Cheap/budget hotels in Tokyo

This hotel rates start from S$68 per person a night with free light breakfast.

This one starts from S$77 to S$111 a night.

Sanma also know as mackerel pike

Saury, or sanma, is one of the most prominent seasonal foods representing autumn in Japanese cuisine. It is most commonly served salted and grilled (broiled) whole, garnished with daikon oroshi (grated daikon) and served alongside a bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup. Other condiments may include soy sauce, or lime, lemon, or other citrus juices. The intestines are bitter, but many people choose not to gut the fish, as many say its bitterness, balanced by the condiments, is part of the enjoyment. Salt-grilled saury is also served in Korea, where it is known as kongchi gui (꽁치구이).
Sanma sashimi is becoming increasingly available but is not common. It is rarely used for sushi; however sanma-zushi is a regional delicacy along parts of the Kii Peninsula, especially along the coast of southern Mie Prefecture. It is prepared by pickling the sanma in salt and vinegar (depending on the region, bitter orange or citron vinegar may be used), and then placing it on top of vinegared rice to create the finished sushi.
The fish can also be pan-fried or canned kabayaki. It is also used for fish meal and pet food in some Western countries, while in Alaska pollock is more often used for this purpose.
The flesh of Pacific saury contains good quality protein, which is easily digestible, absorbed, and utilized by the human body. The flesh is rich in unsaturated fatty acids such as EPA and DHA, "good fats" that aid in the prevention of heart disease.

BTW: Sanma is available at Giants supermart Tampines branch ( 59 cts per 100 grams)

Ramen

Ramen is a noodle soup that was originally imported to Japan from China in the Meiji Period. In more recent decades, it has become a very popular dish in Japan, adapted to the Japanese taste. Ramen restaurants (ramen ya) number in the thousands, and instant ramen (invented in 1958) is popular both in and outside of Japan.

Ramen noodles are about as thin as spaghetti and are served in a soup that varies based on region, city and even specific vendor. Ramen's popularity stems in part from the fact that it is so inexpensive and widely available, making it an ideal option for budget travelers. In addition to freshly prepared ramen at ramen ya, supermarkets and convenience stores offer a large selection of instant ramen bowls.

Though ramen can be considered a one dish meal, gyoza are a common side dish offered at ramen ya. These Chinese style, pan fried dumplings are eaten with a soya and vinegar sauce. Shichimi (red chili mix) is usually available on the table to be added according to taste.

Ramen can be classified according to its soup base. The most popular ones are:

Shoyu Ramen: Brown, transparent, soya sauce based soup
Miso Ramen: Brown, non-transparent, miso based soup.
Shio Ramen: Transparent, salt based soup.
Tonkotsu Ramen: White, milky, pork based soup.
Ramen can also be named according to its ingredients. For example, chashumen is a ramen dish that features barbecued pork as toppings

Hakone is a good choice.

Hakone, a hot spring or onsen town is a good choice for foreigners to visit.It is less than 100 km from Toyko and generally the roykans or tradinal Japanese hotel staff speak some english.

Hakone has been one of Japan's most popular hot spring resorts for centuries. Nowadays, more than a dozen springs provide hot spring water to the many bath houses and ryokan in the Hakone region.

Yumoto, at the entrance to the Hakone area near Odawara, is Hakone's most famous hot spring with a particularly long history, high quality water and numerous baths and inns. But many more hot spring baths can be found in the valleys and mountains of Hakone and at the shores of Lake Ashi.

Visitors can enjoy a hot spring bath in a public bath house or ryokan, as many ryokan open their baths not only to staying guests but also to daytime visitors. While staying guests can use the baths for free, daytime visitors pay an admission fee of typically between 500 and 2000 Yen.

Japanese language

The Japanese language has always played a significant role in Japanese culture. The language is spoken mainly in Japan but also in some Japanese emigrant communities around the world, it is an agglutinative language and the sound inventory of Japanese is relatively small but has a lexically distinct pitch-accentsystem. Early Japanese is known largely on the basis of its state in the 8th century, when the three major works of old Japanese were compiled. The earliest attestation of the Japanese language is in a Chinese document from 252 A.D. It is regarded as an extremely hard language for westerners to learn as adults.
Japanese is written with a combination of three scripts: hiragana which were derived from the Chinese cursive script, katakana, which were derived as a shorthand from Chinese characters, and kanji, imported from China. The Latin alphabet, rōmaji, is also often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names and logos, advertising, and when inputting Japanese into a computer. The Hindu-Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino-Japanese numerals are also commonplace