Returned from Japan – Mar 3rd – Spent 16 Days there – 2nd time in Japan

This was our 2nd time in Japan.
1st time at beginning of Pandemic Feb 2020 exclusively around Tokyo
2nd time Feb 2023 Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and around Tokyo.
Why February? It is my wife’s b-day month and also less crowded.

We are a family of 4, 1×20 year old and one teenager and 2 parents.

After having gone twice now, my subtle recommendations are:

* Setup the Visit Japan Web before you go, as doing it in the airport is not gonna be fun.
* Apartment style hotel – saves a few bucks on some meal, you get your room refreshed with towels and cleaning.
* Buy a Japan Rail Pass – we had not, either time, but this time we went to Osaka and a day in Kyoto, and having to get up at whatever time, to travel 1-1.5 hours to Narita to be there 1-2 hours before the flight, just isn’t worth it. Having a Japan Rail Pass, booking your reserved seat arriving to Train Station, walking through turnstiles, getting on the train and travelling the time, it seems far better than the waste of time to take a flight.
For our travel to Osaka we took Jetstar and they were super sticklers with weight of bags. Flying from Narita is cheaper than Haneda. Cost comparison it cost us $1142 for flights and hotel in Kita area of Osaka, we then had to pay $130 more to take Shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto for the day. Whereas if we had the Japan Rail Pass, we could have saved money, because you can take the Shinkansen as many times as you want, as well as ride JR Train lines in major cities, as well as rapid lines from the airports.
* You still need to get a Suica or Pasmo card – I would be interested in hearing how if you go into a JR station using a Japan Rail Pass and exit a Tokyo Metro station using Pasmo how you would be charged? So if anyone has any insight.
* Google is your friend or whatever search engine you like.
* Transportation is so good there it just takes time.
* Transportaion – use Day Passes (in Tokyo to Combination Ticket) if you are going to be doing a bunch of travelling around, you will need to find the right machine, usually larger station, but for $1600 yen you can use JR trains and Tokyo Metro and a couple of other lines to go to the more popular stops.
Also when you are going places like Niko there is a Day Pass too, among other things.
You can also get a JR Passes while you are in Japan, but they are still a bit pricy and their time is a bit limited, i.e. Tokyo Wide Pass is $10180 Yen for 3 days. So much better to get a JR Rail Pass for a longer period of time.
* Wi-Fi/Sim Cards – total personal choice, we went with pocket wi-fi both times, although next time I go, I will 100% go with SIM cards. We rented two pocket wi-fi’s this time one for the 20 year old/teenager and one for the parents. Then my wife complained about not having internet, so I went to Bic Camera, paid $40 and got her a SIM card with 9GB of Data.
EACH Country is different with different plans…Where we come from (Canada) it is $15 a day for roaming, per phone, but they cap it at $300 per billing cycle per line, so we went on Feb 16th and our billing cycle is on the 20th, so that would have been $75 per line or $300 total, then after the 20th to Mar 3rd $165 per line or $660 total, there is no chance that I would pay $960 to your 4 cell phones on my home data (NOTE: I could totally be off on this thought process, but having gone to Mexico once and the kid didn’t turn off data and we had to pay $250 for a week, I do not think I am wrong).
I suggest if anything get a Travel SIM card sent to your house, you can even buy them on Amazon Japan and they will deliver to you home country (or in my case Canada).
* Make Japan accounts, I made a few accounts there, Amazon Japan, Uniqlo, Shiseido, I used the details of the hotel I stayed as a my shipping address and had no problems. It was a bit cumbersome setting it up as the websites are Japanese and you need to have a Katakana name (but you can use a name converter).
* Shopping – the 2nd hand stores in Japan are something else, of course so are the Brand Name stores. My kids went crazy in those stores, we had a lot of fun in Shimokitazawa. Outlet malls are okay, we went to Gotemba this time, didn’t really find a lot, Mitsui malls are pretty good too.
* Tax-Free – why not? Just be aware not every store will do it, a purchase has to be over $5000 Yen, they may seal the purchase in a bag that can’t be opened (we didn’t have this happen with clothes, but to make-up and some food stuff yes)
* Dollar Stores are crazy good – Daiso is probably the most common, mostly everyone with experience the one in Harajuku or Takeshita street, but if I may make a suggestion go to a different one, that isn’t so busy with souvenir hunters, my suggestion Daiso in Ginza, it’s in the Marronnier Ginza Gate Mall on the 6th floor, and guess what Uniqlo is on the first few stores, so you kill 2 birds with one stone. However, if you want a bit of a different mall experience, my cousin lives in Kameari and we went to a mall close to her house Ito Yokado, there are floors and floors of dollar type stuff. Then for food stuff, there is a Ario a couple of streets over that has a great selection
* Renting a car is fairly easy – although you will need an international drivers permit, depending on what country you are from. We went to Daikoku Parking Area multiple times on this trip, kids are into JDM cars. You have to get the extra insurance, recommend the ETC card if possible and you pay tolls at the end of your rental, not needed but otherwise you need to pay out of pocket as you go through toll booths or pay.
* Pack light buy there – washing machines are available, we had 2 laundries around our hotel, plus the one in the hotel.
* Be prepared to walk – ALOT – this time I walked 240 KMs, last time I walked 227 KMs, good shoes are a must but you can also buy there depending on your size.
* Japan sizes are different – so you may be a medium in your country but a large in Japan. I had to order online with Uniqlo to get sizing appropriate for myself and got it shipped to Store or Hotel.
* Ordering food is easy a lot of it is just pictures so you will get pretty good at charades, but honestly in the city a lot of people speak customer service english, even when you go to Seven-Eleven for a coffee you say Large Latte Hot and they will give you a cup that you walk over to the machine and make your own coffee.
easy to eat well at an economical cost, Ichiran Ramen for 4 is like $50 for a meal, whereas same meal in Canada is over $100.
But you can go to high end BBQ places, and sushi places and drop serious coin, or you can go to Gyu Kaku (we spent $160 in Canada $250 +) or Conveyor Sushi (last time was $78 in Canada AYCEat is $35 per person)
* There are a lot of discounts, websites like Klook help, but sometimes you can only do next day booking. We bought Universal Day Pass and Xpress passes from this website. There are others Japan Travel is a good one to look at as well as the
* Take advantage of points (more a home country thing) – either through your Credit Card, Mileage Cards, or other point redemption offers.

Good luck on your travels and may Japan be as good to you as it has been to us.