Budget Travel in Tokyo

The February-March print edition of Money Sense,(http://www.MoneySense.ca) a Canadian magazine, has a short but useful article on how to visit one of the world's most costly cities on a budget, and without staying in a capsule hotel. A capsule hotel, for the uninitiated, has rooms that resemble train berths or coffins more than they do conventional hotel rooms. The bath, naturally, is down the hall and the capsule places offer rock-bottom prices (for Tokyo) of around $40 or $50 a night.
The writer has found some budget hotels where actual rooms, sometimes with breakfast, start at about $65 a night. He also recommends buying a pass for the city's extensive train and public transit system for about $19 a day, and an attraction and museum pass for $24 a day. High prices, yes, but this is Tokyo. Best of all, he suggests places in the Japanese capital where you can get a filling meal or snack for between $5 and $10.
If you always thought a trip to Japan was out of reach financially, this article proves that it is not. I did not find the article in the online edition, unfortunately. Money Sense doesn't publish many travel articles, but the ones it does have are generally good, as are many of their more general articles on investments and financial planning. (Full disclosure--I have written for Money Sense.)