Five tips for seeing Japan on a budget

1. If you fear Tokyo's size and bustle (just look at a subway map!), not to worry. Stay in the Ginza area of Japan, close to Tokyo's main train station and packed with spectacular department stores like Matsuya and Mitsukoshi (don't miss the basement food halls).

Do include a weekend stay when the main Ginza boulevard Chuo Dori is closed to cars, allowing pedestrians to stroll at their leisure, pausing at cafe tables set up on the roadway. Some turn out in traditional yakutas and kimonos.

2. An hour by train from Tokyo is an eyebrow-raising day or two with a bit of culture thrown in.

Hakone-Yumoto resort town starts the mountain climbing with a switchback train. Do stop off at Chokoku village to visit the Open Air Museum's remarkable sculpture collection (think Rodin, Moore and Miro) spread over acres of hillside, plus an impressive indoor Picasso collection.

Next take the funicular railway; after that step into swinging gondolas (called a ropeway) passing over a remarkable hot springs hillside; then take a 30-minute lake crossing in boats dressed up as 17th Century galleons, and a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto.

All this is covered by the Hakone Freepass (not free, but a bargain).

3. You have to try staying in a Ryokan (Japanese inn) where the hard part may be sleeping on the floor on a not-so-thick futon.

In Kinosaki, Japan's classic onsen (hot springs) town two hours by train from Kyoto, everyone goes strolling in their yakutas (suppplied). They bathe in one or all of seven steaming rock springs.

4. If Kinosaki is classy, Beppu on the south-west coast has the most spectacular spread of hot springs, steam rising everywhere. Standing out are the "Hells", more for viewing than bathing (too hot).

Frequent bus tours from Beppu rail station visit an extraordinary line-up of bubbling mud pools in many colours set in attractive gardens on the outskirts of Beppu city. The tour includes a not very attractive small zoo of crocodiles, one hippo, flamingos and even a black swan.

5. Nobody told us that in the big cities (Kyoto, Hiroshima etc) bicycles are a far greater hazard for pedestrians than they are in Sydney.

Cyclists rule the footpaths and proceed at top pace (and that's just the little old ladies). In theory the paths are divided but in reality cyclists do as they like. One big exception is Nagasaki, where pedestrians rule and cycles and cars yield. Be warned.

A one, two or three-week Japan rail pass is a cost-effective and very efficient way of seeing the country. You'll see a lot, though because Japan has many mountains, tunnels often block the view.

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