around $2000 budget for Japan - 6 weeks

Hi guys.

I want to travel to Japan, with around 9-12 nights travelling and the rest woofing,volunteering at farms and other places in exchange for food and accommodation.

So far my budget draft is (in AUD, roughly the same as USD)

415-550 - Accommodation
180-240 - Food
400 - Transport
100 - For expenses during woofing such as snacks and travel
100 - Other

= 1195 - 1390

Note this is the draft budget and does not include the plane ticket.

I'd also like some spending money to buy some souvenirs and some jpop cds. I also want to stay on a budget, but i'm trying to stay in private rooms in hostels. I looked up the hostels for each night and place i want to go to and this is what it added up for single rooms.

Thanks guys.

I'm guessing you're asking if it's doable? My guess is most people on this forum who visit Japan don't work for food and accommodation while there, so it may be hard to find a response fit for you.

Six weeks is a long time, so I hope you actually have the work lined up since 2k really isn't that much, especially with the current exchange rate. Hopefully that won't be a problem since you mentioned WWOOF.

If you're asking whether 2k is enough for 6 weeks, you should probably note where you're planning to travel and what kind of activities you would like to do. Japan can be expensive even when you're on a budget and expenses start to add up here and there the longer your stay.

Thanks for the reply.

What do you think of then like
415-550 - Accommodation
180-240 - Food
400 - Transport

for 9-12 nights? I'm wondering how much i can budget on food, because I used to the budget guide on this site to add up the food total.

I can tell you are really going for the bare minimum. If you want to keep that budget for accommodation, for example, you need to book every night in advance - you cannot expect to just arrive at a town/city, and find accommodation for that rate. I just multiplied that 550 with 80 yen to your dollar, and divided it by 11 nights - it comes out to 4,000 yen per night. That is a hostel rate, and a single room at a business hotel chain would start around 5,500 yen a night.

Food would be... "possible" if you skimp, but that means no decent meals at all, because it comes out to 240 times 80 yen divided by 12 days, so 1,600 yen a day. OK, doable, but not much fun (at least in my mind).

Transport would totally depend on where you plan to go, so I cannot even comment on that... do you know where you are going to WOOF and volunteer? Depending on where it is, you would need to take into account the travel expense to "get" there.

Yeah i think might have to increase my food budget. I'd be fine with just say making food myself at the hostel kitchen or buying say a bakery food for a light lunch and breakfast but i should take extra in case.

I looked up all the accommodation already and added the totals. Private rooms aren't too expensive in hostels i've found (except the place i'd like to go in tokyo). I'd be fine with booking in advanced, well i'd feel uncomfortable not doing so tbh lol.

Yeah i'm really going to try hard to get places in Kanagawa. I've found some near tokyo with transport options, but i haven't contacted any woof host yet.

I think i'm going to do 9 nights so i can use a 7 day japan rail pass.
3 nights tokyo, 3 nights osaka, 1 night Nara, 2 nights Hiroshima then back to tokyo and then off too woofing.

I've found some places near tokyo where i'd be able to make days trips to tokyo so hopefully i might be able to woof there.

A 7-day Japan Rail Pass makes sense if you do long-distance trips on JR Shinkansen trains within a 7-day period. If you want to buy and use that, be sure you get back to Tokyo by day 7 counting from (including) the day you leave Tokyo. If you really want to save, you could also use night buses for transport (if you can sleep on night buses).

I assume you've checked out those places:
http://www.wwoofjapan.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

Even though they are in "Kanto" area - around Tokyo - note that those places "can" take some time to get to Tokyo from. Enjoy your trip!

It will probably be much easier for everyone if you just list your budgets in yen.

If you are really on a budget then I wouldn't get a 7-day JR Pass. I'd use overnight buses which not only saves you on transport but saves you on accommodation too. The Willer Express Bus Pass probably makes sense for you.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2369.html

If you feel you can't survive on an overnight bus then you may get some reasonable prices flying with some of the low cost carriers like Jetstar Japan (eg. grom 4000 yen one way between Narita and Kansai Airport). Then just take a highway bus to Hiroshima if you feel you need to visit Hiroshima.

I'm not sure where and how you plan to do your wwoofing but it might make more sense to split up your woofing time between different areas instead of trying to find everything near Tokyo. Then you could also break up your free travel time a little bit instead of jamming it all in at the start/end. This might make more sense because you might meet people who you can stay with or meet up with somewhere else to travel around with etc.

Also, you may wish to look into couchsurfing instead of hotels. There are also sometimes reasonable prices on owner-listed sites like airbnb.
http://www.couchsurfing.org/
http://www.airbnb.com/

One of the things I like about Japan is the food so I'd rather have a higher food budget, but you can certainly survive on less especially if you eat a larger meal at lunch when there tends to be good lunch specials on, then have a lighter dinner.

Enjoy your trip!