Price: What will it cost?

One of the big tasks for the founding families has been to set the price for joining.

There are two kinds of costs related to this trip:

Normal trip expenses (transport, lodging, meals, experiences)
Community-related costs

For normal trip expenses, this is up to every family. They decide how to do transportation and lodging and their day-to-day costs. We are creating detailed information regarding the locations to make it easier to plan and also a total trip budget. A few simple tools that make it much easier for every family to plan.

The big question is then, as many potential member families have asked us, what will it cost to join?

Here are some of the things we needed to consider:

The trip is non-profit
We wanted to make it affordable
The way people commit to the project is by paying the deposit
It’s the first time we plan this and use these locations, so it isn’t easy to get costs 100% right
What are people actually paying for?
Payment terms
Legal entity

Some of these things we are working on until the 1st of February 2023 when invited people can sign up.

Price and price calculator

Prices are largely based on communal meals, so the price vary based on family size.

Here are some examples:

Family 1: 2 adults and two children: $3,295
Family 2: 2 adults and one child aged 8: $3,000
Family 3: 1 adult, one child: $2,410
Family 4: 2 adults, one teenager (+13), and one child: $3,590

We have created a calculator, so you can see the cost breakdown and find your price here.

Price breakdown

Deciding the price and what is included was really a balancing act between different things we needed to consider.

Here is a small breakdown:

Communal meals: Communal meals will be the community glue. It’s the element that will be a thread through all 4 months and it’s the element fixed in the calendar where all families are gathering. Communal meals will not be fancy, but we need the exact right locations, where there is a lot of space for kids to run around. The prices have been set, so we have enough budget to actually book the best places, so everyone enjoys it. Please read more about communal meals in this article.

Events: There are small budgets set for events, which need to be defined a bit more. Workgroups will be able to get small amounts for theme weeks for the kids (for example for material needed). Events will also include the first and last week and maybe a monthly party.

Community Center in Kyoto: In Kyoto, we have different opportunities as we are in a bigger city, so here we set aside a small budget for a community center. This can be something as simple as renting a gym hall twice a week, where the kids can play.

Buffer: We have included a small buffer as it’s difficult to get the prices 100% correct. We also want to really lower the risk of the village running out of money, so we have to ask all families for more, as it is just a negative situation if we run out of money. It can of course still happen, but with a buffer, we are lowering the risk.