Tips after March-2023 Trip – Yokohama-Osaka-Kyoto-Tokyo

I got back from a trip, which was planned using a lot of advices that I got here, and now I just want to share some tips based on the experiences I had during my trip to Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, my first after the reopening of borders after the pandemic. I hope this helps you in any way.

I’ll keep the itinerary details off this report because I basically went to the places that are in every Osaka-Kyoto trip, so it’s way better to check other wonderfully written trip reports that this subreddit have.

**ARRIVAL PROCEDURES AND VJW**

With all the VJW forms filled beforehand (blue screen for quarantine procedures, QR code for customs and immigration), I took roughly 15min to do all the arrival procedures in the airport.

Right after getting off the plane, I showed the quarantine blue screen for a person (very briefly, and it was the screenshot of the page), and scanned the QR codes in the next steps. I talked just with one person, and got the arrival stamp in my passport.

**TOURISM**

All touristic spots were full to the brim. I can’t compare if it’s worse or better than pre-pandemic, but the places were crowded, as expected. Tokyo, specifically, was similar to the last time I went there (2019).

**INTERNET**

Used the Japan Wireless’ SIM card, so I retrieved it in the Japan Post Terminal 1 and did the setup right away (took 5min with just following the instructions that came in the package). It worked flawlessly during all trip.

The internet speed is average, but plenty enough for Google Maps and social media.

**CASHLESS PAYMENT**

All major stores accepted Visa and MasterCard credit cards (chip and PIN).

And a good amount of stores also accept payments with IC cards (Pasmo and Icoca in my case). I like to use the IC cards as payment to avoid carrying too much coins and speding time hunting for coins in the purse.

The only stores that truly didn’t accept cashless options were small restaurants and stores, so always keep a couple of thousand of yen for those cases. Also, some gardens/shrines also only accept cash to pay for entrance tickets, charms and goshuin.

If you have an iPhone or Apple Watch, I’ve seen maaaany people using them for payments, so it should be a good option too.

**YAMATO TRANSPORT**

Worked very well, since I was carrying 2 suitcases at some point of my trip.

The cost were around 2,000 JPY for each one (check-in sized luggage), and took less than 24h to be delivered in the next hotel. I usually shipped them the day before the hotel check-out, and when I arrived at the next hotel, my luggage was already there. The suitcases were not damaged in any way.

If you have trouble filling those pink forms, there are instructions in English in the Yamato Transport website.

**SHINKANSEN – “OVERSIZED LUGGAGE” SEAT RESERVATIONS**

I didn’t truly needed to use those seats with space for “oversized” luggage, however when I was choosing a seat in the ticket machine, 3 days before the shinkansen trip date, almost all of those seats were already taken. So I suppose it is advisable to reserve those seats ASAP. Or just ship the suitcases.

**JAPANESE AND ENGLISH**

I know enough Japanese for basic conversations, so this helped me so much that I can’t even describe. What I didn’t know (specific words or kanji), Google Translate filled those gaps. Specifically, the camera function worked very well.

Recommendation is to study at least the basic phrases in Japanese, plus hiragana and katakana, if possible.

**TAX FREE**

I’ve seen that the tax free procedures will change with VJW, but with the actual procedures, it’s much better than some years ago.

Since now everything is digital, the store clerk fill an digital form in a system (probably from the government), take a photo of your passport and check your arrival stamp. This usually took 5min on each store. No more stapling those receipts in the passport.

Since I just bought non-consumables, so none of the products were sealed by the store. But I’ve seen that they use a very specific transparent plastic bag written tax free for the case of consumables.

In the airport, none of the luggage were checked to confirm if the tax free products were leaving the country. They only scanned the passport in a desk designated specifically fopr the tax free procedures, and that’s all.