How Much for a 2 Week Trip to Japan?
 

I am trying to plan a trip to Japan for 2 weeks in November of 2010. I want to know how much I would have to save weekly for me to go on the trip. The only problem is I have no idea how much it would cost for a 2 week trip to Japan.

So far I have found that a plane ticket will cost $800-$1000, and that I would likely need to buy a JR pass(about $505). Some places I would like to visit are Tokyo, Nikko, Osaka, Kyoto, Mount Koya, Hiroshima, Nara, and Miyajima

I would rather stay in hotels, and I don't want to live entirely on 7-11. Can anyone give me a rough estimate as to what the hotels,food,etc... would cost for a two week trip?

Maybe a grand if you really wanna live it up. Also, start over in the west and work your way east, if you wanna visit ALL those cities.

I would budget my trip day-by-day. If you are traveling by yourself, food should be about 2000 yen per day. 2000 yen is enough for a couple of restaurant meals each day (in less expensive or fast-food places).

Hotel rates very widely depending on the location and kind of room you like. As a ballpark figure, I would budget 5000 yen per day for hotels. That brings you up to about 7000 yen per day.

Since you'll have the JR pass, you won't have to worry about most transportation costs. But the trains don't go everywhere, you may have to take a trip or two by bus or even boat. Local bus fare runs from 200 yen to 500 yen, depending on the distance, highway buses (which you probably won't get a chance to use) run from 1500 yen to 5000 yen.

To be on the safe side, I would budget about 10,000 yen per day, and try to spend as little as possible. If you do it right, you should have enough money to visit a resort or two, and buy some gifts and souvenirs.

As a precaution, you should get travel insurance. If you are purchasing your airline tickets with a credit card, insurance may already be included as one of your card perks. If you can, it would be a good idea to get an airline credit card which is branded by the airline you intend to use for your trip. This will give you good coverage if you need to cancel your trip, lose your luggage, or have to deal with delays/canceled flights and other travel-related mishaps.

I would say take Sangetsu's advice, then add about 30% for insurance.

I think 2000 a day for meals is a little meager...you'll want to splurge at least sometimes on a spendier meal, and I have easily spent 5000 yen or more just for my portion at some izakayas or yakinuku places. (And worth every yen!)

Second that... I have a 4 weeks trip coming up this october with my wife, we paid for MOST of our stuff already, and with a very optimistic estimate, the finaly number comes out to be about 10K (Canadian) for the 4 weeks.. and that does NOT include any non essential purchases (For me essential will be like hotel, food, transportation.. admission fee etc)

Just wanted to say thank you for all of the advice. I'm going to budget about 13000-16000 yen a day so I think I should be fine. In total I want to save $4000 for the trip and another $500-$1000 in case of an emergency.

I have a few more questions, but I didn't want to start a new thread. How much would a Kobe beef dinner cost in Kobe? I want to save money specifically for a dinner in Kobe, but I can't find the prices for a dinner. Any help would be nice.

Also what are some good sites where I can take a look at different travel insurance policies/rates? Or are there any travel insurance that you would recommend to me.

My final question is when would be the best time to go in November?

どのくらいアメリカ合衆国ドルで1000円ですか？

that would be around 1000yen = 11 US $

see here Currency Converter for 164 Currencies

Re : Kobe Beef dinner

Here's a restaurant I'd highly recommend. It's located minutes from Sannomiya station and it's a place my friend (who's spent her whole life in Kobe) took me to last November. The only problem is that I'm not sure if they have any English speaking staff.

お品書き・御代 -神戸牛のお品-｜特選最高級神戸牛　神源

At the very least, you'll get a good idea of the prices by looking at the menu above. :)

I spent roughly $4000 CDN on my two weeks in Tokyo this year. That was airfare, hotel and spending money.

I also want to thank everyone for their comments. I've been studying Japanese on my own, and I was thinking next year I'd like to take a trip there for three reasons:

#1 Most Important: To play Go there
2: To "experience" Japan
3: To scout it out as a potential place to live

Judging by Sangetsu's estimates, I'd want to at least budget ¥10,000/day---more if I wanted to have a less-than-barebones experience. The basics, plus ¥45,100 for one 14-day adult JR pass (necessary if I'm looking around for potential places to live!) would put me at ~¥185,000 minimum, weighing in at around $2,000. That plus the cost of plane tickets---which I hope aren't too expensive---comes out to a pretty hefty sum for sure, likely $3,000+.

I'm hoping by this time next year I'll have saved enough and acquired enough language proficiency to pass the JLPT level 2. The latter is not a requirement, but would be nice in terms of comprehending the environment---especially if I'm scouting to live there. Only time will tell for either of those. In either case, there was a purpose to this post besides summarizing already-known details.

I'd like to ask about the actual tourist-amenities available in Japan. For instance, do the hotels provide any manner of cooking apparatus? ¥2,000/day for food is all well and good if I'm to be eating out of restaurants twice a day, but I think I could cut a fair amount of it if I were cooking my own foods right? I don't need to be eating out all the time; I'd be fine with 1 restaurant meal every day or two, and for the rest I'd happily settle for whatever the equivalent is to the 30-cent, three-minute ramen noodles I survived so well on not long ago. Naturally with a budget reaching upwards of $3,000, I'll be looking to cut costs in many departments, and eating gourmet has never been my perogative.

Aside from cooking away my costs, are there any other suggestions for what to do or buy while there that will save money? All advice welcome, and thanks again for the enlightening posts! ^^

Cooking solo in a hotel? Bento and convenience stores will be cheaper, but you will be sick of it after a week. A 2000 yen a day food budget for a tourist is WAY low. Plan on any "restaurant" lunch meal starting at 800 to 1200 yen without beverages. Dinners start at 1000 yen, but it is very easy to spend 5000 yen on a filling meal at a yakiniku place or a sushi place that could throw your budget off. My point is, I worry about people that budget so little for food, as 1) Japanese food is delicious and 2) the good stuff isn't cheap unless you know exactly what you are doing, which tourists don't. 2000 yen a day is eating crummy food, and what are you coming to Japan for in the first place?

If you plan on being in one place for a while, then forget the JR pass...unless you are doing a Amazing Race tour of Japan, I haven't found it that amazing a deal.

Around 10,000yen per day is a good way to go about it. But its nice to have more saved up to experience different aspects of Japan. Just so you can be more comfortable and worry less about your budget.

If you're running around Japan and you see a place where you can have a gourmet meal, and its 4,000yen; its nice to know you won't have to worry about the costs.

If you decided to stay at some hostels ($30 or so per night) or do some overnight train/bus trips and sleep there, that can help you cut some corners. Homestays is something I'd also suggest. I did this and payed around $175 per WEEK with MEALS. Of course, with all the places you plan on visiting, it might not be practical. Maybe if you have an early flight leaving Japan and slept in the airport (although not too comfortably), you can cut some cost there.

But still, I say figure out your budget, then double it. Cause when I went, the cost of Japan snuck up on me quick.

Most business hotels i found are around 40 a night, with private bath, an alternative to hostel if you want some privacy... I'd say an average of 130 a day, including transportation is likely my average (40 on hotel, 60 on food, 30 on transportation)

Is that right? I remember staying at a business hotel in Tokyo in the early 2000s and it was about 100 dollars a night. I remember thinking a love hotel might be cheaper and have 10 times the space.

A friend stayed in a capsule hotel for a few nights a couple years ago and I think it was about 50 dollars a night. Where are these 40 dollar a night hotels?

$40/night is possible... if you use the old exchange rate of around 130 yen to a dollar. :)

These days, it's more like $60/night in the Kanto area at least.

As for love hotels, they're a better deal as far as dollar/space is concerned but I don't think they'll let you in if you're by yourself. Might be a good deal if you're traveling with your significant other.

Love Hotel owners can be Xenophobic
 

I was lost in tokyo, every hotel was booked. I got lost on my way to the hostel and the doors closed there at 10:30pm. After wandering for a few hours I stumbled upon a love hotel. It was about 12:30am, every legit hotel was booked and I asked if I could have a room. They refused me service cause I'm a foreigner. I'm serious to. She pulled out a card that said something like "Because we can't speak English, we refuse to book a room to foreigners."

I WAS HOLDING CASH IN FRONT OF HER FACE!

Only use them if its a last ditch effort. Actually scratch that, if you have a last ditch moment, go to a 24hr internet cafe and stay for the longest you can; usually 5 hours. They vary between 500-1000 yen per hour and you'll have your own cubicle. I contemplated this after the love hotel mess.

Plan out your trip better than I did. But if you don't plan it well, you get cool stories to tell people when you get back.

I stayed at Oak, and also stayed at Sun Targas, which both comes out to be around 4700 yen a night... Both around Ueno area. There is also one I tried to reserve - FAMILY RESORT FIFTY'S FOR MAIHAMA, 8400 yen a night for double occupancy, but they are usually booked, this one is by tokyo disney

food and drink
 

With regards to food, I found you could get 2 meals a day from a decent bakery for very cheap (~ 700 yen), however, these kinds of meals are very unhealthy for you, and I could only do it twice a week maybe; otherwise I'd get sick of it straight away. Also, for drinks, try to find a good vending machine. Just outside the place I was staying in Tokyo was a vending machine with 120 yen 500 mL cans of soft drink and bottles of water, but you might find yourself paying 300 yen for this around tourist attractions (or a 200mL can at the top of Miyajima for 300 yen!).

In most places outside of the Tokyo region, $40 a night was quite possible. That's about what I paid in places like Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Matsuyama, etc.