Making a Budget

On researching the net on budget trips to Japan I could’nt find much detailed hints and tips. So I thought our contribution would deffinatly help more people searching for ways to travel to Japan on a budget. Here goes…

Crisis is everywhere, and well, even without a crisis, unless you never wurry about money, be smart and make a budget when going to Japan.

Japan can be very expensive if you don’t watch out, but when you play it smart, you’ll be able to save some money on many things.

Also because you’re handling a currency you’re not used too it’s smart to keep an eye on your spendings.
In order to do that I seperated the money into purposes.

Your stay
You know upfront the exact amount you need to pay for your Ryokan or Hotel, so keep that separate.

Transport.
I searched for the best option for us, and I believe it’s taking a discount ticket for a day, each day we need transportation (Tokyo Free Kippu), this will get us around greater Tokyo except for the private railroads outside Tokyo. They are ¥1.580 for a whole day (1 ticket, 1 person). If you want to go to Noda to train, you’ll need an extra ticket for the private rail road though, that costs ¥ 600 2 ways. (1 person)
For extra far trips outside Tokyo you’ll probably need other tickets to pay seperately for.

I found a neat website too, to plan your travel with Tokyo’s public transport, it will show you the cost and duration too. Jorudan

Training
Check Ohashi san’s site for the schedual of Hombu and Ayase for the time you’re there, there are also other classes by other shihan being held around Tokyo, just ask them personally when you go to Hombu or Ayase. Or search the net a little. For example we plan to go to Duncan Stewards training on a sunday. Contact someone who recently went training around the period you are going for accurate prices (preferably your sensei), or like Duncan; you can contact him personally.
To give an example; I’ve put aside ¥ 24.000 (per person). We might need a little more if we want more trainings. But this is a safe certain amount to put asside for the period we’re going.

Food
I started off making a calculation of spending € 50 per person per day. That initially gave me an amount of ¥ 81.900 for 14 days (for 1 person).
I hope to do with less, even with half, but that will have to show in the first few days.

Then ofcourse you will see what you have left to spend on sightseeing and souvenirs. We will certainly go to many temples, as they are a nice thing to see when in Japan and on top of that, mostly they are free of entrance fees !!

This is a first budget that has a need of minimum € 1.500, meaning when you want to do some stuff, you’ll need more like € 2.000.
This is the flight not included. When you’re planning to go, check the airlines regularly, because prices can varry alot! We got lucky and had very cheap tickets!

After Our trip I will make a review of the budget with our actual spendings and ways to keep your trip budget friendly!