- Exchange rate
- £1 ≈ ¥210 (early Oct 2026)
- Mid-range day
- ¥15,000–25,000 (£70–120)
- Cashless share
- 58% of spending — still carry cash
- Tipping
- Not expected
The yen and the pound
The Bank of England's rate on 6 October 2026 was £1 = ¥209.9; over the past year it has moved between about ¥200 and ¥219. For quick sums, ¥1,000 is a little under £5 and ¥10,000 is about £48. Pound figures on this site use £1 = ¥210 and are rounded.
What a day costs
Per person, per day, sharing a room, excluding long-distance trains and flights:
| Style | Yen | Pounds | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | ¥8,000–11,000 | £38–52 | Hostel or capsule hotel, convenience-store breakfasts, ramen and set-meal lunches, free shrines and parks |
| Mid-range | ¥15,000–25,000 | £70–120 | Business hotel or small design hotel, sit-down dinners, a couple of paid sights a day |
| Comfort / luxury | ¥40,000+ | £190+ | International hotels, a night in a ryokan with dinner, tasting menus, private guides |
Hotel prices swing hard with the season: cherry-blossom weeks, Golden Week (late April–early May), Obon (mid-August) and autumn-leaf weekends in Kyoto can double a room rate. Book those dates months ahead.
Typical prices
| Item | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Rice ball (onigiri) from a convenience store | ¥150–250 |
| Bowl of ramen | ¥1,000–1,500 |
| Set lunch (teishoku) | ¥900–1,500 |
| Conveyor-belt sushi, per plate | ¥120–400 |
| Coffee in a café | ¥400–700 |
| Draught beer in an izakaya | ¥500–800 |
| Temple or garden entry | ¥300–1,000 |
| Tokyo subway, 24-hour ticket | ¥1,000 |
Cards or cash?
Card payment has spread fast: Japan's trade ministry counted 58% of consumer spending as cashless in 2025. Hotels, department stores, chain restaurants, convenience stores and stations all take Visa and Mastercard, and contactless is common. But you still need cash for:
- temple and shrine entry, offerings and goshuin stamp books;
- small family restaurants, food stalls and market stands;
- rural buses, coin lockers and some ticket machines;
- many ryokan and guesthouses in the countryside.
Carrying ¥10,000–20,000 at a time is plenty. Japan is very safe, and nobody will look twice at a ¥10,000 note.
Two ways to save on fees
Use a card with no foreign transaction fees, and when a terminal or ATM offers to charge you in pounds, always choose yen — the "convenient" conversion comes with a worse rate.
ATMs that take UK cards
- 7-Eleven (Seven Bank) — in almost every 7-Eleven, open 24 hours, English menus, up to ¥100,000 per withdrawal. Seven Bank adds a small fee on some cards (around ¥110–220), on top of whatever your bank charges.
- Japan Post Bank — at post offices, including rural ones; shorter opening hours and a lower per-withdrawal limit.
- Airports have both. Withdraw on arrival rather than changing pounds in the UK.
Tax-free shopping: the new refund system
Visitors don't pay Japan's 10% consumption tax (8% on food) on goods they take home. From 1 November 2026 the way you claim it changes, with no overlap period:
- Pay full price in the shop, tax included, and show your passport. The minimum is still ¥5,000 before tax, per shop, per day.
- Get your purchases confirmed by customs when you leave, within 90 days of buying. Do it in the departure lobby before you check in your bags — at a passport-scanning terminal, or through Visit Japan Web at Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, New Chitose, Fukuoka and Naha. A green result means go to check-in; red means a customs officer wants to see the goods.
- The shop, or its refund agent, then pays the tax back — by card, bank transfer, app or cash at the airport, depending on the shop. Ask how they refund when you buy; some deduct a handling fee.
The refund comes to about 9.1% of the price you paid (about 7.4% for food and non-alcoholic drinks, which are taxed at 8%; alcohol counts at the full rate). Sealed bags and the old split between "general" and "consumable" goods are gone — but if you open, use or eat any item from a purchase before customs sees it, the whole purchase on that receipt loses its refund, not just that item. Keep snacks on a separate receipt from anything expensive. Purchases made up to 31 October 2026 still use the old instant exemption at the till.
Hotel taxes
Several cities charge a tax per person per night, usually added at check-in rather than included in the booking price. Kyoto's rose steeply in March 2026.
| Place | Rate per person per night |
|---|---|
| Kyoto (from 1 March 2026) | ¥200 under ¥6,000 · ¥400 for ¥6,000–19,999 · ¥1,000 for ¥20,000–49,999 · ¥4,000 for ¥50,000–99,999 · ¥10,000 from ¥100,000 (room-only rate) |
| Osaka (from 1 September 2025) | None under ¥5,000 · ¥200 for ¥5,000–14,999 · ¥400 for ¥15,000–19,999 · ¥500 from ¥20,000 |
| Tokyo | ¥100 for ¥10,000–14,999 · ¥200 from ¥15,000. Due to change to 3% on rates above ¥13,000 from 1 April 2027. |
| Hiroshima Prefecture (from 1 April 2026) | ¥200 on rates from ¥6,000 |
| Hokkaido (from 1 April 2026) | ¥100–500 depending on the rate; Sapporo and some resort towns such as Kutchan (Niseko) add their own |
Other charges to budget for
- Departure tax: ¥3,000 per person since July 2026, already included in your air fare.
- Miyajima visitor tax: ¥100, added to the ferry fare.
- Mt Fuji climbing fee: ¥4,000 per climber on every trail in the July–September season.
- Himeji Castle: ¥2,500 for anyone who doesn't live in Himeji (under-18s free).
Tipping
Don't. Tipping isn't part of Japanese culture, and leaving money on the table usually means a waiter chasing you down the street to return it. Good service is simply the standard. The rare exceptions: at a high-end ryokan or with a private guide you can give a small gift of cash in an envelope, but it is never expected.