Check out our itinerary here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d5Io-djC2CRUY750HrjKjq_8-UhrtrT8/view?usp=drive_link
Online Immigration & Custom Declaration Forms from Visit Japan Web: https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/
Make the most out of your trip to Tokyo, Japan with our Tokyo travel tips. Be well prepared so that you can enjoy a smooth, hassle-free trip. In this video, we would like to share with you 16 essential tips based on what we have experienced during our recent January 2024 trip to Tokyo. If you are a first time visitor to Japan or Tokyo, this video is a must-watch. In this video, we will cover:
00:00 Introduction
00:17 Use Baggage Delivery Service
05:02 Transport from Narita Airport to Tokyo
07:23 Buy a Pasmo Passport Upon Arrival
10:47 Use Google Map to Plan & Navigate
12:22 Advice for Early Morning Arrivals
13:20 Get e-SIM Data Before You Arrive in Japan
13:50 Use YouTrip in place of credit cards
14:14 Fill in Arrival Immigration & Custom Forms Online Before Arrival
15:16 Book online in advance for attractions you wish to visit
17:18 Write down your name or take a queue number before queuing up at most restaurants
18:01 No Talking on Cell Phones on Trains
18:39 Give yourself some time buffer to orientate with Tokyo subway
19:49 Very few trash bins in public so bring your own trash bag
20:06 Advice for smokers
20:58 Itinerary sharing and tips
24:23 Tax Exemption for Tourists
Music:
Expecting a Full Moon
Artist:Erik Fernholm
Music by https://www.epidemicsound.com/
Disclaimer: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of watching any of our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk. Do your research.
Hi guys! I’m Eric, I’m Coreenna. Welcome back to our channel. So we just got back from our Tokyo trip just a few days back, and today we just want to share with you a few tips when it comes to planning for your next trip to Tokyo. One of the things we’re concerned about
Is having to carry our luggage everywhere. Because the thing is we arrive very early in the morning 7a.m. at Narita, and our hotel obviously is not ready for check-in yet. Of course we can carry all our luggages to the hotel, however we actually have between us, six pieces of luggages. Right…with
All the winter clothes, and you know things like that… all fully vacuum packed… but we still end up with six luggages…pretty huge luggages… So we we found out about this baggage delivery service which could
Deliver our luggages from the airport to the hotel. So we thought that we’ll make a full use of it, so that will free our hands, and we don’t need to travel all the way to the hotel to check-in first with all these big luggages… because by the way, although there are luggage
Spaces available on the train for you to store your luggage while you’re traveling from the airport to your destination in Tokyo, it’s pretty limited right… yeah yeah they only have overhead kind of, you know, kind of racks for you to put, and the hassle is that, you know to carry the
20 kilos of luggage up the stairways… there are lifts but the lifts are pretty small…so yeah…that’s one of the hassles, if you are bringing a lot of heavy luggages, right? Yes yes, so we thought that
We will make use of their baggage delivery service… Initially from the website, what was stated was, if you arrange for the delivery before 10:00a.m, the baggages will be delivered on the same day to your hotel in Tokyo. However, we only found out when we arrived, that this not the case.
They only have next-day delivery. So I’m not sure why the website is not updated, or was it because this is Narita, and same day baggage delivery only applies to Haneda airport? Because Hanedai airport is actually much closer to Tokyo Central, compared to Narita, which is about 2 hours or so
Away from Tokyo Central. Yeah…so we had a problem then, right darling? Yeah…we had a problem then, especially I can’t speak that much Japanese… We managed to settle the the baggages…they’re very polite, and they even suggest to us to pack the smaller bag into the bigger bag, you know…
One thing I must say about them is, they tried their very best to, you know, ‘customer first’ kind of service. Well…we got our bags all settled right darling… Yeah…we had to do a little bit of repacking at the airport…right…yeah because we have this backpack right…so we decided to pack our
First night’s clothing and our toiletries into the smaller backpack, and after that we then sent off the rest of the baggages with the…. what’s that company called? Yamato.. Yamato…the one with the big cat and the small kitten…. you can see them in Singapore too… … why we
Carry the backpack is because we plan to (when we arrive at the airport), just go shopping, and hit the streets of Tokyo… so that’s why we have a smaller backpack…two of us have two backpack each, right…one backpack each… Yes, so the lesson learned is this, if you
Want to use the baggage delivery service, which I I think is a great service by the way, pack one day’s clothing, and the toiletries you need for the first day into a smaller pack, and then you send off the rest, and your hands are pretty freed up to do your sightseeing, and
Such in Tokyo, especially if you arrive early in the morning, and you have the whole day ahead of you. So make sure that the bags that you carry are comfortable, you know, because you’ll be running around the streets and hopping from train to train, and yeah…something comfortable
With good cushion, that you can actually carry onboard…and yeah..something that you can put above the rack, not something too big, become very cumbersome…yes not every train station has got escalator.. yes yes they do have lifts, but they are pretty small….we
Were due to arrive in Hakone on Monday, so by Saturday, we actually asked our hotel to help us arrange for our baggages that we wanted to be delivered to Hakone, to be sent over there. So the baggage
Delivery we decided to do it earlier, rather than on a Sunday, just in case it doesn’t arrive on time. So we don’t want to take the risk, and we did it on Saturday. So by the time we arrive in Hakone
On Monday, our luggages are already nicely placed in the room, much to our surprise, right? Right guys, so that’s all for the luggages… right? The next thing we want to touch on is the transport from Narita to Tokyo Central. If you want to take a private taxi, that would
Cost about SGD$300…yeah so pretty pricey right? Yeah…so the alternative would be to take either a bus, which I think is a bit complicated for us…we decided to take as usual, all the people were doing…the Skyliner. Yeah the Skyliner. …which is very nice, clean and
Efficient. But to take the Skyliner, what you need to do is book in advance, because it’s a Reserved Seating System. So on the ticket itself, there’s actually seat number, and carriage number assigned to you. So you have to sit in your stated seat number, and the carriage number. So you
Can’t just sit anywhere you please. Yeah…just need to be very careful before you enter the train, the carriage. Make sure you enter the right cabin. Right, there’s 1 2 3 4 5… because we we entered the wrong one…yeah we entered the wrong cabin…we were so comfortably seated with all our bags up there…
The lady came and said, ‘I’m so sorry, I think you in wrong car..’ Right, so we had to move one car down, but well, that’s the fun of travel, right guys, yes make mistakes here and there, and then you learn from it. Yeah…I
Guess we were too tired, because we didn’t sleep at all during our late night flight from Singapore to Narita. It was about 6 hours plus, but we didn’t sleep a wink..yeah..and it was early morning arrival so…yeah.. we were pretty spaced out right, darling? Right, yeah we rode from Narita Terminal 1
All the way to Ueno station, which is right in the center of Tokyo, and from there we took the subway to other parts of Tokyo. So it’s actually very convenient, right? Yeah it was a very nice train ride, very relaxing in fact. It took about about an hour…So yeah… we highly
Recommend this mode of transport from Narita to to Tokyo Central. Of course you can also rent a car and drive, which we will touch in another video, but I believe for most travelers arriving at Narita Airport, the train ride would be a very efficient way to get around. Yeah..get to downtown…
Wherever you want to go, you know… and they make concessions for tourists..darling, you want to talk about the the card that we have here? Oh yes….so guys, after clearing customs and getting your baggages settled, the next thing that you want to do is to get a Pasmo Passport. Well there’s two
Kinds of passes for visitors to Japan: one is called the “Pasmo Passport”, the other one is called the “Welcome Suica Card”. Now, because we arrive at Narita Airport, Welcome Suica Card is actually not available for purchase at Narita Airport. It’s only available at Haneda Airport. So instead
Of Welcome Suica, we got ourselves the Pasmo Passports. Check it out… it’s actually quite cute, right? the design? We love the design…Hello Kitty, and the rest of the Sanrio characters you know guys… Yes in fact, this will make great souvenirs.. yeah which we actually kept as a souvenir right.. and it comes in
A cute little jacket like this… yeah like this…sothe place to get this Pasmo Passport is actually at basement 1. After you arrive at the Arrival Hall, just take the escalator down to basement 1, Skyliner and Keisei Information Center. So you get this Pasmo Passport at the same place where
You get your Skyliner tickets. And to buy this Pasmo Passport, you need to show proof that you are a visitor, and so you need to show your passport. They only issue one Pasmo Passport per visitor. This Pasmo
Passport is valid for 28 days from the day of purchase, and it comes with a stored value of 1,500 Yen. You can use it right away, you know, after you step off the Skyliner, at the Tokyo Metro, you
Can use it for the JR lines as well, and for buses… yeah…so it’s really very convenient, and we highly recommend that you get this Pasmo Passport straight away upon arrival. Yeah …o facilitate your transportation across the city. So to top up this Pasmo Passport is also very
Easy. Just do it at any train station across the city. By the way, you can’t get any refund on any unused value on the Pasmo Passport, so you have to make sure that you use up everything as much as
Possible before you return back home. You can also use it at convenience stores like Family Mart and Lawson. So in case on the last day, you realize that you still have some value left and you are
Not taking anymore train or bus transport, you can just spend it at Lawson or Family Mart to buy your drinks or your snacks.. yeah.. things like that…right… This Pasmo Card is actually something like our
Ezylink Card and the ‘Touch and Go’ kind of thing. It allows you to pass through the train stations with ease…just need to go to the gantry and tap it, and they open for you to pass through right? Right.. so topping up
Is very easy…like my wife said…those train stations… there are lot of this booth little area where you can just top it up, but can only top up with cash, guys..Right and you can only buy this in
Cash, okay? You can’t use credit card to buy, they only accept cash for purchase, so bear that in mind. And in case you miss out buying at Narita Airport or Hanada airport, you can also get it at the major train stations in Tokyo, like Shibuya Station, and Shinjuku Station.
Most of the time we navigate with Google. Yes. Right, and it’s very convenient. Darling, you want to talk about Google, how it gets us through all the stations and things like that? Yeah Google is really a lifesaver for
Us you know, because even before we come to Japan I used Google to plan our itinerary. It actually maps out your journey for you, and give you various options like which which train line to take, , the journey duration, from the beginning to the end, so you can actually plan your itinerary pretty
Efficiently using the Google Map. You map out your travel plans on the train, let say, from one station, you map out every station along the way, so you can actually track it, and it even show you what kind of line you’re taking…it’s like green line, the yellow line… you know the kind of
Thing….so it’s very nifty, you go around with it, and just have to follow the Google Map, and when you’re there at the train station. like for example, Shinjuku, you need to go to a restaurant, right darling, yeah so it just guide you along the way. So yeah… but do pay attention on the
Road because there a lot of people. You don’t want to get lost, and you know, be taken away by the views and things like that. Check the map as you are walking, guys, but you won’t
Get lost with the Google Map. Anyway getting lost is part of the fun, yeah part of the fun, which actually we got lost a couple of times… yeah and we got distracted all the time…yeah guys right… and usually the journey took us longer that it should according to Google, because we’re
Just stopping by taking photographs, taking videos, for our YouTube channel guys…that’s just too much to see in Tokyo. Right right.. yeah so okay, the next thing that we like to share with you guys is about advice for early morning arrivals. Darling, what would you like to share about that? Yes, we have it
All planned out, because we knew that we’ll be there about 7:00am, we can’t check in the hotel until 2:00pm, so that’s why we decided to hit the road. I guess you guys should do that too because it’s
Very fun. You know, having settled all the datas, and the train, and all these things, your luggages…. you free to go! You know…handsfree kind of thing…. So yeah, we hit the street…we went to Tsukiji Market…
We went all the over the places you know…Yeah I would advise you guys to have a short itinerary of what you want to do the first day you arrive in Japan, you know, given the time, explore the streets…
You know…the culture, the food, the weather, I mean it’s really cool weather there…we were there about 7 to 10° C. A good place to really check out is Tsukiji Market, because they only open in the
Mornings, and usually people will visit Tsukiji early in the morning. So yeah, that would be one of the places that you may want to consider if you have an early morning arrival in Tokyo. And yeah, data…
You need to have data, right? Yes, so what we did is, instead of buying a data upon arrival in Japan, we got e-SIM from Airalo before we arrive. So when we arrived, we just need to activate it, and we
Are good to go. It’s really as simple as that. Yeah it’s very convenient, you don’t have to put in a card or anything like that, you know… so yeah and also we also have this, what do you call, the card that we travel with the…they call it YouTrip…oh yes…YouTrip… highly recommended because
When you’re using YouTrip, you don’t need to deal with the service charges from credit cards when you have currency conversion. And they offer very good rates for Singapore dollar to Japanese Yen. I’m not sure about other currencies, but if you’re trying to convert Singapore dollars to yen, it’s actually
Very good rates. Right right…Japan has come up with a very convenient way for travelers to go through customs. In order to avoid having to fill in forms…you know…those custom forms upon arrival, you can actually do it before you even arrive in Japan, via the website… okay.. I’ll put the link below
If you guys want a faster clearance at the custom, you can actually fill up these forms for yourself and for your traveling companions before you arrive. There are two forms to fill out, one is the custom declaration form, the other one is the… what you call it…the immigration okay…
Two forms to fill out…so they’ll give you a QR code after that, and when you arrive in Tokyo you just need to queue up, and then scan your QR code, and then the whole system, whole process is
Actually very fast. Yeah…you’re good to go… yeah… But then again, if you forgot to do it, you can fill up the forms there. There many forms there you can pick up, and they’re very helpful, the people at the airport… I mean, the whole Japan, they’re very helpful…you
Just need to ask….yes…right just need to ask they will help you. Yeah okay… so one more thing is, booking in advance for the places that you want to visit. Okay, so because Tokyo is a very popular destination, and January is supposed to be an off-peak tourist season. However when we were there,
It’s pretty crowded. Yeah… so many people…the first time I saw Shibuya Crossing, or they call it Scramble Crossing, I was amazed! Yeah… so given the numbers of visitors and even the locals, what you need to do before you arrive, is try to book everything you want to see in advance…as
Far in advance as possible, to get the time and the date you want, because popular places even the animal cafes…the slots fill up very fast! Yes… Our trip is actually considered a so-called…I think it’s a last minute kind-of-trip… yeah we decide to go to Tokyo about 2 weeks before the
Actual departure, reason being we needed to clear our Krisflyer miles… we just need to… we just thought that before they expire. Many slots which we initially wanted were already taken up, so we needed to choose the next best slots, and then plan our itinerary accordingly, because if you try
Last minute walk-ins, I think 99% of the time, you may not be able to enter the attraction that you want to go, you know…so always book in advance. Also places like Disneyland, DisneySea and even Shibuya Sky, because when we were there, we saw the signages put up that tickets have
Already been fully sold out. So there’s no way for you to get a ticket to visit if you just want to walk in, right? Yeah guys… I mean with today’s technology, just you know, going to your
Laptop, and then do all the bookings… simple as that, right guys? So like my wife say, you don’t want to go to Tokyo, or any place you want to go to, and miss out on those attraction, and it’ll be
Quite disappointing, right guys? Yeah… so everything book in advance, right.. Also about queuing up at restaurants…darling? Yeah… you know, a lot of us thought that when we queue up in the
Line to get into a restaurant for our meal, we take it that oh, I’m on this lot here, but no, not in Japan.. You know, in Japan, you have to really go up to the front, and some restaurant have a
A notepad, or a piece of paper…you need to put the names and how many pax, all right? And some with the machine… you need to key in and get a queue number, right… it happens to us once or twice…
We thought that we are in the line, and we just queue… and why is it that people on our extreme sides…on the left…they have actually move forward? And then we found out the hard way.. we actually have to
Do what I just told you, guys. Another thing is train etiquette. So darling, you know notice that in Japan, the trains are pretty quiet right? Yes…no talking on a handphone too loudly. They encourage you to put the phone on a silent mode. Yes… Right…and they’re very orderly… the train itself is so
Quiet. I think it’s good, you know… it’s good… and they give way to elderly, and people with children, and that kind of thing…I think it’s really highly commendable. Yeah it’s a very relaxing and peaceful environment right? Yes… so that’s one thing we love about the train
Rides in Tokyo. Tokyo subway network is so vast, right…and there’s so many connections here and there, so many lines….so initially when we first arrived, it was quite overwhelming, to be honest. Yeah but after a
Couple of days, we kind of got used to it, and it became quite a breeze for us to just hop on and off the train, and going to different tracks with the help of Google.. Yep Google…yeah you can always ask the train master. Yeah…they’re very helpful.. yeah they’re very helpful. it’s like
Before the gantry or the turnstile, there’s this little booth with a train master, or they call it the train station master, or somebody in-charge. You can just ask them, they’ll point you to the right direction. And just like Singapore MRT, once you’re in a train station underground, there’re so
Many ways to go…make sure you look at, what they call, platform number one, what train, going from where to where, because there will be numbers 1 2 3 4 5, so make sure you get the right one.
And the trains are very punctual, they come on time. Yes, and one thing that’s really commendable is that the toilets are really clean! So clean…not only the toilet, the whole area is really clean, guys. Yeah…
Give them a thumbs up for this one yeah… yes yep… And also there’s very few trash cans in public.. right darling? Can hardly find one…like yeah…don’t know where to throw in my Coca-Cola cans… Yeah…so what you need to do is take your trash along with you, and then dispose it when you
Reach your hotel. Another thing…for smokers…Darling, maybe you like to share? Yeah for smoker, it’s a smoke- free zone. You are not supposed to smoke in downtown Tokyo or even in restaurants… I think it’s good, you know, for smokers… helps you to cut down on your bad habit, but there are little
Corners or they call it booths, where you can go in and smoke, or you can go in and vape. The funny thing is that for smokers and vapers, there are two different kind of areas..you know..booth. We seen that, oh only
For vapers, or only for smokers, you know…but it’s good…I mean it’s really good discipline to not to share your secondhand smoke with people… that’s very inconsiderate right? That’s why when we walk along the streets of Tokyo, the air is fresh…you don’t see cigarette butts everywhere…
I think that’s a positive step towards a smoke-free world, guys. Yes…Yes right before we go, we would also like to share a bit about our itinerary. Our entire itinerary, which we share in the link below, is 13 days. But that covers the day of arrival and the day of departure, so strictly speaking,
We only have like, 12 full days in Tokyo, and you know…actually darling, what do you think? You think it’s enough? Well, I don’t think it’s enough, because I was telling my wife, joking with her…might as
Well just go Hokkaido, or Kyoto, or Osaka since we there… because I really love Japan…I mean, my first time there, I can see, not only the place is nice, the scenery, the weather, the air, the people….that makes a difference…they’re very polite…they don’t cut queues, and they help you
Along the way, even though there’s a language barrier, they take the time to really try to help you, yeah.. And one thing you must be prepared when you go Japan, Tokyo – lots of walking! You know, everyday we cover an average of about 13 or 14,000 steps… 15,000.. yeah but it’s good!
It was fun! I mean, it’s like after we have taken all the carbs, you know, with so many food to eat, spoiled for choice, it’s about time we burn them out, right? We try to cover as much ground as we can while we were
There, try to maximize our time, to see the things that we want to see, do the things that we want to do, and to eat the food that we want to eat… spoiled for choice, guys… yeah…but then again we didn’t managed
To cover everything in the itinerary either, because for most parts, sometimes we were just too…I guess.. absorbed in what we were doing, so we kind of lost track of time…So do give yourself a bit of allowance, you know, when you’re traveling.. you don’t want to get all stressed out trying to just follow the
Itinerary, or trying to just get from one place to another, but rather enjoy the process, enjoy the journey…yeah.. the journey is the fun, you know… So it’s about really slowing down to enjoy your surroundings..yeah… So if I were to do it all over again, I’ll probably maybe have
A not-so-tight itinerary… I don’t know… can I call our itinerary tight? What do you think, darling? Well…it’s comprehensive…you know, when my wife plan, I think its very comprehensive…I always joke it’s like a bootcamp you know? Place to place, and then alot of walking…yeah… but like my wife say, let the itinerary be a
Guide, but let your feelings be the main guide, right? As you go along, on a holiday, just free and easy… that’s what it’s called, right? Go with the flow… Well…but at least I didn’t plan an itinerary whereby we got to wake up at 7.00am every day right, darling? Yeah yeah…Anyway guys…
Most of the time, we get enough sleep right? We are not into nightlife and clubbing, so usually by 8:00 or 8:30 p.m, we’ll be back at the hotel resting, and then we don’t get out of the hotel until maybe about 9 or 10 a.m. the next day, because we just enjoy lazing
Around… Well, daytime is a time to work, and night time the time to R&R, rest and relax, guys… Right, especially with all the walking… Yeah I enjoyed the walking though, guys…So I’ll be sharing our itinerary in the link below. We hope that it could be a useful reference for you when
You plan your own trips. If you guys have anything that you want to ask, do drop in our comment section, right? Oh ya…one more thing… darling, almost forgot… Would you like to talk about the consumption tax? The 10% consumption tax for tourist? Yeah for tourists, we get a tax-free exemption, right? So yeah, we were
At this the drugstore…Matsumoto Kiyoshi…yeah in Shibuya… and then you know, there are couple of lines that in fact, two lines…we’re all standing on the wrong line, and then the cashier said, “well you guys are tourists, right?” I say yeah… He said, “Please…you need to stand on the tax-exempt line. So when you stand on
Tax-exempt line, when we approach the cashier, they will ask you for your passport, and then you won’t be charged the tax. I guess different operator, like maybe Uniqlo, and all this, they might have a different kind of way of doing it, but basically as a tourist, you’re tax exempted.
Is it immediate? They do it immediately? Yeah, at the counter… they don’t give you cash in return. Probably they give you a different price… you know…taking off the charges, and all this. And we have one subscriber who asked about this, and hopefully we have answered you.
And ya…any comment or anything that you might want to suggest, do drop us in the comments section. Yeah…and we would love to hear from you, especially your own experience… yes you can share, and feel free to share your tips, and your advice as well, you
Know…because we’ll be going back to Japan again….. Thank you guys, for all your subscription, and all your likes. Do share with your friends, and you know, being new, we need a lot of support from you guys, and as I said earlier, for first time viewers, if you like our content, do subscribe
And give us a like. You’ll definitely help us a lot in our journey as a YouTuber right, as you guys know, we just started off not long ago…yeah we need all your support, and all your likes, guys all right? So darling? Thank you very much for watching our video, and God bless! Right, it
Takes a bit of time, but we hope that you guys have enjoyed this video, and have good good trip wherever you go, and travel safe all right? Be safe, right God bless you guys, bye-bye.
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Hi guys! 👋😊Here is the link to our Tokyo Trip Itinerary for reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d5Io-djC2CRUY750HrjKjq_8-UhrtrT8/view?usp=sharing