2022
In Tokyo rainy season was declared over 3 days ago. Hot, hot, hot summer season of Japan has come! Besides it's sooooooo humid.
I wonder if you can endure that?
These are special tips that might be helpful for people visiting Japan during the summer time.
- 1. Prepare for sudden localized torrential rain.
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Recently, we have a lot of localized torrential rain "ゲリラ豪雨"(Similar pronunciation is "Guerrilla-Go-wow") in Japan. It suddenly approaches to us. Any umbrellas are useless and will be blown away in a moment. Hide and protect yourself until passing away.
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You should install "Safety tips" app(both iOS and Android available) before leaving your country. It notifies you EEW, Tsunami Warnings, Volcanic Warnings, Weather Warnings, Heat illness Warnings and Civil Protection Information(incl. sudden missile attacks) issued in Japan at free of charge. You can use it in English, simplified and traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
- 2. Use the personal fan"扇子" to get you cool.
扇子(Similar pronunciation is "Sense") is very useful and foldable "personal fan" that I use everyday outside.
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You can buy colourful 扇子 at 100Yen Shop, as per DAISO, Seria, Can Do...etc.
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How about souvenirs? It costs JPY108 incl. Tax.
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You can buy also some kinds of electronic fan in 100Yen shop. but some of these goods may cost JPY300-500. Watch carefully!
- 3. How to survive heat waves, at emergency situation.
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かき氷(Similar pronunciation is "Cut-Key-Call") is a Japanese summer desert made of shaved ice, served with various syrups, and sometimes with assorted toppings. It must get you cool from inside of the body at once and avoid becoming dehydrated.
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Before being in emergency situation, you should find out "氷" flag of signage to get some of delicious かき氷 with your favorite syrups a.s.a.p..("Soda" would be better for you.)
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"柿氷" and "かき氷" are same pronunciations in Japanese but quite defferent deserts. You can enjoy 柿氷(shaved and sliced ice with special persimmon syrup) throughout the year. That's why I recommend this for all the visitors in Kansai area of Japan
柿氷 is sold only at the cafe shop"平宗" near the Horyu-Ji 法隆寺,that was inscribed together with Hokki-ji as a UNESCO World Heritage in 1993.
You can check the details of 平宗 in my Lists of Places "IKOMA Food Lover's Itinerary"
Good luck! and hope this helps.
Toyo
Definitely agree with the stuff written above.
Just returned from my first trip to Japan. One thing I noticed was even before we'd left, there is so much information both from official and unofficial sources online. This was probably the trip I've been most equipped for. When I arrived in Tokyo, I already knew about which areas, subway lines and places of interest I wanted to go to and how to navigate them.
I used Tripadvisor, Japan-Guide, Hyperdia (VERY useful for trains), Japan Talk, Tokyo Cheapo among many others.
I read a lot of advice about making sure you buy a JR Pass before travelling. It's important to first plot out your potential trip and then run the journey's by this calculator: https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/ . As we were going for 14 days, we were told to buy a 14 day pass, however after running our journeys by the calculator and also figuring that we'd only be using Shinkansen for 7 days, we were able to get away with a 7-day pass which is obviously a lot cheaper.
If you're going to be using the subway/metro a lot (most people do), then you should buy a Pasmo/Suica card - these are like the contactless cards you see in other cities such as Oyster in London. You can purchase them from most train stations, we bought ours at the airport in Haneda. You can also buy items from vending machines and shops with them which is very handy. I noticed our Pasmo/Suica cards didn't work in Osaka and they had their own version of these (forget the name), so we purchased one and used one there. The good thing about these cards is when you're leaving you can give them back at the appropriate outlet and get your deposit back.
We found buying a Japanese SIM card very useful and I would recommend either buying one of those or rent a Pocket Wifi if your budget allows. Some AirBnBs and hotels loan you these for free so it's worth finding out before buying anything. We purchased our data SIM cards from Haneda airport (make sure your mobile phone is unlocked) and used them pretty much straight away. As we are heavily reliant on maps and other travel related apps here at home, we knew navigating new cities would require data.
From a foreigner's point of view, I would say that the Japanese people are very friendly, helpful and accommodating. There were times when we were looking at our phones or signs in the train stations and people would approach us to ask if we needed any help (genuine people too, not the hustlers we may come across in other places!) Respect and manners are important. As mentioned by the OP, making loud noises/talking loudly on trains, pushing, queue jumping, not respecting personal space are all things which don't go down well. The place is very clean and it's good to maintain this.
All in all, Japan is one of the, if not THE best place I've traveled to in the world! I didn't set out to bombard people with lots of information so apologies if that's the case! If anyone has any specific questions about my trip please send me a message or reply to this post.
We visited: Tokyo, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Miyajima Island (JR Pass covers this and is well worth the visit!), Hiroshima and are very much into food and can recommend lots of food places/dishes to try. Among my favourites were, Tokyo, Osaka (Namba food market), Matcha galore, sashimi, tempura, okonomiyaki, maple cake, Hiroshima museum, tea ceremony, bowing deers in Nara, sake, yakitori, gyoza, sumo, bamboo forest, izakaya, temples, ahh there's too much! Let's leave it there for now!
