Japan | Part 2 - $219.77
As our return to Japan was our final destination of the year, we weren’t as focused on staying under budget, as we were spending every dime we had left in our travel bank account. With this focus in mind, our average daily spend of about $220 isn’t really bad as it seems, given that we left Japan with $2.70 still in our bank account! This is doubly true, when you consider the higher-than-average flight cost to get here and the amazing hotels we stayed in for over 50% of our trip. We had two zero spending categories of Visas and Rental Vehicles, as Americans don’t need a Visa for Japan, but are required to have an International Driver’s License to rent a vehicle, which neither of us have.
Our largest category of expense this time, by a whopping $1.39, was Lodging at a total cost of $1,450. This does take into account seven free nights using a combination of free night awards and credit card points. We used these to pay for two nights at the Westin in Sendai, four nights at the Courtyard in Sapporo, and our final night at the Mesm Tokyo. We also redeemed our $200 AMEX Platinum Fine Hotels credit to reduce the cost for two nights at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, but those two nights still cost us nearly $600. All told, even with these free nights and perks, we still averaged $63 per night, about 19% higher than our global average of $53.
Our second largest category of spending was Food, which cost us $1,449, or exactly $63 per day. Again, since we were trying to spend up our remaining budget, we indulged in several larger meals and drinks that we wouldn’t have during the rest of our trip. Japan is a great country for amazing food at every price point, and we indulged in cheaper food across the country from fresh sashimi at the fish market to tempura at tiny, local shops. We found amazing restaurants and cafes in every town we went to, one thing Japan has no shortage of is creative people running small, exquisite establishments.
Our third highest expense was Flights, of which there were two totaling $1,227.41 or $53 per day. This is much higher than our typical Flight expense and is a big reason we went over budget during our time here. Our more expensive flight was our arrival flight from the US to Tokyo, which cost us $1,116 in Premium Economy on American Airlines. Our second flight cost was $111 for a JAL Class J flight from Sapporo back to Tokyo after our time in Hokkaido. For our return flight, we transferred AMEX points to Cathay Pacific to book an American Airlines itinerary back to Phoenix.
Our final large category of spending in Japan was on Other Transportation, which almost exclusively spent on inter-city Shinkansen trains and local public transportation. Japan has a phenomenal transportation system, which makes getting around extremely easy. We simply added ICOCA cards to our Apple Wallet and digitally topped them up to make sure we always had money to pay for any trips we needed. While this doesn’t work for the Shinkansen, we used cash to purchase those tickets on the mornings we needed them and away we went. Another great thing about Japan is that there are so many departures, you’re almost guaranteed to find a space at any given time.
Finally, we had two smaller categories of daily expenses, Miscellaneous which cost us about $4.60 per day and Activities which cost us $1.65. Our Miscellaneous expenses consisted of some cash used for small purchases, laundry, and little bits and bobs. While we did enjoy many Activities, like visits to temples, museums, gardens, and even the zoo, entry costs in Japan are very reasonable. The most we paid for any activity was our visit to one of the museums in Sapporo, costing us a whopping $4 each!