Tourist Traps in Japan | Don’t Go Here BUT Try THIS Instead

Tourist Traps in Japan | Don’t Go Here BUT Try THIS Instead

today we’re going to look at the biggest tourist traps in japan and some of these may surprise you there is so much to do in japan so make sure you spend your time and money on the things that deserve it let’s dive into the biggest tourist traps in japan the next station is [Music] hey guys hu here and today we are going to look at the biggest tourist traps in japan i will start off by saying that some of these are my own personal opinion and some of these things are definitely tourist traps while some are more based on preference or priorities and are just underwhelming that being said let’s dive into it one thing i saw on many lists of tourist traps that kind of surprise me is the nashiki market in kyoto and the squeegee outer market in tokyo both of these places do attract a lot of tourists and as a result you will often find markedup prices for food as many people come to these places for street food personally when i’ve been to these markets i’ve found that the markets weren’t as extremely crowded as others have complained about though that may be due to just the time of week and the time of year that i was there things are often overpriced here though so if you are looking for cheap food depending on what you’re getting this might not be the place that being said it is an experience to be in a market like these with potentially good food too but due to the popularity of these two areas some of the restaurants don’t prepare the best food and focus more on quantity rather than quality as a result you end up paying more for not as great food one of the things that are generally marked up at these two locations are the wagu skewers they usually will make the prices pretty expensive for the amount of wagu that you’re getting and it’s usually not the best cuts of wagu the problem with market areas like these is that they tend to draw crowds so it’s hard to get that experience without some level of crowd so there will always be people there but in my opinion if you wanted the marketplace experience i think that you might as well make it a cultural experience as well and i would personally recommend going to the streets outside of the kumizuera temple in kyoto where while crowded and it can get very crowded during peak season you can get in my opinion one of the most traditional street shopping experiences in japan if you want more reasonably priced food and souvenirs then go a bit farther from the main areas of these markets even just a few minutes walking and you will find much more reasonable food and souvenirs this also applies to the doon bori area in osaka but then again all of these places are very lively and fun so it’s still worth the experience just double check the prices before you pay for something the next thing is specific restaurants that are actually tourist traps first is the menbaka fire ramen in kyoto this place is very expensive for a bowl of ramen granted that you get it with a side of fire this place is a social media and instagram paradise and as a result the prices kind of reflect that so if you want to just go and enjoy a bowl of ramen this is not the place because you can get much better ramen for much cheaper elsewhere just without the fire the next tourist trap restaurant is the samurai restaurant time in shinjuku tokyo this is the successor to the robot restaurant that closed down in 2020 if you remember that this is an over-the-top performance restaurant though the main thing here is the show not the food basically the show is almost 2 hours of sensory overload lots of performers lights sound and insanity it’s not for everyone it’s kind of like if a pachinko parlor was a show but just like anything else on this list some people will want to do it and if that’s you that’s fine but if you are just looking up popular things to do and aren’t aware that they are tourist traps in nature then this is to help you make a decision on whether or not it’s worth it for you nearby there is also the shinjuku ninja live show which is a ninja themed slightly less over-the-top performance but like if ninjas were at an edm rave tourist trap in my opinion yes but if you are into ninjas and raves then go for it if you wanted to check out a japanese performance that is a bit less of a tourist trap and is much less intense then try getting tickets to akb48 shows which are hard to get but with their recently renovated theater and cultural significance could be worth the watch honestly as far as performances go i would love to hear some of your thoughts and suggestions on things that you actually enjoyed and thought were worth it in the comment section down below so swinging back to restaurants along the same line there are bars and clubs in shinjuku mainly around the kabukicho area where you will find clubs and bars all over the place a lot of them with people standing outside to try to lure unsuspecting tourists into scam situations basically they’re trying to get your money and they will upcharge drinks and things like crazy and they will do whatever they can to get money out of you so basically in short if you are approached by someone trying to lure you into something don’t do it this might sound like common sense but just keep that in mind while you’re there there are plenty of bars and clubs without scammy people trying to lure you in so go there instead there are even some secret speak easy bars in japan which are pretty neat if you want to check out something although a lot of them are non-alcoholic so you may want to look into that first before going some of them are pretty cool with various tasks that you need to do in like random corners or secret words that you need to say to someone but i won’t spoil all of those now the next one is a bit controversial and that is animal cafes animal cafes are very popular in japan with many different kinds going from micro pigs to penguins snakes otter owls capy bears and much more including the typical cat and dog cafes as well so the tourist trap part of this is that many of these places are one not designed to house these animals properly and two may not necessarily treat the animals properly especially given how much human interaction they receive at these places dayto-day and a lot are just designed to make money i will say that not all of these places are inhumane tourist traps with some animals like cats for example being used to humans and some of these places do take better care of their animals than others but as a whole i find it hard to imagine that all of these places would be ideal conditions for these animals that are typically not in contact with people at all along these lines the ginsa goldfish museum is also questionable in terms of taking care of the fish as there are many of them in small bowls here i’ll leave this up to you to decide another secondary thing along this line is the nara deer park this area is absolutely famous for its wild deer and you will find special crackers that you can buy to feed the deer here you know how in many other places there are signs not to feed the wildlife this is the opposite of that there are around 1,200 deer here and vendors and vending machines that sell special rice crackers which the deer apparently really like sometimes a little too much there have been many stories of deer getting aggressive when they see that you have food and trying to get more if you were to go here the recommendation is not to feed the deer closest to the vendors as these are typically the ones that are most used to humans and are the most aggressive but to wander a bit farther away to find the deer who are a bit more shy but you can still feed all that being said if you are looking for some alternatives to animal cafes or the narad deer park you can check out the tama zoo which strives for making the animals comfortable with large natural habitats or if you want to interact with some wild animals you can check out the jigokai snow monkey park where you can soak in the hot springs with monkeys jumping around you i go more into details about this monkey park and other places in my other guides so go and check those out next item is go-karting and this 100% is a tourist trap in shabuya you can go-kart down crowded streets getting stuck at every traffic light as you breathe in the pure exhaust from the cart in front of you while sitting in a noisy car that deafens both you and everybody in a 50ft radius and makes all the locals roll their eyes at you yeah locals hate this and it’s easy to see why it can be dangerous for drivers as the go-karts are very low to the ground and can be pretty hard to see it also causes a lot of pollution and noise you also do need an international driver’s license to drive one of these carts which is not hard to get but it’s something else that you need to know should you decide that these are your people and you want to go do it in my opinion there are go-kart tracks elsewhere that let you go insanely fast and are in much safer scenarios both for you and everyone around you so i think there are just better places to go go-karting if you do want to drive something unique in japan try going to the railway museum where you can drive your own train car how awesome is that you will need to download the railway museum raffle app and enter for a raffle ticket to get a chance to drive the train and it costs 600 yen but for an experience like this i think it’s totally worth it there are also various guided tours that offer to take you through shibuya especially around the famous shabuya crossing scramble aka the busiest crosswalk in the world but this area is extremely walking friendly and is designed for exploring it’s fairly easy to navigate i would skip the tour and go explore yourself moving along we have the next tourist trap team lab planets this may be a bit shocking for some but this place has been overhyped due to the rise of social media and don’t get me wrong i still think it’s a neat place but i don’t think it’s a must visit for everyone going to japan especially if you aren’t into this kind of thing don’t force yourself to go there team lab planets just completed their latest expansion in early 2025 and added more exhibits though many reddit posts do complain about how cramped the attraction is with so many people flooding in there that it is nearly impossible to get any photos without millions of people in it as well so there’s also a lot of reddit posts about people complaining that it smells like feet in there and a lot of follow-up reddit posts saying “hey i keep seeing people saying it smells like feet in there is it true?” and i think in general this is not the case i could see there being some hot sweaty days where that may be more noticeable but on the average day there i wouldn’t think that this would be a concern just to ease your fears a little bit that being said if you are afraid of this or in my opinion if you want a more pleasant team lab experience albeit still very crowded go to team lab borderless where you don’t have to take your shoes off and where you can explore and wander the team lab world at will team lab planets is designed to funnel you through all of the rooms in one linear path whereas team lab borderless is designed to be borderless allowing you to just go everywhere in whatever direction you want there’s no set path though team lab borderless again is still very crowded so you’re not going to avoid the crowds there if you want to check out something non-team lab related then check out small worlds miniature museum which has really neat mini worlds for you to explore including a sailor moon world and an evangelion exhibit next up we have hiking mount fuji okay so there are people who genuinely enjoy hiking mountains and all of that and if that’s you and you want to hike out mount fuji go for it from purely a tourist perspective the mountain doesn’t need to be on your travel itinerary especially if it’s your first time to japan i’ve seen a lot of posts about people asking how much time they need to set aside to hike mount fuji and if it’s worth it especially when they’re spending like a week in japan and that means you’re spending like at least 2 days preparing for hiking the mountain and all of that and it’s a lot of time that you could be doing other things the hike itself is fairly strenuous and you do need a reservation and to pay the fee to hike mount fuji and you should be in decent physical condition to do so the views of the mountain itself are breathtaking and using it as a backdrop to your photos is totally worth it and if you are on the mountain well you don’t get that mountain view not saying that the view from the top isn’t great but it’s not in my opinion first trip to japan great and especially since mount fuji can be cloudy with the chances of it being sunny less than 50% of the time throughout the summer climbing season so if you do plan on going to climb mount fuji make sure you’ll actually be able to see something from the top instead of just seeing clouds if you still want to hike a mountain instead you could go to mount mitsutoto where you will be able to get an amazing view of mount fuji from the summit next is an iconic spot that is on nearly everyone’s must-see spots on their first trip to japan this is the fushimi inari shrine this 1,300year-old shrine is the head of the inari shrines in japan and hence why it is filled with so many tory gates which have become iconic to japan it is said that there is somewhere around 10,000 tory gates here though seemingly that has been disproved and there are closer to somewhere around 3,000 to 5,000 tory gates but either way there’s still a lot and for that reason it’s mesmerizing to go and to take photos as you can walk through and explore the endless amount of tori gates the fushimi inari shrine gets insanely crowded very quickly during the day and i will say if you aren’t able to go early like before 8:00 a.m or you aren’t able to go later in the day it’s not worth it the crowds alone will prevent you from being able to enjoy anything the shrine is open 24/7 and it is free to visit so you could visit at night if you wanted to get some very unique photos of the shrine with no people and a different perspective however there are not very many lights here so that’s just also something to keep in mind if you are just in it for the tory gates and you wanted some unique photos of those check out the moonosumi shrine in nagato which offers breathtaking views of a path of tory gates leading to the sea this is a more off thebeaten path location as it is further out from bigger cities but it is quite a stunning spot if you want to see some tory gates and get that classic photo looking through all of them but you aren’t leaving tokyo check out the anamori inari shrine which is just a 6-minute train ride from the haneda airport it’s a smaller shrine but still has the row of tori gates though this may also be crowded as it is in downtown tokyo there are also plenty of inari gates all over japan so you don’t have to go to the fushimi inari shrine to see them you just have to know where to look but they’re everywhere next is a place that has 38,000 reviews on google and this is nijou castle in kyoto one of the most famous things about this castle is the nighting gale floors which is the way they designed the floors to chirp like a bird when stepped on to alert when people are around basically so no one could sneak up on the shogun back in the day however in my opinion the castle itself is very underwhelming due to its small size compared to other castles in japan it’s not that big and there really isn’t a whole lot to see outside so mainly it’s going through the interior of the castle and just enjoying the floors personally i think there are better castles so let’s talk about that osaka castle will take your breath away and it is stunning the massive park around the castle provides amazing views as you view the castle from different angles the castle itself does have an admission fee but the park around the castle is free the inside of the castle however is not historic as the castle was rebuilt and renovated less than 100 years ago and the inside is a fairly modern museum also the largest and most visited castle in japan is the himimei castle this castle is also known as the white heron castle and is a japanese national treasure and was japan’s first unesco world heritage site it is constructed almost entirely out of wood himei castle is one of japan’s 12 original remaining castles so in my opinion if you wanted to see a castle check out himeji or osaka castle over nij castle unless you are only in kyoto now we have two very popular locations universal studios and disneyland universal studios in japan was already popular and then they released super nintendo worlds popularity skyrocket it is the third most visited amusement park in the world the park itself is great if you really like amusement parks but overall it’s really similar to other universal studios amusement parks around the world plus super nintendo world opened in the universal studios theme parks in california and florida in the united states so it’s less unique now as for disneyland there’s a handful of disneyland theme parks all over the world so unless you are a disney fanatic who intends on visiting every single park then for me personally disneyland is a pass instead of universal or disneyland i would opt for a location that there is only one of in the world and that is disney sea this park as you can imagine is nautical themed and has a different vibe than disneyland though still feeling like a disney themed park with all the familiar disney characters disney sees rides like the raging spirits and journey to the center of the earth are also considered more intense than disneyland’s space mountain and splash mountain so if you are into thrill rides then take note of that though that being said not all of the rides at disney c are intense just that the ceiling is higher for intense rides at disney sea the toy story ride is plenty of fun though we did wait 2 hours for that ride and the 2000 leagues under the sea ride was also pretty amusing which had a much quicker line sinbad’s storybook voyage was also a unique ride with songs and a story as you journey through to save sinbad’s homeland the new fantasy springs area of disney sea is also worth checking out with the new tangled ride and frozen ride and when i was there in late 2024 there was a reservation system required to get into fantasy springs so i wasn’t able to get in there but since then they have gotten rid of that so now you can go into fantasy springs as part of the whole disney sea park experience another location that to me is underwhelming is the aishiyama bamboo forest the forest itself is fine and is nice but it is crowded and if you don’t go super early in the morning it can get pretty packed also for a good distance from the entrance itself deep into the forest there is a power line that runs along the path that makes for some very unflattering photos so to get anything really good you have to make your way much farther in which while in and of itself is not a problem it’s a lot of potential scenic space that i think could have been preserved if you are going to the aishyama bamboo forest early to get photos without people in it then you run into another issue in my opinion and that is the main street area that is in front of the bamboo forest has tons of shops and activities but none of those are open that early in the morning so you would miss out on all those stores and activities if you go super early some alternatives besides the aishyama bamboo forest are the takenomici bamboo forest which while not as famous i think this spot has nicer paths which could make for some really good photos also the kyoto city raikuai bamboo park this is a more hidden gem location and it is not nearly as popular so it’s worth checking out lastly one more bonus item here the tokyo tower yeah that’s right the iconic red eiffel tower looking building that is probably the most recognizable building in the tokyo skyline in my opinion is not worth visiting why well the tokyo tower is beautiful to look at but the observation deck is underwhelming it’s not the tallest in tokyo and without being able to see the tower the skyline seems a bit lacking it also costs money to go up the tower and there isn’t a ton to do around the base of it if you want a better view consider going to the tokyo skytree which is the tallest tower in the world or the shabuya sky which has stunning 360° views of the city with a chill area to lounge on the roof and lastly but most importantly the cheapest option the tokyo metropolitan government building which is indeed free and can give you a much more pleasant viewing experience if the weather isn’t great as it is completely enclosed indoors unlike the shabuya sky the tokyo metropolitan government building also has a world record-breaking light show on the side of the building itself at night so that might make the trip even more worth it being able to do multiple things there all for free after all of this i am sure that there will still be plenty of people that will go to these attractions and i will even be back to some of these places on my future visits to japan but if you are planning your first trip to japan and trying to figure out what’s worth your precious time on that trip hopefully this helps you figure out what’s worth it and what isn’t what do you think is the most underwhelming thing in japan let me know in the comments section down below and i will see you guys in the next one [Music]

Japan is an overwhelming country with so many things to do but are all of it worth doing? What popular things should you avoid on your first trip to Japan? What things are underwhelming or pure tourist traps? Let’s find out as we take a look at some of the most overrated places in Japan.

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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:44 – Overpriced Markets
2:16 – Cultural Markets
3:07 – Tourist Ramen Restaurant
3:43 – The New Robot Restaurant?
4:39 – Ninjas and Tourists
4:57 – Best Japanese Performance
5:27 – Scammy Bars and Clubs
6:07 – Secret Bars
6:40 – The Animals
7:51 – Wild Animals
9:16 – The Karts…
10:23 – Your Own Train Car
10:48 – Unnecessary Tours
11:10 – Overhyped and Underwhelming Lab
12:30 – The Team Lab
12:57 – The Smallest World
13:15 – The Most Famous Mountain
14:48 – The Torii Gate Capital
16:12 – Alternative Torii Gates
17:04 – Underwhelming Castle
17:48 – Better Castles
18:55 – The 3rd Most Visited Theme Park
19:51 – Most Unique Theme Park
21:22 – Iconic Bamboo
22:45 – The Most Iconic Tower
23:21 – Alternative Towers
24:09 – Are These Places Worth It?

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