If you ever happen to find yourself stuck in Tokyo with no accommodation for the night and definitely not enough for a hotel, don't panic! Here is what you can do.
Firstly, if it happens to be between April to October then you are in luck. Especially if it is around the August summer period. The average temperature at night in Tokyo will be above the mid 20s making sleeping outside a very realistic option. Any other months outside that and you will have to contend with snow and harsh cold weather especially around Jan - Feb.
Japan is known as one of the countries with the lowest crime rate and sleeping outside is not such a bad option in a pinch. The secret is to find areas that are well-lit and near other people. You will find that trains stations and subways a good place to bed down for a night. It is well-lit, other people will be sleeping and security / police men are often very nearby. If you balk at the idea of slumming it down at a train station entrance you maybe amused to realized that very often you will see Japanese business men who after a night of drinking with colleagues and missing the last train, slumped drunkenly asleep on train station steps and bus shelters awaiting the first morning trains! If you are in Tokyo any train station on the Yamanote line will be the biggest and safest, especially Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno and Ikebukkuro.
Once you have a nice place, you will want to scavenge for large bits of cardboard to lay on the ground as insulation. Cement floors are hard and sap the heat right out of you, but a nice piece of cardboard makes a good insulator and when propped up can even give a bit of a wall acting like a privacy screen. Just be careful not to steal from a legitimately homeless mans cardboard pile. Normally after 7pm most shops fold and dump their cardboard in front of the shop awaiting collection the next morning. You should take some solid corrugated cardboard if possible.
The best place to sleep is on train steps or anywhere as near to the train station entrance, as typically you can't enter the station as it is locked after the last train and will only reopen for the first train. Typically stations open 4:00-4:30am in the morning.
Baring a train station, the next logical option is any 24hr fast food take away place. The best and most ubiquitous being McDonald's. You will find that after 12am most McDonald's already have sleeping guests and unlike other western countries patrolling security / staff will not ask you to vacate the store. In fact you can buy a 110en cheese burger and sit inside and sleep all the way until 8am in the morning, where Japanese staff will kindly wake you up in the gentlest of manner to remind you its morning. Customer service at its best!
If you happen to have cash, 2500en will buy you typically 6hrs at any manga/internet cafe with internet access and unlimited soft drinks or tea and some even provide shower services. If you are lucky you may even be able to book rooms with a sofa or tatami mat floor to sleep on.
If you have even more money capsule inns will set you back any where from 5000en upwards for a stay.
If you happen to be stuck outside in winter, then sleeping outside is NOT an option, and with no money your only option is McDonald's. If you are lucky open subway entrances that are deep enough generally stay warm during the night unfortunately the roller shutters close after the last train which may make this difficult. If you know you are going to have to do it tough, then visiting a 100en shop to stock up on thermal blankets and heat packs is a very good idea before hand!
Good luck!
About this Author
I use to live in Japan and absorbed more than my fair share of just the culture living there, I absolutely loved the Gyaru Hair and fashion over there and had a great time drinking all sorts of tea and looking for Japanese Tea Sets
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