Essential Travel Tips for Japan

in this video I'd like to go about several essential tips about Japan trip that you might want to know before you come to Japan so first let's start from the what to pck for your suitcases so something you might want to make sure to bring is the daily care product daily care product is like like a contact renes and skincare product and hair care products in case you forget to pack what you have to bring to Japan you still can get in Japan especially in a city it's easy to get those things however Japan's environment is a little different the products and things you find might be different from your country after the long flight and coming to especially from far away country to Japan you have time reference and there's a jet truck you might not want to looking around the stores for essential things and another thing you might want to make sure is the medicine and supplement that you are taking daily and but this is something you might want to be careful is there are different regulations in Japan make sure you check the regulation of Japan most of the case personal use medicine are allowed up to 30 days of personal use there's a website of the Ministry of Health you can check as soon as you decide your trip and I put this in the description too and probably the saming Occupy most of your suitcase is a cloth so first let's see if there are any kind of taboos about clothing or fashion in Japan in most of the cases Japan really has any taboos about cloth the only thing is you cannot actually walk around or do jogging without shot you might want to put a tank top at least uh no house small it is that should be okay so something probably might wonder is when you go to Temple or shrines can you go in tank top shorts for Japanese Temple shrines usually it's okay to go in the style you like the weather in Japan is very similar to what it is in the east coast of the United States between New York and Washington DC around there in case you travel to Japan in winter and if you go to the mountain regions or Northern Japan you might want to make sure to bring a warm jacket like down jacket and warm inner and Boots if you are visiting in summer it's much easier and lighter very humid and hot so you might want to make sure bring kind of sun block and sunscreens and same that's same uh sunglasses light cloth but still make sure that you bring the extra jacket some St can be really cold and if you forget what to bring you can go to different stores like unic during your travel in Japan you might walk so much more than you in daily life so packing the walkable shoes or comfortable shoes that you're used to is a good idea for all of those it tends to be really big packing and uh it's almost impossible to pack small to guide says packing light is a important tips and it makes your trip much easier so it's good idea to get of something you probably don't use also you might want to consider using laundry machine in case you stay Japan for long but it is difficult to pack light because you have to pack light you cannot bring the your favorite cloths and favorite boots your mood is low because you cannot dress as you want then it's better to bring what you like to wear also if you can only sleep with certain pillows and you have to leave it to pack right it doesn't make sense so you might want to pack those things too still it's in to pack light but sometime it's difficult then what if you have a big luggage and let's see how you can handle Luggage in Japan big suitc cases might not be allowed on the side sing spot or local buses in any station in Tokyo or Japan you can find the coin lockers there's a small one and big one but the number of the coin Locker that you can fit the big suitcase is are very limited and there's a luggage storage place and you can search with this site called EO and this one is good because you can make reservation so the best idea is actually you send to the next destination the delivery service of the luggage for the falling tourist is very developed recently there's a delivery service between airport and the hotel hotel to hotel in this case most of the case you have to kind of send the luggage by previous day and next day you will find your suitcase in your hotel or sometimes the nice hotel bring that into your room already it is costly and it can cost like a 2,000 to 3,000 yen per suitcase but it's very convenient that you can travel around Japan without any suitcases always when you use Del make sure you keep your important belonging with you and never put a passport or kind of money in it and in case you don't use a DA service another kind of choice is choose a hotel near the station choosing hotel is a really important part of your travel so let's go over some essential tips about hotels in Japan just like any other country you find lots of different choices in Japan like International brand uton Mario tat especially in Tokyo CTO and Osaka you see those International brand and another thing is that Japanese brand kind established brand hotels Tokyo imperal Oka Palace new utani is a kind of luxury Japanese brand hotel and also they kind of ko Plaza and Prince Hotel business hotel in Japan is a type of the hotel that there's a small room for businessmen it's usually made with the one bet for single person the Merit of the business hotel is it's usually very close to the station business hotels are very competitive so usually it's very clean and it's very well functioned with fridge electric Kett in the compact room and usually they have Landing machine so that's also a good idea only thing is the room size can be very small the business hotel room can be about 10 square M 107 Square ft and this is 13 size of the typical motel room in United States if you're not used to it you might feel a little bit of claustrophobia something you might want to consider is like a decent increasing the kind of Premium business Hotel usually these Hotel have a same function as business Hotel well functioned room but has a little more larger rooms many rooms are made for two people the major brand like Richmond M Garden d roet n Saria if you ask for the full function of the hotel you might want to avoid business hotels so and in case you use a public transportation you might want to make sure that the hotel is near the train station and there lots of other choices like a capsel hotel youth hostel guest houses and another thing something characteristic about Japan is a traditional Japanese in calleda and I have sever video so please take a look at if you have time but uh it's uh usually comes with two meals and sometimes most of the case it come with a public bath and in Japanese Hotel you might find a washing toilet when you push a wrong button unless you are sitting on the chair it doesn't usually walk water doesn't come out like on your head so do not worry about it let me explain a little bit about it and there are lots of different types that you can wash your kind of bat or kind of front of that and kind of wide angle and softer version and different things and usually crushing button is here it really depends some toilet has a machine next to you on the chair so Japanese electric plug is type A so if you are from United States Canada most of the case you can use what you're using in your daily life and in case you are from a country with a different types of the adapter you can purchase on the Amazon too like plug like this and there are lots of different things available next one is a phone and internet of Japan usually when you arrive Japan your phone doesn't work because there's no data plan in Japan but to keep your phone stay connected to the internet there are similar things you can consider and first one is the International Date P this can be really depends on which country you are from and what career you use depend on the country you might not have much Choice the good part of this international data plan is you know how to do much setting you can use immediately after you arrive Japan and you can keep your phone number the con is it can be very pricey depends on your phone company and this is again really depend on your country what choice you have and another thing is uh lenal Wi-Fi the lenal Wi-Fi is a a portable device that you can borrow and you can share with in your group the good part is you don't need to do any setting on your phone and you can use just as a Wi-Fi and also you can share with your group or you can use with many different devices Co is you have to carry around the device and you have to also charge the device and what I hear often is that that is a little bit too much work for some people and another case is a physical SIM card that you can put in your phone and uh you put the littleit pin and and take it out usually SIM card is a really reasonable Choice it's a little bit risky that you might lose original tips that you have for your phone but the thing is you lose your phone number while you are putting another sim card so recently and this might be a little bit getting a little bit dated choice because Bally most people use eim and from here the sponsored section by cook eim is very easy to use you can download with QR code on your phone you don't need physical SIM card so no worry to lose your sim card or having trouble opening the phone also it's usually very reasonable comparing with other choices when you look for the eim card a great side to take a look at is cl.com or you can also see the app of Cl on the eim page you can choose the length of your stay data package and the price comes up you get QR code upon booking and you can do setting on your phone after you arriv in Japan Kook is a popular travel agency s in Asia and it's getting big in Japan too and clook is not just for this as you can look for other ASM card L passes and attraction tickets and everything you need in Japan trip you can look for in this one site for example if you click your favorite destination in Japan the attractions and choices what you have in the destination comes up and you can also learn what kind of choice you have in your trip if you are from the United States you can use the code kchan 5 off and you can get $10 off for the most of the services and products of clook for the first order when your total order is $100 or more I put the description below and once your phone is connected to the internet there are similar apps that you might want to get during you travel in Japan and the first thing is everyone know the map apps like Google Map or Apple's map especially for Google Map if you put your current location to the destination lots of different choices the buses and trains comes up and another thing you might want to make sure to have is a Google Translate in Japan almost everything is in Japanese so you might have a bit Lost in Translation moment but uh if you have Google Translate app you can use the Google Lens in it and you can just put kind of everywhere on the sign or kind of package of the products and everything will be translated to your language in case of there something disaster or kind of big earthquake happens in Japan during a travel something might want to be careful is the fake news it's great to know some trustable site and that can be the Nerf disaster prevention site and this is a app and that you can get notification before the ask comes which is only like 10 seconds before you can see if there's a tsunami warning if you are near the coast and other sites for news is the NHK the Japanese broadcast company have a MultiLing link I put all of these in the descript too so along with other train company site like JL East JL West it's good to bookmark these sites just in case and fifth essential in Japan is transportation in Japan train system is a little bit complicated there are lots of different companies private Railways so something good to know is that you can get icy card it's called sua in Tokyo and eoka in Osaka area if you get one in Hoka you can use in Tokyo too if you get one in Osaka you can use in support too for IA you can also get in Apple pay too you go to the Apple wallet and add Transit card you can add s and public transportation is very convenient but in case you have mobility issue or you cannot walk long distance or when you travel in Midsummer in the heat you may want to think of using taxi to get a taxi there's a taxi app like taxi app is like a go Uber having this app it'll be very convenient when you travel in Japan Japan essential number six is language I mentioned a little bit about eara but uh getting Google Translate is very important and in Japan most of the station and everything has English recently so you might not have actually much problem and you can get by without speaking any language but it going be nice and more fun if you speak a little bit phrases like five phrases of Japan so let me go over quickly probably the most used one is a thank you which is repeat after me and excuse meat after me and next one is hello is so repeat after me and good morning and when you want ask where things are you can say where is something for for example where is the toilet and let's say toilet when you order called and when want to say please you can say when you ask something and may you kind of finish the conversation you can also say ah and dining is a very important part during a travel so let's go over some essential tips that you may want to know for the dining experience in Japan breakfast is not a something you eat outside most people use at home so you might not see many stores that you can eat breakfast so I made a video about where to eat breakfast in Tokyo but a good idea is to go into some chain restaurant that such as like a beef ball shop have lot of different variety of the Japanese style breakfast if you go to the coffee shop they might have some uh sandwiches so also like family restaurant is open for the breakfast time so it might be also a good idea to book a hotel room with a breakfast p in case you usually eat good amount of breakfast the lunch usually start at 11: or 11:30 so many stores open from 11 or 1130s if you go to very popular store that you might have to like a line up it's better to go early and be the first customer of the day even some established restaurant that are expensive at night and feel a little B intimidating to go or too expensive to go sometimes lunchtime you can get a plate for the reasonable price lunch is a kind of good opportunity to try that restaurant and for the dinner some shops like in tourist area might close a early like 7 or 8 so when you try to eat finally they almost closing the store so in that case you might want to come out to the town where the Japanese people go after walk and there are several things you may want to know about dining in Japan or if you go to Quick Ramen Shop like a noodle stand you might want to not stay too long after you eat it's okay to eat slow I'm very slow eater and it's okay to eat really slowly and uh you don't have to rush about it but after you finished your meal and you might want to avoid staying too long like checking your phone or talking with your friends especially if someone waiting behind you and something you might visit for night dinner is isaka and isaka is like a Japanese style bar and something a littleit common misunderstanding between Japanese society and international Travelers are isaka usually gives you little small plate called OSI and they charge for it and usually you have no choice I hear some uh traveler from foreign country it's it's getting common to kind of reject it no I don't need OSI but um it's actually I don't know very difficult to choose the right word but it's just not uh but if you reject OSI you probably want to choose as a family restaurant or different style restaurant because that is part of culture and uh some bars operating considering the price of the autoi usually it's a great place to have a drink and eat lots of food when you go to isaka the price can be a little bit pricey it's not something you order one plate and one drink some places are like that but many isak are made more like for stay for like 2 hours 3 hours and slowly eat with the beer so it might be a little bit uh get expensive as the result usually like like 4,000 5,000 per person so it should be like more than $30 per person when you travel in Japan You Don't See Much sign of the vegan or gluten F options there are some vegan choices like a vegan lamen and vegan hamburger it's still not something common you may want to make sure with the store certain ingredients is not included in the product it's also good idea to go to like a supermarket or Comin store and purchase so in that case you can use a Google lens and check the ingredients and in Japan you don't need to leave a tip so in some culture especially United States it might be almost like a almost got mandatory to pay the tip but in Japan you don't have to leave tip and sometime you cannot leave tip some store might have a littleit u kind of accounting problem so when you go to some popular spot of the site thing you might need reservation so that is something you might want to check at least a month before for example Shia Sky Tokyo Sky Tree team love they need preservation and in case you be there on that day if it's busy you cannot even enter the site and Shia SK is very popular attraction and for the Sunset hours it saw that a month before so they start to sell the ticket a month before and but it sell out the ticket on that day if you like to go to the exact time during the sunset time or a little bit earlier than that you might want to make sure that you book a month before and another thing to be careful for the side thing is the Mondays many museums and the gardens are closed on Mondays I live in Tokyo and I still make mistakes and I always end up going on Monday to these places when the holidays actually on Monday they are open and close Tuesday instead and when you do some research about where to go lots of other good YouTube site of course but I also have some videos so kindly click like button to this video and also uh check some other video too thing you always want to pay attention is a restroom and most of the station has a restroom inside the gate and not outside the gate before you leave the station you might want to make sure that you look for the sign of the toilet and go to the restro and in Japan convenience store is also working at the rest stop and they even have the big sign of the restroom but in City Center it might be a little difficult to use com store as a restaurant depend on the store so when you need a little more cleanness you might want to see the coffee shop or department stores or shopping malls usually they are clean and in Japan rest room is usually free and no charge so actually Japan is not a difficult place to look for restroom but you always want to make sure to go if you find instead of waiting until the last minute Japanese money is Japanese Yen and you can get Japanese Yen cash at the bank or shops in your country or after your arrival you can find in the airport or in the city for most of the places you can use great card in Japan but still it's always convenient to have a cash of Japanese G another way to get the cash is using the 80 of the 7-Eleven the 7even bank is always in the 7-Eleven store or sometime using the stations too and this is a convenient ATM that you can get Japanese Eng cash with your card either Cash Card or credit card for credit card it might cost for the kind of interest rate so please be careful when you use to cashing in Japan there Sal tax of 10% some who are 8% but mostly 10% usually any stores has a price of before tax and after tax price written and usually after tax price is written very small under so so if you are cost conscious sters please make sure to check the after tax price in case you purchase more than 5,000 a day on the one store you can use dutyfree and duty free condition is you have your passport and show passport and you don't open that product until after you leave Japan and you purchase more than 5,000 yen on that one store drugstore department stores they have the dutyfree counter so if you go to that counter it's easy in case you in trouble and you like to call police the police number is 110 on the emergency call but if it's not that emergency and for example when you lose your passport or wallet or you you lost something or we you don't know the direction japane city has a little small police box called Coran like this one in a su here there's always one or two police and for example if you lose your passport or wallet you might want to go to the police box and make a kind of police report so when someone bring it to the other police you will get contacted by police let's see the case of the medical emergency that you don't feel good or you have some pain somewhere so there are three stages and first is the case that it's not that urgent and probably you might want to find Pharmacy First in that case you can go to some Pharmacy in town and there major there are some major drug store that you see like masot Koshi Tomos so in the US it's more like a kind of world green CVS drugs are usually get lots of snu and the next Cas is you it's a little bit serious and you have to find a hospital but not as urgent as looking for ambulance in that case you might want to make sure to call your insurance company maybe let the hotel know that what is going on so they might be able to provide some information for you in case you need some medical information service like looking for Hospital you can call this number and uh they might tell you the F hospital to go or how you can solve this situation and this is again the case calling ambulance is too much if it's more emergency is time to call ambulance the ambulance number is 119 they ask you if it's for fire or medical emergency and you can say medical emergency which is QQ you can ask for the English assistant calling amulance in foreign countries is really big thing and uh kind of intimidating so hopefully nothing like this happen to you in this kind of case it's very important to have travel insurance travel insurance comes with great card in many cases but you might want to make sure that it works in Japan or in foreign countries and that is all for the Japan typ Essentials thank you for watching have a great trip to Japan have a great week until the next video

Channel: Tokyo Kenchan

Views: 4,673

Keywords: tokyo travel guide, itineraries in Japan, Tokyo Kenchan, travel vlogger, travel tips in Japan, Tokyo, Japan, Travel Guide, Itinerary, how to travel Tokyo, how to travel Japan, Tokyo travel tips, travel, Visit Japan, Japan Travel, japan essentials, travel tips, travel essentials, japan packing tips, japan travel essentials, tokyo travel essentials

Id: VSeAMRPfs8U

Length: 25min 22sec (1522 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024