How Much?

[Scifience]

Background:
My mom and I (I'm 14) have been taking Japanese lessons for the last two and half years. We are both interested in taking a trip to Japan. We would be bringing along my dad (even though he can't really speak the language) and probably staying for about three weeks.

Since I am in school and my dad is a public school teacher (mainly for this reason; I'm homeschooled, so I can leave whenever :-)), we would likely be visiting sometime in June, July, or August of 2005 or 2006.

I am trying to save up money for the trip by selling junk on eBay, running a lemonade stand (silly, I know, but the local football team's training camp is at the end of our street so tons of people walk past and I can do a pretty good business selling lemonade and cookies and bottled water), and some other assorted jobs/stuff.

Question:
How many yen would be needed for three people to stay in Japan and visit, stay, and eat comfortably for about three weeks? I'm not talking about living on ramen, but I'm not looking for a five-star hotel either.

I just know how expensive things I've ordered online from Japan are (3,800 JPY for a CD single :(), so I don't really know how much money would be needed.

Thanks everybody! :wave:

[Ewok85]

Well by having a quick flick through some hotel websites and some past experiences its about 30,000/day for a hotel. Food for say dinner can be between 1000-3000 per person in a restaurant.

So 3 whole weeks would be like 630,000 Yen for accomadation and food about 100,000. Factor in train tickets (random guess) 30,000.
Hows 760,000 yen sound? You could probably get a better deal on the hotel, but thats just a guide.

[Mandylion]

Train tickets will be much higher if you plan on doing any traveling. You might want to look into a JR rail pass, depending. Some people always jump at rail passes, but if you are not at least going to use the pass more than it cost you to buy, there is no point.

[Keiichi]

Not to mention Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, so if you're going there, bring more money!
Let's see... 3 people, 3 weeks. NOT including airfare, I think 10,000 yen per day is around decent with a decent hotel. With 3 people and 21 days, that 650,000 yen. I'd say put in at least 700,000 to really enjoy yourselves. And yes, you'll need more if you want to ride on the shinkansen (bullet train), as it's about 13,000 per person per ride.

[Scifience]

Takai ne...

Does 1,000,000 JPY sound like a good amount to work with? I was planning on moving around a bit and not just staying in the same place for the whole time.

[mdchachi]

That should be more than enough. If you go as cheaply as possible with the lodging, you could probably get by with half that.

[Ishiguro San]

I'm also planning a trip to Japan for 3 weeks with 3 people. I have a few questions also. What's the minimum we can get away with? We'll each have around 3 grand excluding airfare. Our parents are paying for airfare. Is 3 grand enough for 3 weeks? Could we get by with 2 grand a piece?

[jieshi]

staying at ryokans is also an option. Ryokans are a realtively cheap option (though bathrooms are communal, then again this is japan and bathrooms are pretty clean here) give you a little bit of tradtional japanese experience and food is meant to be relatively decent