One of the countries that was on my bucket list was definitely Japan – the land of the rising sun. Everything about this place seems so foreign and mysterious, I just had to see it for myself!

I normally tend to travel for shorter periods of time, usually less than 7 days but when you fly 13h to go on the other side of the world, it makes sense to stay in your destination a little longer haha.

This trip took a bit more preparation than any other trips I’ve been on. There are a lot of things to take into consideration if you are planning to go to Asia. In this post I will talk mostly about the preparation and things to know/keep in mind before traveling to Japan. I will talk more in detail about our actual trip there on a day-by-day basis in part 2 of the Japan topic.

FLIGHT

Right off the bat, the biggest expense you will encounter during your trip will most likely be your flights. I would highly recommend using the various applications available to find discounted flights and also look at the Google Flight tracker. In our case, we were lucky enough to have the luxury/privilege to benefit from a rewards points system, therefore we only had to pay taxes on our flights. This was a big weight lifted off our shoulders right from the beginning.  We had a direct flight from Toronto to Haneda airport, which is the smaller of the 2 airports in the Tokyo area and also the closest one to central Tokyo.

TRAIN PASSES

One of the thing that I strongly recommend while you are in Japan is to purchase a Japan Rail Pass. The pass is specifically for tourists and can  only be purchased before you get to Japan. It will give you unlimited usage for the whole JR system. It includes “Shinkansen” aka Bullet trains, regular trains as well as some subway line in various cities. It comes with a steep price ($345 for 7 days or $650 for 14 days) but it can ultimately save you money. The bullet train is very expensive if you do not have the pass. About $100 CAD each way no matter where you are going. So if you are planning on travelling the country a little bit, you can just do the math on how many times you will use the pass and see if it is worth it for you.

If you are considering renting a car, ask yourself 2 questions; can you drive on the left side? Can you read Japanese?

If not, then the car option is pretty much out the window. Unfortunately once you leave Tokyo, the signs tend to be only in Japanese which could make your driving very difficult. Also, do you really want to have to drive in Tokyo’s traffic and have to find parking!?

ITINERARY AT DESTINATION

Once we got the flights figured out, it was time to actually plan how we would spend our 9 days there and what cities we wanted to hit in this “short” amount of time. It’s all about maximization of time! It is the kind of destination that I think you need to “attack” with the mindset of “I will probably never go there again”.  Obviously, we had to spend a few days on Tokyo. This metropolis has a population of 5 million people and a LOT to see. So we settled on spending the first 4 nights there mostly in order to recover as much as possible from the jet lag and do some day trips. Talking about day trips, we wanted to see, or attempt to see Mount Fuji so that took a day. A friend of mine lives in Niigata on the west side of the country, just a couple hours bullet train ride from Tokyo so that would have to be another stop.

After Tokyo, we would be heading to Kyoto for 3 nights and then come back to Tokyo for the last 2 nights of the trip.  

ACCOMODATIONS

Japan is actually very reasonable in terms of pricing for accommodations. There are plenty of options available for all types of budgets. If you are looking for hotels or hostels, you can look at sites like Trip Advisor or Booking.com. Japan has a reputation for being a little expensive but I was very surprised by the prices for accommodations. Of course, if you are looking at the Marriott or other “fancy” lodgings, you will definitely be looking at a hefty bill. However, hostels were extremely affordable. Most of them had dormitories or private rooms. Something that is pretty cool with Japan is that they have a lot of capsule hotels. If you are not claustrophobic, this is interesting way to experience something out of the ordinary.

We opted once again for Airbnb, mostly because I like having a kitchen. We stayed 4 nights in Shinjuku and 2 in Shibuya. That way we could experience 2 different neighbourhoods, get a vibe and temporarily feel like one of the locals. It was also a way to maximize and prioritize the things we wanted to see based on the area we were staying at.  

FOOD

If there is one thing that you do not need to worry about when visiting Japan, it is the food. Everything is delicious and affordable! From the street food type $2 Yakitori (skewer) to the Ramen noodle bowl, to dumplings and obviously the sushi, you can definitely eat out everyday without emptying your wallet. Even the 7/11 (they are everywhere) have great and cheap food options. Never thought I would say that but it is true! Lawson’s is another chain of convenience stores that has pretty decent ready to eat food. They are a good option for lunches on the go and snacks.

LAWS & TRADITIONS

Another important thing to look into before heading to Japan is the different laws and customs. The Japanese people are very polite and are very strict on a lot of things so doing some research beforehand can be useful. A good example of that would be Tattoos. Japan and Tattoos have a lot of history together and it is mostly related to the Yakuza (Japanese gang members that are covered in tattoos). Tattoos still have a bit of a negative image for them. They are still forbidden at a lot of establishments all over the country, especially “Onsen” (public pools/hot springs).

It is supposed to be disrespectful to show ink at religious places. I do myself have a few visible tattoos and was very concerned about that. I definitely didn’t want to offend anybody. For the first few days, I did wear long sleeves in the hot weather just to make sure I wouldn’t offend anybody. However I did end up asking around quite a bit after seeing how many people were showing their body art freely and because it was on average 30 degrees outside. The locals said that it is not as strict anymore. Might still be in the smaller town but for the major cities, it is totally acceptable.  

MONEY/CASH-No Cards

One important thing to know before going on your trip would be that everything is pretty much cash only there! As surprising as it sounds, especially for a country so technologically advanced, credit card use is not very common. Instead, a merchant will most likely direct you to the nearest ATM. Knowing that, we exchanged $1000 CAD at the airport prior to boarding our flight to Tokyo. This gave us $70 000 Japanese Yen. This is all we used during our trip. Pretty alright, considering the length of time and that we were 2.