My Biggest Japan Regrets | Don’t Make These Mistakes In Japan

My Biggest Japan Regrets | Don’t Make These Mistakes In Japan

every time I go to Japan I come back with regrets today I’m going to share with you my Japan experiences so that you can learn from them and avoid making these mistakes let’s dive into the things I wish I knew before going to Japan the next station is [Music] Hey guys Wong here and today we are going to talk about the things I wish I knew before I went to Japan basically the things I regret most some of these may be more obvious while some of these you can only really know from experiencing it so without further ado let’s dive into it let’s start off with something I did not see coming and this really confused me at first vending machines so they are everywhere in Japan and it’s actually fairly convenient it’s said that there is around one vending machine for every 23 people in the country the estimate is around 4 to 5.5 million vending machines typically you can buy drinks and water in these vending machines everywhere but there are special ones too which I’ll talk about in a second but the reason why I mention this is because there are restaurants where you order food from the vending machines or rather you order the meal and you get a paper ticket with your food item on it and then you take that inside where they give you your meal this is quite efficient but it did take some time for me to figure out and understand how it all worked this prevents people from sitting inside the restaurant staring at the menu for an endless amount of time trying to figure out what they want basically when you go in you have what you want already because you ordered it at the vending machine for restaurants that you don’t pay upfront at you will typically walk up to the front to pay and you don’t wait for the weight staff to come and give you the check and take your card like you do in the United States for example vending machines are abundant in Japan and you will often find rows of them seemingly down every single street in addition to buying water juice and the typical cold drinks there are also many hot drinks that they serve like coffee green tea milk tea amongst other things great for both the summer and the winter to have options on hot or cold drinks however you can also get more unique and even bizarre things from bananas in Shabuya Station apple slices in Ginsa Station ramen and food vending machines to the more bizarre snacks like crickets and other bugs there’s really a lot out there i found some that were serving steaks possibly even Wagu not entirely sure but you can really find anything in a vending machine in Japan this does mean that you don’t need to bring an abundance of water when you go out for the day because you can get water or drinks from almost anywhere from these vending machines you can also pick up snacks and things from the vending machines but I wouldn’t rely on those as these kinds of machines aren’t as abundant vending machines in Japan typically all take coins and cash with the newer ones taking the IC cards like the Suika card which can make it convenient to use since you will most likely have one already for using on the trains but it doesn’t hurt to have coins and cash on you as well so the regret with these vending machines is one not fully understanding them like the restaurants that I got ramen at for example which took us quite a while and some explanation from the staff to be able to figure all of this out when I first went and also carrying too much water around when I could have bought water and saved myself the back pain next off my second biggest thing that I regretted most from my very first trip to Japan was wearing normal sneakers this is a terribly grainy photo of the sneakers that I wore the very first time I was in Japan these are the Filela Simulate 3 running shoes it’s a fine shoe and I had no issues wearing them around dayto-day so why not in Japan big mistake so this last time I went I bought a pair of shoes specifically for this trip i got a pair of On shoes specifically the On Cloud Surfer shoes which someone actually noticed in one of my videos which I thought was kind of impressive i didn’t know much about Ono till I got these but when I did they felt super comfortable and man this was a game changer i didn’t know shoes could be this comfortable in Japan we walked an average of around 20 to 30,000 steps per day on our trip and I will say that the number of steps you take per day may vary with more relaxed travelers taking less and more ambitious travelers taking more but one thing is for sure you will take a lot of steps so get your step counters ready in the major cities in Japan you can walk everywhere easily especially the hyperefficient train systems in Japan make getting around the city all that much more easy all that being said after my first Japan trip I learned my lesson get comfortable shoes as far as popular shoe brands for walking and comfort the Ono AS6 Hokas are amongst the most popular recommended brands for everyday walking and comfort we’re not talking about the stylish shoes like the Onita Tiger brand which is a Japanese shoe brand and is everywhere in Japan but that’s more of a fashion thing go check out different shoes and find something that is comfortable for your feet because trust me once you get to Japan you start walking it will be all worth it several people have commented about getting shoes that are either waterproof or bringing a backup pair of shoes in case yours get wet or if it is too sweaty in the summer especially if you don’t wear sizes that are easily accessible in Japan mainly if you have larger feet it may be worth bringing a second pair wet shoes are no fun and I did have a moment in Canada at Niagara Falls where my sneakers got drenched and well I had to dry them but in short get good sneakers it’s going to be worth it moving on to the third item on this list which was actually probably one of my biggest regrets on my list for things I did not know before going to Japan is that Japan has mosquitoes so what well their mosquitoes are no joke they are aggressive and when I first went to Japan I didn’t use any insect repellent and wore shorts in the summer and man those mosquitoes hit quick not only did I get like five mosquito bites instantly but they reacted a lot and they got like huge and I’m not going to go into all the details on this one but I think it’s pretty straightforward beware of mosquitoes and use insect repellent typically mosquito season is between March through November but it kind of depends on the region of Japan that you’re in when I first went it was in July and man they were out in full force my latest trip was in December and even in the rural areas of Kyoto we did not have any issues with mosquitoes though it also might be that they couldn’t penetrate the unbreakable layers that I was wearing mainly my winter barker some tips for avoiding mosquitoes aside from the repellent is to wear light colored clothing as they are typically attracted to darker colors if you are planning on buying mosquito repellent you can get it at convenience stores like Family Mart Lawson and 7-Eleven which can be found all over Japan or by visiting a drugstore for me personally I hate mosquito bites and they ruin whatever trip I’m on so for me having all those mosquito bites in Japan just made the whole experience extremely unpleasant on to number four and this is bringing the right size day bag for your adventure the first time I went out to Japan I didn’t bring any sort of bag around with me didn’t think I need it that was a mistake japanese stores do charge for bags so it does help to have a place to hold the things that you buy on my latest trip I brought a few bags with me and here’s what I learned first off I had this Peak Design Everyday Sling and this is the six L version it typically held my camera an additional lens a battery pack and usually a smaller snack or something like that it was convenient and I do like how fairly compact it is and it didn’t get in the way especially cuz in Japan there’s a lot of very narrow alleyways or crowded spaces so having a large bulky bag could be kind of a nuisance but this definitely wasn’t bad however the downsides of a small sling like this is that it is quite small i couldn’t really fit any larger items in here or any purchases that I made secondly and this is a big one my shoulders were dying a few days into the trip it was so bad that I was switching the shoulder that my bag was on like every 20 minutes or so because it was just really tiring spending the entire day wearing this bag on one shoulder halfway through the trip I switched to using a backpack and that helped a bit though at that point my shoulders were already destroyed for the rest of the trip someone in my group was also using a shoulder bag and had the same experience so personally unless you keep your bag really light honestly I wouldn’t recommend a shoulder sling then I switched to the Nomadic Peter McKinnon camera cube pack which is kind of nifty because it folds into this small thing and then opens up and becomes a backpack this is a 21 L bag which is substantially more than the 6 L sling and it did help me carry both my personal items like my camera and things as well as all additional things that I bought for the most part and this also eased a lot of stress on my individual shoulders though I will say that the straps on this camera bag are still pretty flimsy and not extremely comfortable i did also have the Nomadic Peter McKinnon 25 L camera pack with me but this was mainly acting as a suitcase so I had a lot of things in it and I did not use this bag to carry stuff around day-to-day though it probably would have been better cuz these straps are actually padded and it’s like a real backpack as opposed to the other bags plus that one’s a little bulkier and I wanted to travel lighter packing lighter also helps like using smaller suitcases because getting around the city with luggage is not easy it can be quite a burden wheeling around a suitcase through the train station with its many stairs and through the city you also do need a special seat on the Shinkansen or the bullet train for example if your suitcase is too big and I go into this and plenty more other things in my Japan packing video so go ahead and check that out so my personal recommendation after traveling with several types of different bags is one definitely have a bag with you as you travel around day-to-day but I would avoid the sling and that’s just my take on it so moving on to number five one of the reasons that you will want a bag with you is because finding a trash can is impossible in Japan okay it’s not impossible but you have to know where to look the thing I regret was not understanding this so we actually ended up bringing a small plastic bag with us and putting all of our trash in for the day and carrying that around with us for a while until we actually could figure out where the trash cans were and that led us to carrying a lot of extra trash or dirty food items that we didn’t necessarily need to bring around trash cans aren’t all over the place like in nearly every other city in the world yet in Japan the streets remain cleaner than nearly everywhere else how well they don’t flood the streets with overflowing trash cans you can find trash cans inside places like malls train stations and convenience stores if you get a bottle of water from a vending machine like we discussed earlier then if you’re carrying it around you’ll have to hold on to it until you finish and can find a trash can but nearby the vending machines themselves there will be an area to recycle those cans so one thing that is frowned upon in Japan is walking and eating if you purchase food from a food stall for example you are expected to stand near the stall and eat the food and once you are done you hand the trash items to the stall worker and they will toss it for you you aren’t supposed to walk away with it or walk around while eating that’s considered rude and so when I first when I figured that out to some degree where I would get the food and I would stand in front of the stall and eat and not walk but then I didn’t know what to do with the containers that the food came in so that’s where I would toss it in my plastic bag and just keep it around with me all day until I found a trash can to dump it all out and basically I carried around a lot of trash that I didn’t need to so don’t do that and hand the trash items back to the stall worker and they’ll take it for you now at number six Japan is known for its transportation like it’s worldclass and extremely punctual trains and I got into the mentality that we have to use the trains because why not and so when we were there making our way from Tokyo to Kyoto we took our bags and we made our way through the train system onto the bullet train and then we walked from Kyoto station to our Rioan or the traditional Japanese inn that we were staying at because it was a 20-minute walk and wasn’t along any train line or anything like that so we just ended up walking how hard could it be carrying our luggage and walking through the streets for 20 minutes felt like an eternity and it was rough the thing I regret was not taking a taxi while taxis are generally much more expensive than buses or trains in Japan it is 100% not worth trying to save a bit of money and walking to our Rioon i’ll admit at first I was a bit nervous taking a taxi but had I known a bit earlier about the Go app it would have saved me so much time and the pain of having to carry everything through the narrow streets the Go app is like Uber or Lyft or any other ride share service but it is the main one in Japan it’s convenient extremely easy to use and I would totally recommend it i actually had amazing experiences with my Go taxi rides compared to when I took the regular taxis in Japan but I go much more into depth into this in my other Japan guides so go ahead and check those out as well number seven on my list of regrets speaking of going from Tokyo to Kyoto is not spending more time in Kyoto one of my most recent trips to Japan I spent a day and a half in Kyoto and while we did an insane amount of things and saw most of the major must-see spots there still were plenty more things to do in Kyoto that I would have loved to have experienced i have a guide on how to do Kyoto in a day and if you are short on time you still can experience all the major things in Kyoto in a day but again my regret here is not spending more time here one of the areas that I would have loved to explore more are the streets right in front of the Ku Mizua area in front of Kyoto the streets here are breathtakingly beautiful and it is a cultural experience that is unlike anything in Tokyo don’t get me wrong Tokyo is awesome and I love the city vibe and it’s still an amazing experience that is unlike any other city in the world but Kyoto is where you can really experience Japanese culture and history and that makes it totally worth the visit and I wish I had spent more time here exploring all of that the shopping streets right outside of Hugh Mizera are some of the most photographed and iconic spots in not only Kyoto but in Japan so from a cultural experience perspective you don’t want to miss out on that one thing that I specifically wanted to do in Kyoto but did not have the time and regret not doing is renting a kimono but again no time so that was one of the things that I really regret from the trip on to number eight one thing that I did not realize is how brutal the summers are in Japan it’s hot and like insanely humid and that can be taxing on you and your clothes hotels with a washing machine can be a lifesaver during the summer to keep clothes fresh and prevent you from having to pack a ton of sweaty and smelly clothes with you as you continue throughout your travels packing as light as you can for Japan is key to being able to bring back as many souvenirs as possible so having to pack less clothes by washing them and rewearing them can be a gamecher not all hotels here have washing machines though many should but you should look into it in advance as it may be more or less convenient to access them the fancy hotels usually don’t have selfs serve washing machines instead they charge a fee and they will go and use their own services where they will take your items and wash them for you some hotels will have washing machines in areas near their lobby for people to use and that can be great as long as there are not a ton of people waiting to use the washing machine cuz then you’re spending your whole entire night waiting in line trying to get a chance to wash your clothes on my most recent trip I stayed at the Tokyo stay in Shabuya and each room had its own washing machine which made it extremely convenient to do laundry and not to have to worry about packing so much if you are able to buy clothes and shoes in Japan that can save you on a lot of packing space and basically you can just buy things as needed but this only works if you fit into typical Japanese sizes which tend to run small compared to non-Asian countries so if you are above a large in the USA you may find it harder to find clothes in Japan and it may be worth packing a bit more extra stuff from home to wear if you are looking for larger size clothing one of the places I do recommend checking out is Uniqlo as they do tend to have some of the larger sizes again going back to the brutal summers you will want to stay hydrated and the many vending machines will allow you to do so by purchasing water however this will lead to another problem finding bathrooms this for reasons I cannot explain can be fairly tough to do and I was literally running through the streets of Shinjuku for what felt like an eternity trying to find a bathroom after drinking way too much water major tourist spots train stations and malls typically have public bathrooms along with some convenience stores but there aren’t as many just out and about public bathrooms as you would find in other cities this has led to people developing apps for finding toilets in Japan and you can find Reddit posts about people complaining about the lack of toilets in Japan so yeah it’s it’s a thing also be sure to bring a hand towel and soap as many of the bathrooms that you will find don’t have those things more on that in my other Japan guides now on to number nine and this is one of my major regrets and the reason I did not end up with 10 suitcases coming back from Japan for better or for worse was not planning out my shopping shopping in Japan along with just walking around the city can be overwhelming and if you don’t have a plan you can end up wasting a lot of time let’s take Akihabara for example when I went there I didn’t quite have a plan and I was just like “Oh well I’ll just wing it i’ll just go around and and can enjoy the stores.” Upon doing research afterwards I realized that I missed out on a lot of stores or locations that I would have wanted to see akihabara has a ton of anime stores and you can find several on every block but some are definitely better than others and if you want specific things you’ll want to know where those are in advance otherwise you may never find what you’re looking for because it’s simply overwhelming this applies to all types of shopping in Japan because there really is an overwhelming amount of shopping that can be done here so save yourself the time and the regret by doing a bit of research beforehand so that you can go and get what you want before I go into the last one here are a few quick bonus tips it’s really hard to find a place to sit like really hard you can’t just sit on the ground or the stairs or idle around in Japan they don’t like that next to take the Shinkansen or the bullet train you will need two tickets i believe if you have a reservation you need the base fair aka the fair to get you on the train and if you have a reserved seat then you will scan that after putting in the base fair also if you are transferring from the local trains to the bullet train then you will need to use your IC card before entering the bullet train so that you can basically scan out of the local train system before going on to the Shinkansen so you will scan your IC card then put your Shinkansen tickets to go through the terminal area to go into the Shinkansen trains and that wasted a lot of my time and made me almost miss the train trying to figure out just how to get through the gate the attendant was trying to help me as well and he only spoke Japanese so that also took up some time of trying to just translate and figure everything out now the final thing in this list of regrets is a more general one but is one of my top regrets and that is not spending more time in Japan my last trip was actually part of a whole multi-country trip and I spent eight insanely packed days in Japan and did an insane amount of things which is pretty on brand for the way I travel personally but even with insanely packed days and many tens of thousands of steps there were still so many more things I wish I could have done in Japan and that is one of the most amazing things about Japan no matter how many times you go there will always be more to do and see and it is such a unique and amazing place that is totally worth going back to again and again there are so many things to do in Japan and each person’s adventure is going to be as unique as the person themselves all I’m saying is use all of this to go and have the best possible Japan adventure you can what are your biggest Japan regrets let me know in the comments section down below and I will see you guys in the next one [Music]

I have so many regrets from my Japan trips and I wanted to share them with you so you don’t make the same mistakes and waste your time. Japan can be overwhelming with so many things to do and see and every second counts so learn from my mistakes and make the most of your trip!

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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:43 – Not Understanding Vending Machines
2:28 – Bizarre Vending Machines
3:50 – Feet Pain
5:23 – Recommended Brands and Tips
6:14 – Wet Shoes
6:28 – Ruined My Trip
8:07 – Bag Size – Don’t Make THIS Mistake
9:55 – Switching Bags
11:42 – Trash Rules
12:55 – Don’t Walk and Eat(How to Throw Trash Away)
13:45 – More than Just Trains
15:30 – This is Worth More
17:06 – Kimono
17:20 – Insane Summers
18:40 – In Room Washing Machine
19:40 – The Eternal Problem
20:39 – I Should Have Spent More
21:59 – Bonus Tips
23:05 – Final Regret
23:34 – The Biggest Problem with Japan

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