Mar 17, 2024
Is the cost of living impacting your sakura viewing plans?
I saw an article today on the Japan Times which mentioned inflation impacting sakura viewing plans for this year. People are apparently planning to spend 6872 yen on their cherry blossom adventures this year, down almost 1% from last year – and while that's not a huge amount I guess it was significant enough for it to be covered with a news article ;)
I will say that for our own family, we're staying local (or perhaps taking a road trip to a neighboring prefecture at most) for our sakura plans this year. Although there are a lot of sakura places I'd still like to explore further afield, basically if it's something that would require an overnight stay it is unlikely to be on the calendar for this year.
Pic Credit: AJ via Unsplash
Will you be staying local or traveling for your sakura adventures this year? Do you think the quoted figure of around 7000-ish yen sounds about right for any budget you might have?
2 Comments
BlueButterfly
on Mar 17
Since living in Japan so long it is hard to understand for me the fascination about traveling far away for seeing some cherry blossom. Especially I have so many beautiful cherry blossoms in my neighbourhood, where I can just walk. Nowsdays I prefer just a small walk around the neighbourhood during the day and in the evening for the light up or having a small picnic with friends in the park for less than 1000 Yen.
genkidesu
on Mar 18
@BlueButterfly Yes it's a lot cheaper to stay local and definitely in our case in Niigata if we stay local we don't have to deal with the crowds of big, touristic places!