Whenever I go back home to visit my family, I always have a layover in Tokyo. Rather than trying to find the shortest layover time, I usually try to find the longest time. Sometimes I even extend the trip to 2-3 days so I can roam around the city a bit more. It’s come to the point where I was offered a 3 year visa when I applied for a transit visa, after the Japanese Consulate in SF found out I’ve been in the country for so many times these past few years.
Over the few years, I’ve noticed some things that might be helpful for those visiting Japan for the first time.
- Buy a transit card: I’m ashamed that I didn’t learn this much earlier. When you go to Japan, you will go at least for a few train rides. If you don’t have a transit card, you will have to fumble with your coins to buy tickets every time. Save yourself sometime and buy a Suica or a Pasmo card. It’s a 500 yen deposit for the card, and you can get it back when when you return the card (I kept one for collection). Also another good thing is you can use these cards on vending machines or make a purchase at convenience stores. If you get a JR pass, then you can use it as well for certain routes. What’s a JR pass you ask? Please read below
- Get JR pass: JR pass is an affordable way for foreigners to travel around Japan using trains. You get to pay a rate that will make Japanese envious. Yes, JR pass is only available for foreigners. If you plan to travel to a few cities to, say, Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka, then come back, it’s definitely worth it. My suggestion is to plan your trip, then research on how much your train rides will cost, then compare to the price of JR pass, and see which one is cheaper. Keep in mind you can’t buy a JR pass in Japan. You need to buy it from the country where you live (or anywhere outside Japan), bring the receipt, then exchange it for the pass at the JR station in Japan.
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Stand on one side of the escalator: This will be something you’ll pick up very quickly upon your arrival in Japan, but I still often see ignorant tourists not paying attention. In the Kanto region (Tokyo, for example), people stand on the left on the escalator, and the right side is used for walking. On the Kansai region (like Osaka, Kyoto), it’s the other way around. Stand on the right, and walk on the left. Honestly, the easiest way is just to see what everyone in front of you are doing and follow the same way.
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Don’t smoke or throw trash while walking: Japan is a very clean city. Everywhere I walk the roads are very clean, even though there aren’t many trash bins. There are also designated spots for smoking. Let’s keep it that way.
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Keep a coin pouch: Coins in Japan are very valuable, as they worth quite a lot. Their biggest coin value is 500 yen, which can get you a regular sized beef bowl (gyudon) at Yoshinoya. I have my own mechanism (yay for extra pockets!) for handling coins, but I really suggest to bring a coin pouch since you will have lots of them.
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Don’t make loud noises in the trains: It’s pretty common to see the sign of a cellphone crossed in red. That means you’re not allowed to make phone calls during train rides. For some long distance trips, people usually go to the end of the hallway to take phone calls, as not to disturb other passengers. It’s just common courtesy. With that said,
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No photos in some restaurants: I don’t see a lot of these in general, but it caught me off guard a few times, so it’s always good to pay attention. I was eating at a sushi restaurant, and I wouldn’t call it an upscale place, but it’s definitely on the higher end. As what Local Guides do, I took snaps of my photo to upload to Maps, and I can feel the sushi chef was glaring at me (I sat at the counter bar). I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong, so I didn’t read too much into it. After I finished my meal, I paid, and noticed there’s a sign with camera crossed in red on the far end of the restaurant. Ooops. Let’s just say I walked out feeling embarrassed.
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Tuna auction - caution! For those of you visiting Tokyo, you might be interested to visit the Tsukiji fish market, which is the biggest fish market in the world. Some of you might be interested for watching the tuna action. If you’re very dedicated, there’s an official way to watch the tuna auction. Arrives as early as 3am, and there will be two sets of 60 people that will be allowed to watch for a particular day. I never tried to do this, so I don’t know the details, unfortunately. But please keep in mind that private tours are not sanctioned by the market (and you might get scammed!). I have to admit I did the private tour with my group a few years back, but luckily we didn’t get in trouble (we didn’t go to the tuna auction, but we did go to the uni auction). I wouldn’t do it again though.
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Try to finish your food: - I was actually told this by another Local Guide. People in Japan don’t usually ask for to go box. They will try to finish the food, and if there are leftovers, just leave it and say something like “The food was very good, but I’m already very full”, or something in the line of that.
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Don’t carve/ do graffiti on random stuff: This probably goes without saying, but I was really sad when I saw news about these kind of incidents. TLDR - Don’t be jerks!
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Get used to line up: Lining up is a big thing in Japan, especially for popular stuff. Walking around, you will see many places have people lining up, either to wait for a spot in a restaurant, or waiting for a place to be opened (or waiting in line to get a lottery to buy a Nintendo Switch). Please respect the others and line up in orderly fashion when you do this, as line cutters will not be tolerated.
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Exchange money: When you exchange money, try and see if you can get some 1000 yen bills, especially if you’re at the airport. You won’t be able to use a 10000 yen bills to buy a train ticket from vending machines
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Bring your passport while shopping: A lot of places will offer you tax refund if your purchase is above certain amount (usually it’s 5000-6000 yen). Keep in mind that you can’t collect all your receipts and get a tax refund at the airport. You can only do this at the shops you make the purchases from, and to do this, you need to show your passport. Tax for goods is 8%, so it adds up pretty quickly.
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Use the phone provided in your hotel room: I’ve noticed during my previous stays that certain hotels will now provide you with a phone with a local sim card that you can use during your stay. This is particularly useful if you need to make local phone calls or look for directions.
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Bonus - Eat your sampler on the spot: I debated whether to include this or not, but I figure might as well. When you visit some tourist spots, like Asakusa temple, there will be a lot of food vendors in the street leading up to the temple. These food vendors sometimes will offer you small pieces of what they’re selling (snacks) on a toothpick. If you decide to try it, don’t take it and then walk away. Eat the sampler, and return the toothpicks to the them. Most likely they’ll have a bin nearby to collect them. I actually saw some tourists got yelled at for not doing this, so I figure I’d point it out.
Ok, I wasn’t expecting for this post to be this long. Hope you guys find it useful. Also, please keep in mind that I’m not Japanese, and I’ve only been to Japan as a tourist, so apologies if there are any mistakes. If any of you find something that’s incorrect, or want to add something, please let me know in the comment below and I will fix/add (with credits of course).
@YumiSapporo @Atsukot @HiroyukiTakisawa @MasaruKamikura Can you let me know if there’s anything from this that’s incorrect? Curious to know what you think of it
The Japan Rail Pass is now only available for non-Japanese nationals who visit Japan for short visits – less than 90 days.
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