Today’s question is: What is one thing you wish you’d known before your first trip to Japan?
Calling all seasoned Japan travelers! We want to know some things you wish you’d known before your first trip to Japan. What would you like to go back and tell yourself? What additional things would you pack? What would you add to or leave off your itinerary? What’s some advice you can give to first-time travelers?
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34 comments
That you don’t need to plan everything out.
I did a solo trip in 2019, and really tried to plan it to the T. Then I got there and realized I’d rather explore in my own way. I cancelled some hotels, booked new ones, and really just let myself get lost. I stayed at a completely different hotel each night, to keep me moving because I knew if I had a multi-day stay I’d probably get too comfortable.
It was sort of a wake up call to myself, and just took so much stress away. There was no itinerary. I didn’t need to be somewhere at a specific time. It didn’t matter if I went to Kyoto or Osaka tomorrow. It was wonderful.
So for anyone panicking because you haven’t figured out everything for your trip: you’ll be okay.
Coin purse.
You need one.
Buy one before you go or in the first day. Japan is still a cash based society even in Tokyo. You might think your pockets or small bag will work, or you can offload coins in vending machines, but there will always be more coins.
Japanese.
Not to be snarky, but I did a month of solo travel and barely had more than a few conversations with anyone. I’d like to go back when I know more of the language.
You will use cash A LOT. Coming from London where everything runs on Apple pay/contacless, I was shocked.
People are obviously very polite but they are brutal on public transport. Pushing and shoving seems to be a lot more acceptable.
If you go to Shibuya alone at night as a woman, you will be hit on even if you are just walking down the street or buying a coffee.
In major cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, etc. (basically all the places first-timers often travel), there is food _everywhere_. I mean it. Tokyo has 160k restaurants. That’s insane. Especially when you consider the NYC has 25k restaurants. There are 1.5 million restaurants in all of Japan, roughly the same number as there are in the US, which is multiple times larger. If you’re in a city, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a restaurant—or a whole floor/building of restaurants. And that’s not even counting food available in convenience stores, in the bottom floors of department buildings, or in tiny takeaway stalls.
Because of this, you really don’t need to plan out your meals. Sure, if you’re heard of a famous place you want to try, that’s fine. Go for it. But you don’t need every meal to be meticulously thought out, and you don’t need to go out of your way for food. If you want ramen or tonkatsu or curry, don’t look up some list online and travel across Tokyo for whatever it recommends. Just go on [Tabelog](https://s.tabelog.com/en/) (or the site of your choice) and search your immediate area. Or heck, just walk around for a couple of minutes near a train station or populated area, and you’ll probably find something interesting.
Note that this _doesn’t_ apply to small towns out in the country. They often have very limited food options (and even limited grocery/convenience store options), but there’s still usually _something_ to be found, and often you stay at ryokan there that provides you with most meals, anyhow.
Clothes if you are full size and hair products. Very comfortable walking shoes and a very good wind resistant umbrella .
Bring a good pillow. The ones in Japanese hotels are super thin.
It’s not impossible to avoid cash. I’ve done two month long trips across Japan without using cash so far
The one thing we didn’t think about when we visited was the huge (and I mean really huge) distances. And given that the majority of tourist attraction are usually open from 9 to 17 or so it would really help you to plan to see places that are close to each other so as to not lose a lot of time with transportation. The Jrpass is really a must and next time I also plan to use it in Tokyo – the trains are usually more convenient and faster the the metro.
If in Tokyo stay in a hotel near Ueno or Shinjuku.
Everywhere you go you usually have to go through either of them anyway.
If in Osaka it’s a bit harder to pick but stay near Jr Namba station. Or Shin-Osaka.
And cheap business hotels are good enough if you don’t have kids.
The importance of good walking shoes and insoles if needed.
Don’t commit to seeing too many shrines/temples. It’s easy to get “shrined out” as they’re different but feel similar. Go about each day with very loose plans.. I found my most enjoyable moments were those just existing and living in the country.
Exit maps in subway systems (and in many other areas) in Japan show relative direction (they are not north-oriented).
That you have to wear a mask for 14 hours straight on the plane and that taking it off even for a few minutes to catch a breathe was strictly prohibited
**Japanese**. On my first trip I knew zero hiragana/katakana (I completely forgot it all having taught myself years before my first trip) and my then-girlfriend became rather unhappy because we kept ending up in places where people spoke zero-to-no English and everything was in Japanese, and this made ordering food very interesting – this started something that to this day we call “food roulette” based on that trip because it’d be something like “let’s point at this item on the menu and hope for the best.”
In the middle of that trip I learned all of the kana again (just stayed up late a couple nights memorizing and practicing) and that made life a lot better. These days (years later) I have enough Japanese knowledge that I’m doing things like making reservations for wagashi and going to neighborhood dives.
Related to this – that **English isn’t as common**. I don’t come at this from the “We are English speakers and English is the best language” angle, but I figured for a country where people learn English as part of their school curriculum and that contains some of the most economically important international business cities, I’d encounter more English than I actually did. But I ate crow my first trip when I went in with the assumption that most people had some level of knowledge. There was a lot of back and forth with people who were very patient with me in many situations.
How to use chopsticks and the etiquette around them. I’m still not great at using them..but meals are definitely self-sufficient with basic skills.
When going to one of the big cities, give yourself at least one day in each one to just wander. No plans. No heading. Just pick a direction and walk.
You will find things. You will make memories. It’s worth it.
If you intend to visit numerous places on your trip around various cities then being able to walk is an absolute must.
Specifically, being able to walk, consistently, for around 5 miles a day is likely. If that’s not possible for you before you go, try and increase your stamina.
* You will end up with many, many 1 yen coins. Don’t know what to do with them? Throw them in shrine/temple offertory boxes.
* Speaking of money…do NOT hand your cash directly to the cashier. Unless there is one of those new-fangled automatic machines, there will always be a tray for putting the money onto, which the cashier will then take and put any change onto to hand back to you. If you hand cash to them directly, they will be confused (but take it, anyway, then use the tray to give you your change lol).
* Similarly, in some places, if you want to pay by credit card, you place the card in the same tray unless otherwise directed to put the card directly into the machine.
* Consider collecting goshuincho (temple/shrine stamp books). They’re beautiful, compact, and are a way to financially support temples and shrines in Japan. They also make visiting temples and shrines more fun!
* If you decide to go clothes shopping and want to try something on, know that you are supposed to remove your shoes before going into the changing rooms.
* When at a sit-down restaurant, servers will NOT come to your table unless you flag them down (or if there’s a button on your table, just press it to call for one). This will be strange for those of us from countries where servers are expected to pop by your table every so often to check on you.
* Last but not least….SLOW DOWN. Seriously. Absolutely go and plan to see some of the big sights and events, but honestly, Japan is such a great country to just wander around and explore. Take some time to just walk around and find the amazing hole-in-the-wall places. Some of my best experiences and memories in Japan are by doing this.
Download a PDF of the [Tokyo subway map](https://www.tokyometro.jp/en/subwaymap/index.html) on your mobile. You’re going to reference it *a lot* to figure out how to get from point A to point B.
don’t limit yourself to the JR even if you have the pass.
drinking all the tea in the vending machine on a hot summer will dehydrate you faster.
Suica/passmo card is the single most important transportation decision to make. Buying tickets, remembering bus fares, etc are very tedious and intimidating. These cards make everything much simpler
Get a small notebook without lines and collect station stamps and other commemorative stamps. Unlike shrine seals, these ink stamps are free and usually don’t require Japanese to interpret. You can get stamps at nearly every train/metro station, museum, tourist office, onsen, and other place other than a restaurant that a tourist is likely to pass through. If you want to go all out, order a real Japanese station stamp notebook in advance or pick one up when you first arrive (this may be slightly harder as not every bookstore carries them).
Know where you’re going for the first leg of your journey. My phone could not sort itself out after getting wifi. For my first trip I was left with what I remembered and headed in the general direction of Tokyo after a 13.5 hour flight and thankfully
Second trip I did some screen shots and downloaded the map I’d need and it was a lot less stressful.
Same for cash. My credit card worked completely fine but my friends didn’t. You’ll want enough on hand to pay everything in cash for the first few days so you can have time to sort out any issues.
Google how to open the convince store onigiri. I
I wish I had known what all the food was ahead of time. I missed out on Soba, takoyaki, and onigiri because I didn’t know it existed.
Was just there for 5 months.
-Google lens has a live translate feature that is a god send it you can’t read Japanese. Saved me many a time when there was no English menu.
– If you don’t know what to order still just ask for the chefs recommendation, it has never lead me wrong
-Whem looking up reviews, it’s important to know that 3 stars is truly the baseline. 3 stars on something means it’s average (i.e good quality). To get into the 4 star range you have to be exceptional.
-Google maps is fantastic for getting around by train, but isn’t great for getting around stations and buses
Not really Japan specific as it was my first time traveling abroad, but just how to pack luggage (backpack), what to bring or not. I did bring way too much clothes and my backpack was way too full from the start.
Other than that, yes there is general advices that apply to everyone, but there is also a lot that really depends on your individual style, for example make a detailed plan or just go with the flow, select one base and do day trip or change accommodation regularly. All these options are valid, you just have to find what is right for you.
You need to figure out how to get money in case you ran out. Japan is cash king, very rarely you see establishments accepting credit card, so youll ran out of cash soon.
They don’t really sell gum in convenience stores. I was using it before the trip to help with anxiety when I went into public on my own, but I could only find some weird candy-coated gum that was Lupin III themed.
I ended up using any kind of candy as a replacement, especially “Soda Kids” hard candy. I’d step out of my hotel, turn on the Pocket WiFi, pop a candy, and march to my train station.
Expect rudeness towards foreigners, fake politeness, and getting pushed. Once you’ve accepted this, you will have a better time.
That you can rely on the trains, if it’s scheduled to arrive at Kyoto at 8:01 and your connecting train departs at 8:07 you can pretty well guarantee you’ll make it
Very few people wear shorts.
Either get cash out at the airport or bring cash to exchange at the machine so you have something to start with.
Try to stay close to a larger train station like Ueno, at least for the first few nights.
Instead of planning every day to the hour make a ranked list of things you want to do and pick what to do based on weather and energy levels.
Buy sunscreen, shampoo, etc there.
During rainy season – don’t hesitate… buy an umbrella.
Make sure you learn some basic Japanese’s phrases. Don’t worry if you butcher them a little. Please, thank you, do you have an English menu etc. I made a cheat sheet of phrase that I kept with me.
Sumimasen – means excuse me/sorry and is great word for whenever you get stuck, bump into someone, can’t figure something out. I used it loads. Esp at the start when paying and trying to figure out the coins.
I know this asked for one, but here’s a few from my own lessons traveling there a few times:
* Have good, broken in walking shoes that you already trust. Depending on the situation you might have a tough time finding some there.
* Virtual Suica card on your phone is a godsend.
* In a city full of wifi, finding something you can actually connect to is HARD. Get a hotspot or use gmaps offline mode.
* People take hiking Mt Fuji with wildly different levels of seriousness. Take it medium serious and you’ll have a better time.
* Have a travel outline/checklist but not a firm plan.