What you NEED to KNOW when you First Arrive in Japan

in this video I'm gonna share with you guys what to do when you first land in Japan this video is brought to you by mobile SIM cards more about mobile later on in this video so most of you coming to Japan for the first time may be a little bit intimidated you might be confused because it's like completely different language a whole new country so in this video I wanted to kind of show you my tips and tricks about what you should do when you first come to Japan and since I've been Lavigne Japan for more than 15 years now I kind of know my way around this Airport so I really want to share my tips and tricks but before I start this if you guys let's see what I'm doing on a daily basis or I'm doing when I'm filming these videos definitely check out my Instagram account oh and if you like my Japan hoodie I'll leave a link in the description alright so let's get started and what better way to start then at the airport traveler find and took you for the first time have an option to fly in deny Rita or Haneda Airport I often get asked what's the difference between the two airports so let me clear things up for you Narita is the larger of the two airports and is generally known to have more international flights while anita has more domestic flights both have lots of dining and shopping areas but since Haneda is newly renovated I have to give Pineda the overall edge when it comes to attractions biggest differentiator between both airports is a distance to Tokyo Narita is about one hour away by Express train while honey is about fifteen or thirty minutes train ride away so it's a little cheaper transportation wise from Haneda so one of the first things that I recommend when coming to any country is to have some internet connect I know that there's Wi-Fi in like different spots but in Tokyo you can be traveling to so many different places that I definitely recommend getting a SIM card fortunately in this video mobile has sponsored us and has given us a SIM card to use what's nice about mobile is that they can send you the SIM card to your home country free of shipping before you even get to Japan so you're connected and you're all covered and there's nothing to worry about but in case you didn't have time to get the SIM card in advance they actually have places you can pick up at the airport or all throughout Tokyo and Japan what will even offer English customer support alright so now that I have my SIM card we can get into some business what's really nice about the sim card is that it's the same SIM card as my soft bank the one I regularly use what I'm living in Japan so I know that it has a coverage in fact Softbank has covered 99% of all of japan so wherever you go and wherever I've been I've always had pretty good reception what's nice is that it's unlimited data plus its 4G so it's super fast now that we're connected let me show you some favorites that you guys definitely need when you come to Japan it'll make your life so much easier one of the things that's really daunting for a lot of people first coming to Japan is the transit like the Metro because of all the different transfers now what a lot of Japanese people use as they use and Jordan and Nabi time but it senses Japanese I don't actually recommend that you guys use it there are some English apps but in fact what I've found is that Google works pretty well it actually gives you pretty good directions you don't have Google then I would just definitely download the Google Maps app it's just searched from above where you are to your destination and you should be able to get like the train schedules based on that you might have some specific travel apps for your language but if you really want like something that's pretty up-to-date definitely just use Google Maps oh and another cool app is the Google Translation app if you guys don't know this turn download the Google Trends and when you don't know the language or you don't know like their menus or anything you can put it up to the picture or the menu item that you're looking at and it'll translate on-the-fly it's like something pretty cool now if you're looking for what to eat and where to eat we're sure check out my past YouTube videos as well as my Tokyo zebra comm website for more maps and guides but if you want local restaurant reviews don't bother with Yelp or TripAdvisor everyone in Japan uses that table d'hote website for this although the site is primarily in Japanese it does offer an English interface with useful info about the restaurant and pictures of the food all easily accessible from your device at anytime with your mobile sim also another local tip although the uber taxi app is popular in most parts of the world it's really not that popular in Japan one because it's run by a private company so the rates aren't any cheaper than normal taxis and sometimes even more expensive too it's so easy to grab a taxi in Tokyo no point in waiting to call a taxi when one's already there finally if you plan on making some Japanese friends everyone here uses line messenger if you're looking to change contact details of someone this is the way to go download it before you get to Japan and save yourself some time so if you're feeling a little funky there's actually several places you can take showers here and there abort one is this capsule hotel even take naps there or stay overnight which is fairly cheap I need to have the shower spot called 9 hours at terminal 2 it offers clean shower booths and is also a typical capsule style hotel while Haneda has first cabin at terminal 1 in addition to the showers it has a pretty decent sized onsen bath which is pretty dope for being at an airport you guys down anyway either these capsule hotels are also worth considering if you have an early morning return flight I've actually done a video on the capsule hotel in Haneda as I say a luxury capsule hotel and it's pretty cool so you're flying in from Ananda you might want to check that out but they also have like dedicated shower rooms all narita i'll leave a link in the description there's actually several ways to get into the city I also discuss this in another video it's a guide from the dita to Tokyo several different options there's a taxi which is just like super expensive so no one ever takes that so it leaves you with two other options you can either take the train or the bus if you're going to a big hotel then I recommend taking the bus um because it'll actually like take you to the specific hotel but since I live in Shibuya and I'm going I go straight there it's actually easier for me to take the money that expresses straight into this shoe biryeo from here so it really depends on your location find up with the closest drop-off spot for the bus and for the trainees and then I would plan my trip accordingly and use that transportation but the nutty text bus as well as the buses that roughly the same price did we take the limousine bus cheaper buses if you want there a thousand yen you can take those but they only go to very very specific spots it might be really popular in the hotel so it may not be worth taking that because it's just like so difficult to get to your hotel for me all right so now we're on our way to Tokyo another nice thing is to get a suit a card or a pasmo card basically what these are our prepaid cards a lot of people come in Japan will get the jr. real fast but that actually doesn't work on the Metro we can buy an icy card at the ticketing machine at any transition you can get one here at Narita Airport just in front of the jr. Naruto Express entrance you need a 500 yen deposit for the card and if you turn it you'll get it back you can load the car up to 20,000 yen which is roughly 180 dollars the IC card can be used on most train and subways all throughout Japan but also at convenience stores kiosks vending machines some restaurants and even at major electronic stores and don't worry Sarika and pasmo work exactly the same even though they're issued by different companies now that you got some time to come and train before you reach Tokyo might as well take advantage of your new mobile SIM card you can finally upload your new Instagram stories or if you're staying at an Airbnb I suggest messaging the hosts to let them know you're on your way if you have trouble finding their apartment which happened to me before you can call them since the mobile SIM card comes with a real Japanese phone number which even receives local calls and texts for free perfect for short-term and long-term visitors and did I mention that it's super easy to order online with no complicated paperwork no contracts no activation fees no termination fees and no taxes plus a majority of the profits go to charity travel the world and make it a better place too as always links are in the description of this video all right so I hope you guys are now all ready for Tokyo I just again to mobile for sponsoring this video it really helps me out if you guys like this video helping me out and hit that like button you guys want to check out what I'm doing on a daily basis check out my NCL account and if you want to see more adventures in tokyo or japan i release a video every Saturday morning and sometimes during the week so hit that subscribe button and the belphin and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 1,019,396

Keywords: Paolo, japan, japan guide, japan travel guide, japan travel guide tokyo, japan tips, tokyo tips, travel guide japan, travel guide tokyo, tokyo, tokyo guide, tokyo travel guide, narita airport, japan tour guide, narita airport tour, SIM card japan, haneda airport, things to do in tokyo, narita to tokyo, haneda to tokyo, japan sim card, tokyo airport, narita airport to tokyo, tokyo capsule hotel, haneda airport to shibuya, suica card, pasmo card, 成田空港, 羽田空港, 成田空港 裏技, インバウンド

Id: X-01KNXILi8

Length: 7min 33sec (453 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 16 2019