I am in the process of creating a budget for a 90 day Japan trip for 2024 and would love an extra pair of eyes to see if there is anything I’m grossly over/underestimating on. My itinerary is still up in the air. I have spots mapped out, but I am not decided on the exact order yet- Korea might be switched to after my 90 days to add another month onto the trip. If this is the case, I will fly out from Korea, but I will still be using Miles to pay for this ticket. At the moment, during this trip, I am planning to go to:
Tokyo > Yokohama > Hakone > Izu Peninsula > Fuji Area (need more research into camping/hiking) > Follow the southern coast to Nagoya > Osaka > Kyoto > Nara > Kobe (no particular order on those last 4) > (Either Follow the coast or go south) Fukuoka > Kumamoto > Kagoshima > Miyazaki > Fukuoka > Busan (South Korean) > Jeju (South Korea) > Seoul (South Korea) > Sapporo or Tokyo
This budget is for a solo traveler, if that helps. I would like to think I’m over budgeting for some stuff, especially stays. I feel like I can knock that down a lot by mostly staying in $20-$30 rooms. I’d just rather be over than under with some of this- Like food as well. On average, I don’t eat much- maybe a meal a day and some coffee, but I know I will want to try a lot of foods so I kept it kind of high.
Anyways, any advice on the budget, or things to add to the itinerary that are in the same areas would be great- Thanks!!
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https://imgur.com/a/jRjCHVP
7 comments
Your transportation numbers look too low. Stints add up so if you’re making multiple stints in a day it will total up more than JPY500/day. Been there, done that. If you are this budget constrained I would stay away from the expensive meals. They are not worth it on a budget.
Stick to basics and you’ll save quite a bit. Stick to high rated kaiten sushi places like Katsumidori and you can get a really nice sushi meal for Y2500 or less. Check tabelog for the ratings, don’t go below about 3.42 or so and you should be fine.
You can save a lot of beverages by going to discount groceries and buying large bottles (2 liter, etc.) of isotonic and juices and refill smaller bottles in your room before heading out for the day. Find the nearest Gyomu Super and stock up on food and drink there, you’ll save quite a bit if there is one in your area.
Lastly, business hotel prices and vacancy varies greatly with Fri/Sat usually booked up and expensive compared to midweek. Book your reservations as early as possible or you may get stuck in a location that wastes time and transportation to get to where you need to go.
One more thing, what is your plan for Internet access? Pocket wifi rental is best for many people if you need to tether a laptop or tablet. Never understood people’s obsession with SIM or eSIM because you lose access to your home number and SMS if your phone is not multi-SIM capable.
Where are you finding $40 business hotels? On booking.com they are at least 50 a day
2500 for food is between realistic and a bit low. That is kind of ok if you do not buy snacks and do not drink. If you go in the 3500 yen average, then you can more easily justify some snacks, desert and drinks.
You probably underestimate transportation cost. Like what… 9 shinkansen rides at 5000 each… what I did is stay in many cities that are not too far from each other and that would be easy to do by local train in not too long and for two of the longer rides, I took a night bus. Daily transportation cost in the cities is likely between 0 and 1000 yen a day, but moving between cities can cost a lot, especially when you go far and take fast trains.
For accommodation, hostel and cheap accommodations for 3000 on average is absolutely possible. In Miyazaki I stayed in a business hotel that was barely more expensive than a hostel and Kumamoto it was a “hotel” with super little room and shared shower/bathroom.
Not sure how long you plan to stay in Kyushu, but did a kind of similar loop but with more stops between the different cities and it took me a full month.
Overall not impossible to do within that budget, I did my 3 months for 8K CAD, BUT, it was not my first time in Japan and did not care too much to eat instant noodle and food from the grocery store, while I was in Tokyo, but everywhere else I wanted to try local dish and would always go in restaurants.
I’m planning a 60 day trip for 2024 and budgeting for around $8,000 USD per person (not counting flying tickets due to points) Going to be staying in budget hotels, hostels, and cheap airbnbs. Food is budgeted to about $30 USD a day. I think your transportation budget is way too low, especially with the places you want to go. I’m planning on taking the overnight sleeper bus as my main form of transportation for long distance, and local trains for short day trips. Will be renting a car in Hokkaido. Bullet trains are expensive. Will also be taking advantage of cheap air travel for International visitors in Japan. Transportation is currently what’s bringing up my budget.
Following. Planning a 3 month trip for 2024 too, likely from Oct. Hope to keep it at a maximum of 10K CAD with some time in South Korea.
I’ll be mainly using buses or local trains from place to place to keep cost affordable.
$9k ain’t enough. At least $70k for 90 days will do.