日本,韓國遊

Hi Tracy-

I haven't been to Korea but I have been to Japan. From what I heard from my uncle who went to Korea a couple of times and Japan a lot of times. Korea is a lot cheaper and people mainly prefer Korea over Japan for skiing. If you want trendy stuff and shopping, Japan will be the first choice la. And when I look at your dates, it's not the perfect time for skiing as well, so you may consider that as well. My uncle describes Korea as boring when he told me about the imperial gardens all look alike in korea. Food and shopping is cheap tho.

I don't know if my experience in Japan will help you or not but let me share it with you anyways la~

in the summer of 2005 I finished my summer internship in HK and i went to japan alone without joining any tours. It's a 7 day trip in Tokyo and with airfares and hotels, shopping and eating expenses it cost my about 25000HKD la. I went there on the 2nd week of september and it's still hot then. If you go in late nov, weather will be cooler but you may miss the fall foilage (but it's hard to say if they have a late fall, you will be able to catch it)

I got my package as a airticket + hotel (in Ikebukuro 池袋) and it's a very convenient location with lots of drugstores (for cheap comestics like DHC and makeup) and food.... the name of the hotel is Hotel Theatre. I think the cost was about 7000 (roughly) for both the ticket and hotel.

the total cost really depends on how you are spending your money there. Dont' forget to include transportation costs (JR) and admission fees if you are going to theme parks or so. If you need the link to the rail fare calculation, it's here. But you would need to know how to type in Japanese first, or I can help you if you have a few destinations in mind.
http://www.calc.eki-net.com/Asp/CalcWEB_Main.asp

If you are spending money on brand names like burberry blue label, agnes b, head porter etc, you wont have enough no matter how much you bring. with my budget I was able to travel a few places, and get 2 burberry bags (one for myself and one for my mom) and some other souvenirs. I didnt ate much in Tokyo because I dont feel like eating alone. But be sure to set aside a food budget so you and your friends can try local goodies. (but their 7-11 fast food is also good too!)

I hope my experience helps la~