Dining on a budget in Japan is easy, delicious and very satisfying.

Here are a few tips to keep your food bills down whilst travelling in Japan.  

Yoshinoya – a Japanese chain specialising in "beef bowls" - rice toped with thin slices of beef and onions cooked in a soy-based sauce. A regular size bowl costs 380 yen. They also do dishes like pork curry for 440 yen (£2.80/€3.20) and a teishoku (set lunch) including a beef stir fry, rice, pickles and miso soup for just 580 yen (£3.70/€4.25). Its motto is "cheap, quick and yummy" With restaurants all over the country, you are never far from a Yoshinoya in Japan.  

* Sushi – In Japan kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurants are considerably cheaper than sushi restaurants where your sushi is made to order. Tokyo’s Shibuya district is teeming with cheap kaiten sushi restaurants. Those after a real sushi bargain should head for Uogashi Nihon-ichi. It's a stand up sushi restaurant. So you stand at the conveyor belt to eat. But plates are a super cheap 75 yen (£0.48/€0.55) each! There are 18 branches in Tokyo.  Other sit-down kaiten sushi restaurants in the area are also cheap with plates priced at 100yen (£0.64/€0.73) or 120 (£0.77/€0.88) yen each (2 pieces of sushi per plate).  

* Ramen – this dish of thin egg noodles served in a huge bowl of soup make a very filling and tasty meal. The soup is topped with a variety of ingredients such as slices of roast pork (chashu), bean sprouts (moyashi) and egg. Ramen is popular throughout Japan and different regions are known for their variations on the theme. Examples are Corn-butter Ramen in Sapporo and Tonkotsu Ramen in Kyushu. The average cost for a big bowl of ramen noodles is 700 yen (£4.46/€5.13).    

* Bento boxes – department store food halls, convenience stores and train stations usually have a selection of pre-made bento boxes that average around 500 yen (£3.20/€3.66) or less.  A large portion of rice and a selection of seafood and/or meat are usually available or you could try a refreshing zaru soba (cold soba noodles) bento in the summer.   * Teishoku, or set meal, is a standard part of the Japanese eating experience. 

With many people in Tokyo leading busy lifestyles, eating out for lunch is becoming almost as popular as eating out for dinner. Traditionally, lunch would have been the home-made bento box, but now many restaurants are reinforcing the trend to eat out at midday by offering great lunch deals. This can mean set deals, including a starter, main course and dessert for less than 1000 yen (£6.40/€7.30).   Virtually every Japanese restaurant (except, in most cases, izakayas) will have a selection of teishoku available, and usually they are a good deal.  A teishoku is usually composed of a main item, a bowl of rice, some miso soup and a bowl of Japanese pickles or side salad (or in a non-Japanese restaurant - soup, pasta or meat dish, bread, side salad).  Sometimes these will all be served together on a square platter, and sometimes they will come separately, as courses.   

Many teishoku also come with a free drink (iced/hot tea or coffee, juice or soft drink). Teishoku are dine in only. Lunch menu time generally lasts from noon to 2 or 2:30pm. Arrive just before 12 to avoid the rush from the offices, or go after 1pm when most office workers are heading back to their desks.