how much money shall i take out there

250,000 or 500,000

as I am visiting kyoto, mount koya and tokyo

I want to buy cultral stuff from the first 2 and other stuff in tokoyo from akihabara and other places in Tokyo

I went to Tokyo last year for 2 weeks and brought �’1500 spending money along with me, which by the way was more than enough (�’1000 was enough and perfect, i even went to hakone and mount fuji for a night at a ryokan which cost me �’100).

If you want to shop, buy stuff, go crazy etc etc.. then definitely bring ALOT more. Im going again this June/July for 3 weeks and im going with my brother, and our spending money together this time round is �’3000. that equals around 600000yen at todays exchange rate.

the thing that sucks is that last year the exchange rate was really really good, by the time i went last year early June it was like 231yen for a pound, even shooting upto 240+ by august last year.
Now, this year its averaging around 200yen for a pound which is a big difference.

If your going for 2 weeks, bring between �’1000-�’1500 (200,000-300,000yen).

but I am going for 3 weeks as I am stopping at kyoto for about 1 week and then tokyo for 2 weeks

so would you say about 500,000 ?

I was there last summer for three weeks and spent an average of 9000-10000yen a day (at today's exchange rate). This doesn't include the money I spent on the airplane ticket, the JR Pass and accomodation (I spent a total of more than 3000€).
9000-10000yen didn't allow me to spend like crazy but it did allow me to visit all the sites I wanted to,rent bicycles, travel inside cities by bus and subway, buy some souvenirs and other stuff, do a bit of shopping at Shibuya109, eat all the delicious food I wanted to and drink lots and lots of Starbucks's Matcha Frappuccino®. I didn't have enough money to buy all the things I wanted to but I did have enough money to enjoy the most fabulous trip of my life.

In the message I posted above the symbol next to 3000 is the euro symbol. For some reason it doesn't appear in the message...

Arigato to Stan, Sheenami & HawaiiLS for your tips. I'll use the saved $$ for more shopping !! Cheers

Chino Christomni, what exactly did you pay with those �’1500? Did you pay for accomodation, food, temple visits, etc or did you just buy stuff with it?

my �’1500 was my spending money. Accomodation was already paid for.

the �’1500 basically was food, travelling within Tokyo etc... basically all my daily spending money.

If your going to japan for 3 weeks and kyoto 1 week, 500,000yen is plenty! you will live like a king out there.

about me being a king then please call me Abhi-sama

Also I am going 2 weeks in Tokyo and 1 week in kyoto

Thanks for your reply Chino. I just wanted to confirm that it isn't really very easy to go to Japan for 2 weeks and pay for everything with only �’1500. If you had done it I would've wanted to know your secret. ;)

yeah i know what you mean haha. i see alot of people going to Tokyo for 2 weeks with something like �’500 and all i say to them is "good luck".

But �’1500 for 2 weeks is ALOT.

Abhi, for 2 weeks in Tokyo and 1 week in Kyoto, 500,000yen is really really good.

oh by the way, when i talk about the amount of money here im talking about spending money only; NOT money for hotel or flight etc...but the money to pay for things like ticket to ghibli museum, train travel, food, gifts etc..

I think that you guys (latest few posters) spend like crazy for nothing. I have been 7 times to Japan and never spent much (outside the plane/JR PASS/hotels.) even hotels aren't that expensive as either we get a business hotel like Toyoko inn or get a big discount at Hilton and similar hotels.

the money will be for food and spending

everything else will be paid for ?

I think it depends on where you're traveling from. If one lives far away from Japan the trip is going to cost more than if one lived relatively nearby. I live on the other side of the world, it doesn't get much further than this.

My plane ticket cost about 850 euros and that was extremely cheap compared to whatever else was available. It implied flying to Spain in order to catch an Aeroflot plane to Japan, which stopped in Russia for 12 hours.
Then I had to pay 367 euros for a 3 week JR Pass plus about 750 euros for 19 nights of accomodation which makes a total of 1967 euros. I must've spent a total of about 3150 euros which means that in the 22 days my trip lasted (including time traveling to and from Japan) I spent an average of 53 euros a day on food, subway/bus tickets, temple visiting, etc. I don't think I spent like crazy, especially considering it was my first trip to Japan.

For me - with the strong euro - Japan has become cheaper, because e.g. a JRP costed in 2005 460 euro and now only 385. So I think I can compare my latest trip in 2005 with the upcoming trip that starts next week. In 2005 I was 5 weeks in Japan and including my airticket, all accomodations, food, entrance fees, insurance, souvenirs and even the pictures afterwards I spent 4200 euro for 35 days, 120 euro a day (a little less than 20,000 yen).

As I am taking 500,000 yen and I am visiting Kyoto and Tokyo, I am wondering which notes ans coins I should have on me

Abhi, your thinking abit too much about what kind of notes you should take.

When I went to Japan last year, I exchanged my money at a bank in London and all I got were 10,000yen notes. It may sound huge to us, but in Japan everyone has change for 10,000yen notes. its nothing to them, and seeing as Japan is a country that uses cash more than card (much more than card in fact), you'll be fine. Once you get into Japan, or at the airport, if you buy something and give them a 10,000yen note, you'll get all the change you need.

you'll be fine, trust me.

about 400,000 yen, I am not gonna take a credit card.
Is that wise ?