Japan 2024: Everything I would want to know before the trip!

Planning a trip to Japan in 2024 or 2025? In this video I share all the tips and knowledge I would want to know before flying to Tokyo. From transportation, like the bullet train or shinkansen, to how easy is it to stay hydrated or find public restrooms. Also included are the experiences you should NOT miss when visiting Japan, like onsen or staying at a Ryokan. I hope you enjoy!!

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If you are planning a trip to Japan this year next year or Beyond there are some important tips you are going to want to know from the proper place to put your chopsticks to how to use public transportation or perhaps even Rent A Car let’s go tip number one choose your

Luggage wisely depending on how long you are staying in Japan and how much you will be moving around the country you’re going to want to be pretty picky about what and how much luggage you pack for your trip if you’re using trains to go from City to city like Tokyo to Osaka to

Kyoto for example you are going to be doing a lot of going up and downstairs not to mention needing to put your luggage in overhead racks my advice is to pack very light and make sure if you need to bring two bags that at least one

Of them is a backpack and that you can easily lift your suitcase and carry it up and down a long flight of stairs because some train stations don’t have elevators or escalators tip number two you are definitely going to want to get an IC card to use for transportation in

Japan IC stands for integrated circuit chip which means that these cards can be used for contactless payment also you can re reload the card throughout Japan with more money as needed the most common cards are the sua card and the pasmo card I used a pasmo card while I

Was there and it worked great but don’t make the mistake we made by not getting the pasmo card at the airport after arriving we had to go pretty far out of our way to find an official office to get a pasmo card issued to me the first

Night that we were in Tokyo it is it’s much easier to get one while you’re still at the airport and they’re set up at the airport to serve new tourists arriving the pasmo and sua cards do become invalid after 28 days so if you are staying for longer keep that in mind

That you might need to go get another card or you’re going to have to pay for your transportation tickets individually for those last few days a little note here you might see people using their app on their phone in place of an actual card but the apps are only for those who

Have money set up in a Japanese financial institute which means it’s generally not accessible to foreigners tip number three while we’re talking about Transportation you should research whether getting a Jr pass would actually make sense for you if you’re going to be traveling by bullet train or the shin

Consin between cities the pros to getting a Jr pass is that you can go ahead and have it Del delivered to your home before you leave for your trip and you’ll just get it activated once you arrive in Japan it does save you from having to go in and buy a ticket for

Every Shin Consin trip that you want to take although if you want to get reserved seats and you have the Jr pass you’re still going to have to go into the office and get those reserved seats anyway the cons to the Jr pass are if you only take one two or even three

Bullet train trips it probably doesn’t pay for itself especially since they just did a significant price increase in September of 20123 this is definitely a situation where I would sit down do the math and really see if buying the tickets individually for each train trip would ultimately be less expensive than

Buying the pass I’ll have the link below to the Jr pass website so you can do your research tip number four an etiquette rule that might surprise you is the silence on the public transportation in Japan you will not be overhearing loud conversations or people playing video

Games no matter how late it is into the evening everyone riding the trains and Subways are very quiet they may be focused on their phones but they are not playing games or scrolling Tik Tock with the volume turned up and if people are traveling on the train together they are

Rarely engaging in a loud conversation you got to use your inside voices tip number five while we’re talking about Transportation even more renting a car or even a motor home in Japan is really easy you just need to make sure that you’ve gotten an international driver’s license before you arrive in Japan there

Is no way to get an international driver’s license once you’re in the country I got mine through a AAA and it only cost me about 20 or $25 once I got used to driving on the other side of the road it was really really easy to drive

There the other drivers are very safe and courteous and there there does not appear to be any road rage Happening Here tip number six just like driving on the other side of the road you are going to want to walk on the other side of the

Sidewalk or at least for those of us who usually walk and drive on the right side this for me was surprisingly one of the hardest things to get used to and while you’re walking down the sidewalk another thing you don’t do is eat and drink while you’re are walking Japanese kids

Are taught at a young age that this is really rude Behavior so if you get a beverage from one of the Min vending machines that are there you should just drink that drink while you are standing by the vending machine you drink it all there there’s a garbage can there and

You throw it away and then you walk on tip number seven while we’re talking about drinking beverages don’t worry about drinking too many liquids while you’re turning around because there are plenty of public bathrooms and they are so very nice and clean and well stocked

Most of them do have a bedday system and some of them even have automatic Lids that move up and down when you walk into the room I mean the Japanese they are on point with their bathrooms we really need to have a little more Japanese influence in our public restrooms I

Think in the US tip number eight another surprising thing about Japan given how many vending machines there are around the country there are not a lot of public garbage cans there’s usually a smaller garbage can beside a group of vending machines but not just randomly out on the sidewalk I’m sure this goes

Back to the culture of finishing your vending machine beverage or food and finishing it right there by the vending machine so you can dispose of it at that point the streets of the cities and rural areas too are very very clean and free of random trash so teaching kids

Early is clearly a successful strategy and maybe we should focus more on trying that here tip number nine something common in many accommodations is that your bathroom is going to be what is called a wet room the room will generally have a toilet and a sink like

Normal but then there’ll be a shower head just installed in the wall there’s going to be no separate shower stall bathtub or even shower surround there’ll be a drain in the middle of the floor and the door will usually have a very strong seal on it so water doesn’t leak

Out into the room it’s a little weird to get used to it first but at least the toilet seat kind of gave me somewhere I could prop my leg up for shaving one thing to remember is that once you are done showering and you’re going to leave for the day you’re going

To want to leave that bathroom door open so the room will dry and air out while you’re gone tip number 10 another note about bathrooms if you are staying as a guest with someone or perhaps you’re Renning an Airbnb or VRBO you might find find a pair of slippers in the bathroom

Or a toilet room these are specifically bathroom slippers you are supposed to remove your house slippers that you put on when you came into the house and put on the bathroom slippers to wear while you are in the bathroom and then when you go back out to the house after you

Are done you’ll put your house slippers back on the idea is to not spread the dirt and germs from the bathroom to the rest of the house I me it totally makes sense but again was a hard one for me to get used to especially for those uh 3:00

A.m. visits to the bathroom tip number 11 learning some Japanese phrases and using them when you can will go a long long way although many Japanese especially in the larger cities speak some English it is so appreciated when you as the tourist make an effort to communicate with them in their language

Now I tried my best while I was there but really the only word I mastered was konichiwa which means hello I was very lucky because my daughter had already been there for a year and she’d been studying Japanese for 3 years so she basically did all of the communication

For us I know I was kind of a slacker but you should have seen how the people would light up once she started speaking to them in Japanese they would want to chat and find out all about her and where we came from and all of of the

Things it was it was really Charming tip number 12 bring or purchase a coin purse much of the Japanese currency is in coins and although many of the bigger shops will take credit cards most restaurants will still only take cash especially when you get out of the big

Cities you will quickly end up with a handful of coins and it is just easier to have a specific place for those I did bring a wallet that had like a coin purse attached to it but within a couple of days I just went ahead and purchased

Well this cute little Mount Fuji coin purse that I ended up using for the rest of my trip and had a lovely souvenir tip number 13 don’t expect American style Sushi true Sushi is what we consider nigiri and sushimi you are not going to find many places that have those big

Rolls stuffed with all the things but if you’re a niri and sushimi lover you are going to be in Heaven tip number 14 if you’re eating a meal with a bowl of rice make sure you do not stick your chopsticks in the rice when you are not

Eating you’ll want to lay them to the side or across the top of the bowl the custom of sticking your chopsticks in the rice is only done at funeral so it’s kind of a big no no tip number 15 lastly I have two experiences that you should

Absolutely try when you in Japan the first is in anen which is a hot Springfed bathing facility and there are about 25,000 hot spring sources in Japan and about 3,000 Onsen establishments typically the Onsen are going to be divided by genders and you’re not allowed to wear a swimsuit you have to

Go nude also many Onsen do not allow you to use the public bath if you have visible tattoos although that rule seems to slowly be going away so you might just want to check you can choose from a traditional public bath house or go to a more private onson

At a Ron which we did and that leads us to tip number 16 which is to splurge on a stay at a nicer traditional Ron while you are in Japan it is not a budget item our stay was a little over $300 for both

Of us for one night but I think it was worth every single penny in addition to a very large gorgeous living space we had this private indoor outdoor onson that was in this lovely Garden setting and both dinner and breakfast were included each of these were an incredible experience in themselves they

Were multi-course traditional meals served To Us by our own private Hostess it was so amazing if you want to check out our whole Ron experience just watch this video next thank you so much for watching I hope you have safe travels and sayara