Winter in Japan - Budget?
 

Hi. I'm planning to take a trip of around 3 months in Japan from December to February. My flights are booked so I can't really change the length of the trip. I want to travel all over Japan from Sapporo all the way to Nagasaki. I'm just wondering if approximately $3500 will be enough money for food and sightseeing (accommodation, transportation and flights are all paid for separately) in Japan for a time period of 75 - 90 days? Thanks everyone who replies! :vsign:

I think this all depends on exactly what you plan to see and eat. I`ve gotten by on less than $500 for 90 days when accommodations, transportation, and the flight taken care of.
I imagine if you eat reasonably, you should have more than enough for sightseeing. The rest falls to how many souvenirs you pick up.

Ok, thanks for that. Was the $500 you had just for food then? I think I will budget $1200 for food for the whole trip as I will be staying with host families for approximately four weeks. Other than that, I imagine maybe $10 per day for small scale transportation for 50 days (42 days will be covered by JR passes), which makes $500. That leaves about $1800 for sightseeing which is about $20 per day for sightseeing and souvenirs. Does this sound reasonable?

Personally, I think that if you manage to keep up $20 worth of sightseeing a day for a full 3 months, you`re amazing. No matter how exciting something seems at first, after months of temples, shrines, and castles... Well... it gets tiring.

Yeah, I think it probably will. I will probably spent the first half of my time in each destination spending the $20 on sightseeing, and then the last half of the time at that destination will see the $20 spent on souvenirs or clothes or music etc. By the way, do you live in Japan?

Oh, I see now: Outside of Nagoya, cool.

And have been here for nearly 10 years now. Married, and own a house.

Oh, cool, awesome. I would love to live in Japan, but that looks like a long shot for me. At least for now, that is. One day I plan on living there. Would it be worth it for me to make a stop in Nagoya on my trip? I'm sure I will have plenty of time to fit it in!

I don't think 3500 is enough for japan for 3 months. Just my 2 cents, I mean, sure, anything is possible, but if you are there already, you really want to enjoy your stay, I am not suggesting to live large, but if you think about it, 3500 for 3 months will be saying you are spending $38 a day. Transportation cost will be 1/3 that, so you are really living with $28 a day on a daily basis.

Hi godwine. Thanks for your reply. I see what you're saying, it's just I will have two 21 day rail passes so that leaves less than 50 days for transportation costs, plus four weeks with host families who will transport me most of the time, so that leaves say 30 days for transport maybe if the JR passes and homestay overlap a little. So if I budget $500 for the remaining 30days for transport ($17 a day), I still have $3000 for the rest of the time for food and souvenirs. What do you think about that?

In case you were wondering, I'm not in Japan already. I leave for Japan on December 1st and come back to Australia on 27th February.

Also, do you think it being winter while I am there will make any difference as to what I have to budget for?

Even if all your transportation is covered, I don't think 3500 for 90 days is enough. I feel like I am constantly opening my wallet over there, and it is easy to spend 300 dollars without even thinking. If you don't like to drink alcohol you may have a shot.

I still find that awesome. Hey, if any of us visits Japan and in the area, could we drop by?:p

I can't drink because I will be under 20, but if it's anything like Australia I assume I will be able to drink. If you think that not drinking will help, then I won't do that.

You assume correctly.

Does it being winter and Christmas and New Year season mean that things will be more expensive for me?

And does it often snow in areas such as Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka?

I'm pretty sure that it does during the winter time.

Nope.. you won't see too much snow around Tokyo, there WILL definitely be snow, but not a whole lot. You will see more of it as you approach the Tohoku region. The weather is almost Canadian like when you get to Aomori and Hokkaido, but otherwise Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka will have moderate snow.

Like all other country, standard of living remain the same during festivals and holiday season, the added cost will only be there IF you participate in special holdiay event, shows, special restaurant and such.

New years (Shogatsu or Gantan) you probably will WANT to spend more because a lot of the event and shirne are worth going and seeing during new years

Christmas is celebrated but its not a massive celebration like other western country, due to the fact that only 1-2% of the Japanese population are Catholic/Christianity based. You will see many decorations and pretty.

You probably also want to see if you can witness some of the following celebration/festival activities while you are there:

- Seijin shiki (成人式) - Coming of age day, second monday since the new year (Jan 15ish)
- Feb 3 - Setsubun (Bean throwing festival)
- Feb 11 National Foundation Day (Kenkoku Kinenbi)
- March 3 - Hina Matsuri (Girl's Day), this you can only see if your hosting family has a young girl at home

Have fun :)

Hey, thanks sooo much godwine.

what are host families?

host families are families that you stay with when you go on a school trip, or on a holiday away from your home country. host families are usually for younger people, e.g. students at school or uni. i am staying with two host families, one i already stayed with for around a week on my first trip to japan, and the son of the other host parents stayed with me for 3 weeks in australia when he came here on a school trip last year. does this answer your question yukiko?