Food question

I'll be going to Japan next month. I'll be travelling around Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka before staying in Kakogawa for a week. My guide says that I should allow 3000 a day for food. That is for the seven days before Kakogawa only. Is this a realistic figure? Can I eat for significantly cheaper? How much would an average Mcdonalds meal cost?

Is this a realistic figure? Can I eat for significantly cheaper? How much would an average Mcdonalds meal cost?

You can get by on as cheap as 500 yen per meal, however it will consist mostly of convenience store meals, beef bowls, and ramen.

A typical set meal costs around 1000 yen.

McDonald's value meals are around 600 yen

Basically you can go cheaper, but in my opinion you would be wasting half the reason for travel, namely trying new foods.

Anyway this has been covered before so do a forum search for more answers.

If your hotels offer free breakfast, that will help with the cost of eating. Lunch is typically around 500Y-1000Y and dinner is roughly 1000Y-2000Y but it all depends on what you eat.

I think the only time I'll be eating formally is on Miyajima Island. The rest of the time, I'll survive on Japanese junk food.

If you eat at cheap noodle or tempura chains and have their specials which tend to be about 500- 700 yen, plus some convenience store foods, you might be able to get it down to around 2,200 yen or so if you are not a big eater, but I would say definitely allow 3,000 if you want to eat properly- you don't want to be starving!