I worked for Mitsubishi in the late 1980's and spent 11 weeks in Japan. Interesting country. I don't know how much has changed but when I was there the Japanese were extremely friendly and in one case they "picked me up" and took me to their favorite bar for drinks. They were just happy to be able to try out their English on me. We were given $70 a day for food and miscellaneous expenses which was way more than needed since the mom and pop restaurants were not outrageously expensive and we were treated to many meals via vendors. I do remember that the Kobe beef steak at the restaurant on top of our hotel was $63 in 1987. That was expensive! Another strange thing that they had was that you could buy almost anything out of vending machines. Not only food and cigarettes but also beer and booze, electronics, etc. And it was the one place in the world where I have travelled that I always felt safe. It was so safe that vendors would drop off shipments to businesses at night and just leave the boxes outside the business door. Don't try that in NYC!

Have a great trip and say ohiyo gozaiamas to everyone.