- 4 Sep 2015
- 2,306
- 1,906
1. If you have lots of money, then yes, you'll spend as you see fit.
2. If you have a daily budget ( which I do travel with ), you'll find yourself going - or + of that budget.
3. To cross country ( something I've been working on, haven't done it completely yet ), two things one must keep in mind. 1. have enough money to return, for me that usually means the train. 2. Always have medical emergency money and bring along your medical yellow book. For me, that means 20000 yen. Usually that will be more than enough. If you run into a problem, generally the govt general hospitals have a means to where they work with you on payments.
4. When out of major areas, you need your standard bike repair kit. I always travel with 2 spare tubes. There are NO bike shops around and that could mean like... well for me on Shikoku it was over 100 km.
5. Many guest houses will only accept "hard yen cash" . Be prepared on that one. Major cities might be different though.
6. The elements of weather actually plays a major part of your travel expenses. Buying water at the countryside vending machine does add up.
7. One has to think very frugal when cross country cycling. Every yen will count that you have on you one day.
8. Credit cards are hard to get for foreigners here. It took me 27 years before I was issued a card and then suddenly, I got 2 cards. Thank the Lord for that, they came in handy when my tent was destroyed.
I think one can cycle Japan on a reasonable budget. I like to stop at the vegetable and fruit stands. Sometimes with friendly conversations I end up not paying for one or two pieces of fruit. Currently it is summer fruit season. The fruits this year are crazily expensive.
In all honesty, I have 40000 yen budget to spend a month. There you have it. That has covered my needs so far cycling Japan for 4 years now.
If you noticed I didn't mention restaurants. For the first 3 years I only went to 2 restaurants to have lunch. Both were disappointing. But my tour for Shikoku, I said screw it, I waited over 25 years to tour Shikoku. I ate at 2 of the finest restaurants . One cost about 2000 yen and the other about 1000 yen. Yes, I enjoyed both meals.
2. If you have a daily budget ( which I do travel with ), you'll find yourself going - or + of that budget.
3. To cross country ( something I've been working on, haven't done it completely yet ), two things one must keep in mind. 1. have enough money to return, for me that usually means the train. 2. Always have medical emergency money and bring along your medical yellow book. For me, that means 20000 yen. Usually that will be more than enough. If you run into a problem, generally the govt general hospitals have a means to where they work with you on payments.
4. When out of major areas, you need your standard bike repair kit. I always travel with 2 spare tubes. There are NO bike shops around and that could mean like... well for me on Shikoku it was over 100 km.
5. Many guest houses will only accept "hard yen cash" . Be prepared on that one. Major cities might be different though.
6. The elements of weather actually plays a major part of your travel expenses. Buying water at the countryside vending machine does add up.
7. One has to think very frugal when cross country cycling. Every yen will count that you have on you one day.
8. Credit cards are hard to get for foreigners here. It took me 27 years before I was issued a card and then suddenly, I got 2 cards. Thank the Lord for that, they came in handy when my tent was destroyed.
I think one can cycle Japan on a reasonable budget. I like to stop at the vegetable and fruit stands. Sometimes with friendly conversations I end up not paying for one or two pieces of fruit. Currently it is summer fruit season. The fruits this year are crazily expensive.
In all honesty, I have 40000 yen budget to spend a month. There you have it. That has covered my needs so far cycling Japan for 4 years now.
If you noticed I didn't mention restaurants. For the first 3 years I only went to 2 restaurants to have lunch. Both were disappointing. But my tour for Shikoku, I said screw it, I waited over 25 years to tour Shikoku. I ate at 2 of the finest restaurants . One cost about 2000 yen and the other about 1000 yen. Yes, I enjoyed both meals.
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