7 Handy Tips for travelling in Japan
Japan is one of the most popular locations in the world right now for tourists. With that blend of futuristic modern and rich cultural heritage you can easily see why.
I spent 2 weeks travelling around earlier this and picked up a few tips and tricks that might help if you are planning to add Japan to your bucket list for travel.
1. Understand Japanese Etiquette
There are some social norms in Japan that might not be commonplace where you come from. Knowing these will help you fit in a easier. Three key ones to keep in mind as you travel around:
- Mind where you eat. Don’t eat and walk in public places and don’t eat on the trains (Bullet trains are an exception).
- Be quiet. You will notice in most public places and trains that people remain quiet. There is no loud talking or people playing loud music in public areas.
- Take your rubbish home with you. You will notice there are not many public bins in Japan. Pack a bag and take rubbish back to your hotel or until you can find a bin.
- Some Links to give you more insights
- Do and Don'ts in Japan
- Manners in Japan
2. Use Public Transport
The transport system in Japan is amazing and efficient. It’s the best way to travel and explore the country.
As there was a shortage of physical cards while we were in Japan, we installed a digital Suica card to allow us to tap on / tap off for trains. It worked a treat.
We also purchased our Shinkansen ( Bullet Train ) Tickets using the smartEX App. It allowed us to pick our seats and allowed for easy changes if you wanted to swap which train you needed to take.
Google Maps is also your friend when taking public transport in the major cities. It not only tells you how to get from A to B, which trains to take at what time but will also suggest which carriage to get on to be closest to the exit gate you need to take, along with which exit gate to take. When Stations like Shinjuku Station have over 200 exits. It’s important to head the right way and know which one to use.
3. Book all your tours and theme park tickets online.
We used Klook to book all our tours and theme park tickets to Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Osaka. It was simple and easy.
We did look around at other options as well but we kept coming back to Klook as it always seemed to be the cheapest prices and we had no issues with anything we booked.
Even checking the tours and activities options on the App may give you some ideas you hadn’t even considered.
Some of the major highlights for us.
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A night walking tour of Kyoto
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TeamLabs Tokyo
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Street Go-Kart Experience in Shibuya
4. Visit the theme parks mid-week and go early.
Theme parks in Japan are wildly popular. This also means they get busy quickly. Travelling mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday ) will most likely be the quietest days to visit meaning you will fit in.
If you plan to visit on a busy day because it’s your only option consider using some of the “fast pass” style options
We visited both Universal Studios Osaka and Tokyo Disneyland, both were worth the visit if you enjoy theme parks. We purchased the tickets directly from Klook
5. Don’t be frightened just to wander the streets.
Japan is considered one of the safest countries in the world so it’s easy to just wander around the streets.
We decided to walk from the Tokyo Imperial Palace to Akihabara rather than take the train. It was a leisurely 40 minute walk and it was nice to see parts of the city you would miss if you were on the train.
We also took the time to wander from our accommodation in Shinjuku to Shibuya via Meiji Jingu and Harajuku.
If you have the time it’s a wonderful way to visit the city.
6. Consider using luggage transport services.
Japan is a big country, and chances are you will be visiting a few cities. Getting between cities is easy using the great train system, but lugging bags around train stations and on what can be very crowded trains is not so much fun.
Many hotels offer a luggage transport service to get your bags from one hotel to the next. It might need a bit of pre-planning as we needed to drop our main bags off the day before checkout but we simply put a quick change of clothes and some toiletries in our backpack and that did us for the one night between shops.
We used the luggage transfers from Tokyo to Kyoto and from Osaka back to Tokyo.
Both times the bags were waiting for us in our rooms once we checked in.
As some trains will charge you for travel will additional luggage, so it may be a cost-effective way to make your trip easier.
7. Don’t discount the convenience stores as a great place to grab a quick bite.
Japan has lots of convenience stores and they have some of the best arrays of quick grab food I have seen and at very reasonable prices. The fried Chicken at Lawson’s quickly became a favourite when you are feeling peckish. They also sell alcohol, so you want to wash the chicken down with a nice Japanese beer you can.
Hope this helps when you get to Japan.
It’s an amazing country and I can’t wait to get back there.
