Andrew Spooner 

Find a good match for your budget

Watching this summer's festival of football in Japan and South Korea need not break the bank, explains Andrew Spooner.
  
  

Ibaraki Football Stadium in Japan
Ibaraki Football Stadium in Japan which is one of the venues for the World Cup Photograph: Getty

Ever since England qualified for the World Cup, reports have focused on how expensive fans will find going to Japan. The average cost of buying a World Cup package through a specialist tour operator is £3,000, without match tickets. Yet budget travel is possible. And, with Italy, Argentina, Germany, Ireland, Cameroon and England based there, Japan will be a seething, football cauldron come June.

Whatever your budget, this is one of the most fascinating countries on earth, shocking and exciting for visitors in equal measure. A mixture of otherworldliness and efficiency is at the centre of this experience, but with sushi, Sony and sumo, it all feels oddly familiar too.

Our shoestring budget is £1,300 for two weeks, including flights, transport, accommodation (with two sharing), food, drink and tickets to four group games.

Japan

What is the cheapest way to get there?

Airlines are raising their fares but you can make savings by travelling just before the start of the tournament in June. Return fares from London-Tokyo, leaving on 27 May start at £424 with Aeroflot, via Moscow, subject to availability (Eastways Travel 020 7247 5668). Flying Finnair via Helsinki (also from Manchester) is £598 from Norvista (020 7409 7334). Direct flights are currently available for £787 from Japan Airlines (JAL; 0845 774 7700) and ANA (020 7569 0900).

Where do I stay?

Unfortunately, Japan has no central way for visitors to book budget accommodation. You may find a few bargains on the official Fifa Hotels website. These start at £40 for a double room.

There's still tons of cheap accommodation, however. Each major city has a youth hostel (www.jyh.or.jp), charging from £15 a night, while in the streets around most railway stations, you'll find a range of business hotels from £30. Ryokans - traditional Japanese guesthouses and inns, complete with futons, tatami mats and onsen (hot springs) - cost from £40, with breakfast and dinner. Some budget places can be booked via the Welcome Inns website.

An unusual but cheap alternative are love hotels, instantly recognisable from their ornate, cupid-laden exteriors. Generally rented by the hour by couples, these rooms usually have a mirrored, kitschy interior. Two rates apply: a 'rest' (not very likely) is for an hour, while a 'stay' is overnight. The major drawback is you can't check in for a stay until 10pm. By that time, the room will have been in use all day. Prices start at £25. The Minami area of Osaka and Kabukicho in Tokyo have lots to choose from.

Capsule hotels, where you sleep in an air-conditioned coffin-sized tube, complete with TV, start at £30. There are a few clustered in the lively Akasaka neighbourhood of Tokyo. The best one in Osaka is the Capsule Inn, near Namba subway station.

There are plans - unconfirmed, as yet - for a campsite in Sapporo, where England play Argentina. The Japanese Tourist office (020 7734 9638) has lists of affordable accommodation.

How do I get around?

Like all good Japanese, take the train. The rail network, the linchpin being the bullet trains, or Shinkansen , is incredible - a Formula One affair compared with the filth, chaos and expense of British trains. You can cover 100 miles in 30 minutes, the average delay is 23 seconds and even the food, served in cute bento boxes, is excellent. Rail passes are great value, but must be bought from a UK agent before you travel. A seven-day pass costs £149, 14 days is £238 and 21 days is £305. Call JAL tours on 020 7462 5577.

What is good to eat?

Western food is pricey so, go native. Contrary to popular myth, it's not all raw fish. Some of the food may seem odd, but there's enough choice to suit the queasiest palate.

A big bowl of noodles, laced with greens and slices of pork, is priced at about £3 at the street noodleries you'll find everywhere. The ubiquitous gyoza , or dumpling, shops are also great for budget eats: a tray-full of dumplings costs £4. The hi-tech kaiten sushi bars, serving up raw fish on different coloured plates that glide by on a conveyor belt, are excellent quality. Fill your boots for about £7.50. The shopping precincts underneath every railway station are packed with cheap places to eat.

And drink?

England fans didn't realise just how lucky they were when their team was drawn to play in the cities of Sapporo and Osaka.

Sapporo has an enormous brewery, which offers guided tours with free beer. This city is also famous for its rowdy beer halls. The one next to the brewery does an eat-and-drink-all-you-like barbecue for £18.

Osaka is Japan's wild, weird food-fuelled party town. In the infamous Minami quarter - the model for Blade Runner's street scenes - the isakayas (Japanese pubs, selling beer at £2.50 a pint), restaurants, love hotels, 'soap lands' (brothels) and noodle bars press in on each other to create a fog of debauchery. In Tokyo, most foreigners head for the Roppongi area, which is bursting with bars and restaurants. Alternatively, try Shinjuku or the raunchy, wild Kabukicho entertainment quarter.

Budget beer can be bought at supermarkets and from vending machines in the street. A large can of decent lager costs about £1.20.

What can we do between matches?

If you are in Osaka visit nearby Kyoto, an ancient city of almost divine beauty.

Hokkaido Island, which includes Sapporo, is great for trekking; there are also lots of hot springs. Mount Fuji is easily reached by bus from Tokyo. If you choose to stay in Tokyo, visit the intense Tsukiji fish market, gadget heaven at the Sony Building, or zoom up to the forty-fifth floor of the wacky Tokyo Metropolitan Building - they're all free.

South Korea

Enigmatic and eccentric, South Korea is eager to stage an excellent tournament, if only to get one over on its bitter rival, Japan.

The country is cheap and its people have a sense of fun. It seems well suited to hosting the World Cup, should be excellent for the neutral fan and plays host to France and Brazil. Football purists will love the fact that most stadiums do not have running tracks around the pitch to dilute the atmosphere.

Our shoestring budget for a two-week holiday is £1,000, including flights, transport, accommodation for two sharing, food, drink and tickets to four group games.

What's the cheapest way to get there?

The only direct flights from London to Seoul are with Korean Airlines, and start at £654 return. The airline has a special offer of two domestic flights per international ticket for only £27 each. Add £125 and you can fly to Japan too. Contact Crystal Travel (020 7612 0500). Aeroflot flies via Moscow, with tickets starting at £547, with tax. Contact Eastways Travel (020 7247 5668). Both the quoted fares are for return London-Seoul tickets on flights leaving on 27 May, and are subject to availability.

Where do I stay?

The Koreans have a website for budget accommodation. Here, you'll find all kinds of places to stay, from bed and breakfasts to yeogwans (cheap motels). Prices start at about £15 a night per head. Some yeogwans may double as love hotels: you'll find a stack of porn videos by the reception desk at the more blatant ones.

How do I get around?

Trains and buses are cheap and reliable. The bus fare for the 250 miles from Seoul to Busan, for instance, is about £10. You can get a rail pass but it's complicated and you have to apply before you travel. Contact the Korean National Tourist Organisation (020 7321 2535) for details.

What is good to eat?

Don't worry, you won't be served pooch with every meal. In fact, eating dog is a minority activity and, to pacify foreigners, dog restaurants are very low key. If you can't stomach dog, there's always live octopus. It's a popular dish, but remember to chew fast, or the suckers will stick to your teeth.

Apart from that, Korean cuisine is generally a tasty, communal affair. Try cooking fresh beef ribs over a table-set grill at the commonplace bulgogi restaurants and mixing them with gimchi, fiery, fermented vegetables, at £5 per head.

For real budget eating, street stalls are excellent. If you're in Seoul and need an English menu, Yongwoodong is a chain of noodle places that provides a great introduction to Korean food. Prices start at £2.

And drink?

Koreans love getting hammered. A favourite tipple is cheap soju , a potent spirit brewed from rice, although it delivers a hangover from hell. Soju joints are everywhere.

The local beer is decent enough. Bars can be pricey, charging about £2.50 a pint, while shops ask only £1. The local moonshine, baem sul , reputed to come complete with a dead snake, is only for the hardy.

What is there to do between matches?

In the city of Suwon, take a toilet tour around 70 of the best public lavatories in the world, each complete with classical music and fresh flowers.

Seoul has the enthralling back-streets of Insadong, a centre for the sale of art, and the wild market of Namdaemun.

How do I get match tickets?

Tickets for games are extremely scarce, as England are taking an estimated 6,000 supporters, the largest number from any European country.

However, the FA has first refusal on any returns from opposition teams. You'll need to be a member of the FA official supporters' club to be considered for these.

If you want to go as a neutral, there are still tickets left for other group games in both

Korea and Japan. Not all tickets for the knockout stages have been released yet. Prices range from about £29 to around £108.70 for a group match. Keep checking the Fifa website, as returned tickets appear here.

 

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