Touring Japan

[RaptDept]

Hi, I'm giving serious thought to touring japan from Kyushu to Hokkaido. One thing that has really been stumping me is how much money to take with me, In past tours I've always planned ahead, concerning which camping sites to head to. But with the relaxed nature of being able to camp, places, I'm a lil stuck on budgetting. It's never been my strong suit to work out a budget, this will be my first tour out of the EU as well so I'm especially stumped. I have a bike, panniers and all that jigger but its the bugetting I'm most concerned about.

I will be going the way of camping where I can living of the bear essentials (and taking bare essentials as well).

Long winded way of asking, How much £ would be best to take?

[eileithyia]

A lot from my understanding Japan is mega expensive!

[RaptDept]

Ill be traveling alone, self supported, taking a supply of boilbag ratations. No hotels or anything, complete camping. I have been told that the food can be really pricey if I want to eat out some nights.

[simonhill]

You'll find people who have cycled in Japan here http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/f ... forumID=32

Might be better than 'from my understanding'.

[soton]

My suggestion: whatever you think it would cost in UK. A lot cheaper than Norway, and not as cheap as NZ.
Food is easy in Japan: hygiene standards are high; it's delicious (if it is for you); it's easy to access. Places to eat out or buy food are ubiquitous. At the cheap end, convenience stores, 'combini', (you already know some of the brands) are widespread, for fast food or semi-prepare-your own. Going up, you might be lucky to find a nutritious, tasty, satisfying lunch in a small restaurant for UK7 (more likely UK10).
Youth hostels often provide dinner and breakfast as well, which might be close to UK25 the lot. Their website will list them all and provide a map.
Wild camping is possible, but it's a very populated land. Camp sites are listed and marked on maps in Mapple touring guides, the better ones charging UK20, others much less. You'd need half a dozen guides to cover the country, at about UK12 each, and they're only in Japanese. They also locate the hot springs and bath houses: a big part of the culture, and a pleasure at about UK6 after a day's big ride.
If you want to put your bike on a train you'll need a bike bag; get them in bike shops or '100yen' ('one dollar') shops.

[three4three]

A lot from my understanding Japan is mega expensive!

I would like to dispel this myth.

Having lived in Japan several times and having spent 5 months touring Japan by car (Also from Kyushu - where I'm from - to Hokkaido and back) I would say that the cost of living is roughly half what it is here in the UK. The myth, which I hear repeated so often, is born I believe from the basis that it certainly is more expensive in places like Shinjuku in central Tokyo. That is to be expected (just as it is more expensive to eat out in central London , for example) but elsewhere things are a lot more affordable. If you're on a tight budget there are plenty of ways to reduce the daily cost. ¥100 shops (the equivalent of a pound shop) are everywhere these days and thanks largely to the continued recession they have become rather good in quality especially in regards to food. Even though I wouldn't recommend it, you can live off boil-in-bag meals from ¥100 shops or from supermarkets and get by with a maximum £5 a day. When I went around Japan I think I spent about £2-3 a day (cooking boil in bag meals with rice or 'instant' noodles on a gas stove with extras like veg or dessert) while treating myself once a week or so if I came across a highly recommended restaurant. A cheap meal in an eatery will cost no more than £5 with bento from convinience stores (which are everywhere) costing around ¥500.

In terms of accommodation, unlike here in the UK you can camp anywhere but as Soton mentioned above, in the more populous areas that can be trickier. I have personally never seen a campsite that charges as much £20 but I guess it must be possible. If you are ever wanting a proper roof over your head 'love hotels' come highly recommended too. While these are designed for romantic activities, they are a bargain for what you get which is effectively a hotel suite with everything you'd desire (jacuzzi baths, minibar, huge comfy beds, karaoke and soundproofing to boot). Another useful feature for travellers in Japan is the service areas that frequent roads (both large and small). Think of motorway welcome breaks in the UK but a lot cleaner and quieter and with better mod cons such as heated toilet seats.

Hot springs/public baths (onsen or sento) including free ones are everywhere. Typically you would spend about £2 and have a lovely relaxing soak. As for the free ones, I found most of them to be mixed sex which took me a while to overcome (as a confident 20year old), but once you have mastered the use of a small flannel for dignity's sake it's not that bad! If you do go ahead with this trip make sure you get up to speed with public bathing etiquette as it's strongly frowned upon to soap yourself and jump in the clean hot bath.

I may be painting a rosy picture here and it's really not far off. In terms of material convenience Japan is right up there. The less inspiring and downright unenjoyable areas I found were the urban sprawls that pretty much perpetually stretches from Nagoya to Tokyo. I would strongly recommend that you pick your route carefully in those areas or simply head for the north coast after Kyoto and come back down towards Tokyo through Nagano. You may recognise that name from the Nagano winter olympics that took place some 15 or so years back. Known as the "Japanese Alps" I first thought that to be an exaggeration but arriving in the region in late May I was astounded to find the peaks covered in snow and the temperature probably uncomfortable for camping.

This brings me to the country's terrain. Be warned that it can get rather hilly (i.e. mountainous) so low gearing is a must. Although I haven't personally cycled around Japan, from several friends who have I'm led to believe that as a cycle tourist you can generate a surpring level of cheer and good will from locals and passers by. Although I'm from Kyushu, which is known effectively as the 'garden of Japan' with its rich scenery and vegetation, the highlight for me was Hokkaido. While northern Hokkaido is still further south than the southern reaches of the UK in terms of latitude, due to Siberian climates affecting the region it gets quite cold (opposite to the UK with its gulf stream). Make sure you're out of there before September if you plan on camping, with July probably the finest time of year to be there while the rest of Japan gets too hot.

For navigation I used the Mapple map/guides as mentioned also by soton. These are designed for motorbike touring and are useful in terms of pointing out scenic routes and less busy roads, as well as the rest areas (where I have seen tents pitched several times), hot springs, not-to-be-missed restaurants, temples and shrines and general places of interest. In fact I have kept all the mapple guides from my tour and have them in the attic somewhere. I could possibly loan them to you, though I can't recall if they may be too bulky to take.

Budget wise, for my 5 month trip I managed to stretch out approx £2000 - £2500 including petrol for the car (my biggest expenditure). I imagine you don't plan on going for that long and you won't have petrol costs to consider (although you'll have to eat more) so it could be significantly less. Japan is a deceptively large country, it being roughly 1.5 times the area of the UK, but it feels larger as it is a long and narrow country that stretches from South West (tropical) to North East (a bit like Scotland, temperature wise) so it will be a bit more than LEJOG.

Well there's my rather long two penny's worth, I hope you have a fantastic time if you go for it.

[hamster]

As a reasonably regular business traveller to Japan I agree. Generally pricing feels much like the UK, with central Tokyo as costly as central London.

Rural areas and small towns are wonderful, people are amazingly welcoming (even if they don't speak a word of English) and it's a friendly place to visit.