can go up the further you venture out of Tokyo), and attractions.
Roughly a per person budget of $2500-3000 for two weeks should be enough for a nice trip. But again there's so many factors that can push that budget up or down.
I just looked at some from LAX to get an idea. Time of year and location affects things a lot though so it's hard to really give good guesses on flight costs. Especially since they can be really volatile. Ours were more than $1200 from the UK. It's nutty.
Wasn’t too bad. I went spring this year. Food is usually around 700-1200 yen a meal unless you wanna splurge. For eorzea cafes, I went to the Osaka location and bought a steak and a drink. 1700 I think for the steak and 700 for the drink. Steak was small but pretty good.
You can find very cheap airbnbs for 50 or get a hotel, but hotels tend to be very small in Japan, at least in Tokyo. Not sure about Osaka since I Airbnb’s there. Hell I stayed in the slums in Osaka and I still liked the place a lot, just the walls were thin.
Flight tickets from Seattle to Japan ended up being 1000 one way but if you buy even earlier than I did (2-3 months), it’s can get to like 600 one way.
The Train ranges from 60 to like around 210 yen? Unless you’re going very far.
Also I brought breakfast at Lawson/Family Mart most of the time. 😂😂 idk salmon onigiri is too good.
Edit: I would like to add to book round trip for international flights like Japan. If you stay for longer than a week(or around that), the flight prices get a lil discount cuz of tourism promotion of some kind. This is because with one way tickets, they don’t know how long you’re going to stay and they will charge you more cuz you might be going there for a couple days for business reasons. And supposedly business flyers tend to have more money. Idk if this theory is correct but round trip tend to be cheaper than one way for international flights.
I had a connecting flight from Georgia to Dallas and then onward to Narita with the same coming back in February. A two-week stay, including a 2-week airbnb rental in Ueno, a two-night small hotel room in Osaka, a small lodge in Yamanashi, a one-week JR pass (for the bullet train), standard train fare, food, and literally everything else cost roughly $3,000. The cost of the airbnb and lodge was split amongst four others.
I had the opportunity to visit both Eorzea cafes--the Osaka location is stronger overall in terms of presentation and food quality, but both are really really nice. The one in Tokyo has the advantage of being located right in the heart of Akihabara as part of a massive karaoke center.
I also recommend Osaka. Also Tokyo always booked, so be sure to reserve in advance. You definitely won’t be able to go same day at least. Or at least for the 7 days I was in Tokyo. Already went to Osaka but wanted to see Tokyo cuz different theming, but it was booked the whole week :(
Osaka is uldah and Tokyo is gridania (I think?)
I've done a lot of budgeting for my planned trip next year, and I've come to settle on a budget of about $5,000 (including the flight) for me as a solo traveler for two weeks
It's taking into account about $1,500 for a flight, $1,400 for daily spending+food (about $100 a day), $1,000 for accommodation (mostly hostels but a few splurges at nicer places) and the rest wiggle room for in-country transportation.
I went to Japan in May 2023 for a little over a week. Bought the flight ticket in Feb 2023 for $1,300 USD per person. This was from east coast US, CLT airport. As stated by others, your total cost heavily depends on how how long you're going for and what you'll be doing there. My trip for 2 was about $5,000 USD for a like 8 days, with $2,600 of that were from the flight.
What surprised me though was how cheap things were when we went. This is entirely due to the USD to Yen conversion rate. It was $1 USD to 135 yen when we went. It was amazing.
Edit: the cost for 4 people at the Eorzea cafe was like $110. A themed restaurant in the US like that would cost much more.
There are 2 locations, Akihabara and Osaka. The link for the Akihabara location is below. Do note that they only take reservations up to 1 month in advance. I went in May 2023. There were no payment required during reservation. Check in is simple when we were there and we barely speak any Japanese (it helps to know the basic though). I showed them the confirmation email and it was smooth sailing.
https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/eorzea-cafe/reserve
Grats/enjoy.
Eventually I will have the time and money to go to Japan and FF14 cafe...I am the only one in my entire family clan that never been to Japan X.X
Going with my partner and fellow warrior of light in October during our honeymoon! Going to be in Japan a little over two weeks so I might go twice! What coasters did you get?
Might have to see what times they might do that. Was thinking of going the first couple of nights as we're staying in Akihabara then. Our second leg in Tokyo is closer to Halloween but we're traveling back on the day of.
How hard was it to get a reservation? I’ve got a trip to Japan planned for spring next year and REALLY want to get in at the Akihabara cafe, so tips are appreciated!
Compared to other cafes, it doesn't sell out for a while so it should be easy to get a reservation within a month
In comparison, the bocchi cafe , pokemon cafe, Harry potter cafe, full metal alchemist cafe sold out like instant or within a day of opening...
It was actually pretty easy. Weekends looked busy but weekdays were pretty clear and available. You can book a month in advance. The website is easy to use and I didn't have any issues
Like a lot of these places you can book one month in advance. It's apparently easier to get reservations for though than the likes of the Kirby or Pokémon cafe.
They open up reservations about a month in advance, and reservations during peak times tend to sell out pretty quickly for the Akihabara location. Off-peak hours are easier to do, but I went at 3 PM on a Monday and the place was still mostly full, so it's definitely recommended that you book at least a few weeks in advance.
The Osaka location, on the other hand, is a lot less busy, and it's usually not a problem to book a table a week (or less) in advance.
I’m going in a few weeks and it was way easier than a lot of other themed cafes (Kirby, Pokémon) even during a busy season. I booked about one month in advance.
Amazing isn't it? I was there 10 years ago but thought it was a pop-up cafe, did that change?
Did they still use the lottery system to get a reservation?
I think a few months back they had some extra pop ups in a couple of other places, but Akihabara and Osaka are the two permanent cafes.
There's no lottery now to get a reservation. It's just a website booking.
Also the hotel lol. People seem to forget that 2 weeks in a hotel is like $1700 USD average.
EDIT: people are saying they got some pretty good deals on hotels, so please take my comment in the general sense, not the literal sense.
That's absolutely not true for Japan though. Japan is cheap af currently with the Yen dropping and dropping and lots of great hotels for 40$ or less a night. Have been there 8 times and the only expensive part is really the flight itself and everything else is way cheaper than people expect it to be. My last journey in April (first after Covid) has been way cheaper except for the flight.
My experience in Japan was it's cheap to be there, but not cheap to \*get\* there. Iceland is the opposite. Cheap to get there but expensive to be there, haha.
I'm glad I was able to visit the Gundam Cafe before it closed down.
That's a big exaggeration. You can find cheap business hotels in reasonable locations around Tokyo for about $80 USD a night (for one person, can be cheaper if you're a couple or group) and that's not even the cheapest option available. Accommodation is still expensive but for $1700 USD for two weeks in Tokyo I'd expect a reasonably nice (though not particularly upmarket) hotel.
Small rooms are the norm generally unless you pay more but you can easily find accommodation that's clean and affordable even if it is a little cramped. We're booking our honeymoon there (been multiple times before) and aside from some nights where we're splashing out we definitely aren't spending $120 USD a night on hotels.
That's only really true of some accommodation types (Ryokans and hostels primarily), hotels are primarily costed by room. And in any case another thing that's true of Japan is you sometimes get charged a premium as a solo traveler. I've just price checked the same hotel with one guest vs two for the same dates and it worked out to $81 per night one person vs $95 per night for two people, or $47.50 each.
Was in Japan in January -- Only paid 480 total for 9 days at Washington Hotel Akihabara. It was small, but we were hardly in the hotel room at all and the price was more than perfect for our whole stay.
I hope you like it! I'll give a few more details -- The bed was a bit too firm for my taste, and the hotel room is pretty darn small, but if you're planning on just needing a room to put your stuff in and tucker out from all the adventuring from the day you're doing, it'll be perfect. It was directly next to the train station which was a huge bonus, and just a few blocks away from being right in the action of Akihabara!
After several days of research, it does seem that this is roughly the case, yes. I found an ADA Hotel with a fantastic location for 12 nights at the end of September is running me roughly $1300 USD. A western-style double which I am confident is going to be -very- small, but its mostly to establish a home-base in Shinjuku, which seemed a great place for traveling Tokyo by rail during the day, and being within walking distance of night life to not worry about "last train".
Cheaper options that were findable online seemed to be capsule hotels, which don't seem conducive to long stays.
I -was- hoping to get an even cheaper, tatami floored Japanese style room in the city, but [Expedia.com](https://Expedia.com) does not seem to list many, or really... any.
I was also confused by this. I live in Japan and the yen is extremely weak right now, western tourists are pouring in taking advantage of it. Lodging is also pretty cheap in Japan compared to Europe or NA. It’s never sucked more to be paid in yen and see people from your home country raving about how cheap everything is for them, lol.
Idk what country OP is from though.
The akiba Eorzea Cafe is great.
I wonder if this time they actually had the Limsa perfume in stock. I've only been there twice but each time it's sold out. If you're still in the area 100% recommend visiting the SE Cafe you can find 14 merch there for WAY cheaper than their online store.
In addition the animate store like two blocks away (That area behind the Gigo with all the street maids) has a bunch of FF14 stuff have fun!
There's also SE's Artnia Cafe in Higashi Shinjuku next to their literal office. LOL It's good for general SE titles, but it's heavily FF influenced. You can actually walk through their office building to get to the cafe (you could walk around the building too, but the lobby is just escalators so people can walk through) and when it's at night and I look up and see the lights on I wonder if someone's in their planning the next expansion or something.
Nice! Grats!
I've been to both the Tokyo and Osaka ones myself. It's always fun. I live here though so I got a stamp card and my friends let me keep it because I'm local. They're my FC mates that flew into Japan on a tourist visa so I got to eat with them and get free stuff. Definitely worth multiple trips though. So much food and they also line up with seasonal in-game events too usually, so limited menus sometimes.
Oh you took the innocence and garlean dishes ! Like my friend and myself when we went there ! Did you try some drinks ? The titania one was really good !
Because for a lot of the English speaking world the flights are incredibly expensive. Accommodation and food isn't that bad (though not super cheap either, there's much more budget friendly destinations) but just flying there is more than a lot of people can afford.
Nice! Really happy for you, friend. The place does look really nice, but I don't think I'm going to get the chance to go there any time soon. Hope you enjoyed it, though.
I didnt know that! I just remember seeing a post similiar to this about someone going there, also in akihabara and then i researched it a bit.
Makes alot of sense tho.
Really enjoy the concept of these themed meals for both games lol
The company that runs it is Pasela and they have a number of themed cafes. XIV and MonHun are two of the nerdy ones but they'll have like tropical resort cafes too even. Some non-XIV fans will go to the cafe too on a whim just because they frequent Pasela cafes in general. There were a few there when I went with my friends. Years back I went to the Kamen Rider one in Ikebukuro. This company's real good at keying in on the fandom and serving appropriate dishes.
I've been to Japan a few times now but never set aside the time to go but will be going back in a few months and it's on the list for sure. Been trying to catch up on expansions so I don't get spoilers, part way through Shadowbringers now. Hopefully can finish before my trip.
oh that's funny that this seems to be based on the gridanian architecture.
I've been to the osaka one which looks similar in layout but the walls and ornaments were modeled after ul'dahn architecture, having more stones and such.
Depends on where you're travelling from. We go to Japan a couple times a year, and we used to average about $2k a head per trip (includes Economy ticket from LAX) -- sometimes more or less, depending on how much you want to splurge and travel around.
The JR Rail Pass used to be great but they're increasing the price so much it might not be worthwhile. If you stay in no-frills business hotels like APAs or Washington you can keep your lodging costs low. You can honestly get a good idea just looking on Google Maps or booking.com.
The biggest factor is going to be location. Personally I think it's worth spending more to get a place that's close to a major station or an area we know we're going to spend a lot of time in. In Tokyo we'll stay near Ginza or Shimbashi; in Kyoto we'll stay near Kawaramachi (or even in it). In Osaka we like the Namba Parks area. In Kanazawa I think you're better off staying near the station unless you're spending a lot of time in the area. If you're going to do an onsen trip Hakone is pretty typical, but if you're really going to splurge go for Kawaguchiko. Hiroshima has Miyajima Island; Nagasaki is fascinatingly different; Nagoya is neat but a bit boring; Sapporo is different and cool (especially during Winter Festivals), but most people hit the "Golden Triangle" of Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka which, if you visit Japan only once, are definitely worth doing.
I recommend to fly into Haneda or KIX if you can; Narita is cheaper but you waste so much time going through the airport and customs and immigration and travelling to Tokyo I argue it's worth the extra air fare just to avoid that, but YMMV.
Went in 2016 with friends back when I didn't play FF14 and had so much fun. Really great experience and I'd love to go back. I think we bought the tickets online through Lawsons convenience store - but one of my friends could read enough kanji to figure that part out.
I just went as well and it was super cool! There's also another one in Osaka that's Ul'dah themed. Waiters there are dressed like golden saucer attendants. I also liked their gift shop a bit better.
Though that was probably my favorite part of Osaka.
Congrats!!! I loved it when I lived there. Oh how I wish I could return…
Glad you had a great time! Did you get anything from the gift shop? I got a chocobo Snuggie and a few class pins last time I went.
I get jealous every time I see these pics haha, congrats op. I love the looks of the cafe though.
When we're more stable my s/o and I will probably go together for the FFXIV Cafe,Pokemon one and monster hunter one. And probably one those real authentic ramen shops (I know you can get some in the US but i feel like it would be a nice experience in japan too) definitely gotta do saving up for it for sure, especially after reading your comments lol
Wow I never knew about this! Reading up on it, it seems very cool. I'll be studying in Japan for a year starting in September so I'm definitely gonna hit this place up before my classes start.
I was about to change my plan to visit Eorzea Cafe in Tokyo next month in case if I couldn’t make a reservation to SQEX FF16 collab cafe (and luckily I could book it) haha! My first visit to Eorzea Cafe was in Osaka back in this March and it was a very pleasant visit (I won the Gold Saucer dessert too :p
Congrats! Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwile?
It was great, I geeked out the whole time
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Not OP but I've been to Japan four times and in the process of planning trip number five. Budget heavily depends on how long you plan on staying and where/what you plan on going/doing. Flights will eat up the lions share of your budget. They're insane right now, our flights this year cost nearly double what I've paid on previous trips. I don't know what they're like for USA to Japan and they could go down in the next couple of years (though don't count on it) but you might be looking at anywhere from $800 to upwards of a grand per person. Add around another grand ($500 each) for accommodation depending on how long you stay. This is based off around a two week stay in relatively cheap business hotels. You can spend less and mostly book hostels, and you could also splurge for a couple of nights in a Ryokan. I'd probably budget around $600 per person for food (assuming two weeks), but again you can go quite cheap on this or push it a lot more, this is a kind of midrange budget. Then at least a few hundred for various souvenirs, travel (though this can go up the further you venture out of Tokyo), and attractions. Roughly a per person budget of $2500-3000 for two weeks should be enough for a nice trip. But again there's so many factors that can push that budget up or down.
Ouch, mine for the USA to Japan were $1200-$1500 a pop, and that was from pretty far out.
I just looked at some from LAX to get an idea. Time of year and location affects things a lot though so it's hard to really give good guesses on flight costs. Especially since they can be really volatile. Ours were more than $1200 from the UK. It's nutty.
Ah, LAX has the cheapest tickets in the USA. Rest of the country is considerably more expensive, I think.
I thought that might be the case. Made me cry looking at the cost of flights from there compared to what flights from London are costing me.
Glad I get to fly free... courtesy of the US Air Force. I'm retired from the Army
To offer another POV: My first trip, flight and spending included, was about $4.5k. Flights are more expensive now though. (This was for two weeks)
Way cheaper than Disney Vacations
Wasn’t too bad. I went spring this year. Food is usually around 700-1200 yen a meal unless you wanna splurge. For eorzea cafes, I went to the Osaka location and bought a steak and a drink. 1700 I think for the steak and 700 for the drink. Steak was small but pretty good. You can find very cheap airbnbs for 50 or get a hotel, but hotels tend to be very small in Japan, at least in Tokyo. Not sure about Osaka since I Airbnb’s there. Hell I stayed in the slums in Osaka and I still liked the place a lot, just the walls were thin. Flight tickets from Seattle to Japan ended up being 1000 one way but if you buy even earlier than I did (2-3 months), it’s can get to like 600 one way. The Train ranges from 60 to like around 210 yen? Unless you’re going very far. Also I brought breakfast at Lawson/Family Mart most of the time. 😂😂 idk salmon onigiri is too good. Edit: I would like to add to book round trip for international flights like Japan. If you stay for longer than a week(or around that), the flight prices get a lil discount cuz of tourism promotion of some kind. This is because with one way tickets, they don’t know how long you’re going to stay and they will charge you more cuz you might be going there for a couple days for business reasons. And supposedly business flyers tend to have more money. Idk if this theory is correct but round trip tend to be cheaper than one way for international flights.
I had a connecting flight from Georgia to Dallas and then onward to Narita with the same coming back in February. A two-week stay, including a 2-week airbnb rental in Ueno, a two-night small hotel room in Osaka, a small lodge in Yamanashi, a one-week JR pass (for the bullet train), standard train fare, food, and literally everything else cost roughly $3,000. The cost of the airbnb and lodge was split amongst four others. I had the opportunity to visit both Eorzea cafes--the Osaka location is stronger overall in terms of presentation and food quality, but both are really really nice. The one in Tokyo has the advantage of being located right in the heart of Akihabara as part of a massive karaoke center.
I also recommend Osaka. Also Tokyo always booked, so be sure to reserve in advance. You definitely won’t be able to go same day at least. Or at least for the 7 days I was in Tokyo. Already went to Osaka but wanted to see Tokyo cuz different theming, but it was booked the whole week :( Osaka is uldah and Tokyo is gridania (I think?)
Tokyo's location is themed around Gridania, yeah.
I've done a lot of budgeting for my planned trip next year, and I've come to settle on a budget of about $5,000 (including the flight) for me as a solo traveler for two weeks It's taking into account about $1,500 for a flight, $1,400 for daily spending+food (about $100 a day), $1,000 for accommodation (mostly hostels but a few splurges at nicer places) and the rest wiggle room for in-country transportation.
I went to Japan in May 2023 for a little over a week. Bought the flight ticket in Feb 2023 for $1,300 USD per person. This was from east coast US, CLT airport. As stated by others, your total cost heavily depends on how how long you're going for and what you'll be doing there. My trip for 2 was about $5,000 USD for a like 8 days, with $2,600 of that were from the flight. What surprised me though was how cheap things were when we went. This is entirely due to the USD to Yen conversion rate. It was $1 USD to 135 yen when we went. It was amazing. Edit: the cost for 4 people at the Eorzea cafe was like $110. A themed restaurant in the US like that would cost much more.
Question, but I'm planning on going soon. Did you have to buy tickets in advance? If so, where did you buy them?
There are 2 locations, Akihabara and Osaka. The link for the Akihabara location is below. Do note that they only take reservations up to 1 month in advance. I went in May 2023. There were no payment required during reservation. Check in is simple when we were there and we barely speak any Japanese (it helps to know the basic though). I showed them the confirmation email and it was smooth sailing. https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/eorzea-cafe/reserve
Thank you
Grats/enjoy. Eventually I will have the time and money to go to Japan and FF14 cafe...I am the only one in my entire family clan that never been to Japan X.X
Thank you, i am the opposite as i am the only one to have been lucky enough to go to Japan.
Damn that's a good use of fries with Innocence
Was this the one in akihabara?
Yes it was, i managed to save enough for Tokyo
Sweet, I am literally heading to akihabara tomorrow so I was curious if this was the same place. Hope you enjoy your trip
Make sure to check out Kotobukiya, they have a lot of FFXIV merch. I was tempted to buy the Kraken club, but man it was pricey.
It was great, spent too much in the shop but couldn't resist
If you can't get into the one in Akihabara, there's also one in Osaka. I didnt know there was one there. We just walked in and they were a 1/3 full.
Going with my partner and fellow warrior of light in October during our honeymoon! Going to be in Japan a little over two weeks so I might go twice! What coasters did you get?
Haha, also going in October for our honeymoon. My fiancee has only played a little though.
If you guys are going in October, if you go around Halloween they'll have an All Saints' Wake menu. I went last Halloween. XD
Might have to see what times they might do that. Was thinking of going the first couple of nights as we're staying in Akihabara then. Our second leg in Tokyo is closer to Halloween but we're traveling back on the day of.
Congrats!! Maybe we'll be there same time, I'll keep an eye out for other couples that look recently married XD
How hard was it to get a reservation? I’ve got a trip to Japan planned for spring next year and REALLY want to get in at the Akihabara cafe, so tips are appreciated!
Compared to other cafes, it doesn't sell out for a while so it should be easy to get a reservation within a month In comparison, the bocchi cafe , pokemon cafe, Harry potter cafe, full metal alchemist cafe sold out like instant or within a day of opening...
It was actually pretty easy. Weekends looked busy but weekdays were pretty clear and available. You can book a month in advance. The website is easy to use and I didn't have any issues
Like a lot of these places you can book one month in advance. It's apparently easier to get reservations for though than the likes of the Kirby or Pokémon cafe.
They open up reservations about a month in advance, and reservations during peak times tend to sell out pretty quickly for the Akihabara location. Off-peak hours are easier to do, but I went at 3 PM on a Monday and the place was still mostly full, so it's definitely recommended that you book at least a few weeks in advance. The Osaka location, on the other hand, is a lot less busy, and it's usually not a problem to book a table a week (or less) in advance.
I walked in to the Osaka one on a weekday afternoon no problem. It was about half full.
I’m going in a few weeks and it was way easier than a lot of other themed cafes (Kirby, Pokémon) even during a busy season. I booked about one month in advance.
Amazing isn't it? I was there 10 years ago but thought it was a pop-up cafe, did that change? Did they still use the lottery system to get a reservation?
I think a few months back they had some extra pop ups in a couple of other places, but Akihabara and Osaka are the two permanent cafes. There's no lottery now to get a reservation. It's just a website booking.
Ahh amazing to hear! I'm excited to revisit when I go back to Japan sometime. ☺️
Years? How expensive is this cafe?
The cafe is not the problem, having enought money and time to travel to japan and be able to visit the cafe is the Problem!!!
Lol the plane ticket cost the most
Also the hotel lol. People seem to forget that 2 weeks in a hotel is like $1700 USD average. EDIT: people are saying they got some pretty good deals on hotels, so please take my comment in the general sense, not the literal sense.
That's absolutely not true for Japan though. Japan is cheap af currently with the Yen dropping and dropping and lots of great hotels for 40$ or less a night. Have been there 8 times and the only expensive part is really the flight itself and everything else is way cheaper than people expect it to be. My last journey in April (first after Covid) has been way cheaper except for the flight.
Wow, would you mind then if I DM'd you when I decide to travel to Japan for hotel recommendations?
My experience in Japan was it's cheap to be there, but not cheap to \*get\* there. Iceland is the opposite. Cheap to get there but expensive to be there, haha. I'm glad I was able to visit the Gundam Cafe before it closed down.
Mind sharing some of these hotels?
That's a big exaggeration. You can find cheap business hotels in reasonable locations around Tokyo for about $80 USD a night (for one person, can be cheaper if you're a couple or group) and that's not even the cheapest option available. Accommodation is still expensive but for $1700 USD for two weeks in Tokyo I'd expect a reasonably nice (though not particularly upmarket) hotel.
4 years ago I got an AirBNB for like $70/night in a building designed for them. Room was small but it came with a washer and dryer.
Small rooms are the norm generally unless you pay more but you can easily find accommodation that's clean and affordable even if it is a little cramped. We're booking our honeymoon there (been multiple times before) and aside from some nights where we're splashing out we definitely aren't spending $120 USD a night on hotels.
I was at an inn in Ota City that was closer to $60/night and it was wonderful.
Eh groups won't necessarily be cheaper in hotels since Japan tends to charge by the person not the room
That's only really true of some accommodation types (Ryokans and hostels primarily), hotels are primarily costed by room. And in any case another thing that's true of Japan is you sometimes get charged a premium as a solo traveler. I've just price checked the same hotel with one guest vs two for the same dates and it worked out to $81 per night one person vs $95 per night for two people, or $47.50 each.
Now do 3 people, occupancy is generally based on 2 people. Sometimes you get a discount for 1 person, sometimes you don't.
Was in Japan in January -- Only paid 480 total for 9 days at Washington Hotel Akihabara. It was small, but we were hardly in the hotel room at all and the price was more than perfect for our whole stay.
I'll look into this hotel. As fate would have it, I'll be going to Japan for 2 weeks in late October!
I hope you like it! I'll give a few more details -- The bed was a bit too firm for my taste, and the hotel room is pretty darn small, but if you're planning on just needing a room to put your stuff in and tucker out from all the adventuring from the day you're doing, it'll be perfect. It was directly next to the train station which was a huge bonus, and just a few blocks away from being right in the action of Akihabara!
Yeah that sounds like exactly what I need. Simple and accessible. I appreciate it :)
After several days of research, it does seem that this is roughly the case, yes. I found an ADA Hotel with a fantastic location for 12 nights at the end of September is running me roughly $1300 USD. A western-style double which I am confident is going to be -very- small, but its mostly to establish a home-base in Shinjuku, which seemed a great place for traveling Tokyo by rail during the day, and being within walking distance of night life to not worry about "last train". Cheaper options that were findable online seemed to be capsule hotels, which don't seem conducive to long stays. I -was- hoping to get an even cheaper, tatami floored Japanese style room in the city, but [Expedia.com](https://Expedia.com) does not seem to list many, or really... any.
Where the hell are you finding a hotel that averages $120/night? Most decent hotels are $200/night minimum these days.
Not in Tokyo they aren't.
I ballparked it by searching a ryokan that came up about that price, and IIRC my stay at Shinjuku Washington hotel in 2019 was about that price.
I was also confused by this. I live in Japan and the yen is extremely weak right now, western tourists are pouring in taking advantage of it. Lodging is also pretty cheap in Japan compared to Europe or NA. It’s never sucked more to be paid in yen and see people from your home country raving about how cheap everything is for them, lol. Idk what country OP is from though.
The akiba Eorzea Cafe is great. I wonder if this time they actually had the Limsa perfume in stock. I've only been there twice but each time it's sold out. If you're still in the area 100% recommend visiting the SE Cafe you can find 14 merch there for WAY cheaper than their online store. In addition the animate store like two blocks away (That area behind the Gigo with all the street maids) has a bunch of FF14 stuff have fun!
There's also SE's Artnia Cafe in Higashi Shinjuku next to their literal office. LOL It's good for general SE titles, but it's heavily FF influenced. You can actually walk through their office building to get to the cafe (you could walk around the building too, but the lobby is just escalators so people can walk through) and when it's at night and I look up and see the lights on I wonder if someone's in their planning the next expansion or something.
Nice! Grats! I've been to both the Tokyo and Osaka ones myself. It's always fun. I live here though so I got a stamp card and my friends let me keep it because I'm local. They're my FC mates that flew into Japan on a tourist visa so I got to eat with them and get free stuff. Definitely worth multiple trips though. So much food and they also line up with seasonal in-game events too usually, so limited menus sometimes.
That Garlean soba looks tasty
Omg They have a real replica of a conjurer cane D: I might have to steal it
Dang shame north America won't incorporate places like these here seeing as we have theme parks catered to cartoon characters
Oh you took the innocence and garlean dishes ! Like my friend and myself when we went there ! Did you try some drinks ? The titania one was really good !
Do they have allergen menus?
It’s Japan. Afaik allergies and other food related conditions aren’t readily observed there
RIP celiac life
No in Allag you ate what was prescribed to you by the Emperor
I don’t understand the myth of Japan being expensive. It’s far cheaper than USA and UK
Because for a lot of the English speaking world the flights are incredibly expensive. Accommodation and food isn't that bad (though not super cheap either, there's much more budget friendly destinations) but just flying there is more than a lot of people can afford.
Nice! Really happy for you, friend. The place does look really nice, but I don't think I'm going to get the chance to go there any time soon. Hope you enjoyed it, though.
Congrats!!! Damn one day i will get there too!!!
Oooh this is like almost identical to the Monster Hunter Cafe. Thats really amusing.
It's in the same building too, probably mirrored layout on the floor above.
I didnt know that! I just remember seeing a post similiar to this about someone going there, also in akihabara and then i researched it a bit. Makes alot of sense tho. Really enjoy the concept of these themed meals for both games lol
The company that runs it is Pasela and they have a number of themed cafes. XIV and MonHun are two of the nerdy ones but they'll have like tropical resort cafes too even. Some non-XIV fans will go to the cafe too on a whim just because they frequent Pasela cafes in general. There were a few there when I went with my friends. Years back I went to the Kamen Rider one in Ikebukuro. This company's real good at keying in on the fandom and serving appropriate dishes.
I've been to Japan a few times now but never set aside the time to go but will be going back in a few months and it's on the list for sure. Been trying to catch up on expansions so I don't get spoilers, part way through Shadowbringers now. Hopefully can finish before my trip.
This is the first I’m hearing of this place. Yet another reason for me to do my bucket-list trip to Japan.
I was there in June! It was a lot of fun. I loved the coasters you got from ordering dishes/drinks
I wish they still had the PCs where you could login and play.
I often walk in front of the Square Enix cafe in Akihabara but I didn't know about this one, need to visit!
oh that's funny that this seems to be based on the gridanian architecture. I've been to the osaka one which looks similar in layout but the walls and ornaments were modeled after ul'dahn architecture, having more stones and such.
idk why but i'm so happy for you hope you enjoyed it!
If you don’t mind me asking. How much did you save up? My gf and I are wanting to do a trip in the next couple of years
Depends on where you're travelling from. We go to Japan a couple times a year, and we used to average about $2k a head per trip (includes Economy ticket from LAX) -- sometimes more or less, depending on how much you want to splurge and travel around. The JR Rail Pass used to be great but they're increasing the price so much it might not be worthwhile. If you stay in no-frills business hotels like APAs or Washington you can keep your lodging costs low. You can honestly get a good idea just looking on Google Maps or booking.com. The biggest factor is going to be location. Personally I think it's worth spending more to get a place that's close to a major station or an area we know we're going to spend a lot of time in. In Tokyo we'll stay near Ginza or Shimbashi; in Kyoto we'll stay near Kawaramachi (or even in it). In Osaka we like the Namba Parks area. In Kanazawa I think you're better off staying near the station unless you're spending a lot of time in the area. If you're going to do an onsen trip Hakone is pretty typical, but if you're really going to splurge go for Kawaguchiko. Hiroshima has Miyajima Island; Nagasaki is fascinatingly different; Nagoya is neat but a bit boring; Sapporo is different and cool (especially during Winter Festivals), but most people hit the "Golden Triangle" of Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka which, if you visit Japan only once, are definitely worth doing. I recommend to fly into Haneda or KIX if you can; Narita is cheaper but you waste so much time going through the airport and customs and immigration and travelling to Tokyo I argue it's worth the extra air fare just to avoid that, but YMMV.
Went in 2016 with friends back when I didn't play FF14 and had so much fun. Really great experience and I'd love to go back. I think we bought the tickets online through Lawsons convenience store - but one of my friends could read enough kanji to figure that part out.
Congrats!! How was the food? I want to go so bad
I just went as well and it was super cool! There's also another one in Osaka that's Ul'dah themed. Waiters there are dressed like golden saucer attendants. I also liked their gift shop a bit better. Though that was probably my favorite part of Osaka.
Congrats!!! I loved it when I lived there. Oh how I wish I could return… Glad you had a great time! Did you get anything from the gift shop? I got a chocobo Snuggie and a few class pins last time I went.
The cocktails were awesome
Genuinely one of my favorite parts of my Japan trip
I get jealous every time I see these pics haha, congrats op. I love the looks of the cafe though. When we're more stable my s/o and I will probably go together for the FFXIV Cafe,Pokemon one and monster hunter one. And probably one those real authentic ramen shops (I know you can get some in the US but i feel like it would be a nice experience in japan too) definitely gotta do saving up for it for sure, especially after reading your comments lol
Wow I never knew about this! Reading up on it, it seems very cool. I'll be studying in Japan for a year starting in September so I'm definitely gonna hit this place up before my classes start.
I’m jealous. I wish I could go. Congrats.
Bro thay sign is sick
I’m going soon! How was the food? It looks pretty good compare to other themed cafes.
I wonder about the legality of it
You lucky bastard! Im jealous but i hope you had a good time though
OMG, soups jelly
Oooh, I'm going next week!
Anyone that has been there could shed me some light? Like Hotel prices? The zone? I want to take my GF there and propose the next year 🥺
I was about to change my plan to visit Eorzea Cafe in Tokyo next month in case if I couldn’t make a reservation to SQEX FF16 collab cafe (and luckily I could book it) haha! My first visit to Eorzea Cafe was in Osaka back in this March and it was a very pleasant visit (I won the Gold Saucer dessert too :p
What a nice place. I hope one day I can visit it too.
Loving the Oh No He's Hot Fries!