JAPAN TIPS part one
Tips for Japan
We are at the end of a trip to Japan and hope the following general tips might be helpful for future travelers.
I first visited Japan over thirty years ago. I had not been to lots of countries back then, so I guess I never realized how special it was.
Japan is now my favorite country, it checks all the boxes.
First and most important, the people are the most polite, kind and helpful people you might ever meet. They will go out of their way to help.
The transport systems are efficient and amazing. We traveled by coach, public bus, boat, four types of train, funicular and cable car. All super efficient, on time and clean.
Everywhere is safe in terms of personal safety.
All the places, cities, we visited were very clean except Osaka, where apparently more people have the ‘don’t care’ attitude according to our TD and so the streets look like NY, chewing gum marks everywhere and even a few homeless.
The food is fantastic and so beautifully presented. The choice of food in all outlets is mind blowing and very reasonably priced. All service is fast and efficient. When you leave a table, the table is cleaned with one cloth and an entire chair seat with another.
We ate an incredible choice of Japanese food, very little western food.. Japanese food is not just sushi, in fact, it only seemed to be available the couple of times we had to eat from a buffet and it was never spicy like in the US which I’ve always known is a way to disguise less than perfectly fresh fish. Sashimi was more common and we had it for shabu shabu one time. Hida beef is common in the Hakone area. Octopus balls seem to be a favorite for the locals. I would say at least 80% of the food we ate was unrecognizable for a westerner. Everything we ate was described to us. Quite a feat when there could be fifteen dishes sitting in front of you.
The simple innovations…such as when you have breakfast, the host places a card on your table saying it is occupied, you either turn it over to say you are finished or return it to the host when you leave. Everywhere, things are made simpler for you.
There are 7 Elevens and Family Marts everywhere with easy to use ATM’s in them. Quite a few places only accept cash. We found American Express more widely to be accepted than our tour company suggested it might.
Toilets…say no more, (we already have two ‘washlets’ at home), clean and despite being told to take tissue, we never came across one without. It’s suggested you take a small towel to dry your hands, as there are usually no paper towels…if you don’t have one, you can find the cutest ones everywhere for around 500 yen. The same with tissues, advised to tale lots and never used them
If you stay in an hotel or ryokan where there are shared toilets, you may come across toilet slippers, you take off your shoes and put those on when you enter the toilet….I dare you to remember to take them off when you come out!
All the hotels have lovely shampoo, conditioner and body wash, only came across one with body lotion. All supply toothbrushes and paste, razor and shave cream, hairbrush and all the other toiletries and resupplied daily. Towels are one bath towel each and one very small modesty towel, only came across a couple of wash cloths.
We stayed in Japanese hotels, Japanese western style hotels, ryokans; some with onsen hot spring bathing. One night we stayed in Temple lodgings where the Buddhist monks took care of us. All these places provided pajamas or yukatas for sleeping or lounging. In the ryokans and temple lodging, it’s acceptable to walk around in yukatas, go to dinner in them and go to communal bathing in them.
Do try the communal bathing in the hotels that have the facility,it’s a wonderful relaxing experience and it’s amazing how quickly you are comfy being stark naked in front of strangers. We enjoyed this in about six different locations. Never felt so clean. If you stay at a Ryokan Onsen it is a hot spring experiencing bathing indoors or out. The changing area provides luxury toiletries and a hairdryer. It’s usual to take your bath towel and modesty towel from your room. You disrobe, wash yourself all over at the shower station, you then use the modesty towel to dry off a little…you then proceed to the communal bath. You can drape that towel over your ‘bits’ if you like but when you get in the bath, you must not let the towel into the water, you can put it on your head, you must not get your hair in the water either. The water can be quite hot, so you might only spend minutes in the bath. You get out, towel yourself down a bit with that tiny towel, really so you don’t cause a slip hazard, you shower all over again and proceed to the changing area where you will have your large towel, clothing or Yukata and slippers.
Temples and shrines…you may have to remove shoes, so slip ons are a great idea and socks are preferred, not bare feet.
Rain…most hotels supply umbrellas you can loan, they are usually the see through type.
Unlike suggestions here on the forum, I found the souvenirs and gifts good quality at most places. And of course they are unusual! We found the best quality ones at the small ancient villages that specialize in craftsmen making such things as parquetry and lacquerwork. Everywhere else has a mind blowing range, Japanese socks, handkerchiefs and so many cute things for grandkids. I just love the pottery. There are a mind blowing number of stores selling a mind blowing array of cakes, cookies and candies beautifully packaged and reasonably priced. Some are unusual flavors for sure. We brought them home before. Sadly we just did not have the room to bring them home but I sure bought the most souvenirs ever here.
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Part two
Japanese supermarkets are fascinating to walk around. In Osaka we went into a food store in the basement, above that was like a Home Depot, the next floor like a Walmart and above that a book store, it was huge. We found everything very reasonably priced compared to US prices.
Tax free shopping….only kicks in if your purchase is over 5,500 yen. You must show your passport. We had the Visit Japan app which is supposed be accepted but the first Tax free store we tried it in wanted the passport. Apparently this is not uncommon.
Wifi is excellent everywhere.
Electrical outlets, same as the US but different voltage. Any electronics you take, phone, computer, iPad, camera, should be dual voltage. All hairdryers were excellent. One in particular was a great design, it had it’s own stand and an led light.
Our tour finished in Osaka. We flew back to the east coast using the nearer Haneda Airport, it is about a twenty to thirty minute ride from the area we stayed in, I think fairly near Dotonburi area. Kansai airport is a good hour away. We chose this route partly because we wanted to use flights that would get us American airlines air miles and partly because that airport was nearer. Our flight left at 8-20am so we left the hotel at 6am. Haneda was the most lovely clean and uncrowned airport, check in and security were quick and smooth. Great eating opportunities and nice seating near the gate.
So our route is Haneda to Tokyo, Tokyo Chicago, Chicago to Philly on JAL American Airlines code share. Any more specifics about flying, I would need to ask my husband. I don’t know one plane from another. Our aim was partly to accrue more airmails in One World.
Favorite Japan locations….it’s easier to tell my only negative and that was Tokyo, I had never been there before and didn’t think much of it, most on the tour felt the same.
I’ll add to this if I think of more. Happy to answer any other questions.