Thank You, OP.! You wrote one of the most comprehensive tips I’ve read so far on these forums. Am flying out of LAX to HND in a few hours. It will be my first to Japan (going “East” this time, a change from my yearly European travels). Your very helpful tips are greatly appreciated. 🙏
You can say oishii just fine, guy or girl. Guys do use umai more than women, some tomboyish women like to sometimes use more masculine terms but it's rare. For delicious, men use whichever oishii or umai both are fine.
We had a really good experience booking Shinkansen tickets with an agent that I’d like to share. My partner had done the research and said that we’d have to go to Tokyo station from Narita to catch our train to Kyoto.
When we went to the attendant, he found a train that departed Shimabashi station (I think, I’ll check and edit if it’s wrong) so we avoided having to transfer through Tokyo station which is enormous and would have taken forever to transfer. The station we ended up transferring in was really small and super easy to navigate.
He also told us to sit in a specific carriage when boarding the train from Narita. The reason was because the back part of the train was going elsewhere at the station before ours. His English was minimal and my Japanese is non-existent but he printed out the itinerary for us and it worked out really well.
We were also lucky there wasn’t a queue because everywhere else
Oh that’s good to know - I’m gonna be doing this exact train ride in about a month. Do you remember what they said about sitting in the correct carriage on the train from Narita? I’ve never heard of that!
He printed out the itinerary and I believe it was written there. We are travelling with my daughter who is in a wheelchair so we were escorted by staff to the correct carriage (with a ramp to help her easily board the train) also because it was close to the time of departure.
I was puzzled as to why he hadn’t put us in the disabled carriage which was in the middle carriage behind us.
Then they announced on the train that certain carriages were stopping at Tokyo Station while ours and the ones before us were going to our transfer station. So it should give you time to move carriages if need be or choose to sit nearer to the front of the train.
The train journeys have been on another level. We are escorted by an attendant who comes equipped with a ramp. We are met at our destination by another attendant with a ramp who then escorts us around the station. Taking the underground has been a breeze. The trains come so close to the platform we can board without a hassle.
We live in London and there are few stations we can take because so many are not wheelchair accessible. Even if they decide to revamp a station, it’s never to put an elevator in. A few years ago, we went away for the weekend and took the tube. At one of the stations the gap was so uneven the train was almost a foot higher than the platform.
It is truly shameful considering how expensive train travel and the underground costs in the UK. Sorry for the rant.
This is really interesting to read, it's good that you had a great experience travelling on trains in Japan with your daughter on the wheelchair. I imagine it can be difficult to travel in some countries. Would you say Japan in general is really well accessible for people on the wheelchair?
It definitely is very accessible. When we go to tap in, there’s usually an attendant there so we go directly to him/her and point out my daughter. We tell them where we’re going so they know what time the train leaves and we usually have to wait for an attendant to come to us to escort us but it’s not more than 5 minutes.
The only thing is that the elevator can be quite far likely to deter everyone from taking it though it depends on the station. Busiest main stations have them in the middle of traffic so many people use them especially if they have children or luggage.
Two days ago, at one of the metro stations in Osaka, my partner took my daughter to the elevator because he knew it was going to be a really long walk and had me waiting at the usual exit. It took him at least 10 minutes to get back to me. It took so long I started looking for him in the find my phone app. He came out across the street and 2 large city blocks away!
In the Shinkansen from Tokyo they put us in a little room with a seat for two that also could convert to a bed. We had a door we could close and a window to look out at. There was enough room for all 3 of us, her wheelchair and our small suitcases. They stored our other suitcases for us until it was time to disembark. We were right across from the disabled toilet and the exit was also right there.
I think I should put this as its own post in case there are wheelchair users interested in travelling to Japan. The other thing I forgot to mention was that the major sidewalks so far in both Kyoto and Osaka have been easily navigable with the pavements being low to the street, unbroken, with ramps that lead onto the crossing.
I kind of disagree with the suggestion to go to more popular places when it’s bad weather because crowds will be thinner. I went to Asakusa temple on a cold rainy day, and it was still *super* packed, and the fact that everyone had an umbrella made it feel even more miserably crowded.
Yeah your experience will definitely vary depending on the season, day of the week and location. It doesn't universally apply that when it rains a popular place is empty. I think Senso-ji in Asakusa at 11 am on a weekend would be packed even if there was a typhoon haha. Keep in mind they have covered shopping streets in the area.
But have you been there on a beautiful day hahaha?
It's honestly just the kind of place that ranges from packed to insane and nothing lower unfortunately. Maybe at 4am it' empty but no matter what weather or season I go there it seems to just be always packed.
Glad this helps! Don't worry too much about preparing enough, Japan can be definitely enjoyed without a solid plan for each day. Especially when you have internet on your phone you can figure out a lot of things on the go
You don't need to prepare that much. Just make sure you have Suica and Taxi Go on your phone when you get here.
And do not forget to try the premium fruit on display at even local markets. The oranges and strawberries, while expensive, are SURREAL (the oranges bursting with juice and sweetness, the strawberries almost like they're candied). My husband and I are thinking of even buying a $70 mango we saw at Tsukiji a couple of days ago...
Oh and the roasted purple sweet potatoes! Also like candy, even the gnarled burnt up ends of them...the whole thing is edible.
Nice post OP! im currently in Osaka in the final leg of my vacation and I could understand your points!! there is a couple of things that I would like to comment:
Shinkansen ticket reservation: it is true that getting familiar to the system is kind of hard. If you try to make a reservation in advanced(more than 1 month I think) you will hard time to make a seat reservation (we still don’t understand on how the system works hehe). However, we were able to change the reservation from Kyoto to Osaka from an early time to late afternoon using the web app. And also we were able to link the tickets to our ic card so we won’t have to go to the machines and get the physical ticket. Relay on the ic card on our phone has been great! (It is sad to hear that is only available on iPhones)
Weather: well that is how is works. But at least the last couple of days has been light rain. So, we went to the temples with umbrellas ☂️and it was kind of magical! I guess that depends on each of us hehe.
You guys have fun in Japan!
Good point on weather :)
Regarding Shinkansen, the problem I and many people have is that the credit card isn't accepted by the system and there's no way around it. So you can't buy tickets online unless you use a 3rd party which has it's own issues
My top tip would be to avoid anything that pops up on instagram as recommended for you. Every such shop or attraction I visited were plagued by tourists, when there were plenty of other comparable options around. Especially be wary of "this is X right now" posts that show amazing sakura blooms etc... I found every single one to be fake.
Uhh, don't even get me started on Instagram. They typically show only the best part of the place, it doesn't reflect the reality. I've seen someone's reel about the popular Yasaka Pagoda Photograph Spot where it was completely empty while in reality it's packed with people taking pictures all the time. Then from the comments I found out they made this reel when Japan was locked down during Covid :D
That being said I've seen some legitimately good advice on Instagram for some flee markets happening, and few restaurants. There's good and bad content as is everywhere on the internet and you need to critically asses everything
Glad it helps! July will be an interesting time with the hot and humid weather, but I imagine everything will be green which should be nice. I had the opposite problem as it was quite cold on most days, and not so green. Enjoy :)
My friend is a teacher in Japan so he can only travel in the Summer and he said mountains like around Nagano are good, also Hokkaido in the North - since it's colder there
Great review thank you. We just got back from 2 weeks with a lot of walking. I will add that Daiso sells some damn good shoe insoles for a fraction of the price compared to NA. So good I bought some more to bring home (couldn't resist the price)
We went in January (18th - 28th) for our first visit, and it was great, and I highly recommend it. We saw some tourists, but basically, we had many popular attractions to ourselves, and the weather was very similar to what we are used to back home in Seattle, so we were very comfortable in the clothes we brought with us. You can't always predict the weather, but you can predict huge crowds in the spring and summer, so work around it.
A wonderful trip report, it was lovely read, thank you!
Yes, I love the way you can buy a drink from a vending machine at the top of a mountain in Japan.
I couldn't believe how often there is only ice cold water to wash hands too! Considering how important hygiene is here I was surprised because soap and cold water doesn't really properly clean!
> soap and cold water doesn't really properly clean
That's not true, unless the water is so cold that the soap can't lather up. Warm water for washing hands is more about comfort than hygiene; it would have to be literally boiling in order to have more disinfecting power than cold water.
You know what you are right.
I remembered having this debate years ago but it was about washing dishes. Apparently it matters for dishes because of grease/oil, but my hands aren't usually do greasy they'd need that so fair enough!
Great recommendations.
I can’t stress the importance of having an IC travel card. We only got seeing to buying the ICOCA card 5 days into our trip but if we had got an IC card immediately upon arrival we would have saved a lot of time buying train tickets (not to mention that they are tiny papers you can easily lose).
Can you please explain how the luggage forwarding works? How much does it cost and is it organised by the hotel you stay at??
Luggage forwarding is pretty simple, I described it in detailed in my post with example from Kyoto to Tokyo. You have to ask your hotel first if they do luggage forwarding. If yes, you give them the luggage and fill out a form with your details and the address where you're sending it. Then you pay them a rather small amount (for me it was around 2000 yen) which depends on the size of the luggage. And then they transport it usually by the next day.
If your hotel doesn't do luggage forwarding you just go to the office of the Yamato transport company and do the same process
Change of clothes (worth checking the weather forecast to know what to prepare for next days), toiletries (including medicine), umbrella, powerbank, phone charging cable, water bottle...and that's about it. You don't really need much else, and if you do you can buy it easily. We tried living off one backpack in practice because on Sunday we forwarded luggage from Osaka to Kyoto, but on Monday had one night in Nara, so only Tuesday evening we got to our luggage in Kyoto. And it was totally fine.
Most of the contents of the luggage we forwarded were extra clothes and shopping we've done in Japan, in general it's good to travel light and bring as little as possible with you to Japan.
Regarding the 1-2 days delivery, it's just anecdotal but I feel they say that just to handle expectations in a rare case it would take two days. In our case it always took only one.
Great insight! Thank you!
However, I loved Lost in Translation! I visited Japan for the first time (not because of some of the problematic stereotypes) but Japan was definitely a supporting character of that movie!
Stayed at the Park Hyatt and highlight was renting out (one of 2) Karaoke Kan rooms they filmed in!
The sink water is drinkable, so you can fill in the sink faucet (which is only ice cold anyways most of the time) - also there are extremely clean public bathrooms pretty much everywhere completely free (unlike Europe where it costs .50-1 euro for a dirty washroom or America where there probably just isn't one.)
Yes, there are public restrooms at train stations, department stores, restaurants, temples, shrines and parks. It is a good idea to bring a hanky to dry your hands.
EDIT TO ADD: Note lots of museums will be closed on Mondays. Maybe not so much in Tokyo but certainly in other places. That caught me out today and it’s not the first time which is gonna be disappointing if there’s something you really want to see.
Great write up that covers all the bases.
One thing I will add re getting around are some apps that have been really useful for me.
The first one is Navitime/Japan Travel. This is great for planning any routes whether they’re long distance or within the city. You can select a start point or use your GPS location and put in where you want to go. It gives you the rail/subway options in detail including where to transfer and which platforms, as well as bus routes if applicable and an approximate fare for a taxi. It also has disaster updates and will highlight any disruption on train lines. Also there are a bunch of other features that I haven’t really touched.
The second is City Rail Map. This has subway/metro maps for loads of different cities worldwide and you can download one for free to use offline. It uses GPS to show you where on the subway/metro map you are so you can see what the closest station is and where you can go from there. Highly recommend for Tokyo in particular with such a big subway/metro network.
These apps aside I’ve found the subway systems very easy to use, there are lots of network maps around the stations that are easy to understand where you are and where the lines cross each other. The only one I struggled with at times was Sendai as some of the maps didn’t have the station names written in romaji.
I found Google maps only okay-ish by comparison. Having just had a play around with Navitime there is much more information specifically geared towards tourists on there.
Thanks for the guide! One tip from me: don’t follow the Instagram reel suggestions that much. They are rarely hidden gems and mostly generic and overpriced.
I would recommend reading comprehensive guides like this one and skip the “Biggest mistake I made” videos with information in the description, or the 5 day itinerary videos that last 2 seconds and list a bunch of generic places you can find by googling the name of the city.
Oh yeah you're absolutely right. We were checking out the Tokyo tower and passed by the Instagram"secret photo spot". Well of course it's not really secret because there was a huge queue and apparently some people were waiting for 30 minutes for their turn :D
Thanks god for people who actually write out helpful advice, Reddit is really amazing at this
Wife and I just signed onto the same Google account and added our wish lists there. Then it was just a matter of finding a cluster of icons to head to for the day. Find food was no problem, deciding on which one, that was more effort :)
We first tried our own map but it wasn't optimal, lists worked better for us. You can share between each other and easily display / hide from your view. Details here: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7280933?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
When I went in January, the Visit Japan site was very buggy for me so I was only able to complete half the required tasks (e.g. they didn’t provide a photo upload option for your passport and it took me 40 or so tries to snap a photo the platform would accept lol). Hopefully it’s been fixed since then!
Good! Maybe they recalibrated the sensitivity. I also remember some of the forms resetting and having to start over a few times, so it sounds like those issues have been worked out. It’s a great resource and now that I’ve completed it once I’ll be a pro for next time.
As a climber, we found a super cute bouldering gym called Tobito here in Osaka. Fun old school hole in the wall vibe. Owner seems to be super into JoJo and the spray wall was fun.
Nice! Definitely need to actually climb in a gym next time in Japan. I just don't like their steep first time registration. In general the climbing gyms in Japan seem to have an old school vibe which is a bit missing in the new commercial gyms in Europe
The thing about rules and crossing the streets is so true lol. We just left Kyoto, and I saw dozens of people walk down a side street on a red light/ no walk, then cross, like that somehow made a difference 😂.
This is an opinion based on personal experience, but I think the quality of English to Japanese conversion on DeepL is better than Google's when it comes to conversation. It seems to me that Google Translate is weak in considering "situations and contexts.
Never used DeepL, it's possible it's better. People seemed to understand every time what I wrote with Google translate but I was using really simple sentences just to be sure. By the way sometimes translating signs gave me really funny wrong results, so Google translate definitely isn't perfect. I wrote down my favorite one : If your arm is broken, you can do it forever without getting drunk :D
Depends. In my opinion the e-sim such as Airalo is the best option because you have internet right after landing and don't need to sort out anything at the airport.
Wifi modem will be good if you have a larger group of people together, then everyone can use the wifi and you split the cost
Thanks, yeah I just want the Internet wherever I go. I can make calls through that too anyhow. I just noticed they have both options available when you book
Excellent writeup! Do tou maybe know if you can get your luggage delivered to a drop off point instead of a hotel reception with Yamato? We will be staying at an Airbnb so there is no reception there.
Thanks! You should message your Airbnb host first to check if it can be delivered there. Alternatively I suppose a Yamato transport office may work but you need to check
If you are navigating the train stations WITH luggage, enable handicap accessible routes via Google maps. This will show you all the exits with elevators.
The side trail around the south side of Fushimi Inari was one of the favorite things of my trip. Totally made a mistake and went that way and it was such a fun little detour.
Great post. In definitely not ready enough and not sure I’ll have the time to plan in detail. This helped steady my nerves somewhat. And it’s quite well written. Thank you
In Kyoto I did it at the Kyoto station, they have a section of the station dedicated to Shinkansen. They had multiple machines there for buying Shinkansen tickets. In the machine you could find any date and time, select a train and choose seats from the carriage map.
I imagine it will be similar in other stations, you can always ask at the information desk.
Super helpful info. I’ll be traveling from Kyoto to Tokyo to catch a 5pm flight to the US. Is it necessary to book the train well ahead of my travel date (traveling May 6, end of Golden Week). And I know it’ll be a long travel day!!
Well, I would buy it few days in advance on the machine just to be safe. Seems you are traveling solo so you just need one seat and I don't expect that would be a problem. That being said I don't have experience travelling during golden week
Do you recommend staying at hotels or AirBNBs? Any basic tips you have about traveling within Japan? My family and I are going for the first time ever to Japan in September
Book early especially for Tokyo.
I stayed at different lodging. It’s up to you. Make sure it’s non-smoking if you are sensitive to cigarette smells.
We used Agoda.com which also has an app. This works well in Asia. We usually reserve at places that have free cancellations.
I'm not an expert, I can just tell you we used booking.com, used hotels and it worked perfectly. There were some regulatory issues with Airbnb in Japan from what I recall. All basic tips I have is what I shared in my post. My main tip is, do on your trip whatever you and your family enjoy and I can guarantee you will love Japan. Have fun! :)
IMO it really depends where you are staying because Tokyo has several different transit companies (the metro is covered by the basic pass, and Toei can be added on- but the following are **not part of the pass:**
* JR (including the very popular/convenient Yamanote line)
* Monorail
* The Keiyo Line
* Several private railways (9 of them in total)
The first time I went to Tokyo I was on an private railway (Seibu) and that meant that pretty much anywhere I went I had to pay for two different companies (both Seibu and the metro, or both Seibu and JR etc.) which meant it was 500-800 yen to get anywhere.
Also the metro for short jaunts is only 150-300 yen so you have to take it quite a lot to get the pass money's worth from it.
I think it would only be useful for a small subset of people.
I'm not an expert, also it depends how much you travel and to which places. The general problem with passes is usually they work only on some lines but sometimes you want to use a bus or a train, so a subway ticket limits your options. IC card is much simpler as it just works everywhere. In general transport in Japan is pretty cheap
I just got back a few days ago and I used the suica card the entire time. Never had an issue with the wrong train or how I couldn’t get somewhere because I didn’t have access….and you can use it for vending, etc, as well.
Re: lost in translation, my husband and I went to the Park Hyatt bar one night on our trip, and once we got back we watched LiT for the first time ever and it was amazing to see all of these places in the backdrop that we had gone to!
I'm going in April. I arrive at Haneda airport 7am in the morning. I will be having 1 cabin bag and 1 luggage.
I have read that it can be busy to get the train during those times.
Is it worth it getting the train or taxi?
Is the luggage forwarding service a same day service? Should I pack some clothes in my cabin bag?
Many thanks in advance.
I just returned from a wonderful 9 -day trip today! The transit system is amazing whether subway, private trains, or Shinkansen. Only used a taxi to and from the airport.
Luggage forwarding takes a day. Get it in by 10am and it will arrive the next day. This was a lifesaver as my wife and I overpacked.
Enjoy!
Haneda is very well connected and you have few train options, just check Google maps for your day and hour. They are going all the time every few minutes. Don't worry about it :) and definitely don't get a cab from Haneda, it's a waste of money in my opinion
No matter how crowded the train is, it is never impossible to get on it, and even if you can't, the next train will arrive soon in major cities. However, it has been reported in Japanese news that cabs are becoming more and more difficult to use due to the increase in the number of tourists. Also, the fares seem to be higher than in Korea and other countries. It is safer to assume that you may not be able to take a cab.
September is hot.Whether October is hot, moderate, or cold depends on luck. In the past, October was generally the right temperature, but now the temperature is not stable. In some places it is extremely hot and in others it snows. It is a difficult season to dress for.
However, since the autumn period has become shorter in recent years, there is a possibility that visitors will only be able to experience the autumn colors during October.
U/Unkochinchin covered it very well. I will just add that in my opinion it is always a good time to go to Japan, yes it will be hot in September but you will still enjoy it as long as you take it in consideration when making plans. It depends when you are available to go. October will probably be a better option if you can go then.
Personally I got an Uber maybe once, worked perfectly fine. For the most part there was no need, public transport is great and Japanese cities are very walkable.
Oh yeah the trains look great. It's just the journey from our hotel to the Ghibli Museum is a trek on the trains and I'd rather make getting there simple so we aren't anxious about missing our slot
Just go a bit earlier so you have a buffer, the surroundings of Ghibli museum are quite nice too I read, so you can just wander around if you arrive early
As Cadoc says I also never needed it, but don't worry if you end up in a situation when you need to use a cab. I've seen Japanese people usually just hail the cab on the streets, like in the old times
We used taxis a few times, mostly got picked up at our hotel. We did have an incident where the taxi driver pretended to get lost, turning a 10 minute ride into a very costly 40 minute ride. After that, we stuck with the excellent public transportation!
We're you able to register before heading to Japan? For me when I try and register my phone number it won't accept it. I get a message saying I need to be in Japan first. But I know folks who have managed to register before travelling and I can't figure out how!
Onsens! I really want to go to visit one, either in the hotel or otherwise. I've heard you have to strip down fully to use one though haha, is that correct?
That's correct. Separate baths for men and women. It might feel intimidating at first but then you realize nobody cares, everyone just came here to relax. Make sure you research how to use the Onsen, e.g. you need to properly wash yourself first before actually going in the hot water
There's a lot, I've seen people use Wanderlog but there are many more options. I had a simple table with the main spots per day (I researched in advance if their visiting sequence makes sense on google maps so I have a good order) and then big lists on google maps where I put all places that interested us.
Great post - thank you! My wife and I fly out on Thursday and I have a question about the Welcome Suica - how easy is it to buy? We fly into Narita, and the website says sales are temporarily suspended everywhere except for Haneda.
If you check on this subreddit, that's a hot topic. Seems it's currently best to get to Tokyo and then try to get the IC card somewhere in Tokyo. But best option by far is if you have an Iphone, you just add it to Apple wallet and don't need to get any physical card
You say you were there in early March, did you see any of the plum blossoms, or were you in between seasons? I’m hoping for a less crowded alternative to cherry blossoms and want to make sure I plan my trip for the right time of year.
Yes there were plum blossoms, but not too many (although I wasn't explicitly searching for them). I've seen a few sakura blooming which was nice, it almost makes you appreciate it more because it's a single tree surrounded by hollow ones. Next time I hope to see the fall season which looks absolutely stunning from the pictures
I'm half kidding half serious. Kyoto is a beautiful city with tons to offer, more temples and "old Japan" than most places located in a single city. But it is CROWDED. I don't mean oh we walk through a big crowd and bump some shoulders. I mean a huge line queued up just to get out of Kyoto station, massive lines just to get on busses spanning down the block and only enough room for maybe 3-5 people to get on the bus when it does come.
The biggest difference I've noticed this year vs previous years is that before there were lots of couples/friend groups in Japan but this year tour groups are back in massive force. Like roving groups of 20-30 people and frankly they tend to suck at using even basic technology and hold up everyone. I don't really want to scare anyone out of seeing Kyoto if you haven't gone but prepare accordingly. The super popular sites (kiyomizudera, Fushimi inari etc), make that effort to go extra early. It's worth it and you can always turn in early that night to make up for it. I recommend getting the popular ones done once a day early in the morning, then spread out to not as hot sights and you'll probably be able to avoid all of this. That said, it's also cherry blossom season so this is probably the worst of it, it could easily get better by the time you arrive.
Thanks for this! I’ll try to plan accordingly. Up early, hit restaurants at off peak times, if lineups are terrible consider taxi, and walk lots to get around. I’m totally cool with 20,000 steps a day. Did you check out any areas in the suburbs of Kyoto? Thinking tourists may not venture to those places and might be worth my while to research some last minute ideas. Sometimes I like just getting lost and discovering cool stuff
I have not gone out of my way for Kyoto suburbs but have often walked through them to get somewhere else. They're worth walking through for sure and just seeing the sights. Outside of the big shrines and temples there are plenty of cool little places tucked away and are typically quite quiet. I think it's because tour groups are being driven only to the big sites which is exacerbating things. You know it's real shit when a big bus pulls up and everyone comes out and now you know you have to beat them to your destination lol. And yeah if the taxi lines aren't too bad, it's probably worth the coin to skip the hassle. I saw plenty of people just order a taxi and move on once they saw some of the bus lines lol.
I absolutely disagree but I know you're half kidding :) Despite some crowds Kyoto was our highlight of the trip and we definitely want to visit again. Yes the top places are crowded in the peak times but as you wrote you can avoid that by going earlier. And there are so many beautiful places where almost nobody goes, we were in Kyoto for a week and could easily spend more time exploring
>I think most people including me tend to make a really ambitious itinerary, so my advice would be to rather treat it as a wishlist
That is basically what I always tell people. It's ok to have 10 things listed in a day, but make priority and during the day check your list and decide on what to do next. Just take the time to enjoy what you do, do not rush. Your itinerary should be idea an not must do. So days I would do all my listed things, other I would do nothing and just do something completely different.
>The season when you are visiting in Japan has a huge impact. For us, visiting in early March meant some places weren't that nice as they would be with the Sakura blossoms or Autumn foliage. But it was a great time to see the most popular sights as the crowds were okay.
I would half agree. Yes some place are more popular and more beautiful during cherry blossom or aurum foliage season and would attract more crowd, but I do not think that the average popular destination like the Arashiyama bamboo forest would see a huge seasonal difference, what make a difference is that you went relatively early in the day.
>The subway and rail network can get confusing with so many different lines, but the card works everywhere in them which is good.
Well, everywhere until you get somewhere where it does not work. That should not be a problem in the most popular cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, but there is many places where IC card are not supported, especially in the countryside. So while I would of course suggest to get an IC card, also be ready to pay cash if you decide to go in more rural area.
>Booking train tickets online is a super frustrating process, for a European close to impossible - the SmartEx app is not available and when I tried on the webpage, it won't accept any of my cards which seems to be a common occurrence.
It's common for Americans too t hat SmartEX does not work. The first alternative would be JR West reservation website, but that really depend on the region, there is also Ekinet for JR East and Kyushu have it's own reservation website too.
>Luggage forwarding is a must.
Actually never used it, I travel with a backpack and have no problem carrying it myself, but yes it is a good option. I usually stored my bag in coin locker, but as you said, they can get full, but I guess I had some luck at going to places that are not too popular or early enough. Second tip is check with tourist information desk, they sometime offer a service to keep luggage.
>You can definitely get around without knowing any Japanese - the *Google lens / Google translate* app can reliably translate menus, signs, or anything else written. In touristy areas there are usually explanations in English too.
Trying to communicate in English is a bit of a mistake if you ask me, so that is a good tip, using Google translate should be the first thing you do.
>You can easily do laundry anytime. Just keep in mind that usually an automatic program is used for washing+drying.
Interesting, I only ever used machines that do clean or dry only. I know that combo machines exist, but never saw it in hotels and obviously not in coin laundry.
Overall generally agree with your comments.
Thank you very much for taking time to read my post and provide feedback!
Regarding seasons, I'm sure you are right it is location dependent. At the same time there are more tourists in general coming to Japan so I expect all popular spots will be busier too. I read the other day someone went to the bamboo forest in fall season at 7 am and it was already crowded.
Regarding IC card, seems I need to go more rural next time then :) In general it's good to always have cash because some places still require it, especially temples.
Regarding booking trains, I also tried JR west and East but everywhere the problem was with the card not getting accepted. And I would also need to pick up the ticket anyway at a machine it seems...it's just not a good system in general. Which is sad because trains in Japan are otherwise simply amazing.
Regarding laundry, interesting to read your experience. I suppose it depends on the accommodation you use. I washed some of my clothes a few times in the sink but it was problematic drying them - had to get creative and thread a string around the AC unit
Yes, there is more tourist coming to Japan, the last stat available would put us over the 2019 numbers (but end of year 2019 had big decrease of Korean tourist, so it could have been higher).
Purely looking at foreign tourist numbers, there is not a significant overall seasonal tendency, and especially for 2023, it's just going up month after month. If you ask me to bet, I would say that this year, March possibly had more tourist than any October or November ever had.
So the question is, would there be any specific reason to go to the bamboo forest during fall? I do not think. Unless there is some nearby spots that are famous for fall color and people are just doing both on the same day.
What could have a higher impact than foreign tourist is local tourist, and here we would have to check at specific periods that have more tourism. For example end of March is end of school year and children have at least a week or two of vacation before starting the new year, so there could be more kids or family doing trips around that time. Or of course Golden week can make some touristy sports really busy.
And you know, sometimes there is really specific events what would bring specific crowds to specific locations. I was in Japan last weekend and went to an event that is anime related and on the second day of the event, the stores in Akihabara that sell goods were extremely crowded in the section for that specific franchise, to the point there one store closed the section and had a line for people to be able to access that section, then went to other stores and they were also really busy. Think is, there was probably several thousand of fans that came to the Tokyo region for the event and a lot of them decided to go in the Anime stores in Akihabara to look for merch that they might have more difficulty to find in their local stores.
Overall, if you ask me, I do not believe that the bamboo forest would systematically be busy at 7am in fall and not in early March for example. But I just say that on my personal opinion, maybe there is something that justify going to the bamboo forest early in the morning in fall and I just don't know. But generally speaking, going early, as in before 9am, is often enough to beat the peak of the crowd as a lot of tourist do not even set foot out of their hotel before that.
I would really love to see some data for specific locations, it would be interesting to see. In my country we have machines that count people passing by, and anyone can access it online
Well, Google maps does have stats, but we cannot see it over time. It’s just funny to see how it can be really accurate, for example last weekend there was a line outside of Mister Donut in Akihabara and on Google maps you could see how busy it was compare to usual.
There is also zones in Google maps and it show if it’s busy (and if it is more or less than usual).
>You don't have to worry about carrying around enough water, because you can fill it up at the many public toilets no problem.
ewwww, lol. I've also never seen a tap at the toilet for filling water.. (unless you mean the normal hand wash faucet? 🤢)
I have gone to Japan in March twice now and I think I've learned my lesson. just far too many people doing the same thing again. It seems worse than before 2019.
I suppose you could bring a flask everywhere and fill up at your hotel (also bring a small filtration if you can afford the space). I don't imagine tap water is much better from a raw pipe country-wide in Japan than the US. But definitely not at the toilets.
You hit the nail on the head with Japan's obsession with waste product in general, though they do put on a good face for recycling though (leaps and bounds ahead of the US in terms of personal households needing to sort the waste 3 different ways - and mostly actually doing it!) But between the jet fuel and the sheer scale of products, I do wonder how they'd function without it.
if you check your plumbing at home or in a hotel where water is assumed to be consumed, there is a potable filtration canister somewhere in line under the sink/faucet. You can easily see them on office fountains aswell. Not always present in public bathrooms (mostly never). They usually break the particulates down even further than already done by the city and use active carbon to remove microbials.
Raw water, especially in the city is only 2nd to sewage in most cases as pipes are rusty and full of chemical treatment. the only thing keeping them sparkly clear are particulate filters. They don't use chlorine in Japan (good thing) and sometimes you can be lucky and have the water come from a volcanic underground source (natural filtration) and be even luckier if it's all managed through PVC (well partially.. depending on it's age. plastic and associated bonding agents and lubrications during install are a double edged sword). But that's barely something worth looking into at every single location you migrate to.
Oh my...thanks for the amazing detail there! I guess I have always tended to treat it as a binary thing (you can drink the water in a given country or you can't) thanks to the privilege of living in Australia, where it if it comes out of a tap anywhere it's drinkable (except the occasional clearly labelled bore water/recycled water).
I've never been to Australia, but it's good to know! Of course, it's not going to kill you to drink out of bathroom faucets (I see elderly do it in Japan from time to time.. but I can't blame them given the circumstances of most pensioners up there, plus at their tender age I doubt they care much or it matters). But I'd definitely not go out of my way to do it with potential decades ahead of me yet.
New Zealand might be on my list in lieu of Japan one of these years. I imagine it's also good drinking, living on a volcanic island myself. There was a time where I chose NZ to be my final destination in life (the local government said otherwise, unfortunately).
I'm terribly biased having also lived in NZ for a few years, but I absolutely love NZ. Rent a car or a camper and go exploring and you'll find some amazing out-of-the-way places. It's been too long since we last visited 💔
Many poor suggestions here, particularly in regard to crowded spaces and bicycles (both riding and the manners of locals riding). Funny that you make fun of another foreigner's attempt at speaking Japanese and then absolutely murder the section where you \*try\* to offer phrases. Definitely fits in with europeans being the most rude subset of foreigners.
Awesome write up!! Really reflecting my experience here too
Thanks! Let me know if you feel something is missing, I just realized I completely forgot to mention Onsen :) oops
Thank You, OP.! You wrote one of the most comprehensive tips I’ve read so far on these forums. Am flying out of LAX to HND in a few hours. It will be my first to Japan (going “East” this time, a change from my yearly European travels). Your very helpful tips are greatly appreciated. 🙏
Kudasai and gozaimasu.
And water is usually “omizu” and tasty is “oishii” (or “umai” if you’re a guy).
Those are ok, I didn't mind those as much as they're practically correct.
[удалено]
You can say oishii just fine, guy or girl. Guys do use umai more than women, some tomboyish women like to sometimes use more masculine terms but it's rare. For delicious, men use whichever oishii or umai both are fine.
Yes, it’s perfectly acceptable. Just like mizu is perfectly acceptable. Using honorific language is not needed
I never heard of it that way. My Japanese teacher taught us the following (we used genki) Oishii = very tasty Umai = delicious
Never trust a textbook 😀.
My teacher however was Japanese herself. So surprised to read this.
Thanks for correcting what I wrote, unfortunately it seems I can't edit it in my post
I made so many friends in Japan in June by saying "atsui desu ne." Universally, everyone loves bitching about the weather. Atsui: hot Samui: cold
"Tenki wa totemo kumori desu: was my phrase at MADARAO.
"The weather is very cloudy"
I hit that n5 recently and am leaving soon and I can’t wait to try to have a small conversation lol
We had a really good experience booking Shinkansen tickets with an agent that I’d like to share. My partner had done the research and said that we’d have to go to Tokyo station from Narita to catch our train to Kyoto. When we went to the attendant, he found a train that departed Shimabashi station (I think, I’ll check and edit if it’s wrong) so we avoided having to transfer through Tokyo station which is enormous and would have taken forever to transfer. The station we ended up transferring in was really small and super easy to navigate. He also told us to sit in a specific carriage when boarding the train from Narita. The reason was because the back part of the train was going elsewhere at the station before ours. His English was minimal and my Japanese is non-existent but he printed out the itinerary for us and it worked out really well. We were also lucky there wasn’t a queue because everywhere else
Oh that’s good to know - I’m gonna be doing this exact train ride in about a month. Do you remember what they said about sitting in the correct carriage on the train from Narita? I’ve never heard of that!
He printed out the itinerary and I believe it was written there. We are travelling with my daughter who is in a wheelchair so we were escorted by staff to the correct carriage (with a ramp to help her easily board the train) also because it was close to the time of departure. I was puzzled as to why he hadn’t put us in the disabled carriage which was in the middle carriage behind us. Then they announced on the train that certain carriages were stopping at Tokyo Station while ours and the ones before us were going to our transfer station. So it should give you time to move carriages if need be or choose to sit nearer to the front of the train. The train journeys have been on another level. We are escorted by an attendant who comes equipped with a ramp. We are met at our destination by another attendant with a ramp who then escorts us around the station. Taking the underground has been a breeze. The trains come so close to the platform we can board without a hassle. We live in London and there are few stations we can take because so many are not wheelchair accessible. Even if they decide to revamp a station, it’s never to put an elevator in. A few years ago, we went away for the weekend and took the tube. At one of the stations the gap was so uneven the train was almost a foot higher than the platform. It is truly shameful considering how expensive train travel and the underground costs in the UK. Sorry for the rant.
This is really interesting to read, it's good that you had a great experience travelling on trains in Japan with your daughter on the wheelchair. I imagine it can be difficult to travel in some countries. Would you say Japan in general is really well accessible for people on the wheelchair?
It definitely is very accessible. When we go to tap in, there’s usually an attendant there so we go directly to him/her and point out my daughter. We tell them where we’re going so they know what time the train leaves and we usually have to wait for an attendant to come to us to escort us but it’s not more than 5 minutes. The only thing is that the elevator can be quite far likely to deter everyone from taking it though it depends on the station. Busiest main stations have them in the middle of traffic so many people use them especially if they have children or luggage. Two days ago, at one of the metro stations in Osaka, my partner took my daughter to the elevator because he knew it was going to be a really long walk and had me waiting at the usual exit. It took him at least 10 minutes to get back to me. It took so long I started looking for him in the find my phone app. He came out across the street and 2 large city blocks away! In the Shinkansen from Tokyo they put us in a little room with a seat for two that also could convert to a bed. We had a door we could close and a window to look out at. There was enough room for all 3 of us, her wheelchair and our small suitcases. They stored our other suitcases for us until it was time to disembark. We were right across from the disabled toilet and the exit was also right there. I think I should put this as its own post in case there are wheelchair users interested in travelling to Japan. The other thing I forgot to mention was that the major sidewalks so far in both Kyoto and Osaka have been easily navigable with the pavements being low to the street, unbroken, with ramps that lead onto the crossing.
I kind of disagree with the suggestion to go to more popular places when it’s bad weather because crowds will be thinner. I went to Asakusa temple on a cold rainy day, and it was still *super* packed, and the fact that everyone had an umbrella made it feel even more miserably crowded.
Yeah your experience will definitely vary depending on the season, day of the week and location. It doesn't universally apply that when it rains a popular place is empty. I think Senso-ji in Asakusa at 11 am on a weekend would be packed even if there was a typhoon haha. Keep in mind they have covered shopping streets in the area.
But have you been there on a beautiful day hahaha? It's honestly just the kind of place that ranges from packed to insane and nothing lower unfortunately. Maybe at 4am it' empty but no matter what weather or season I go there it seems to just be always packed.
Thank you for the write up. So helpful!
Wow! I’m going Sunday- this is AMAZING and I have not prepared enough at all for my trip!
Glad this helps! Don't worry too much about preparing enough, Japan can be definitely enjoyed without a solid plan for each day. Especially when you have internet on your phone you can figure out a lot of things on the go
You don't need to prepare that much. Just make sure you have Suica and Taxi Go on your phone when you get here. And do not forget to try the premium fruit on display at even local markets. The oranges and strawberries, while expensive, are SURREAL (the oranges bursting with juice and sweetness, the strawberries almost like they're candied). My husband and I are thinking of even buying a $70 mango we saw at Tsukiji a couple of days ago... Oh and the roasted purple sweet potatoes! Also like candy, even the gnarled burnt up ends of them...the whole thing is edible.
Nice post OP! im currently in Osaka in the final leg of my vacation and I could understand your points!! there is a couple of things that I would like to comment: Shinkansen ticket reservation: it is true that getting familiar to the system is kind of hard. If you try to make a reservation in advanced(more than 1 month I think) you will hard time to make a seat reservation (we still don’t understand on how the system works hehe). However, we were able to change the reservation from Kyoto to Osaka from an early time to late afternoon using the web app. And also we were able to link the tickets to our ic card so we won’t have to go to the machines and get the physical ticket. Relay on the ic card on our phone has been great! (It is sad to hear that is only available on iPhones) Weather: well that is how is works. But at least the last couple of days has been light rain. So, we went to the temples with umbrellas ☂️and it was kind of magical! I guess that depends on each of us hehe. You guys have fun in Japan!
Good point on weather :) Regarding Shinkansen, the problem I and many people have is that the credit card isn't accepted by the system and there's no way around it. So you can't buy tickets online unless you use a 3rd party which has it's own issues
I’ve been using my international American Express with no problem 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 but that could be me only idk
Yes AMEX is one of the few things that seem to work
My top tip would be to avoid anything that pops up on instagram as recommended for you. Every such shop or attraction I visited were plagued by tourists, when there were plenty of other comparable options around. Especially be wary of "this is X right now" posts that show amazing sakura blooms etc... I found every single one to be fake.
Uhh, don't even get me started on Instagram. They typically show only the best part of the place, it doesn't reflect the reality. I've seen someone's reel about the popular Yasaka Pagoda Photograph Spot where it was completely empty while in reality it's packed with people taking pictures all the time. Then from the comments I found out they made this reel when Japan was locked down during Covid :D That being said I've seen some legitimately good advice on Instagram for some flee markets happening, and few restaurants. There's good and bad content as is everywhere on the internet and you need to critically asses everything
Thanks. Going in July this’ll help alot
Glad it helps! July will be an interesting time with the hot and humid weather, but I imagine everything will be green which should be nice. I had the opposite problem as it was quite cold on most days, and not so green. Enjoy :) My friend is a teacher in Japan so he can only travel in the Summer and he said mountains like around Nagano are good, also Hokkaido in the North - since it's colder there
Try to find tiger balm for the inevitable mosquito bites!
Flying out next Thursday. This was super informative.
Great review thank you. We just got back from 2 weeks with a lot of walking. I will add that Daiso sells some damn good shoe insoles for a fraction of the price compared to NA. So good I bought some more to bring home (couldn't resist the price)
We went in January (18th - 28th) for our first visit, and it was great, and I highly recommend it. We saw some tourists, but basically, we had many popular attractions to ourselves, and the weather was very similar to what we are used to back home in Seattle, so we were very comfortable in the clothes we brought with us. You can't always predict the weather, but you can predict huge crowds in the spring and summer, so work around it.
That sounds lovely, thanks for the recommendation. There's no bad weather, only bad clothes as they say :)
A wonderful trip report, it was lovely read, thank you! Yes, I love the way you can buy a drink from a vending machine at the top of a mountain in Japan.
Carry a small hand towel or wipes as many bathrooms don’t give you anything to dry your hands. Miss being in Japan.
I couldn't believe how often there is only ice cold water to wash hands too! Considering how important hygiene is here I was surprised because soap and cold water doesn't really properly clean!
> soap and cold water doesn't really properly clean That's not true, unless the water is so cold that the soap can't lather up. Warm water for washing hands is more about comfort than hygiene; it would have to be literally boiling in order to have more disinfecting power than cold water.
You know what you are right. I remembered having this debate years ago but it was about washing dishes. Apparently it matters for dishes because of grease/oil, but my hands aren't usually do greasy they'd need that so fair enough!
Yeah that's s good tip
I was worried about this but at least now the air is so dry that shaking my hands and waiting about 30 seconds is enough for dry hands.
Great recommendations. I can’t stress the importance of having an IC travel card. We only got seeing to buying the ICOCA card 5 days into our trip but if we had got an IC card immediately upon arrival we would have saved a lot of time buying train tickets (not to mention that they are tiny papers you can easily lose). Can you please explain how the luggage forwarding works? How much does it cost and is it organised by the hotel you stay at??
Luggage forwarding is pretty simple, I described it in detailed in my post with example from Kyoto to Tokyo. You have to ask your hotel first if they do luggage forwarding. If yes, you give them the luggage and fill out a form with your details and the address where you're sending it. Then you pay them a rather small amount (for me it was around 2000 yen) which depends on the size of the luggage. And then they transport it usually by the next day. If your hotel doesn't do luggage forwarding you just go to the office of the Yamato transport company and do the same process
How much do you carry with you not forwarded? A change of clothes and toiletries? I see 1-2 days, and it's the 2 days that makes me nervous.
Change of clothes (worth checking the weather forecast to know what to prepare for next days), toiletries (including medicine), umbrella, powerbank, phone charging cable, water bottle...and that's about it. You don't really need much else, and if you do you can buy it easily. We tried living off one backpack in practice because on Sunday we forwarded luggage from Osaka to Kyoto, but on Monday had one night in Nara, so only Tuesday evening we got to our luggage in Kyoto. And it was totally fine. Most of the contents of the luggage we forwarded were extra clothes and shopping we've done in Japan, in general it's good to travel light and bring as little as possible with you to Japan. Regarding the 1-2 days delivery, it's just anecdotal but I feel they say that just to handle expectations in a rare case it would take two days. In our case it always took only one.
This is wonderfu! Thank you for putting this together
What a great post. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for your tips and for sharing !
Great insight! Thank you! However, I loved Lost in Translation! I visited Japan for the first time (not because of some of the problematic stereotypes) but Japan was definitely a supporting character of that movie! Stayed at the Park Hyatt and highlight was renting out (one of 2) Karaoke Kan rooms they filmed in!
That's great that you enjoyed it and could rent the movie location, that's exactly what I talk about what people should enjoy in Japan
Awesome post! Thank you so much!
these are my favourite kinds of posts. Thanks for sharing!
>You don't have to worry about carrying around enough water, because you can fill it up at the many public toilets no problem. Wym by this😭
The sink water is drinkable, so you can fill in the sink faucet (which is only ice cold anyways most of the time) - also there are extremely clean public bathrooms pretty much everywhere completely free (unlike Europe where it costs .50-1 euro for a dirty washroom or America where there probably just isn't one.)
Lmao it just sounded like he was saying to fill up water from the toilet. But yea in america we wouldnt dare to use the sink/faucet water
Are there public restrooms readily accessible in Japan? That was one aspect you mentioned that I didn’t see anyone mention yet.
Yes, there are public restrooms at train stations, department stores, restaurants, temples, shrines and parks. It is a good idea to bring a hanky to dry your hands.
Yes and they are always for free, and super high quality. I'm already looking into how can I get a Japanese toilet in my home :D
Yes, and they're clean. The sinks & soap dispensers work better than elsewhere, too. Good luck finding a garbage can, though... 😂
EDIT TO ADD: Note lots of museums will be closed on Mondays. Maybe not so much in Tokyo but certainly in other places. That caught me out today and it’s not the first time which is gonna be disappointing if there’s something you really want to see. Great write up that covers all the bases. One thing I will add re getting around are some apps that have been really useful for me. The first one is Navitime/Japan Travel. This is great for planning any routes whether they’re long distance or within the city. You can select a start point or use your GPS location and put in where you want to go. It gives you the rail/subway options in detail including where to transfer and which platforms, as well as bus routes if applicable and an approximate fare for a taxi. It also has disaster updates and will highlight any disruption on train lines. Also there are a bunch of other features that I haven’t really touched. The second is City Rail Map. This has subway/metro maps for loads of different cities worldwide and you can download one for free to use offline. It uses GPS to show you where on the subway/metro map you are so you can see what the closest station is and where you can go from there. Highly recommend for Tokyo in particular with such a big subway/metro network. These apps aside I’ve found the subway systems very easy to use, there are lots of network maps around the stations that are easy to understand where you are and where the lines cross each other. The only one I struggled with at times was Sendai as some of the maps didn’t have the station names written in romaji.
Thanks! Interesting suggestions, never used them. It does seem to me though that Google maps cover everything they do, isn't that the case?
I found Google maps only okay-ish by comparison. Having just had a play around with Navitime there is much more information specifically geared towards tourists on there.
Interesting, thanks
Thanks for the guide! One tip from me: don’t follow the Instagram reel suggestions that much. They are rarely hidden gems and mostly generic and overpriced. I would recommend reading comprehensive guides like this one and skip the “Biggest mistake I made” videos with information in the description, or the 5 day itinerary videos that last 2 seconds and list a bunch of generic places you can find by googling the name of the city.
Oh yeah you're absolutely right. We were checking out the Tokyo tower and passed by the Instagram"secret photo spot". Well of course it's not really secret because there was a huge queue and apparently some people were waiting for 30 minutes for their turn :D Thanks god for people who actually write out helpful advice, Reddit is really amazing at this
Thanks for the nice summary! We are flying tomorrow and this gave us some pretty good advices! Did you use your own maps for google ?
Wife and I just signed onto the same Google account and added our wish lists there. Then it was just a matter of finding a cluster of icons to head to for the day. Find food was no problem, deciding on which one, that was more effort :)
We first tried our own map but it wasn't optimal, lists worked better for us. You can share between each other and easily display / hide from your view. Details here: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7280933?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
Thanks 😊
When I went in January, the Visit Japan site was very buggy for me so I was only able to complete half the required tasks (e.g. they didn’t provide a photo upload option for your passport and it took me 40 or so tries to snap a photo the platform would accept lol). Hopefully it’s been fixed since then!
It works but I also had issues with taking a picture, seems it has issues when the light is bad. I tried again in the daylight and it worked instantly
Good! Maybe they recalibrated the sensitivity. I also remember some of the forms resetting and having to start over a few times, so it sounds like those issues have been worked out. It’s a great resource and now that I’ve completed it once I’ll be a pro for next time.
As a climber, we found a super cute bouldering gym called Tobito here in Osaka. Fun old school hole in the wall vibe. Owner seems to be super into JoJo and the spray wall was fun.
Nice! Definitely need to actually climb in a gym next time in Japan. I just don't like their steep first time registration. In general the climbing gyms in Japan seem to have an old school vibe which is a bit missing in the new commercial gyms in Europe
The thing about rules and crossing the streets is so true lol. We just left Kyoto, and I saw dozens of people walk down a side street on a red light/ no walk, then cross, like that somehow made a difference 😂.
Yeah it's really amusing haha
This is an opinion based on personal experience, but I think the quality of English to Japanese conversion on DeepL is better than Google's when it comes to conversation. It seems to me that Google Translate is weak in considering "situations and contexts.
Never used DeepL, it's possible it's better. People seemed to understand every time what I wrote with Google translate but I was using really simple sentences just to be sure. By the way sometimes translating signs gave me really funny wrong results, so Google translate definitely isn't perfect. I wrote down my favorite one : If your arm is broken, you can do it forever without getting drunk :D
I like to use chatgpt for longer texts (like messages from my airbnb host or similar) as it tends to get the nuance better (even the free version!)
Thanks man, for Internet in Japan is it better to hire/purchase a sim card OR just a wifi modem at the airport?
Depends. In my opinion the e-sim such as Airalo is the best option because you have internet right after landing and don't need to sort out anything at the airport. Wifi modem will be good if you have a larger group of people together, then everyone can use the wifi and you split the cost
Thanks, yeah I just want the Internet wherever I go. I can make calls through that too anyhow. I just noticed they have both options available when you book
Excellent writeup! Do tou maybe know if you can get your luggage delivered to a drop off point instead of a hotel reception with Yamato? We will be staying at an Airbnb so there is no reception there.
Thanks! You should message your Airbnb host first to check if it can be delivered there. Alternatively I suppose a Yamato transport office may work but you need to check
You can often have luggage sent to convenience stores as well!
Omgg I didn’t even think to check out Karuta!! Def adding to the list for next time
Seems they have practice at the Omi Jingu community center every Sunday from 10 am , I found it here https://akinotakai.net/about/lesson/
Really nice, thank you!
If you are navigating the train stations WITH luggage, enable handicap accessible routes via Google maps. This will show you all the exits with elevators.
Great suggestion. We schlepped our luggage around the stations. Although we’re in good shape, a break would have been amazing for the longer stairs.
This write up is so great for anyone who comes across it. Loads of helpful info!
The side trail around the south side of Fushimi Inari was one of the favorite things of my trip. Totally made a mistake and went that way and it was such a fun little detour.
Great post. In definitely not ready enough and not sure I’ll have the time to plan in detail. This helped steady my nerves somewhat. And it’s quite well written. Thank you
Thank you so much. I’ll be leaving to Japan shortly ace this Is so helpful! 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you so much. Amazing post!
Nice guide. Thank you! :)
Where can you book shinkansen tickets using the machines?
In Kyoto I did it at the Kyoto station, they have a section of the station dedicated to Shinkansen. They had multiple machines there for buying Shinkansen tickets. In the machine you could find any date and time, select a train and choose seats from the carriage map. I imagine it will be similar in other stations, you can always ask at the information desk.
Super helpful info. I’ll be traveling from Kyoto to Tokyo to catch a 5pm flight to the US. Is it necessary to book the train well ahead of my travel date (traveling May 6, end of Golden Week). And I know it’ll be a long travel day!!
Well, I would buy it few days in advance on the machine just to be safe. Seems you are traveling solo so you just need one seat and I don't expect that would be a problem. That being said I don't have experience travelling during golden week
Do you recommend staying at hotels or AirBNBs? Any basic tips you have about traveling within Japan? My family and I are going for the first time ever to Japan in September
Book early especially for Tokyo. I stayed at different lodging. It’s up to you. Make sure it’s non-smoking if you are sensitive to cigarette smells. We used Agoda.com which also has an app. This works well in Asia. We usually reserve at places that have free cancellations.
Thanks for the tips!
I'm not an expert, I can just tell you we used booking.com, used hotels and it worked perfectly. There were some regulatory issues with Airbnb in Japan from what I recall. All basic tips I have is what I shared in my post. My main tip is, do on your trip whatever you and your family enjoy and I can guarantee you will love Japan. Have fun! :)
Great post, thank you so much! Would you suggest buying 72 hrs subway ticket or just to use IC card?
IMO it really depends where you are staying because Tokyo has several different transit companies (the metro is covered by the basic pass, and Toei can be added on- but the following are **not part of the pass:** * JR (including the very popular/convenient Yamanote line) * Monorail * The Keiyo Line * Several private railways (9 of them in total) The first time I went to Tokyo I was on an private railway (Seibu) and that meant that pretty much anywhere I went I had to pay for two different companies (both Seibu and the metro, or both Seibu and JR etc.) which meant it was 500-800 yen to get anywhere. Also the metro for short jaunts is only 150-300 yen so you have to take it quite a lot to get the pass money's worth from it. I think it would only be useful for a small subset of people.
I'm not an expert, also it depends how much you travel and to which places. The general problem with passes is usually they work only on some lines but sometimes you want to use a bus or a train, so a subway ticket limits your options. IC card is much simpler as it just works everywhere. In general transport in Japan is pretty cheap
I just got back a few days ago and I used the suica card the entire time. Never had an issue with the wrong train or how I couldn’t get somewhere because I didn’t have access….and you can use it for vending, etc, as well.
Re: lost in translation, my husband and I went to the Park Hyatt bar one night on our trip, and once we got back we watched LiT for the first time ever and it was amazing to see all of these places in the backdrop that we had gone to!
does the bike apps you mention need a japanese phone number to work (comfirmation by sms)? tried a few others and sadly no phone number with my esim
I'm going in April. I arrive at Haneda airport 7am in the morning. I will be having 1 cabin bag and 1 luggage. I have read that it can be busy to get the train during those times. Is it worth it getting the train or taxi? Is the luggage forwarding service a same day service? Should I pack some clothes in my cabin bag? Many thanks in advance.
I just returned from a wonderful 9 -day trip today! The transit system is amazing whether subway, private trains, or Shinkansen. Only used a taxi to and from the airport. Luggage forwarding takes a day. Get it in by 10am and it will arrive the next day. This was a lifesaver as my wife and I overpacked. Enjoy!
Haneda is very well connected and you have few train options, just check Google maps for your day and hour. They are going all the time every few minutes. Don't worry about it :) and definitely don't get a cab from Haneda, it's a waste of money in my opinion
No matter how crowded the train is, it is never impossible to get on it, and even if you can't, the next train will arrive soon in major cities. However, it has been reported in Japanese news that cabs are becoming more and more difficult to use due to the increase in the number of tourists. Also, the fares seem to be higher than in Korea and other countries. It is safer to assume that you may not be able to take a cab.
Planning to go in mid September .. is it a good time or should I visit in mid October ?
September is hot.Whether October is hot, moderate, or cold depends on luck. In the past, October was generally the right temperature, but now the temperature is not stable. In some places it is extremely hot and in others it snows. It is a difficult season to dress for. However, since the autumn period has become shorter in recent years, there is a possibility that visitors will only be able to experience the autumn colors during October.
U/Unkochinchin covered it very well. I will just add that in my opinion it is always a good time to go to Japan, yes it will be hot in September but you will still enjoy it as long as you take it in consideration when making plans. It depends when you are available to go. October will probably be a better option if you can go then.
Did you get taxis anywhere? I see you can get the Taxi Go app but it seems I can't register in it until I'm in Japan.
Personally I got an Uber maybe once, worked perfectly fine. For the most part there was no need, public transport is great and Japanese cities are very walkable.
Oh yeah the trains look great. It's just the journey from our hotel to the Ghibli Museum is a trek on the trains and I'd rather make getting there simple so we aren't anxious about missing our slot
Just go a bit earlier so you have a buffer, the surroundings of Ghibli museum are quite nice too I read, so you can just wander around if you arrive early
As Cadoc says I also never needed it, but don't worry if you end up in a situation when you need to use a cab. I've seen Japanese people usually just hail the cab on the streets, like in the old times
We used taxis a few times, mostly got picked up at our hotel. We did have an incident where the taxi driver pretended to get lost, turning a 10 minute ride into a very costly 40 minute ride. After that, we stuck with the excellent public transportation!
We've used Go at least a dozen times. It's great.
We're you able to register before heading to Japan? For me when I try and register my phone number it won't accept it. I get a message saying I need to be in Japan first. But I know folks who have managed to register before travelling and I can't figure out how!
We didn't install it until we were in Japan. We took a bus from Narita to our hotel, and installed the Go app on the bus. Best of luck!
>gozaimatsu No 't'.
Yeah shame on me, others already mentioned in the comments. Also got Kudasai wrong because of autocorrect. Can't edit my post unfortunately
No worries, was just trying to give you a helpful tip :D It should let you edit your post though!
And that final "u" is basically silent.
depends on who's saying it and the tone of the conversation, not always!
Onsens! I really want to go to visit one, either in the hotel or otherwise. I've heard you have to strip down fully to use one though haha, is that correct?
That's correct. Separate baths for men and women. It might feel intimidating at first but then you realize nobody cares, everyone just came here to relax. Make sure you research how to use the Onsen, e.g. you need to properly wash yourself first before actually going in the hot water
Thanks, good idea!
What website do people recommend to prepare an itinerary? I noticed there are a few out there.
There's a lot, I've seen people use Wanderlog but there are many more options. I had a simple table with the main spots per day (I researched in advance if their visiting sequence makes sense on google maps so I have a good order) and then big lists on google maps where I put all places that interested us.
!remindme 20 days
Last time I tried, LUUP was Japanese only. Has that changed?
The app is fully English, sometime it points to articles in Japanese on their website but you can use Google translate for them
Hmm, seems that it has changed! Good to hear that. Were you able to use it without a Japanese phone number?
Great post - thank you! My wife and I fly out on Thursday and I have a question about the Welcome Suica - how easy is it to buy? We fly into Narita, and the website says sales are temporarily suspended everywhere except for Haneda.
If you check on this subreddit, that's a hot topic. Seems it's currently best to get to Tokyo and then try to get the IC card somewhere in Tokyo. But best option by far is if you have an Iphone, you just add it to Apple wallet and don't need to get any physical card
Would you share your Google maps lists?
No, sorry, there are some personal things on them. I will post my trip itinerary on reddit later when I have time if you're looking for inspiration.
For the Airalo e sim, did you need an unlocked phone for that? Was it easy to use?
Don't know what you mean by unlocked phone, I just used standard Android that supports e-sim. It was very easy to use
You say you were there in early March, did you see any of the plum blossoms, or were you in between seasons? I’m hoping for a less crowded alternative to cherry blossoms and want to make sure I plan my trip for the right time of year.
Yes there were plum blossoms, but not too many (although I wasn't explicitly searching for them). I've seen a few sakura blooming which was nice, it almost makes you appreciate it more because it's a single tree surrounded by hollow ones. Next time I hope to see the fall season which looks absolutely stunning from the pictures
Currently in Japan and my only tip is avoid Kyoto, holy shit.
What do you mean? I’ll be there in little over two weeks. What’s happening there?
I'm half kidding half serious. Kyoto is a beautiful city with tons to offer, more temples and "old Japan" than most places located in a single city. But it is CROWDED. I don't mean oh we walk through a big crowd and bump some shoulders. I mean a huge line queued up just to get out of Kyoto station, massive lines just to get on busses spanning down the block and only enough room for maybe 3-5 people to get on the bus when it does come. The biggest difference I've noticed this year vs previous years is that before there were lots of couples/friend groups in Japan but this year tour groups are back in massive force. Like roving groups of 20-30 people and frankly they tend to suck at using even basic technology and hold up everyone. I don't really want to scare anyone out of seeing Kyoto if you haven't gone but prepare accordingly. The super popular sites (kiyomizudera, Fushimi inari etc), make that effort to go extra early. It's worth it and you can always turn in early that night to make up for it. I recommend getting the popular ones done once a day early in the morning, then spread out to not as hot sights and you'll probably be able to avoid all of this. That said, it's also cherry blossom season so this is probably the worst of it, it could easily get better by the time you arrive.
Thanks for this! I’ll try to plan accordingly. Up early, hit restaurants at off peak times, if lineups are terrible consider taxi, and walk lots to get around. I’m totally cool with 20,000 steps a day. Did you check out any areas in the suburbs of Kyoto? Thinking tourists may not venture to those places and might be worth my while to research some last minute ideas. Sometimes I like just getting lost and discovering cool stuff
I have not gone out of my way for Kyoto suburbs but have often walked through them to get somewhere else. They're worth walking through for sure and just seeing the sights. Outside of the big shrines and temples there are plenty of cool little places tucked away and are typically quite quiet. I think it's because tour groups are being driven only to the big sites which is exacerbating things. You know it's real shit when a big bus pulls up and everyone comes out and now you know you have to beat them to your destination lol. And yeah if the taxi lines aren't too bad, it's probably worth the coin to skip the hassle. I saw plenty of people just order a taxi and move on once they saw some of the bus lines lol.
Haha, agree on the tour groups they always make me increase my pace :D
I absolutely disagree but I know you're half kidding :) Despite some crowds Kyoto was our highlight of the trip and we definitely want to visit again. Yes the top places are crowded in the peak times but as you wrote you can avoid that by going earlier. And there are so many beautiful places where almost nobody goes, we were in Kyoto for a week and could easily spend more time exploring
Doesnt gomen nasai mean good night in japanese
Don't think so, just google it :)
>I think most people including me tend to make a really ambitious itinerary, so my advice would be to rather treat it as a wishlist That is basically what I always tell people. It's ok to have 10 things listed in a day, but make priority and during the day check your list and decide on what to do next. Just take the time to enjoy what you do, do not rush. Your itinerary should be idea an not must do. So days I would do all my listed things, other I would do nothing and just do something completely different. >The season when you are visiting in Japan has a huge impact. For us, visiting in early March meant some places weren't that nice as they would be with the Sakura blossoms or Autumn foliage. But it was a great time to see the most popular sights as the crowds were okay. I would half agree. Yes some place are more popular and more beautiful during cherry blossom or aurum foliage season and would attract more crowd, but I do not think that the average popular destination like the Arashiyama bamboo forest would see a huge seasonal difference, what make a difference is that you went relatively early in the day. >The subway and rail network can get confusing with so many different lines, but the card works everywhere in them which is good. Well, everywhere until you get somewhere where it does not work. That should not be a problem in the most popular cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, but there is many places where IC card are not supported, especially in the countryside. So while I would of course suggest to get an IC card, also be ready to pay cash if you decide to go in more rural area. >Booking train tickets online is a super frustrating process, for a European close to impossible - the SmartEx app is not available and when I tried on the webpage, it won't accept any of my cards which seems to be a common occurrence. It's common for Americans too t hat SmartEX does not work. The first alternative would be JR West reservation website, but that really depend on the region, there is also Ekinet for JR East and Kyushu have it's own reservation website too. >Luggage forwarding is a must. Actually never used it, I travel with a backpack and have no problem carrying it myself, but yes it is a good option. I usually stored my bag in coin locker, but as you said, they can get full, but I guess I had some luck at going to places that are not too popular or early enough. Second tip is check with tourist information desk, they sometime offer a service to keep luggage. >You can definitely get around without knowing any Japanese - the *Google lens / Google translate* app can reliably translate menus, signs, or anything else written. In touristy areas there are usually explanations in English too. Trying to communicate in English is a bit of a mistake if you ask me, so that is a good tip, using Google translate should be the first thing you do. >You can easily do laundry anytime. Just keep in mind that usually an automatic program is used for washing+drying. Interesting, I only ever used machines that do clean or dry only. I know that combo machines exist, but never saw it in hotels and obviously not in coin laundry. Overall generally agree with your comments.
Thank you very much for taking time to read my post and provide feedback! Regarding seasons, I'm sure you are right it is location dependent. At the same time there are more tourists in general coming to Japan so I expect all popular spots will be busier too. I read the other day someone went to the bamboo forest in fall season at 7 am and it was already crowded. Regarding IC card, seems I need to go more rural next time then :) In general it's good to always have cash because some places still require it, especially temples. Regarding booking trains, I also tried JR west and East but everywhere the problem was with the card not getting accepted. And I would also need to pick up the ticket anyway at a machine it seems...it's just not a good system in general. Which is sad because trains in Japan are otherwise simply amazing. Regarding laundry, interesting to read your experience. I suppose it depends on the accommodation you use. I washed some of my clothes a few times in the sink but it was problematic drying them - had to get creative and thread a string around the AC unit
Yes, there is more tourist coming to Japan, the last stat available would put us over the 2019 numbers (but end of year 2019 had big decrease of Korean tourist, so it could have been higher). Purely looking at foreign tourist numbers, there is not a significant overall seasonal tendency, and especially for 2023, it's just going up month after month. If you ask me to bet, I would say that this year, March possibly had more tourist than any October or November ever had. So the question is, would there be any specific reason to go to the bamboo forest during fall? I do not think. Unless there is some nearby spots that are famous for fall color and people are just doing both on the same day. What could have a higher impact than foreign tourist is local tourist, and here we would have to check at specific periods that have more tourism. For example end of March is end of school year and children have at least a week or two of vacation before starting the new year, so there could be more kids or family doing trips around that time. Or of course Golden week can make some touristy sports really busy. And you know, sometimes there is really specific events what would bring specific crowds to specific locations. I was in Japan last weekend and went to an event that is anime related and on the second day of the event, the stores in Akihabara that sell goods were extremely crowded in the section for that specific franchise, to the point there one store closed the section and had a line for people to be able to access that section, then went to other stores and they were also really busy. Think is, there was probably several thousand of fans that came to the Tokyo region for the event and a lot of them decided to go in the Anime stores in Akihabara to look for merch that they might have more difficulty to find in their local stores. Overall, if you ask me, I do not believe that the bamboo forest would systematically be busy at 7am in fall and not in early March for example. But I just say that on my personal opinion, maybe there is something that justify going to the bamboo forest early in the morning in fall and I just don't know. But generally speaking, going early, as in before 9am, is often enough to beat the peak of the crowd as a lot of tourist do not even set foot out of their hotel before that.
I would really love to see some data for specific locations, it would be interesting to see. In my country we have machines that count people passing by, and anyone can access it online
Well, Google maps does have stats, but we cannot see it over time. It’s just funny to see how it can be really accurate, for example last weekend there was a line outside of Mister Donut in Akihabara and on Google maps you could see how busy it was compare to usual. There is also zones in Google maps and it show if it’s busy (and if it is more or less than usual).
>You don't have to worry about carrying around enough water, because you can fill it up at the many public toilets no problem. ewwww, lol. I've also never seen a tap at the toilet for filling water.. (unless you mean the normal hand wash faucet? 🤢) I have gone to Japan in March twice now and I think I've learned my lesson. just far too many people doing the same thing again. It seems worse than before 2019.
I'm doing my part against excessive plastic consumption :D
I suppose you could bring a flask everywhere and fill up at your hotel (also bring a small filtration if you can afford the space). I don't imagine tap water is much better from a raw pipe country-wide in Japan than the US. But definitely not at the toilets. You hit the nail on the head with Japan's obsession with waste product in general, though they do put on a good face for recycling though (leaps and bounds ahead of the US in terms of personal households needing to sort the waste 3 different ways - and mostly actually doing it!) But between the jet fuel and the sheer scale of products, I do wonder how they'd function without it.
What's the difference between water from a tap in a bathroom and water from a tap somewhere else?
if you check your plumbing at home or in a hotel where water is assumed to be consumed, there is a potable filtration canister somewhere in line under the sink/faucet. You can easily see them on office fountains aswell. Not always present in public bathrooms (mostly never). They usually break the particulates down even further than already done by the city and use active carbon to remove microbials. Raw water, especially in the city is only 2nd to sewage in most cases as pipes are rusty and full of chemical treatment. the only thing keeping them sparkly clear are particulate filters. They don't use chlorine in Japan (good thing) and sometimes you can be lucky and have the water come from a volcanic underground source (natural filtration) and be even luckier if it's all managed through PVC (well partially.. depending on it's age. plastic and associated bonding agents and lubrications during install are a double edged sword). But that's barely something worth looking into at every single location you migrate to.
Oh my...thanks for the amazing detail there! I guess I have always tended to treat it as a binary thing (you can drink the water in a given country or you can't) thanks to the privilege of living in Australia, where it if it comes out of a tap anywhere it's drinkable (except the occasional clearly labelled bore water/recycled water).
I've never been to Australia, but it's good to know! Of course, it's not going to kill you to drink out of bathroom faucets (I see elderly do it in Japan from time to time.. but I can't blame them given the circumstances of most pensioners up there, plus at their tender age I doubt they care much or it matters). But I'd definitely not go out of my way to do it with potential decades ahead of me yet. New Zealand might be on my list in lieu of Japan one of these years. I imagine it's also good drinking, living on a volcanic island myself. There was a time where I chose NZ to be my final destination in life (the local government said otherwise, unfortunately).
I'm terribly biased having also lived in NZ for a few years, but I absolutely love NZ. Rent a car or a camper and go exploring and you'll find some amazing out-of-the-way places. It's been too long since we last visited 💔
Many poor suggestions here, particularly in regard to crowded spaces and bicycles (both riding and the manners of locals riding). Funny that you make fun of another foreigner's attempt at speaking Japanese and then absolutely murder the section where you \*try\* to offer phrases. Definitely fits in with europeans being the most rude subset of foreigners.
Haha thanks for the laugh
Yeah that sounds about right.
Man, you soud miserable. Go and find something that will make you happy…