Here are some tips and observations from my 3 week trip to Japan! I’m sure some of this you will have heard before.
*Trains, Planes, Trams and Automobiles*
Don’t use numberless cards to book train tickets – I couldn’t pick up any of the JR West tickets and had to refund the prebooked ones and buy again. I hadn’t realized the actual card and the virtual card number we’re different. Numberless cards are common in the UK and are becoming a thing in Japan, so I hope this is resolved in the future.
I also found I could not use a debit/credit card in the general train station machines so cash was required – don’t know if that was just the machines I picked
And on booking tickets, booking the Shinkansen in advance for the luggage row was definitely required, but I needn’t have worried about booking ahead for other trains – for example, Kyoto to Nara doesn’t need an advance reservation (unless you want one of the fancy limited express ones).
What you heard is true, the trains run on time. If you’re using Google maps (or Apple) to track train routes, the transfer times are never enough for humble travellers who don’t know the place, so plan extra time. Also usually the stations are all numbered on the particular line you are travelling on, which is great, but Google doesn’t refer to those numbers (as far as I can tell), just the station name. Google does refer to the relevant exit to use, which is useful.
Tokyo subway – it’s two companies running separate lines that connect but tickets are not necessarily valid across. If it makes sense for your plans, get a ticket that covers both (like a day pass) or use an IC card.
If you visit Osaka it might be worth getting the day pass for the metro – and there’s a cheaper day ticket for weekends as well; get it from the machines (680 yen?).
IC cards make local travel really easy. We found that for subway/metro/trains you scan in and out at the ticket gate; trams/street cars, you scan as you board through the side door and then again as you leave past the driver (or if there’s an ‘out’ scanner you can use the side door); buses could be a one off fare as you board or scan in and out as well, depends where you are.
You can also use the IC card for things like coin lockers, vending machines, at convenience stores…etc
Train costs seemed to be static, even for long routes, and costs were pretty good overall. (UK trains are often cheaper when booked in advance, in comparison). Because of my numberless card issue above, I had to rebook several tickets, but the price had not changed despite several weeks passing.
Luggage forwarding – as advertised, this worked seamlessly and it’s a great idea. We stuck airtags in our suitcases just in case, but everything arrived as expected. You can use this service from your hotel reception or from a dedicated dropoff point (convenience stores seemed to do this) and it’s cash only payment. When we made trips away from the cities this made it super easy to travel, as we could just take a fully loaded backpack. So do this, don’t lug your luggage around for your entire trip if you don’t have to.
(I noted that on the Shinkansen anyone with a smaller sized suitcase managed to put it on the overhead racks without issue – but you do so at your own risk that it won’t fit!)
We had a couple of hotels that had laundry rooms which we utilised – the TVs in our room showed whether the washers were free or not and how much time was left.
Pack for all weather if you’re going near the mountains – in fact, just anywhere. We got strong winds in Tokyo, snow in Takayama, rain in Kyoto, rain in Osaka followed by sun/heat…
**Food**
My partner was trying to be veggie where possible but struggled in a lot of places. It just seems it’s not a consideration for places to offer some simple veggie sushi or dishes – there’s an app called Happy Cow which might help.
Restaurants and things are often on a higher floor of a building and there’s only one or two elevators – so there can be a wait. I think it pays to have done a little research into what/where you want to eat before rocking up to a place. It’s interesting how space is utilised in Japan – guess when you’ve not got the space then the only way is up?
Fake food examples outside of restaurants…a lesson in how to make food look as unappealing as possible.
Food was cheap! Compared to the UK anyway, eating out was much cheaper than expected – we averaged about 4900 yen a day per person (usually small convenience store breakfast, something for lunch, a meal in the evening, drinks throughout the day), which was nearly half of our original budget/expectation. Some of the best food was from small stalls.
**Travelling and engaging with the locals**
Learning some very basic Japanese was helpful to some extent but not required – you can make do with a few phrases and Google Translate – either by using the picture translation feature or getting some words ready for someone to read. Very rarely were important signs not in English.
We found from what we had learnt, it wasn’t enough to understand any replies in Japanese, we got blank looks as we attempted phrases, or the person we were talking to just switched to English once they heard us, lol
But having learnt some Japanese, it was cool to be able to read some signs and understand bits of announcements, etc
Cash is king…except when it isn’t. We found a lot of places would take card – contactless wasn’t always a thing but if the transaction is less than 10,000 yen, you put your card in but you don’t have to put your PIN in. We had brought £1000/185000 yen for 3 weeks and it was probably a bit too much – there were places though where it was definitely useful though, as luggage forwarding, food stalls and smaller places were cash only – and some of these places were great anyway, so it would have been a shame to miss out as we had no cash.
Doing stuff also turned out to be cheap. Maybe it was just the activities we were doing but entry fees to museums, shrines, temples, etc were hundreds of yen, not thousands. The most expensive thing we did was Universal Studios and TeamLabs.
Japan really is super clean – there’s rarely litter and even things like the train floor are spotless, and yet…
Where are the bins at? I’ve heard public bins are not so much a thing following the poison attack in Tokyo in the 90s…but man is it a pain. So be ready to carry around your rubbish.
Maybe the bins are in the same place as the soap and the hand dryers or paper towels in toilets – completely MIA in a lot of places. There are a lot of public toilets though, so that’s good.
Make a plan to utilize your time, but be flexible when the weather doesn’t play ball. We had a good idea of what we would do every day but changed the order last minute a few times.
*Some* tourists are rude, irritating and completely oblivious that anyone else is alive around them.
I’ve seen a lot of questions on Reddit about how to behave in Japan – just don’t be a dick and show consideration to others is probably the best advice I can give and you’ll be fine. If you’re pushing and shoving past people, being noisy in a small space, or your kid is a pain in the arse and you’re not attempting to do anything about it, then you’re the problem and you’re a problem everywhere, not just Japan.
**Other stuff**
The Japanese like a warm bum. Make of that what you will.
I had the Japan Auto Wifi app. It auto connects you to wifi networks that are signed up to the service. Seemed to work well! Maybe all my data was stolen, we’ll never know.
We used Ubigi eSIMs for data – easy to use, £16 for 10GB, which was just enough for 3 weeks (turn off auto upload of photos on data and other auto updates!)
Medicines – I often take antihistamines for hayfever/allergies but didn’t bring any as I didn’t want any issues if my bag was searched at the airport (yeah I would have been fine but I was being a worrier about it). However I had to buy some at a pharmacy and it was about £15/3000 yen for a small pack, which is way more expensive than the UK.
Likewise 3 anti motion sickness tablets was 1000 yen…maybe I’m just a spoilt UK baby after having the NHS and government subsidize everything.
Strawberry or fruit sandwiches…no.
Make sure your phone has emergency alerts turned on or download an app like Nerv. We had earthquake warnings (for an actual earthquake) and tornado advisories!
Tipping – it’s not a thing here as you may know. I accidentally left a 500 yen coin at a table and the waiter came to find me at the elevator before I left to give me it.
Also usually money is placed on a tray rather than handing it over to a person. If they hand it back, take it two hands (that’s the interweb says, anyway).
Finally I’ve decided that the British and Japanese are long lost cousins. We both like a queue; we both don’t speak up when things annoy us, but get angry about it in private; we’re both orderly; we both like peace and quiet; we’re both reserved. I can only assume that in a parallel universe, Japan would leave some sort of joint Asian partnership due to a referendum that wasn’t needed in the first place 🤷♂️
by WolfOwlice