Is Tokyo Really Best for Solo Travel?

Tokyo is the world’s best city to live and travel alone in, reports this week say. Should solo travelers rush to buy tickets while the Japanese capital is still on top? Not quite. There are a few issues with praising Tokyo for solo lifestyles and travel.

Is Tokyo the best city to be alone?

A North Macedonian online casino group quantified factors such as housing rent and price of commodities, average income, safety, and more in cities worldwide to calculate which was the best destination to be on your own, including solo traveling. The study also factored in the percentage of each city’s residents living alone.     

Tokyo claimed the title of the world’s number-one country for having a solo lifestyle, followed by Doha and Beijing, respectively. Osaka ranked in fourth place.

The Japanese capital scored high in several categories, such as safety, average income, housing rent, and price of commodities.

The results come after Tokyo gained recognition as the world’s second-best city by US readers of Condé Nast Traveler last year, ranking under Singapore.

The study coming out of North Macedonia named Doha the runner-up to Tokyo. However, it gave slightly higher points to Qatar’s capital in average income and safety. Meanwhile, housing rent and the percentage of people living alone in Doha set the city four points behind Tokyo.

Beijing secured third place for having the cheapest housing and commodities among the top ten cities. Fourth place was a tie between Abu Dhabi, Osaka, and Bucharest.

Abu Dhabi belongs to the number-four pack for having the highest level of safety among the top ten cities. Osaka stands out among the top ten for having the cheapest monthly housing rent, an average of ¥60,700 (USD $446) per capita. Bucharest has the cheapest commodity prices in Europe.

Madrid, Warsaw, and Munich shared fifth place for all having a relatively high average income and cheap housing and commodities. Helsinki, where a large majority lives alone ranked in sixth place followed by Dubai, Prague, Seoul, and Budapest.

Tokyo’s aging singles paint a different picture

Taking Tokyo’s solo residents into account to boost it to the best city to be alone in is misleading.

Who is living alone? And why? A look at the demographics of Japan’s single-member households reveals how these figures alone do not make the country nor its capital solo traveler-friendly.

One in six people will live alone in 2025, compared to the one in seven that were solo residents in 2015, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

By ratio, this means 16% of Japan’s population will live alone. When looking at single-member households by residents’ age, people in their fifties will make up 23% due to the shrinking population of those in their twenties to forties. 

An even older generation, women in their eighties, will represent the largest demographic of single-member households in 2025, numbering over 2.2 million. That’ll mark a 34% increase in a decade.

Regarding growth rate, men in their seventies and eighties surpass that figure. In 2025, there will be 51% more men living alone in their seventies and 55% more for men in their eighties.

More than half of the elderly living alone in Japan need caregivers to take care of them. Meanwhile, 40% rely on their children or in-laws.

“Cheap” for tourists can be rip-offs

Inbound tourists, both groups and solo travelers, spent more than ever in 2023. The weak yen drew many from around the world to get a good deal as pandemic restrictions were no longer holding them back.

So, when Tokyo made it as the ‘best city in the world’ in part for how its commodities are cheap, many who visited Japan in the past year will have agreed by now.

That may be a false assessment of prices in Tokyo, especially if you were an inbound tourist, aka bait for business.

From the Nishiki food market to the restaurants in Niseko’s ski resort, businesses ramped up their prices while the weak yen still had inbound tourists thinking they were getting a steal deal. But the real steal is when a single serving of gyudon is ¥2,000 (USD $13.34) and a bowl of ramen is ¥3,000 ($20).

But “expensive” is relative. South Koreans, for example, recently ranked Japan as the best cost-performance travel destination. So it’s likely that the prevailing take that Tokyo is “cheap” will continue to rule the roost.

All that said, there are still many reasons to visit Tokyo! And while the city may not be objectively “top” for solo travelers, visitors of all stripes and numbers can have a great time here.

Sources

「一人旅」に最適な世界の年ランキング、１位は東京. Forbes JAPAN

2025年：単身世帯が1996万世帯 加速する「ソロ社会」化. MIZUHO