Money Matters

I plan on spending three weeks in Japan in September 2010. I've been planning it for about a year now, and have estimated my costs at between $2500-3500. This excludes the cost of travel to and from Japan, as well as between Tokyo and Kyoto (my two planned stops); I feel confident in my ability to plan for those. I'm concerned with lodging, food, and normal touristy pastimes like sightseeing and souvenirs, however. Will that be adequate? I don't plan on staying anywhere or eating anything too extravagant (possibly a couple of times); mostly modest hotels and meals. I may have a traveling companion, as well. Would
that effect hotel costs any?
Any feedback will be appreciated.

It depends on your travel style. Also, the exchange rate between dollar and yen is difficult to predict over 1.5 years and could possibly change quite strongly for or against your favor.

Some basics:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2410.html

I'm planning for a similar trip, in July 2010 for about 4 weeks, and I've budgeted a little over $5000 on the low end. Then again I'm planning on a fair bit of travel (tokyo to kyoto, then to osaka, nara, and koya). For food, I budgeted about $10 per meal, 3 meals a day. This is pretty decent, because if you pick up a few small things for only 600 yen at breakfast lets say, you'll either have leftover cash for larger dinners, or spending money. As for lodging, the Asakusa area has lots of cheaper hotels/hostels to stay in. As long as you're careful with where you're spending your money, and depending on how the economy turns out to be by 2010 it should be fine.

I would say, it all comes down to what places/hotels you're gonna stay at, because that can really turn your budget upside down.

As it seems you plan well ahead, why dont you book the hotel/guesthouse in advance too? - this way you wont get any unpleasent surprises!

When it comes to your "food-budget" - i'll say you can eat and live very cheap, as long as you appreciate ramen, dons & sushi.

September and July are not the most optimal months to travel to/around Japan, during these months the temperatures can be high (between 77 and 80F), rain (average 8 inch, 15 days with rain for both september and july) and high humidity (between 85 and 88%). The combination of this (temperature, rain and humidity) makes it not very pleasant to travel around Japan. The best time of the year to go to Japan is end of March/early April (Cherry blossoms) or the last 3 weeks of November (Autumn colors) (temperatures between 55 and 60F, 4 inch/ 10 days rain, and humidity between 60 and 70%)

An average hotel costs between Yen 9000 (US 85) and Yen 14000 (US 130) a night, a 14-day railpass costs Yen 45000 (US 420), breakfast between Yen 700 and Yen 2000, lunch between Yen 1000 and Yen 3500 and dinner between Yen 1500 and Yen 10000, average between Yen 3200 (US 30) and Yen 15500 (US 145), entrance fees for castles, palaces, shrines, temples and gardens vary between Yen 300 and Yen 2000 per visit, drinks vary from Yen 200 for a can of coke from a vending machine, Yen 700 for a Grande Cafe Mocha at a Starbucks and Yen 2000 for a beer at a hotel bar. A Big Mac value meal cost about Yen 500. As said, the Yen is at the moment very strong compared to the Dollar or Euro (last year march I could get Yen 178 for a Euro, but now it's Yen 104 (40% more expensive).

Bert, I'd love to know where you exchange your money since i'm only finding today's exchange rate listed at around 92 yen to 1 usd.

Richinard,

I find $2500-3000 for 3 weeks ok, but a little low even excluding major travel and airfare. Consider that an average business hotel is about 6000-7000 yen/night for a single, meals will run 1500 yen per day if you only eat gyudon/ramen/udon everytime and don't order drinks, to around 5000 where you'll have some flexibility in your order, and a typical day will cost 1000-2000 yen admissions/travel expenses. Not that you can't do it on $2500, but I'd try to budget more like $3000+ to give yourself flexibility so you can really enjoy your trip to its fullest.

Also, adding a person to your trip will increase your accommodation costs. At the very least a double room at a business hotel is around 8000 yen/night (+2000 yen from a single), however, some places, such as hostels and ryokans, typically charge a per person rate, so don't be suprised if the cost doubles.