i need some advice from people who knows roughly the costs in japan.

im planing to visit tokyo, kyoto and a few places but i am still in the process of planing.
what im interested to know is how much roughly i should be looking to spend cash wise for things that are predictable i.e. daily food+drinks, maybe some local commuting cost (if feasible to predict) ect for say.... 20days ?(any longer or shorter ill extrapolate myself)
the figure should exclude things like flight,accomodation and JR-rail pass which would otherwise would be accounted for before the trip commence.
im not looking to go to the high end places but something that is reasonable for a typical 'holiday' for 1 person.
*no McD/KFC's meals all day everyday calculations please as i know some1 who actually did eat the cheapest fast food he could get his hands on for almost all meals when he was there

if the period of the travel is relevant, it would probably be somewhere around sep-nov

im using this estimate as im thinking of changing some/bulk of the cash im might to take over there since i think the exchange rates now seems quite favorable (british pounds>yen) *unless some1 could tell me if it will drop further

suica is only for transport witin the tokyo city right?

about the 'budget' mode, its not that i on a unlimited budget, its just that if i say 'travelling with a budget' some people will start thinking... 'kiam ka na' travelling mode and think only the cheapest bento boxes for meals which is not what i want nor the objectives of me traveling to japan. i want to be able to walk into a typical family-res / sushi-ya ect and not worry about me 'going over my pre-estimated budget'

hi guys, i need some input regarding choosing the best combination of JR passes...

here's my itinerary:

day 1-9 kyoto-kobe-nara-osaka-himeji-miyajima islands(for the torii gates) (day trips from kyoto)
day 10 train to hiroshima
day 12 flight from hiroshima to new chitose airport and then 2 nights in sapporo
day 15 train to hakodate for 2 nights
day 17 train to tokyo for 10 nights.

my question is :
1)for the kansai area, what combination of JR pass should i get to suit my travel needs kyoto(and surrounding area)+travel to hiroshima?
im a little confused when i see that JR-west dont include travel from kyoto to hiroshima... how should i go about it? can i pay an extension fare or something?

2) is it a good idea to travel from tokyo to kyoto for the jidai matsuri on the 22th oct?(day trip)

This post has been edited by mr lappy: Sep 22 2010, 05:28 AM