After buying the JR pass for 21 days and also booking 25 days of hotels \[I wanted to enjoy my time in them as my first time to Japan so they were a bit overpriced\].
And after that I have budged roughly 9,879 yen a day and that is after accounting for AUD to JP exchange rates \[I’m going to go to a local exchange company with a rate of 0.92 AUD to Yen which seems reasonable\] to get yen in cash so I can arrive in Japan with it.
Is 9,879 a day good to support most museums/shrines and to in general eat good but not luxury food? I want to eat a lot of ramen and sushi \[and maybe try some kobe beef in kobe which I’ll budget for\]. I may also need to pay quite a bit on train fairs that may not be covered on the pass.
My current general plan is staying in Akihabara for 7 days \[and making day trips to other parts of tokyo and potentially niigata and hakone\].
After that I’ll stay 8 days in Osaka and make day trips to Kyoto, Kobe and Hiroshima \[will be at the Courtyard by Marriott at Shin-Osaka Station to make those day trips easy\].
After that I’ll arrive in Fukuoka and stay there for 5 days and use that time to explore Fukuoka and two day trips \[nagasaki and somewhere I’ve yet to decide\] which I’m also close to hakata station to make that easy.
After that I’ll return to tokyo for 5 days and relax in toyosu \[at the Mitsui Garden Hotel\] and most likely return to akihabara to buy a few things that I saw during the first 7 days before my flight home. I chose toyosu even if it is out of the way since I wanted to relax these final days and have a nicer hotel and view.
Also I’m someone that does not eat breakfast \[I know, it’s unhealthy lol\] so food wise I’ll only be paying for lunch and dinner. I’ve seen the day/two day passes for Osaka, Hakone etc and I may buy those but it seems they are not available to order online so I may have to wait until I arrive to buy them.
12 comments
All of your accommodation and most of your transport is already covered right? Yeah, I think that amount per day will be ok for what you want. You won’t be able to spend without thinking, but you’ll be comfortable
Trains are relatively cheap – flat rate of roughly 100-200ish yen per trip if connected regardless of distance outside of JR pass. The food can cost ~1000 yen per meal for ramen and many others. I would say you have more than enough for most of your trip itinerary if lodging and JR pass transit are covered. Entry into some temples and shrines are free and some of the larger ones are inexpensive, roughly 500 yen or something to view and enter.
I am budgeting $50 USD per person per day for food, or around 7500 yen, so I am hoping your budgeted amount works out well. I am not confident we will be able to stick to that budget, but we also typically do only two meals per day so I think it should be possible.
For the tokyo part. Yeah I think it’ll be manageable.
Generally I spend each day about
340 yen for the trains
700-800 yen for drinks and quick food( vending machine, konbini)
900-1000 yen per full meal (ramen, sushi, stuff like that)
A bowl of ramen will fill you up, and stuff like rice bowls with toppings on it will also fill you up. Do note that figurines in akihabara aren’t the cheapest thing to buy, most of them are at least 2000 yen or way more than that. Akihabara does have a few second hand stores for figurines. There if they’ve been taken out of the box it can be a lot cheaper than to buy the unopened ones (bought a opened berserk statue for about 8000 yen les than normal, just because the box was opened).
For shopping, most places do tax-free shopping if you spend around 5000 yen
Ramen is cheap and the quality doesn’t vary much by price. I think there are michelin 3 ramen for 1000 Yen. Sushi quality and prices vary much more. You should be fine if you’re only interested in shrines/food. Shopping is where money goes fast….
Idk outside of accommodation my wife and I can spend $30 USD per day each there just fine. I stay for multiple months at a time. Was just there for 3 months in the spring and held to that budget.
Depending on you accommodations, you’ll probably get a breakfast of some sort. Personally this is why I seek out business hotel options as they typically include breakfast and are super inexpensive (talking 30-40$ a night per person usd.) I also like apartments/airbnbs if I’m staying in one spot or youth hostels with private rooms. This lets me shop at grocery stores and eat great food for little money as long as you have basic cooking skills. You can easily get by on 10 USD a day with an option like this. Rice, dashi mix, miso, eggs, beef or pork, yogurt, fish, sake, sugar, temari, fresh fruit and veg. If staying at a hostel, you can also share with others. Offer to cook for someone else if they’ll provide the sake, for example.
Beyond those cheap methods, gyudon, curry rice, and konbini food is all relatively inexpensive. You can get a fat bowl of gyudon with eggs and onions for 3-4 USD at a matsuya or any of the other usual suspects. You should make an effort to get some veg as well but it’ll definitely keep you fed if you find yourself overspent elsewhere.
As for trains, hopefully you ran the numbers to make sure the rail pass was worth it? Assuming so, walking/biking is still a potential option for many non- covered trains in all of the cities you list. You can find a lot of neat places by not taking the subway if you have the time. Some hotels and many hostels have bikes to rent or free for guests, so consider asking.
Even taking train and eating at a higher level than I’ve talked about you should be fine.
My budget trips usually are about 70$ USD per day but that includes lodging. That is basically your budget without lodging so it is 100% doable and you’ll have extra food/souvenir money.
I would say it is on the lower side so do expect to be looking at several places before settling on where you want to eat
Thats roughly 100 bucks a day, you should be fine as long as your realistic with your money.
Can definitely make it work but I would say I spent around 12,500 a day when I went for 3ish weeks, though I did go with my partner and we tried lots of things whilst there.
That should be plenty i think. Without any hotel or train tickets almost 10k a day seems very good. We spent on food and going around places 4-5k yen per day when we were in Japan. We tried kobe beef too. We were addicted to ongiris though ao that might have been lowering our expenses but still 10k a day should be plenty. Definetly go for electronics or shoe shopping because prices are amazing in Japan.
Do you mind me asking who you’re using to exchange? 92 is a good rate.
I’m in Brisbane and looking to exchange soon but the rates here are rubbish. I was just going to change a bit then change the rest once I get there.