Traveling to Japan? 12 Under-the-Radar Tips You Need to Know
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I’ve been to Japan twice now. Once with a study abroad travel program through Penn State, and the second time was a trip to myself as a gift for completing my college degree. I worked meticulously hard saving up my money to make it happen. I planned and executed everything by myself with just a Passion Planner. I even brought the Passion Planner small with me to keep everything, all details needed, neat and tidy. So I have a great amount of tips, I have 12 here, but stay tuned because I have plenty more where this comes from. But for now, 12 simple tips for traveling to Japan that no one talks about.
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1) Do you need a visa?
The first thing you ever do before planning a trip to Japan is research the visa. Depending on how long you're going and which country you are from you may or may not need a visa.
As an American, if you're going from anywhere under 3 months you don't need a visa which means you can just buy your plane tickets right away. If you're trying to go for longer, you will need a visa. And that's a whole other beast. I can’t cover that. That’s not my territory.
2) Booking plane tickets
After understanding if you need a visa or not, you're now ready to book your plane tickets. But to do that you have to understand how travel works.
Traveling during peak seasons will always be more expensive.
Buying your tickets closer to the date of leaving will be more expensive.
It's best to buy tickets in advance as much as possible. But if you buy from a cheap airline you will get cheap. If it's your first time flying I wouldn't recommend it. You'll be stressed over shitty workers, constantly canceled flights, delays, layovers, etc.
That's why I always go with reputable airlines and buy as far in advance as possible to get the best deal.
You can Google search for peak seasons in Japan and avoid those if you choose to. If you don’t want to, be aware you will pay more and it’ll probably be more crowded.
Airlines I love traveling with, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, and I’ve never flown any of the Japan airlines but have heard great things about them!
Also, something to note, you might want to book your seats in advance also. Some airlines will allow you to choose your seat with no extra cost, and some will have a fee. But trust me, it's so much better than playing Russian Roulette with your seating. I like my window seat, and I knock out the second I get on. I am not switching my seat with ANYONE.
3) The JR Pass
Before we can even get into booking hotels or Airbnb or figuring out your accommodation, in general, you’re going to want to figure out if you want to stay in one location or travel around Japan.
If you want to travel to more locations outside of Tokyo, or wherever a major airport in Japan takes you to, you will need a shinkansen pass aka JR Pass.
For someone who is just a tourist you can get this for a much more affordable option than buying tickets in Japan. But they are still pricey.
Just 7 days use is about $200 per person for the ordinary car and $300 for the green car. A green car is basically VIP seating.
There are 2 other duration options to choose from:
14 days
And 21 days.
The thing you have to be aware of is, say you get the shinkansen JR pass for 7 days. It expires AT THE END of the 7th day. So you have to travel back to where you need to be on the 7th day. Not the 8th/following day.
The first day will be the same day you activate it and start traveling.
Same with a 14 day pass. You have to travel back to your original location or where your airport will be on the 14th day.
So for example, my flight was going to be out of Haneda airport in Tokyo. Therefore, I had to make my way back to Tokyo on the 7th day. I was in Fukuoka, and it was a 7 hour trip back to Tokyo.
You will be screwed the fuck over if you do not go back on the 7th day, and you will have to pay god knows how much extra to go back on the 8th day. The website will explain this in detail also.
4) Booking rooms
Once you bought your plane tickets and figured out your shinkansen JR pass situation, now you're ready to book your rooms.
When I went in 2018, I booked Airbnbs. Airbnb is a little complicated right now in Japan because things have changed. So I'm not sure what it's like post-pandemic. I know there are some still, but again it’s best to book in advance so you can get the rooms and dates that you need.
I know a lot of previous Airbnb's left Airbnb and put their places back up for rent because Japan's borders were closed to tourists. Therefore, you may have even less to choose from if trying to go too late during peak seasons. Always plan and book in advance.
You also have the options of capsule hotels, share houses, and actual hotels.
I liked Airbnb's because I could get a feel for actually living in Japan, and felt like I blended in. I felt like a student living there.. But I think I could also find myself staying in capsule hotels.
Furthermore, if you're traveling around via shinkansen you will need to find accommodations for all the places you will be staying at in advance. As well as, on the 7th day you will be returning to wherever you are so you need to book your accommodation for the place you will be returning to. I would recommend it being as close to your airport as possible.
After booking all your rooms, I would highly recommend compiling their names in English and romanization, their address, how it makes sense to you, and the official Japanese address in their kanji. Furthermore, the dates you are staying there, and any extra info on separate pages of paper.
I compiled them in Google, printed them, and pasted them into the back of my A5 Passion Planner that has free back pages. That way if I used a taxi or got lost any time, the Japanese are more than willing to help you out, but you need the official Japanese kanji address. Not your English one. The English one is just for you to understand.
5) Wifi is NOT everywhere.
Let's cover this in the beginning because it's really important! When I was first going to Japan for two weeks in 2016 with a school embedded trip, the organizers kept trying to say there's wifi everywhere. There's not.
Therefore you have 3 options:
Roaming
Travel SIM Card
Portable pocket wifi router
Roaming was never for me, but if you have a really good phone plan you may have roaming included. A lot of people I knew were fine because they were paying enough back home to have roaming.
But for me, as a constant traveler, that's not an option for me. Please check with your carrier and phone plan, to see if this is an option for you.
You're going to need A LOT of data to get around. As there is no wifi in the streets. There's no free wifi in a lot of places. I only had free wifi in the hotel lobby, not even in my room in 2016, and to get around or even just use social media you're going to need the data.
The second option is my go to option. I go for a Travel SIM card in the country I am in, and usually you can get a sim card right in the airport or online before you travel.
Now this won't be an option for many people.
Why?
Because your phone has to be carrier unlocked and a GSM phone. Meaning it has to support and has a SIM card tray, and you had to have bought it out from your carrier. So most people I know get their phones from T-Mobile, At&t, etc and they're paying a monthly fee for that phone. That means their phone is locked to that carrier.
What I do is, I always buy my phones directly from the phone brand itself. For example, if you want a Google Pixel, you buy it from Google's website. If you want a Samsung, you buy it online from Samsung's website. If you want an Apple iPhone, you buy it online through the website, and choose, “set it up by myself later.” Because sometimes, nowadays, they try to trick you by making you choose to set it up in store or at a carrier, and that’s also how they can lock your phone that you paid in full to a carrier. Setting up a phone is really easy. It takes 5 minutes. Whether it’s new or you're transferring data over, it’s really simple!
That way it is forever your phone and unlocked and you can use it with whichever carrier all around the globe!!
If you don’t purchase the SIM card online or at the airport, you can purchase one at Yodobashi. That’s where I got mine, but if you’re traveling blind, I wouldn’t recommend this. Always purchase ahead of time online to pick up at the airport.
The last option is also a favorable option for me, it's getting a portable pocket wifi router.
They're inexpensive and great for long periods of time or if you're also bringing a laptop, iPad, tablet, and whatever else you want to hook up to it.
You're going to want to book this at least 3 days in advance.
I got mine through Ninja Wifi in 2018, for a month between 2 people. It cost us like $60-70 total.
Definitely do this search way in advance figuring out which is your best option. Personally, I really enjoyed having a wifi router with me at all times. Therefore, I honestly think in the future I will be going with this option again.
I picked it up at the airport and dropped it off at the airport. Very stress free and easy.
6) Money
Okay so I planned my trip out about a month in advance, start to finish, by myself, with just the use of a Passion Planner. Yes, I’m going to keep mentioning it because it really helped organize everything to the very specific details.
Airline Ticket Price
I spent about $900 for airline tickets just for myself. I would never recommend planning just a month in advance, but 2018 was a spur of the moment trip, kinda. And unfortunately, I hated the airline, but like I mentioned above, if you purchase cheap, you will get cheap. Stay away from AIr Canada, they’re notorious for having constant issues.
Always plan further out, to get cheaper tickets at a great airline.
Accommodation Price
Anyways, I spent about $560 for my share of the rooms. We had 4 Airbnbs total between Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and then back to Tokyo.
Rooms will be cheaper outside of Tokyo.
Public Transit Allowance
Public transit, especially trains, cost us quite a bit. I don’t even know how much to estimate per one person, but it was A LOT. I would set aside about $200 worth just in case, because mostly cost about 200 to 300 yen, but some cost us more. And we were constantly getting on trains. There are multiple trains to get to where you want to go, so definitely have a good amount of allowance for this.
There is also the JR pass that cost us about $200 per person each.
Taxis
Definitely cost us a bit. We used it about 3-4 times and we paid about 3000 yen ish each time, which is about $30.
Spending money
If you don't plan on buying much you'll be fine with $2500 for spending money total.
But just know, a bulk of your money will go to using public transit or any other transportation.
For mine alone, I had spent about $4000-5000. Food is very affordable and inexpensive. You can get healthy weeks worth of food for $20 at a convenience store. Obviously, if you eat out constantly it's going to be different and you’ll be spending more.
I mainly utilized convenience stores because I like my morning melon pan and milk tea.
I ended up taking $5k in my checking account because I knew I was going to buy a lot of merchandise. I also bought clothes because I wanted to. I love Japanese style.
We also hired a luggage transporter for us from Fukuoka to Tokyo. So that cost us about $80. We also played at a lot of arcades which racked up. Needless to say, I came back kinda broke!
7) Luggage
Since Japan is mostly a train and public transit country, I would not recommend traveling with large suitcases.
You may be thinking, “Diana, this isn’t so bad!” This is JUST 5am in the morning.
I didn't in 2016, but I never bought anything for myself back then. And then I did in 2018, and I regretted it. I still do!
Honestly, redoing it I would only pack the bare necessities into a mini or carry on luggage and buy everything else in Japan. I would also buy a large luggage in Japan for when leaving the country. Therefore, I would have a place for all my things to bring them back with me to America.
I would also invest in luggage storage for longer periods of time so I wouldn't have to constantly travel with my merch or souvenirs.
Now I know that's not ideal for everyone, so I utilized taxis a lot because of my large luggage. And that does rack up. Depending on the ride it could be anywhere from $30+.
If you stay in a place that has launder services, you can honestly pack a capsule wardrobe and wash your things while there.
For me, I got pretty good at packing only what I need and nothing more because everything else can be bought.
You also have a weight limit. For carry-ons it's no more than 13 pounds, it depends on the airline for exact, but I usually go for 13 and under.
For check-in luggage it's 50 pounds. If you go over, you pay a fee.
How to check?
Weigh yourself, write down the number, and then weigh yourself again but with the luggage in hand and have someone record that number. Then subtract your weight from the weight with your luggage. That's how much your luggage weighs.
Traveling with heavy bulky luggage is not ideal in Japan.
8) Currency Exchange
Japan is a cash-only country. Only SOME places allow credit cards. You will want to have cash at all times with you.
When traveling anywhere, I travel with at least $500 in cash. I hide it in my bra or somewhere very close to me.
All airports, when you land, will have a currency exchange place. Find it on the map and do it there as soon as you can. DO NOT WAIT. They are very hard to find in Japan. There are a few, but just have the first $500 in cash exchanged.
For all other money and spending allowance, you'll want to use your debit card and I'll cover that in tip number 9.
9) Debits Cards in Japan
Definitely don't travel with large amounts of cash. Store it in your bank account and travel with your debit card.
First you're going to want to tell your bank you are traveling and when you are traveling out of the country.
Because they will then know it's you and not put a block on your account when you use your card outside of the country.
Secondly, to get more Japanese yen using your debit card head to a 7/11.
Any 7/11.
You can withdraw money from your card there, and the machine has an English option. Yes there will be a fee, but even exchanging cash currency has a fee. You won't find currency exchanges around as much. Therefore, I highly, highly, suggest using a debit card.
You don't need anything fancy or an AAA card (these are a scam). Just a regular debit card.
Again, Japan is a cash country, but they do utilize Pasmo or SUICA a lot for cashless transactions in SOME places.
Pasmo and SUICA are used to travel by public transit. Many smaller shops and vendors do not accept cards or Pasmo, so you always have to have cash on you!! I cannot stress that enough!
If you're not good at counting out the money yourself to pay the shop or restaurant, you can hold out your hand with the money and they'll pick it out themselves. I'm dead shit serious. There is no stealing in this country. They will run 5 cents back out to you!
10) Getting around in Japan
I used Google maps often. There's also another app that's just for trains specifically, Japan Navitime. If you don't know any Japanese, that's fine, there's English pretty much everywhere. But it may help you to have the app Google Translator even just a bit.
11) Before traveling to Japan,
Definitely practice some basic Japanese.
Sumimasen.
Arigatou gozaimasu. (The gozaimaus is important! It’s proper, former, otherwise saying Arigatou is slang and like you’re speaking to your friend.)
Maybe go a step further and learn basic questions and directions. Such as,
eki wa doko desu ka?
Which is, where is the train station?
Learn about things you don't do or say in Japan. Study up on their culture. Be mindful and respectful. Japan is a very clean and organized place so don't be rude if you're visiting.
12) Make a list
Once you have everything else settled you can then make a list of things you may or can do every day.
If you're a highly planned out person, go ahead and make your itinerary.
For me, I like to have an idea, their addresses, any special notes about it, but then go with the flow. snd see where Japan itself takes me.
But you're definitely going to want to have some idea of what you want to do there, if it costs money, if you need to purchase a ticket in advance because some places you do.
And yes, it’s okay if you dress in a yukata or kimono. There are agencies that will help you rent and dress up. They want you to! They like seeing you in it because it was done professionally and therefore it is respectful and OKAY. I would suggest wearing a yukata if you’re going in the Spring or Summer, and a Kimono in the Autumn or Winter. I wore a kimono in the summer and I sweat to death!
And with that i think that's all my tips for Japan, for now! If you have any specific questions let me know.
I will be making a part two for more in depth tips that no one talks about. I will also be returning to Japan eventually as I have family that just moved there! ♥
If you have any comments or questions about anything on this post at all, let me know in the comments section down below! I'll get back to you at my earliest convenience.
Till next time!
~Diana
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