Originally Posted by
LapLap
teriyaki - with three of you, make sure you start watching the pennies/yen from the beginning. One of the ways that costs will start mounting up alarmingly is with the vending machines. Each drink will cost around 120yen.
4 each a day over 14 days is... 21,000yen
I'd advise you to take control from the moment you arrive.
You'll naturally want to try lots of the options you've never seen before, so include this in your budget. 100 yen shops often sell you two or three drinks for ¥100 in their deals, this is an economic way to experiment (this is how I buy Gokuri and Tropicana drinks in Japan). The main way to save money is to keep your PET bottles and buy large family packs of your favourite drinks and decant them. You can easily save 10,000 or 15,000yen this way.
I mostly visit Tokyo and I'm always on a budget. It can be done. Just watch out for mounting 'silly' costs. It's the tempting low expense items that accumulate and get you.
Good advice, LapLap. ^
How plentiful are 100 Yen shops? Are there areas where they're easily found such as outside rail stations? I'm on a similiar length of stay in Tokyo and wouldn't mind keeping a few more dollars in my pocket if I can without too much effort. The moderate hotels I've booked all have fridges so if it means stocking up on a few at a time rather than using vending machines for their conveniences that's definately doable.