the ONLY video you need to plan your entire trip to Japan.

EVERYTHING you need to plan a trip to Japan is RIGHT HERE. This video is your one-stop-shop Japan travel planning guide to plan out your trip itinerary, set your budget, find accommodations, understand the Japan train system, what to understand about the local culture AND which aps to download.

Follow along with our FREE JAPAN PLANNING GUIDE HERE:
https://www.trippedtravelgear.com/blog/japan-travel-planning-guide

Come back, rewatch, and jump to the part of the video you need today:

00:00 – How to plan a trip to Japan (as a first time visitor)
02:14 – Japan Itinerary
02:40 – 3 Day Itinerary / What to do in Tokyo
07:40 – 5 Day Japan Itinerary (Visiting Mt. Fuji)
10:55 – 7 Day Japan Itinerary (Travel to Kyoto)
13:09 – 10 – 14 Day Japan Itinerary (planning a longer trip)
14:10 – Japan travel budget
15:34 – How to find cheap flights to Japan
16:57 – How to find a hotel in Japan / where to stay in Japan
21:51 – How to use the Japanese Train System
22:15 – How to buy the Japan Rail Pass / Which Japan Rail Pass to buy
29:19 – How to ride the Tokyo Subway (download Suica app)
31:53 – What to eat in Japan / What to drink in Japan / Dietary Restrictions Information
40:04 – What to know before traveling to Japan (culture talk, how to pay, subway culture)
44:40 – Key Japanese phrases to know before traveling to Japan
50:25 – Mario Kart Tokyo Experience Review

WHAT TO PACK FOR A TRIP TO JAPAN / JAPAN TRAVEL IN A CARRY-ON

Akria’s Sake Tasting : https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/324540?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=0a7fa502-9350-4c50-b7aa-8fe242d40f74

Akira’s Tokyo Food Tour: https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/183804?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=e0078dc2-dd32-4d8c-ba01-47048c622486

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Okay don’t worry I’m here let’s plan a trip to Japan together I’m so glad that you have found this ultimate Japan travel planning guide video for firsttime visitors to Japan the reason I say first-time visitors is because we’ve only been to Japan once and for 2 weeks

And I hate when people on the internet are saying like pretending like they’re the expert or they have the best restaurant in a city because they it was the one that they went to expertise I do have is that we just returned from an amazing firsttime trip to Japan and I

Can only tell you that I was more nervous planning our trip to Japan than any of the other 40 countries that we’ve been to in the last five or six years hi I’m Finn half of Tim and Finn and we did just get back from Japan in this video

You’ll see a lot of our footage from the trip this video is going to be more of a little bit of a tutorial or talking head video we’re going to talk about a itinerary based on the number of days that you have real high level we’ll talk

A little bit about budget we’ll talk a little bit about accommodation things like uh Transportation how to get around food and drink different cultural experiences that you’re going to want to make sure that you don’t miss and a little bit of language tips um as a bilingual English Spanish speaker I’m

Always so interested in learning phrases of the local languages when we travel and uh Japan was one of my favorite language experiences recently so I’ll share that at the end of the video down below there’s also lots of freebies for you not only can you download PDF guide

Here or DM us on Instagram we’ll just send you the link immediately also visit our Japan packing video you can learn not only how to pack for your Japan trip but also download a packing guide there so tons of free resources for you already let’s dive in to this great content for you Number one let’s talk a little bit of your Japan itinerary we are American I know I’m speaking to many Americans and that puts us in the context of not having much vacation time so I know you’re going to want to get the most out of as few days as you’ll have possible

There but if you do have the luxury of more vacation time and you’ll be spending longer in Japan you can take this in stride and add more destinations lucky you of course starting with Tokyo most of the flights going into Japan are going through Tokyo one of the largest

Cities in the world and my biggest takeaway from Tokyo was truly how large the city is which Probably sounds naive to say I was blown away by how much I particularly loved the city because there’s so much to do in see that our two weeks could have easily be spent in

Tokyo without feeling like uh we were having a redundant day with so many different neighborhoods so many different personalities you can schedule different types of days and activities with in Tokyo itself and not be bored ever if you have 3 days or less spend them all in Tokyo that is I’d say the

Minimum to get a little bit of personality of the city a few can’t miss things while you’re in Tokyo number number one is the shabuya sky this is a rooftop deck overlooking shabuya Crossing which is the busiest crosswalk in the world and it is truly a cool and unique experience how they’ve created

Like a a photo taking Adventure up there a light show there’s different times of day you could go and have different experiences it’s a low entry fee about $20 you can spend as long as you want up there there is both indoor and outdoor sites to see you have a 360° view of

Tokyo I think this would be one of the best things to do in your first 24 hours in the city I’d recommend grabbing tickets online through any type of tour operator like a get your guide or Vier one of the top Google results and you can uh book your time in advance

Because the sunset spots are the most popular if you want to get there and get great photos at Sunset here’s a little bit about our experience when we were there wow oh you can go to the ledge oh my gosh this is this is really cool something you might not know

Tokyo is a pretty big city but you you’d have no idea till you came up here Prett pretty big on top of the World no one can convince me that Japan isn’t living 50 years in the Future one of the top things to do in Tokyo that you’ll see on any travel blog or social media platform is the team Labs Tokyo the indoor museum with the lights and all the uh that’s not a that’s not up Tim in my alley like that’s not something that we would do in

Our hometown and we didn’t do there we didn’t do that there we didn’t regret not doing it have heard great things if you’re into that kind of thing but to us it felt like um like traveling to Miami looking up Trip Adviser top things to do

And like escape room is one of the top things that was like our personal interpretation of why we didn’t do it like we’re in Tokyo why would we be inside this um kind of like Museum thing but if you like those interactive experiences it is Apparently one of the

Best in the world so uh if you’re already into that absolutely go if you’re not I don’t think it’ll like maybe change your mind about it that’s just our personal opinion now stay away from the tangent of diving down all the things that you can do in Tokyo because

That would be an entire video certainly of itself I’ll have more in our downloadable guide that you can see below and as we talk through the other categories in this video like budget accommodation cultural experiences food and drink a lot of those will also apply

To Tokyo so that’ll be also kind of like part of the top things to do there as well but let’s stay I itinerary focused one of the other super unique things that you can do in Tokyo or Asaka is the street cart go carting where you dress

Up in costumes and it’s kind of like real life Mario Kart of course for copyright reasons it is not real life Mario Kart however there’s a couple companies who put this on um we of course did this because it was like basically one of the reasons we went to

Japan in the first place and we’ll share more about that experience towards the end of the video because it’s it’s a whole thing but if that’s something that you think that you’d be into don’t miss that part of the video and don’t miss that on your experience to Tokyo or

Osaka all right if you’re watching this video and you’ve got a trip to Japan coming up you are probably spending more than 3 days if you are this far into this video so let’s dive out into a larger image view of more days in Japan

3 to 5 days honestly I wouldn’t go too far from Tokyo because you are going to want so much time in different neighborhoods downtown but then what you could do is add on a different aspect of the trip you’re going in the spring and you want to see the cherry blossoms if

You’re going in the winter and you want to ski or if you are an avid hiker outdoorsy person you really might want to um see Mount Fuji be in that area from 3 to 5 days add on one let’s call it like nature element into the trip

Because the jux position of Japan is one of the things that makes it so interesting and unique you have the insane lights and cleanliness of one of the largest cities in the world but then you have the beautiful natural quietness and Landscape out just beyond the city

Center you could add on like a one-day trip to Fuji a one-day trip up to Nagano for skiing um there’s better skiing on northernmost Island but that would be a little far for a five day trip there’s some other areas around Tokyo that you can find of different Hillside Parks

Botanical Gardens Japanese Gardens that if Fuji or skiing or the mountain area aren’t on your list you could just take a short train ride and get out to a beautiful Botanical Garden all right now let’s say you’ve got about a week I’m going to call this like a 5 to 8 day

Span of time if you have about a week that would be the shortest length of time I’d recommend staying outside of Tokyo that’s when if Mount Fuji is on your list you could do an overnight trip down there or you could go out into the center area around

Nagano area where you could visit maybe an onen Town your weeklong itinerary would also be a good opportunity to add in a bigger cultural experience uh into your trip like an entire day filled of Hot Springs um an entire day visiting Wildlife like the snow monkeys if you’re

Going in an appropriate season like late fall winter or early spring otherwise the monkeys aren’t cold and they don’t go into the hot spring they’re they’re out like looking for food in the forest as monkeys do there’s other touristy things you could do in the mountain areas like um take cable cars to

Viewpoints or go on Hikes to different viewpoints so that would be like a good entire day activity that would be really limited on 5 days or less getting you outside of Tokyo but a perfect way to add in a little break on your trip um for 7 days we’ll also talk about how

Quick and easy it is to get around the country using the chansin or the Bullet Train system don’t be intimidated by that I can’t wait to tell you about that in our transportation section but that would be such an easy way to hop on the train go see a different area of Japan

And then quickly and easily get back to Tokyo in your seven or eight days or less and be able to to fly out again when you have more time than 7 Days that’s really when the trip can open up and you can start to explore the country

A little bit more for a cultural experience this would be a great time to visit Kyoto one of the most popular touristy cities for this purpose there’s so many rans a Rokon is the traditional Japanese hotel where you sleep on the mats on the floor and this type of overnight experience almost always

Includes dinner a multi-course really cool dinner and a breakfast essentially a bed and breakfast but in the Japanese style so Kyoto would be a really cool location to stay in a place like that because there’s just lots of choices many available there’s so many temples

To visit in Kyoto that that would be a really good jumping offs point for your cultural trip add-on and you’re about a 3our bullet train ride back to Tokyo then so you’re not traveling you know too far away from where you started if you want to maintain uh more of a nature

Itinerary this is where you could add on the other natural experience you haven’t had yet so if you started in Fuji you could go up and visit an onen town in the mountains if you went there from Tokyo then you could maybe go down to Kyoto or something for two nights and

Then come over to Fuji before heading back up to Tokyo you see all of this on a map it’s very circular which um helps helps travel planning because uh it’s always nice when you can make a perfect Loop and don’t have to backtrack too much if you are more of a urban

Environment lover then of course you’ll love Osaka the second largest city in Japan and all the different neighborhoods foods to try in Osaka that is a city lovers paradise and dream because there’s so much going on in Osaka you wouldn’t have that much diversity of a trip if you only did

Tokyo and Osaka however if you’re a city lover and you’re not you know missing anything by not taking a hike then you could really just spend all your time in those two cities woo even though that was a lot of information that is such a

Brief high level of what there is to do in Japan that’s almost like saying for the entire United States like a couple days in New York and two in Los Angeles and one day skiing in Colorado is enough to to cover the entire United States there’s there’s so many different types

Of trips that you could have uh visiting Japan you’ve got okanawa all the way down south where you could have a beautiful beach vacation visit the snowiest city in the world in February in Northern Japan and have an entire winter experience up there so that’s part of the beauty of visiting this

Country is depending on the time of year the location you can you visit you have so much Variety in the type of trip that it’s going to be that’s why I personally am excited to continue to go back and back and back to Japan for different

Types of trips but for now I will leave you with that highle itinerary again you can download all this information below let’s move on to everyone’s favorite topic of budget all right budget what is the budget like in Japan I’m going to do a little like fins feels like which is

Something that we say in our family when we talk when we’re talking about the weather say your name say like what it feels like outside the fins feels like is that it is a you’re not going to love my answer but the budget in Japan is

Truly the budget that you spend at home or on your short weekend trips I bet if you are a person couple that likes to make dinner reservations go out to nice places to eat you can definitely grab some great gner reservations and spend about $100 a person for a great omaz

Dinner we’ll talk about um that in food and drink if you don’t care so much about luxury hotels or nice dining experiences and you’re a little bit more Thrifty you’re going to be going to the local grocery stores or 7-Elevens picking up some ready-made meals eating some Ramen in the hotel but also

Spending you know some money out on some cool like sushi and restaurant situations then it’s probably going to feel like another night out around your home you might not believe me but it is really similar and that’s probably all really good news because then you know

What to expect when you get there I’m assuming that you are not already in Asia and one of your largest expenses is going to be flying to Japan some great ways to pull away some of that cost is of course to fly on points which is almost exclusively how we travel some

Really convenient ways to get to Japan is you will probably be surprised by how many direct flights there are from North America how Earth Works is of course how planes fly from North America to Asia or let say Eastern Europe as they go so far north so flying from North America you

Go over Alaska while it is a long flight 12 to 15 or 16 hours depending on where in the US you are flying from United’s got great flights from San Francisco Chicago Ana which is Japan airline has many direct flights those are all great Point transfers if you have a Chase

Credit card that will go directly right over to United they are usually pretty reasonable and flat rates based on distance Bank credit card points transferred to an airline purchased in flights is such a better use of credit card points than redeeming for a hotel room or something so if you’re going to

Use some points on this trip use it for your flight don’t use it for accommodation speaking of let’s talk a little bit of about accommodation Japan has some super fun and unique hotel accommodations there are different themed hotels there are different style hotels there are different room types

You can stay in a traditional Japanese Ron like we talked about earlier and there is every type of budget and property Under the Sun especially in Tokyo and one of the largest cities in the world however you normally travel is probably what you’ll see and find there

However if you looking for some travel tips one of my favorite redemptions that we recently used on this trip was through the AMX portal if you have the Platinum Card you get an extra $100 when you have a stay you also get free breakfast so this was a great way to

Stay at a luxury property in Tokyo have a $100 credit that you could use for room service or to have a very like Park Hyatt Lost and translation moment with a tail overlooking the city skyline in the evening and the breakfast buffet at a luxury hotel is a great way to try

So many Local Foods so we’ve been using um a point Redemption staying at a luxury property at one of the first days in a new country a lot recently because I’ve found it’s a great way to just like have a two to three and 1 half hour breakfast sampling all the different

Foods you know by some of the best chefs in the country working at the the luxury hotels all included in the rate of stay now if the overnight stay is $1,000 that doesn’t really Merit a free breakfast but if you could find one of these luxury properties at let’s say like $400

Or less by the time you have two people eating a $50 breakfast and a $100 credit it’s actually a pretty good deal so that’s like another travel hack you can think about but your accommodation in Tokyo particularly is mostly going to be about location because it’s such a big

City there’s so many different neighborhoods to consider and so what you want to do for your Tokyo accommodation is first map out how you want to spend most of your time in Tokyo and then go ahead and find a property in your price range and experience type that you’re looking for in that

Neighborhood in a large city like New York taking the subway around Manhattan can you know take almost an hour same thing in Tokyo you could be doing something in shabuya and what to get over to Ginza and take 40 minutes on the subway so you’ll want to plan a little

Bit around what neighborhoods you want to be in and when all right outside Tokyo and also um to speak a little bit more to the Ron experience what a cool and unique cultural experience to be able to stay in a Ron I was surprised to

Find how difficult it was to find a well reviewed Ron and that might just be a language barrier I found that on the normal hotel booking sites that I use like a bank travel portal or a aggregate like hotels.com booking.com a Goa which I normally really like for Asia it it

Was kind of hard to find and then it was hard to figure out like what it was if we were going to be in a Japanese style room if the Onsen the Japanese Hot Springs were attached or if we had access to one in the town um and then

Diving out on the website of the hotel it was also hard to find that information maybe the website was only in Japanese characters um of course Google helps a lot with that but I was just surprised to see that it wasn’t more English language tourist focused it was definitely like a very local

Experience so start on your favorite booking site and then from there you can start to like explore out onto different paths but of course Google is in English and unless the business owner has put their hotel name or the English written Ron word uh not that Rokon is an English

Word it just has English characters you are searching Western characters in the symbols of Japanese and they they don’t cross and match versus like if you are looking in Portuguese or German it can look up because it’s the same characters okay we can talk about that more with

Language but I was just surprised that for such a modern country I was having more trouble than I thought finding information but that’s what made it really cool and such a foreign experience for somebody who’s know traveled to whatever you know what I mean I’ve been places let’s move on how

Is this going are you getting excited about your trip to Japan don’t be scared it is easier than you think it’s going to be it’s just a lot to think about in the beginning which is right now so this is the most stressed that you’re going

To be so it’s going to get easier specifically with Transportation let’s talk Transportation the first thing that you want to consider and probably do if you’re spending more than a week in Japan is get yourself a Japan Rail Pass the first thing that I want to tell you

About using the Japan Rail System is that if you are in anything beyond a carry-on size you have very limited options while traveling on the train there’s very limited luggage storage so some ways around that if you need to take a checked bag like you’re going

Skiing or something is you can first of all you can ship your skis you can ship within Japan so you could ship your luggage to where you’re going if you are planning on riding the train with your luggage you have to make a luggage reservation along with your seat

Reservation so that you have the large area reserved which there’s only like two to four spaces four pieces of luggage per car that really limits your options if you don’t want to deal with reserving your checked bag while you travel through Japan on the train you

Could book a green car which is the business class or first class system where you don’t have to pay for luggage those cars have more space those cars have more flexibility and those cars have more luggage area however not necessarily enough for every passenger but you don’t have to book your luggage

In the green cars or you can do what I would recommend is staying carryon only for your trip to Japan yes even your two week trip to Japan how are you going to do that well we have a complete packing guide specifically on how to travel

Japan in a carry-on only it’s an entire system on how to pack with Japan in mind keeping you in a carry-on so that you can stay Mobile on your trip to Japan and stay flexible and not having to book your luggage on the train this is linked

Below and we’ve got great YouTube hosts for that episode the lovers passport who traveled to Japan in carry on and host that episode over there so don’t miss the free packing guide download and that episode of packed over on trip travel gear so how do you get a Japan rail pass

To my shocking surprise the Japan Rail Pass is not electronic and you need to send alert alert markings on the screen you have to send out for the Japan Rail Pass in the mail to your home in wherever you live isn’t that crazy a month before the trip I said these are

The dates that I want to be in Japan and they mailed a sheet of paper and that voucher we packed in our suitcase and traveled to Japan with and arrived at the train station in Narita Airport and then they issued us rail passes anyways that was just an interesting experience

That I haven’t had in other countries so what happens when you have a Japan Rail Pass you can opt to buy Rail Pass based on the length of time you are there they come in week-long sequences 7 Days 14 days 21 days and they’re available only to non-japanese Residents so that’s a

Fun little tourist Park that we get if you go out there you might have sticker shock for how much the passes are so you’ll want to estimate are you just staying in Tokyo are you just taking a one-day trip to Mount Fuji or are you doing 14 days around the country every

Bullet train will have a one-way sticker price if you don’t opt to do the pass think of this like a Euro Rail Pass where it’s like unlimited trips it adds up really quick like I think a one way from Kyoto to Tokyo might be $100 and so

For a$3 to $400 ticket it will start to make sense depending on the amount of time that you’re traveling you can also use your Japan Rail Pass and I’m physically showing you because this is going to start to get a little bit complicated however it is interesting so

I do encourage you to stick around all right the Japan Rail Pass is good for trips in Tokyo around on the subway I’m talking to Americans we don’t like have all this like great stuff like you guys have in Europe or anything okay so think about like an amra Train That’s the

Bullet train and also the subway like going around on the L in Chicago good for both however there’s also Tokyo subway lines that this is not good for sounds intimidating but it isn’t once you’re there because in a beautiful Japanese way everything is labeled so incredibly well and with Western

Characters when you land with your voucher and you go to the train station in the airport to go go into town you go to the ticketing office and a very sweet lovely person will help your jet legged and Confused self out and hand you your

Pass which is the one that has a QR code on it and this is your functioning pass do not lose this ever that’s it they will hand you a second card that looks similar but functions differently this is purely information you won’t need to scan this OR put this anywhere the

Tickets have English on them they have times and numbers that you can read on them and they have your seat number and the track number and the train number you can ride trains without a seat assignment on some trains and on others you do need a seat assignment how will

You ever know well if you are a planner I’d say when you first get there know all of your travel dates that you’re going to be traveling all around the country and say hey we’re going to Tokyo right now and hey 3 days from now we are

Going to go from Tokyo to Kyoto and then they’ll look up the train times they’ll say you know what time do you want to go how about sometime around noon and they’ll say okay how about this 1208 train d d d they put it all in so you

Could get the seat assignments for your entire trip right then at the ticketing office right when you land that’s what I would recommend doing because you never know if the um trains could sell out if you’re not the planner and that sounds a little bit too planned and not so

Spontaneous you can always just show up day of and like say hey we want to go to Osaka today and then as trains are available then um you can Bop on the next available train that’s probably fine for most times of the year unless you are traveling to a popular location

At a popular time of year like April especially the end of April which is a Japanese holiday and the time that it’s departing when you are walking through the train station these function by inserting into um ticketing machines it sucks it into the machine it PES

Punches it out on the other side you take it to walk through the little Carousel keep this again do not lose it put it somewhere away when you exit the train then you will go through another exit ticketing you know the little Carousel things out the other side BM

Take it put it away do not lose it second Transportation go ahead and download right now sua I feel like I am doing like makeup blogging sua you know when technology sometimes just works this was one of those blow your mind things you download sua the app I

Suppose and in your Apple pay you just say I want to add money to my sua card so to start I just added 1,000 yen which is about $7 so I had something in there even if your screen is off and I just beep beep top off my little squea

Card you can scan it right across a little phone scanner in the same area of where you were putting this in bu upup for the Shen Consin bullet train on the subway lines you tap your phone even if it’s off and it auto deducts from your

Sua card and then it’ll tell you your remaining balance you can go ahead and top off even mid-trip if you need to again you tap out boop boop before you leave in downtown Tokyo there are lines that accept the different forms of transportation this is already included

In your ticket price so it’s better to look for a train that’s starts with the letter j because then you’ll know that you already paid for it versus needing um sua money to pay for it Suka is also really cool because you can use it to

Pay at a lot of the shops and stores that are in the massive train centers that are a city block wide that are all happening down underground in Tokyo man I could have an entire video I guess on Transportation but I think it’s one of the most intimidating factors for a lot

Of people Google Maps did such a phenomenal job here mus and pepper such a phenomenal job on telling you exactly where you needed to be and go on the public transportation system in Tokyo you say you know it knows that you’re here and you want to go there and it’ll

Tell you what lines to take where to transfer and even more importantly how to exit the train station when you’re underground because you could be walking like city blocks through tunnels and you just feel like you’re in a shopping mall because there I mean there’s like Carousel Sushi situations going on and

Then you pop up and you could be you know a kilometer away from where you wanted to be because you exited on the wrong doorway so take note and use your Google Maps on your phone and it will say you know exit the station in C1 and

You might not know where that is but you can follow the signs and then Boop now you’re the closest area to where you wanted to walk to bada bing bada boom Oh not enough eyecloud storage well wouldn’t you know okay food and drink food in Japan is Umami amazing some food

In Japan makes me want to vomit my brains out but everybody has their own palette let’s start high level Sushi you’re going to eat some sushi in Japan yes it is amazing yes there is conveyor belt Sushi available in lots of locations and yes that is a really fun

Experience to try did you ever play that Pokemon game like the lick a tongue on N64 that was a big game with my brother and I to experience it in real life was super fun please comment below in solidarity with me thank you I was kind of surprised during a lot of those

Experiences that at those restaurants a lot of people are still just ordering Sushi you kind of see the same things going around and around you’re kind of waiting for something that you have a taste for you can order on an iPad in a lot of those places or just shout out to

The chef and they’ll bring it to you that was I was surprised that it wasn’t just conveyor belt Sushi there’s a lot of ordering that goes on at those places too Omas dinner with a little bit of cultural naive not speaking the language I don’t know that much in a formal way

How to describe this is the fourth time I’ve done chef’s kiss in this video but a multi- meal that will run you I’d say somewhere between $50 to $200 for a sushi experience where the chef is preparing the food right in front of you and of course you eat sushi

With your hands and picking it up as they’re delivering the one dish they’ll present it to you Tik tok’s a good place to find oh my God say dinners that are geared towards tourists that a lot of now people have seen because of Vlogs or Tik Tok and your concierge at your hotel

Would also be a good resource to help book an omaz dinner if you are interested in experience like that we had an experience like this in Tokyo and W in Kyoto when went in Tokyo that was a place I found on on Tik Tok and made reservations for and another really

Spontaneous one that we walked into that had a cancellation that night in Kyoto and both were some of our favorite culinary experiences in Japan cuz that’s kind of like what you do when you’re there add that to your list under both culture and food as a not to miss of

Course if you are a red meat eater W go beef trying that really was yeah the best red meat that we’ve ever had ever so that’s something to try while you’re in Japan one of my recent favorite things to do on trips is to book some

Type of food tour at the beginning of a trip in a particularly foreign feeling country to help gauge a little bit of like what new foods have we never even heard of that we should be trying I we’ve just been loving doing Food Tours

In the beginning we did go on one that I found on Airbnb experience that I totally recommend wait wait I go there cuz I’m not very oh my God look at like a T-Rex a little bit wow that really great really selling it I love It it’s like it’s just feet it’s just like feet more feet old old feet guys this one is a chili chili powder this one’s chili powder this one is O this is too you don’t you don’t know anything um we had a blast there was a lot of sake

Involved that information is all in the guide below but let’s just dive into a couple highlights here between the Japanese sake soou whiskey and beer there’s so much alcohol to try in Japan um with another big drinking culture so that’s if you’re a drinker that that is

A really fun part of the culture not to miss as well there are drinking tours where you can learn about you know saki tasting or go to a whiskey Tasting Room that’d be something to do especially in Tokyo where there’s just more options for things like that search Japan travel

On social media and you’ll see lots of people who are eating out of the vending machines and the 7-Eleven and the food really is very good the food at the train stations that you can take on the trains excellent as well there’s some Bento boxes to take on the trains or

Even self-heating where you remove some strip and it starts to warm up the food it’s just a whole different level of experience that we don’t have here so that’s something really cool to experience and do as well speaking of food and the train there is a lot of

Cultural rules that you will want to follow while in Japan the Shing conin the bullet train it’s totally appropriate to eat and drink while on the train you’ll have the full full down table in the beginning we weren’t really sure of like what trains it was okay to

Eat on and what trains it wasn’t but after a couple days in Japan we realized Shen conin bullet trains appropriate to eat it was really just the subway experience where it’s not appropriate to eat there’s very little talking even late at night in clearly like drunk social situations of people coming back

From work it was still pretty quiet pack to the brim Subways were wonderfully quiet instead of and chaotic like U maybe a Subway that you’ve been on before but those are just things to know for eating drinking and talking on public transportation the last Topic in food is food allergies vegetarian vegan

There are a lot of options in the big cities as there are in many places in the world in big cities but there also were good vegetarian options and indicators on menus with a v for things that were vegetarian or vegan surprisingly I would see the word vegan

More than vegetarian which I was surprised about um but that’s good to know if you follow any of those dietary restrictions unfortunately for me and some of you this was by far the worst country that I’ve traveled to with celiac disease there were almost no gluten-free options and I spent most of

The trip sick so sorry your gluten intolerant to be the one to deliver this information I didn’t realize how challenging it would be going there but I so regretful to say that soy sauce was particularly bad I was much more sensitive to it there than I was here in

The states it’s something I already avoid in the states unless it’s like Tamar or coconut um Minos and it is also very hidden in a lot of foods there sometimes kind if I thought I was eating plain white rice it would maybe have a seasoning in it like a little fuk fukami

Fukami like the seaweed flakes that would be seasoned with soy sauce powder and it it was just in everything if I was requesting it at a nicer restaurant they were surprised to like hear about that allergy a wheat allergy it was just very challenging so I’m sorry to say

That how you can approach the trip just real quick if you are Celiac or gluten intolerant is is a lot of non- englishspeaking waiters or people we were interacting with knew the word allergy or you might hear it as allergy they knew allergie and then wheat or we

Were able to kind of figure out the symbol or sign for wheat of course just having like a little image on your phone that you’ve put through Google translate of just as a quick way to show somebody is most efficient way to communicate this is your heads up and please go do

More research on options around this Tokyo was your best bet on being able to try foods that were specifically gluten-free for celiac because it was a big city in such a unique country there are so many really cool cultural experiences not to miss out on it would

Be hard to tackle them all on your first trip to Japan so I would try to focus on what you are really interested in in the beginning Tim could live his entire life in a hot tub so the onset experience for him was topnotch there’s different ways

To experience this you can go into an Onsen town where basically like the thing to do in these mountain towns as with the natural hot spring river flowing through them is you visit different on sense and just walk around and go sit in Hot Springs if that sounds

Your Vibe any time of year you can do that there of course are Japanese tea ceremonies that you can participate at with on all budgets across the board you can go to like high tea at a very luxury hotel in Tokyo and you go to a very traditional tea ceremony in the

Countryside there’s places you can rent kimonos go take pictures at temples there our we talked about the rocon so there’s ways to use accommodation like a cultural experience and you can go to a sumo wrestling event these are just some ideas as you start to research your trip

But think about spending one day in some type of cultural experience what I was saying in the beginning of the video is like a team lab Tokyo isn’t necessarily the cultural experience that I would recommend but again it’s like something to do if you’re downtown but because

Japan has such a strong culture and it’s such a different culture than what we’re used to here in the states even just going to dinner is such a cultural experience if you know that going in and you have an open heart and mind about just the day to day experiences that

You’re going to be having there just living and acting like the locals do like for example just respecting the cultural behaviors on the subway by not talking and not eating that’s part of the cultural experience that you’ll have while you’re there another cultural experience you should know about before

Traveling to Japan is how to pay for something and how to respectfully give and receive money or payments I’m specifically talking about cash which I have in front of me for demonstration purposes I don’t know I just brought all my trinkets out here when you’re paying with cash anywhere there are little

Trays in Japan on the counter and then you are to put the money coins on the tray not handing it to the person two hands being more respectful in giving or receiving things than one which I found was easier to change the Habit than you would think um just started immediately

Doing doing this and that wasn’t like that hard to think about but anyways two hands onto the tray the cashier will exchange it whatever you’re doing with it um hand you back the item Boop sometimes this works if you are purchasing an item to or handing somebody something it was always like

Two hands here’s the thing that I’m giving you or if it’s money never the money the money always on the tray this happened to even checking into a really nice hotel the credit card for payment was um he kind of like smirked or smiled that we knew about the card cuz he was

Kind of waiting to see if because we were Western looking if we knew about the card thing cuz maybe he’s used to being like credit cards shoved in his face kind of thing which I I kind of get and we put the card and like slid it to

Him and he like M and then like he like because it was a nice hotel I don’t know he was like all the way down here and he was picking it up and I just really liked this cultural experience of giving and receiving of items use the tray and

Use two hands other tips the two hands are helpful is if waiter or somebody’s handing you food or drink you could be holding up your sake glass with two hands somebody’s serving you your food behind a street stall you can take it with two hands so lots of two hands and

Then usually a bow and it was usually given to me with a bow so I was just like returning the bow I was never really like initiating the bow as The Outsider but I was usually getting a bow so then I was receiving with a bow and

Two hands and that was just such a fun cultural experience to participate in while traveling in Japan another part of culture that is part of every country in the world is its local language and Japanese was so fun to speak is too strong of a word for me because I was

Not speaking Japanese but of the Asian countries that I’ve been to Thailand Vietnam Malaysia Singapore it was the first Asian language that I’ve been able to use and feel understood from just basic phrases so I really liked the interaction between the lals really just being able to say Thank you so together

We can say thank you which is so let’s break this sound of bit arato and thank you and very much everybody was using this phrase from the 7-Eleven operating attendant and the subway under the airport was just like so sweet respectful sometimes bowing sometimes hand together but always no matter what they were

Doing M the length as I understand of mess is more respectful the longer it’s said so a very respectful to way to say thank you would be to really hold the mass and a lower bow so in M sounds fun to say as a native English speaker but is completely appropriate in

The moment so uh as I was practicing before we left and Tim was giggling at me really getting into the accent it was very appropriate and uh well received while we were there so I loved that I think as a native English speaker who has learned a second language and gone

Through the time of embarrassment of what it feels like to practice a foreign language and to say gracias to uh somebody that’s helping you out while you’re traveling but having gone through that entire progression it feels weirder to you than it sounds from the native speaker so

If feels funny for you it does not sound funny to them what doesn’t sound good is if you aren’t saying thank you in such a respectful culture so please please please please please practice saying this and don’t be shy to say it while you’re traveling because it is such an

Important part of their culture and such a fun way to share a shared experience when you’re checking out of a hotel when you’ve so bravely figured out how to pay for something um in Japan and them handing you whatever you’ve just paid for soas is a non-negotiable you must

Learn how to say thank you very much when you arrive there are two other phrases that I’m going to teach you in this long-winded video Su sum Masen sui Masen is oh sorry excuse me oh excuse me oh sorry excuse me in such a busy and crowded city as Tokyo was I

Cannot believe how much I used this word I used sumimasen all the time in Tokyo within the first 24 hours I heard my first Sumi Masen as somebody a local on a crowded Street kind of squeezed past me and barely barely shouldered the side of my

Backpack and he turned around Su suen as he bowed and walked away and I Su Masen came out of my mouth and I was just so excited about this local experience it’s again very respectful there’s there’s no like uning and shoving by sometimes at rush hour on the subway without assumi

Musen but this was a fun way to feel part of local culture being able to say that in the many crowded spaces we were in in Tokyo but also a useful thing if we were coming up on our stop and we were smooshed in the middle of the

Subway and needed to get out and then I could throw in a little sum Muson and then we had a little clearing to get out of the subway before the door is closed so that’s a good one to know sum musin I have no idea how to spell any of this

But that’s what it sounds like the last and final word of course is kicha kicha I was very confused by so I’d love if uh anybody is bilingual Japanese and English to share in the comments kicha hello but I think more specifically it’s more like good afternoon I never heard

This word in reciprocation to me using it which made me feel uncomfortable to use it however my use might have been appropriate at any time of day perhaps and maybe what the other person was saying that I was hearing was we walked into a shop and they said welcome well

Welcome into the store how how may I help you maybe there was a different time of day that they were acknowledging and maybe they were just saying a catchphrase of the retail shop I I have no idea but I very rarely heard kicha just a few times in a touristy area and

Entering a store but it was the afternoon so anyways I’m not sure about where kich chiwa Falls that one I was more uncomfortable using by the end of the trip cuz I wasn’t entirely sure how I was saying it however walking in with blonde hair at 511 and saying anything

Was at least an attempt to break the ice instead of walking over and saying hello but it just wasn’t that same like Ola Ola experience that you would have in a Spanish speaking country anyways moving on last but not least you have to check out street cart go-karting if that is

Something that you would be interested in kind of like why not if that’s something that you think would scare you yes you are driving on the streets of either Tokyo or Osaka so maybe it’s not for everyone but it was one of the primary reasons we went to Japan and we

Were so stoked that it completely lived up and exceeded our expectations here’s a little bit more about that trip If you stuck around all way to this point I’m so excited for your upcoming trip to Japan I hope you come back to this video and re-watch it right before you leave so you you’re reminded of some of those cultural experiences and uh language travel tips to get you in the

Right mindset for your upcoming trip please leave a comment below like And subscribe this video um don’t miss the free travel guide down below you can download that there see you in the next video