So, I just booked a flight to Japan

[Labster]

And what kind of budget are we talking about here? Because take it from
someone that was there for three years: the military gave me
four-hundred extra dollars a month for a damn good reason.
(It's called COLA or Cost Of Living Allowance - given to service members
living in areas with unusually high cost of living and based on a
sliding scale.

That might no longer be true.  I mean, look at the graph here: http://www.google.com/search?q=1+USD+in+JPY  You're getting 33¥ more per $US than five years ago.  That's like almost 50% more buying power*.  Tokyo itself is expensive, but any rate, there probably hasn't been a cheaper time to visit since the 1970s.
Oh right, you're in Europe.  Well... http://www.google.com/search?q=1+USD+i ... uro+in+jpy isn't quite as amazing as the USD exchange rate, but it's still a good 25% more buying power.
* I didn't actually compare to any price index over there, but given that the central bank has negative interest rates there now, I can't really imagine inflation.
-- ∇×V