About this journal

What a trip around the world actually costs, written down at the amounts we actually paid.

Who writes this

Shoichiro Kumagai. I run Gems Consulting, and I build Sekairo.

I have circled the world three times: alone in 2023, with my family in 2024, and once more with my family across 2025 and 2026. The third trip split into two journeys with six months back home in between — 54 days of travel in total, across 16 cities and regions.

I travelled with my wife and our two children. Their names, ages and faces do not appear here. Publishing a number should not require handing over my family's details.

Why the real figures

When I looked up what a round-the-world trip costs, almost everything I found was a range. "Between one and three million yen" tells someone planning a trip nothing they can act on.

What I wanted was one number somebody had actually paid. So I am publishing mine.

Where the numbers come from

Every figure is taken from a primary document.

• Flights: e-ticket receipts and purchase statements
• Hotels: booking confirmations and checkout folios
• On the ground: paper receipts — 96 of them from the third trip, transcribed one by one
• Rail and activities: booking confirmations and receipts

Payments made in other currencies are converted to Japanese yen. The conversion uses a reference rate as of 17 August 2026, which differs from the rate the card issuer actually charged. Each article states which rate it used.

Where a figure is an estimate, it says so. An approximation is never presented as an actual amount.

What this journal does not publish

• My family's names, ages or faces
• Business counterparties, or who I had dinner with
• Card numbers or other payment credentials