[Here’s a screen grab of the spreadsheet.](https://imgur.com/a/ORkh8KU)
**TL:DR**: I’m trying to calculate the per person budget for 9 people taking a 14-day trip spanning Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka during cherry blossom season. I came up with \~$4,000. Please check my math.
My sister and I were fortunate enough to get a chance to visit Tokyo for 9 days this past July. My cousins got super jealous and have since expressed interest in going together as a family. There are 7 of us, plus two of my cousins’ partners.
We all agreed that cherry blossom season in 2025 would be the time to go, as we all need to save up and align our schedules to be able to afford this trip. Since they want to visit Kyoto and Osaka as well, I’ve implied heavily to my cousins that learning a little Japanese will help them out a lot during this trip (my sister and I aren’t fluent ourselves, but we got by with 6 months of Duolingo practice and Google Translate). I proposed 2025 as the year for the journey, so they can get some practice in and so we can save up.
In order to give everyone a peek at what we were looking at in terms of expenses, I did some light research (read: went on Vrbo, Expedia and Google Flights for like 25 minutes using April 10-24, 2024 as the template) and created this budget proposal to show everyone about how much they would need in order to afford this expedition.
We live all over North America, so the plan is to convene in Los Angeles a day prior to our trip so no one is rushing through security or at risk of missing The Big Flight.
I figured renting a vacation home for two weeks to serve as our base of operations during our stay was a better move strategically and financially, as opposed to staying in a hotel. We would have the opportunity to experience family life in Japan, as well as a proper kitchen (which benefits me as a professional chef) and ample space that a hotel would probably not provide us.
I proposed three options (all within Tokyo) at three different price points, square footage and comfort levels. Knowing my family, we’ll go with the most expensive and spacious option, because we all benefit from a lot of space.
**Option 1** is a two-story house, 4 bed, 1.5 bath in Nakano, not far from where my sister stayed in July (Nishi-shinjuku 5chome). It’s the most spacious and has a \*very\* nice kitchen.
**Option 2** is in Shinjuku, a single story home, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 half bath. This is the one I actually want to stay in, it looks the coziest and feels like it would be the most fun to experience (I want to film a recreation of a scene from Tonight’s Menu for the Emiya Family and this one has those vibes). Options 1 and 2 are about a mile from each other, too.
**Option 3** in Akihabara (the cheapest one) is a cramped 2 story, 3 bed, 2 bath that I doubt would comfortably fit 9 adults, but I added it to the proposal to show them options.
There are no concrete plans for itinerary yet, other than going to Tokyo Disney on the day before departure, going to a tattoo-friendly onsen/ryokan \*at some point\* and seeing Mount Fuji. I figure once we’re settled in at home base, we’ll all go explore Tokyo in groups based on what we want to see/do (the boys want to hit the Gundam Factory and do street photography, the girls want to go thrifting and hit museums, and we \*all\* want to eat, see pop culture stuff and visit the temples/parks).
For Kyoto and Osaka and Mt. Fuji, we’ll leave most of our stuff at Home Base so we don’t waste energy lugging everything along across the country. I chose a random ryokan and hotel for Osaka and Kyoto, respectively, since I’ve never been and just wanted to give them an idea of the cost for three nights. If anyone has a better recommendation for places to stay, I would greatly appreciate it.
The JR Pass didn’t feel worth it for my first visit, but it’s definitely going to come in handy this time. I added the Shinkansen costs to the breakdown just in case anyone would rather pay as they go during the trip. I added the JR pass cost *after* having Sheets sum up Column E, so both the JR Pass and Shinkansen tickets are factored into the Estimated Grand Total.
As for the Food and Souvenir budgets, my sister and I came into Japan in July with about $10,000 each to spend over 9 days. We split a $2k hotel bill, each bought about $700 in souvenirs and spent roughly $500 each in food (a rotation of FaMa, Lawson and 7-11 for breakfast, and either a fast food restaurant or a sit-down joint for lunch and dinner).
I used those numbers directly in my estimates. Of course, those are personal preference and they can bring as much or as little spending money as they want. I’ll never let them go hungry, but I’m also not made of money to cover their impulsive souvenir purchases.
I’m also going to add a budget for myself to account for shipping all of my clothes via Japan Post so I can fill my suitcases up with Gunpla, video games and Kit-Kats. Last time I shipped the souvenirs and it cost me $300. Never making *that* mistake again.
Added bonus, my birthday falls during the planned timeframe, so we’ll be celebrating my 32nd in Kyoto!
All that said, I came up with about $4,000 as the ***bare minimum*** amount of money each person will need to comfortably spend a fortnight in Japan. In total, this trip will cost nine people $27,144.
Do you agree with my estimate? Why or why not? I would love to receive input on this so I can make this trip a success for our family!
8 comments
You probably need something like 30% leeway on the top end because you have a lot of stuff in USD – if the yen strengthens heavily in 1.5 years your budget has now shifted by hundreds of dollars. It also depends on the flights at the time. We’ve been living in a year-plus of insanely good exchange rates but that is abnormal.
Also, doesn’t sound like you need JR Passes by the way.
My spring 2024 itinerary with all things factored except shopping is 16 days for AU$4500/US$3000 per half of a couple (without theme parks). We’ve frequented before so know exactly what to factor and what things will cost. Of course if you can get more than 2 people to a room/stay you’ll greatly increase your cost efficiencies, I couldn’t advise for 9!
You know what… For 9 people you’re probably better off renting a couple vans and driving from/to Tokyo. One day rental for a van run somewhere around 15-20k yen per van, even when you drop off in a location different from pickup. Check it out. For big groups it’s way cheaper than the shinkansen assuming you’re able to drive
>I did some light research (read: went on Vrbo, Expedia and Google Flights for like 25 minutes using April 10-24, 2024 as the template)
understand that it’s as a template but just came to say that thoses date are too late ( at least for 満開 ). For Tokyo it’s mid March and for Osaka and Kyoto late March.
Personal opinion : sakura blossom isn’t worth it (crowd, everything overpriced and booked, big instagram effect reality is disappointing)
I’ll get you some stocks and sport scores while I also predict currency exchange rates.
I think your estimate is reasonable minus exchange rates, but I wouldn’t say $4000 is the minimum (more like a good estimate). The largest purchases are flights and hotels and I wouldn’t think those would fluctuate that much, so it’s up to the individuals on how much they spend on food and souvenirs.
My wife and I went last year for 18 days and spent about $7500. Booked most of it last minute so hotel costs were inflated, JR pass, Ryoken for a night, splurged on some hotels as well.
We are here again for 18 days. I don’t have a total yet, but flights were about $1200 each. Hotel costs are around $800 each ($1600 total). That’s only $2000 each as a base cost which is roughly on par for what you are planning.
I have two main comments.
1. Ryoken are sometimes per person and not per room. You should double check that.
2. I really think the house idea for 9 adults is a bad idea. You know better than me, but nine people sharing one shower/bath? You are going to need to get home at 6pm just to line up for your turn. You mention being a chef and potentially cooking with a kitchen. How many meals do you really want to prepare for 9 people while you’re on vacation? Doesn’t everyone want to experience Japanese cuisine?
I suggest you ditch the house, let the couples have their own hotel rooms (I’m sure they’ll want some privacy on a vacation), and go two or three to a room for the rest of you. Meet up for dinner when you can and maybe find a hotel with a comfortable lobby at night. Plans it out 6 months in advance and you should be able to find good hotels for reasonable prices and you won’t have to share a single bathtub.
JR pass is much more expensive than individual tickets. The 7 days pass before increase was about the cost of round trip Tokyo-Osaka, now you would need to add a trip to Hiroshima within that week to get close to the cost. Like in your table you have 200$ of Shinkansen and you think it make sense to spend over 500 for a pass?
For sure you will need to add some budget for local transit, but you should be able to manage under 1000 yen a day. Also do not take the Shinkansen between Kyoto and Osaka, it is the most expensive and not especially not the fastest or most efficient, there is 3 companies that run local train between the two cities.
lol itinerary for 2025.