Super Cheap Japan: Budget Travel in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima and Surrounding Areas (Super Cheap Guides Book 1)

Design Festa Gallery (デザインフェスタギャラリー) A host of small galleries, more than 70 when at full capacity, showing off the latest up-and-coming artists. All sorts of styles, and ever changing exhibitions on display. Design Festa has become a bit of an institution in Harajuku, and makes going to an expensive gallery unnecessary for most. FREE • Times vary

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (東京都美術館) A prefectural art museum, largely built underground so as not to stand out too much in the green park.

Mount Takao The essential hiking day trip from Tokyo. Super cheap to access, easy to navigate and all you can drink beer at the top!

4. Shimo-Kitazawa A maze of narrow streets, that look completely unchanged from the 50’s or 60’s. No ugly skyscrapers here.

Ueno features one of the biggest parks in Tokyo and is one of the main ‘cities’ within the megalopolis that is Tokyo. There are many museums in the park, and the area is full of brightly lit streets and stores. While it has branches of the main electronic and clothing mega stores, visitors should head to Ameyoko and

Koenji, like Shimo-Kitazawa, is a trendy town with many cheap shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Known as Tokyo’s main counter-culture area,

Caterium (キャットカフェ キャテリアム) Chilled out cafe, with the difference being all the cats walking about!

5. Shibuya Featuring Tokyo’s most photographed area, the Shibuya Pedestrian Scramble, this hyperactive area has lots of people watching and window shopping opportunities for budget travelers.

Meguro and Ebisu (目黒と恵比寿) Well known to expats and fashionable Japanese, Meguro and Ebisu are not tourist hotspots, but places that everyday people love to hang out at.