10 Things I Learned about Japan from My First Trip to Japan – FIRST TIME in Japan 🇯🇵

If you’re planning your very first trip to Japan, I hope you are doing a lot of research! I think I did my research about a year, on and off, before I went to Japan for the very first time in November 2023 ✌🏻 And even though you do a lot of research, there are still things you probably will learn once you get to Japan 🇯🇵

Things You Can Expect in Japan – https://youtu.be/m9ZIEbUd2OI

One mind-blowing thing I learned about Japan in Japan is that there are still people who would talk loudly on the trains. That’s almost the number one things you don’t wanna do in Japan, other than eating and drinking while walking.

BUT most of the train rides I took in Japan has been pretty quiet. The “louder” trains are the ones in the evening, and mostly they’re coworkers who are probably still talking about work even if they’re off the clock ⏰

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Another shocking thing I learned is how many people actually speak perfect English! I’ve watched so many Youtube videos that talk about how shy Japanese are of speaking English even though they learned English for years in school. But I learned that there are so many people who speak English and are willing to help a couple of lost travelers in Kobe 😅

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What are some of the things about Japan you learn while you’re visiting or traveling through Japan?

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Hi, friends! 👋🏻 My name is Sarah and on my channel, I post travel tips and hacks videos that will help you travel more. I have a full-time job with limited paid time off (PTO), but I was able to travel more since 2022. If traveling more is one of your goals this year, I’m making it my mission to help you accomplish your travel goals!

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Hi friends my name is Sarah and welcome to my channel in today’s video I want to share with you 10 things that I did not expect about Japan if you are going to Japan for the very first time you probably have done so many research I actually did probably about a year of

Research on and off before I finally went to Japan last November in 2023 and I have heard so many great things that I do expect when I do get to Japan and I actually did make a video about that a couple weeks ago and I will link it down

Below if you want to check it out right after this video however there are some things that I experienced in Japan that I did not expect at all the first thing is about the Shen consen shenon is the super fast bullet train that you probably will take if you are going to

Some other parts of Japan for example I actually landed in Tokyo and then I took the bullet train to go to Kobe and then from Kobe I took the local trains to go to Osaka and then Kyoto and then from Kyoto I took another Shan caran to go

Back to Tokyo before I fly out of Japan and there are so many videos out there about the shin consent on how to buy the tickets how to reserve the seats and it makes it so complicated but I actually found this one app it is called the

Smartx app and on this app you can actually buy your shin consent ticket whether you want the reserve seting or the non-reserve seating so when you open the app on your phone obviously you have to log in cuz you have to make an account once you are on the homepage of

The app you can go on the shin Consin tickets option and this is the way you want to search for your train depending on the station that you are going to be getting on the Shen Canon from there’s actually a few different train like nozomi Hikari Kodama mizuo Sakura and

Subam so you can choose from those trains because if you have done your research those trains actually kind of run a bit differently there are some that takes longer because they stop at more stops there are some like the noomi where it doesn’t stop until like 45

Minutes an hour after you left Tokyo Station you can also just buy the non reserve seating so you just buy the ticket for the whole day and then it doesn’t matter what time you get on the train which train you want you just have to go into the non-reserve car but this

App makes my life so much easier it is super easy to navigate and you can even choose your seat and then it will tell you which seats are available you can go through the whole schedule of the train to see which train has more available

Seatings and all of that it is such a lifesaver if you want me to do a separate video sharing how to use this app to buy your shin Gans and tickets let me know in the comment below the second thing that is super unexpected about Japan and I learn that when I get

There is how to order fot at restaurants there are actually three main ways that I noticed that honestly make ordering your food at restaurants so much better so much more efficient and especially if you are someone who do not really speak a lot of Japanese like I do or someone

Who just don’t want to talk to people if you are very introverted this options are probably something that you would love about Japan if you have seen videos Google photos Instagram post about those spending ticket machine at ramen shops you would love it so much because it is

So easy to kind of figure out what you want to buy there’s obviously sometimes two to maybe five different type of ramens you can buy at a Ramen Shop you basically just pick and choose on those machine and then you pay for it already you got a ticket and then you wait in

Line to be seated and once you get a seat you just hand over that take it to either the chef or the waiters and then they will go ahead and prepare your food minimal talking minimal interaction with people it’s just I love it another way you can also order is by QR codes

Usually it depends on where you are sitting there will be like a QR code on your table you can scan it with your phone and then the menu will pop up on your phone and again you can kind of order through the QR code and then

Because you scan it on your table they know where to bring your food to the last thing and I see more of of these are those tablets that you can order from your table or your booth most of the restaurants in Japan that I went to are very very traveler friendly so they

Do have English menu already you just have to tap on the English menu you can order from there sometimes you can even pay on the tablet but most of the time you still have to go to like the register every single thing about the ordering experience have been thought

Out the next thing that is unexpected for me is how many people actually are able to speak English and are willing to help you out I feel like if you have done your research many people even like Japanese channel would tell you that Japanese people are too shy to speak

English even though they learn English in school if you don’t read and speak Japanese like I do you would be fine because there’s a lot of English signs everywhere and surprisingly there are more people who are willing to help you in English and let me give you a quick

Example when we finally get to coob we wanted to go to a coin locker and drop off our stuff because we actually ship our luggage from Tokyo to Osaka so we only pack a backpack that have like about one night of clothes and also toiletries when we get to the Shino Bay

Station there are literally no lockers that are available I even see some people kind of like waiting around to see if people are going to get their stuff out of the locker so I have to go to the other station I think it was Kobe Sania station and even over there

There’s no Co lockers and we were wondering like what is going on there must be an event where people are basically dropping off all of their stuff in the lockers and go out and go to whatever that event is so when we were at the KOB anomia station there’s

This one lady who was kind of looking at us knowing that we were kind of lost or need help and she speaks perfect English to me asked me if I need any help and she even asked the train station staff for the questions that I have which was

Where is the coin Locker even after she helped me the first time I bump into her again not long after that and again she still asked me to make sure that I have been helped and I got to find those coin lockers we we were finally able to find

One because someone was picking up their stuff right at the last minute before we gave up so we just drop off our stuff there but people are helpful they are very friendly if you maybe say Su manen which is just excuse me before you speak in English they are understanding that

You don’t speak Japanese all of the time people have been really friendly the next thing that is unexpected for me is that they’re actually still angry or pissed off store clerks or workers if you have done your research well you probably know that customer service in p

Is topnotch and I do experience that in most of our interactions with people at the hotel people at the stores people at the train station bus stops you name it but I still did encounter two specific encounters where I can tell that they’re just not in a good mood I don’t think

They’re angry or mad at me but you can tell that they’re not having the best day one of them is actually at a Family Mart across more hotel in Tokyo I went there probably like super late around 10 10:30 p.m. this person is the only person who was working there there’s

Nobody else but I did buy four or five food items that he needs to help me heat up he was also kind of stocking and then he needs to help me heat up all of those food items and honestly I don’t blame him if I were him I would probably get a

Little bit Moody as well because I’m busy I’m only by myself and you want me to hit up four food items the end he was still being nice to me the other encounter that I experience was at the kauch Cho station which is probably the busiest station as well other than those

Main stations in Tokyo kawaguchiko station is basically bus stops train station for anyone that are coming to siman Fuji so if you are taking the bus from Tokyo you will stop there you will also take the bus back from the same station so this lady probably just have

Had enough maybe she didn’t have time to take a break but she was just kind of Moody I can tell that she did not have a good day that day that station was so busy it’s a small way smaller station than all of those other big ones in

Tokyo and it’s basically the main hub for people to leave in and out of the Fuji Yoshida kawaguchiko area to see Mount Fuji so it was just a mess honestly but with that being said there’s still many many experience in Japan where again the customer service was top-notch they were very helpful

Very friendly very understanding that I do not speak Japanese even though all of them I want to say always think that we are Japanese which I’m flattered but unfortunately we do not speak Japanese other than a few phrases that I learned from Tik Tok and YouTube and Google

Translate the next thing that I did not expect about Japan is the local people still hang out at the tourist attractions and tourist spots this is especially true for Shinjuku and Shibuya I feel like it’s obviously where they live that’s where they hang out even though there are so many Travelers

Around that area I still see the locals hang out and have fun go out late at night I live in Las Vegas even though we are about 20 minutes away from the main Las Vegas bouevard part or the strip but we rarely hang out there because we know

It’s busy there are a lot of Travelers and tourists there everything is so much more expensive and if you even just go about 5 10 minutes away from the strip like to the Chinatown area everything is much cheaper there it was just kind of unexpected for me to see so many locals

Hang out at those touristic spots so the next thing that is kind of unexpected are those Pokemon centers and anime stores only selling character merchandise I kind of know and know noticed from the videos that I watch of people from Japan that they are really into character collaborations and

Character merchandise I really thought that Pokémon centers especially would sell games card but most of the stores that we went to especially the Pokémon centers as well as other anime stores most of them are selling character merchandise and to be honest with you I’m not really into it Rick is not

Really into merchandise either although we did get a coin purse from a Pokémon Center at ibukuro but it was just kind of unexpected how big character merchandise are in Japan if you are someone who are really into character merchandise you would love the stores in Japan the next thing that are unexpected

Is how people still talk pretty loudly in some of the trains if you research the dos and don’ts in Japan one of them is about not talking in Japan trains because most people like to keep it to themselves it’s actually pretty quiet on most of the trains that we actually took

In Tokyo even in Osaka and Kyoto on the shin Canan you can kind of talk a little bit but most of the time you heard that in the local trains nobody talk it’s basically silence however in some of the trains that we took the train is pretty

Loud it’s not that quiet I feel like you could still talk especially if you kind of whisper I usually just whisper into Ricky’s ears on a trains if I need to tell him something there are loud people and I feel like some of them are kind of acceptable especially in the evening

Train when people just get off from work they usually take the train with their co-workers and they probably still talk about whatever it is that they were talking about at work but overall I would still keep conversation at a minimum because you just don’t know if

It’s going to be a louder train or just a really really quiet train do expect that there are still people who are going to be talking a bit louder than like Whispers on the trains but most of the time I just don’t really talk as much because I just want to not stand

Out and keep within the train culture I guess the next thing that was kind of unexpected for me is how easy it is to bump into other Travelers usually when we do travel we just keep it to ourself especially in Japan because one it was our first time in Japan and we’re just

Learning about the culture of how people travel and how local live honestly we didn’t expect to be bumping into other people who are also traveling throughout Japan we actually bumped into a couple from Ireland at our yakatabune dinner in asakusa and they are currently living in

Brunai we got Seated on the same table because there’s only two of them as well and they don’t have a big enough group to take over the whole table it was just cool to talk about our experience traveling throughout Japan and how they came to live in brunon and another time

We also bumped into a guy from Germany in the man Fuji area it was just pretty cool to talk about his experience traveling through Japan and it was just kind of interesting how he didn’t have any plan when he flew to Japan and just go day by day when I’m pretty like

Strict and have a schedule and sometimes even a time when we have to leave uh stop and have to go on the next one it was just kind of unexpected and it was actually really nice learning from other people who love to travel as well and hopefully someday we’ll be able to do

More traveling and bump into more Travelers and just exchange experiences and stuff like that the next thing that actually didn’t expect to do it is to take advantage of the luggage delivery service in Japan I honestly didn’t want to spend extra money to send our luggage because it could cost from maybe about

$30 to $40 depending on the size of your luggage and how many there are and how far you’re going but I’m just so thankful that we actually use it because it is really really helpful you don’t have to really think about going down the stairs or up the stairs with your

Luggage when you get into your destination your luggage might be there a day after depending on like when you ship it but it’s just so much easier and it’s totally worth spending the extra $ 20 $40 if you are debating whether or not you want to use the luggage delivery

Service just do it if you want me to do a separate video going through about how to request it how it is and stuff like that let me know in the comments and I will definitely make that video for the future last but not least this one thing

Is I guess I kind of expect but people are still out really late at night even during the week day to just have fun let loose with their co-workers or their friends this is especially true in area like Shibuya and Shinjuku I just see so many people still out there with their

Briefcase and their suit and it was pretty late at night like maybe 8: to like 10:00 p.m. which I feel like sometimes something that we should do maybe more often to relieve stress that is something that I kind of expect but I just didn’t expect to see so many of

Them let me know in the comments below what are some of the things that you are curious about about Japan and maybe I will do a future video about those topics so if you want to see more Japan travel videos and recommendations make sure to subscribe before you leave and I

Will see you on the next one bye