things i wish i knew before visiting japan

Created in May 26, 2024

2024   ·   travel   advice   opinions     ·   posts  

[May 14, 2024] I’m currently in Japan while I’m drafting this post, unable to sleep because I randomly woke up at 2:30 AM and decided to work on this. This was my first time visiting Japan and the first international trip I’ve taken as a competent human being (aka not a kid). These are the things I wish I knew to make the travel process more seamless and the trip more fun — please don’t suffer like I did.

[May 26, 2024] I was bored and don’t have friends in Seattle so here I am, writing random nonsense to the void.

My Itinerary

My dad randomly called me one day in the middle of April saying that he needed to verify some information for filing my taxes, then ended up convincing me to take a week long trip to Japan immediately after my last final until the start of my internship. I truly have never been as stressed as I was during that time period but here are the trip specifications and distance covered:

  • Length: 5/11/2024 - 5/18/2024
    • Stayed in Tokyo (1 night), Osaka (4 nights), Shinjuku City (1 night)
  • 5/11: Flight
  • 5/12: Narita Airport –> Tokyo
  • 5/13: Osaka
  • 5/14: Kyoto
  • 5/15: Kyoto
  • 5/16: Nara
  • 5/17: Shinjuku City
  • 5/18: Shinjuku City –> Narita Airport, flight


Prior to Trip

  • Make sure your cards are usable abroad.
  • Add the transit cards (Suica, PASMOS, ICOCA) to your Apple Wallet (if you have an Apple device).
    • Click the + sign to add a card
    • Click Transit Card
    • Under the “Japan” section, click your preferred option (I used Suica)
    • Adding money is through the cards on your Apple Wallet
      • Make sure you have a Mastercard on there
  • Plan your trip in advance, especially places that are a “must-visit”.
    • Make reservations for popular restaurants
  • ZipAir
    • Read the fine details regarding baggage weights
    • Bring your own food on the flight (it doesn’t add to your carry-on weight)
    • Have activities ready for the flight (ex: download movies) because there isn’t an entertainment system provided

Since you’re in a foreign country, make sure that you’ll be able to use your cards. Call the bank beforehand and ask them to not block your cards because otherwise, the detectors think there’s a fraud and then you won’t be able to use your cards.

On your Apple Wallet, make sure that you have a Mastercard on there. Those cards are guaranteed to work to add money to your transportation cards whereas only some Visa cards have proven to work.

The transit systems cards in Japan (Suica/PASMOS/ICOCA) are used to pay for the subway stations and buses. Generally, it’s a physical card but there’s an IC chip shortage so they aren’t giving them out to visitors as much (a “Welcome Suica Card” exists but isn’t easily available anymore). The card can also be used for purchases too at some stores (in my experience, mainly convenience stores). Get this card instead of buying paper tickets for every ride.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND planning the majority of your trip in advance, especially factoring in transportation.

  • What cities do you want to visit?
    • Book hotels at strategic locations (ex: live in Osaka if you want to visit Kyoto and Nara)
  • What activities do you want to do/visit? What places do you want to eat at?

I didn’t plan any of our itinerary until the night before each day so it was really tiring. Additionally, the lack of planning left us unable to see all the places we wanted to visit or try popular restaurants (most require a reservation). Navigating through the public transit system was also a struggle because it’s hard to initially get a grasp of due to the magnitude and language barrier.


Getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo (and back)

All I knew before arriving in Japan was that it’d take a little over an hour to get from the Narita Airport to our hotel in Tokyo. However, I was clueless and didn’t think to even consider how to pay for that transportation, let alone what specific type of transportation it would be.

What I Did:

After getting our Suica cards set up, we took the train to Tokyo (I think it was the Narita Express) but we just tapped through the scanners and didn’t buy physical paper tickets. We sat at a random section which ended up being the “Reserved Seats” section — this area is checked by the train workers who told us to move to another section (so embarrassing).

What I Recommend You Do:

  • Search for the most convenient option available (Narita Express tended to be on the more expensive side)
    • If you have the time and more familarity with the transit system, take the regular subway
    • Narita Express is the most direct option
  • Narita Express: Each train is split into reserved seating (more expensive) vs. non-reserved seating
    • Non-reserved seating is at the back of the train, usually cars 1-5
    • It’ll say on the train car and signs which car is reserved seating or not

When traveling back to the airport, I decided to take the regular subway system will ended up taking FOREVER for some strange reason (literally took us a little over 3 hours to get from Tokyo to Narita Airport). It was quite traumatic and stressful because we almost missed our flight.


Getting from Tokyo to Osaka (and back)

Traveling from Tokyo to the Osaka area is fairly common and the easiest way is by taking a bullet train (Shinkansen). The ride is a little over 3 hours which is extremely fast considering the amount of miles covered. The train is comfortable and there are bathrooms onboard, as well as (adequate) Wi-Fi.

To ride on this train:

  • Wait in the really long line to get physical tickets with an attendant
    • Mobile Suica cards don’t work at the machines because those only accept physical cards
  • Payment can be through your physical cards like Visa (not Suica)
  • You’ll receive a physical ticket that you’ll insert through the gate (which will be ejected out) in addition to tapping your Suica card against the scanner

DO NOT lose your physical ticket. If you do, you’ll need to pay the cost of that ticket again (~$94).

I lost my physical ticket near my seat and talked to an attendant at the counter. The company’s policy is that everyone has to pay the original cost on top of what was previously paid if the workers at both train stations are unable to find your physical ticket.

Travelers have the option to pay for “reserved” (more expensive but guaranteed seats) or “non-reserved” seating. Make sure to pay attention to which train cars are for “non-reserved” seating — typically cars 1-5 at the back.


Cities Visited

Here are my reviews and reflections for the cities I visited, attractions I saw, and restaurants/food I ate. Feel free to contact me to see the (messy) spreadsheet itinerary I made (for visual learners), or check out my Beli for more detailed food reviews. Click on each picture to see a zoomed in version as well!

* = transit day

Tokyo *

Duration: 3 hours

  • Dinner @ Ichiran Asakusa
  • Discovery of Japan’s 7-11 stores
  • Tokyo Skytree view from hotel

Ichiran Asakusa is a popular ramen restaurant that features solo dining via sitting in a private setting at the bar counter. The quantity was great, especially for the price and there were lots of people lined up for this restaurant. Rating: 8/10

After dinner, we walked across Sumida River and saw views of the Tokyo Skytree. We entered our first 7-11 and bought ice cream cones, as well as various breakfast items there.


Osaka *

Duration: Late afternoon + evening

  • Breakfast: 7/11 pastries + milk
  • Lunch @ one of Shin-Osaka Station’s terrible restaurants
  • Cheesecake from Rikuro’s Namba Main Branch
  • Dontonbori
  • Tsutenkaku Tower
  • Dinner @ Kura Sushi Shinsekai Tsutenkaku (terrible)

Since this was a travel day where we went from Tokyo to Osaka, we only had a few hours to spend exploring Osaka. When going to the station, it had started raining as we were lugging our suitcases across the streets. A big culture shock was seeing how EVERYONE uses umbrellas, even for the slightest bit of rain. We got a bunch of side-eyes since we didn’t bring umbrellas and didn’t want to purchase one.

The bullet train was a bit of a struggle and after arriving at Shin-Osaka Station, we were famished and chose a random restaurant to eat at. I forgot the name of it but we all ordered this collagen chicken noodle soup. I’m pretty sure my parents got rizzed up by the word “collagen”. The noodle soup was actually delicious but the bowl was TINY and it was so expensive. Rating: 6/10

The jiggly Japanese cheesecake has grown significantly in popularity so it was a must-try for me, especially since my mom loves cheesecake. We had purchased a small cheesecake pastry from 7-11 the day prior and consumed it on the bullet train — it was DELICIOUS. Rikuro’s Namba Main Branch had a huge line outside of it but the wait was very short. The cheesecake was pretty cheap ($8-9) and tasted good, though the 7-11 one might be tastier… My picture is quite disappointing though because the heat and condensation from the box made the top of the cheesecake flaccid, but luckily it was still a little bit jiggly! Rating: 8.5/10

We had some difficulty finding our hotel because I was directionally challenged and navigated us to the wrong hotel with a very similar name. After relaxing for a bit, we strolled through Dontonbori, an area famous for its various shops and foods. We were able to see the Tsutenkaku Tower while walking through.

For some odd reason, search results told me that Kura Sushi was a good place to eat at. This information is incorrect — it’s just a revolving sushi chain that when compared to U.S. prices is really good, but overall not the best quality and value in Japan. Unfortunately, this ended up being the only sushi we ate in Japan because my parents aren’t the biggest fans of raw fish (PLS, why are we in Japan then?!). My mom struggled throughout this meal but my dad was a trooper and did pretty well. The game was quite lame though, we turned in ~23 plates but only received one prize. Rating: 6/10


Kyoto

Duration: 2 days

Day 1

  • Brunch @ A Happy Pancake Kyoto
  • Nishiki Market
  • Kodaiji Temple, Maruyama Park, Yuzenen Garden
  • Dinner @ Gyukatshu Kyoto Katsugyu - Kyoto Station
  • Uniqlo shopping

Growing up, my family rarely ate out and operated under a very minimalistic lifestyle. We literally would bring basically our entire kitchen when going on roadtrips so eating out is somewhat foreign to us. However, food is so cheap in Japan that it wasn’t that big of an impact to eat out for every meal.

I found “A Happy Pancake” from one of my friends and we ate there for brunch. I’ve attempted making Japanese soufflé pancakes at home which were somewhat of a success, but these were the professional ones that I needed to try. The wait was a little long because of the line and the time the chefs took to make each dish with care. I ordered some matcha brown sugar pancake dish which was really good and just the right quantity because I hit my sugar quota at the end. Rating: 8.5/10

Nishiki Market is a popular tourist attraction that is essentially a fish market with lots of shops and street food. Since we had just eaten, we didn’t really buy that many snacks but we did try these mochi strawberries since the strawberries rizzed me up. A little on the expensive side but the strawberries were SO GOOD.

After the market, we visited Kodaiji Temple, Maruyama Park, and Yuzenen Garden. Honestly, I’m not the biggest temple fan because they ultimately are all essentially the same… but the history behind temples and shrines are quite interesting. Maruyama Park was quite big and we spent a lot of time there because my mom was tired and I needed to find a restaurant to go to for dinner.

Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu kept popping up and since my parents have never really tried chicken katsu before, we decided to go there. Turns out, this wasn’t a chicken katsu place but was instead a wagyu katsu restaurant. My parents hate raw meat so they were really worried but there ended up being a tiny stove where you can cook your meat prior to eating it. My parents LOVED this restaurant and the wait was pretty short considering the line. Rating: 9/10

We were on the way to the subway station when my mom spotted a Uniqlo. We ended up spending probably two hours there shopping, such low prices.

Day 2

  • Lunch @ Kijurou
  • Arashiyama area (Tenryu-ji temple, Shishiku garden, Arashiyama Park, Arashiyama bamboo forest, Togetsukyo Bridge)
  • Strolling through Arashiyama and eating small desserts
  • Dinner @ Genki

We had already tried wagyu at the restaurant before but that wasn’t the real deal. We had zero reservations at restaurants but luckily, Kijurou doesn’t accept reservations and is located near the Arashiyama area we were planning on visiting. Side note: my dad kept pronouncing “wagyu” as “wag-niu” — “nit” in Cantonese stands for pee.

We ordered the sirloin set with 150 grams of meat. My mom threw such a fit because she refused to eat the meat after finding out that there wasn’t a little stove like the restaurant we went to yesterday. She ended up asking a server to cook the meat well-done… it was quite embarrassing. Overall, the food was pretty solid but the tofu thing was a little strange… I don’t think I ate it correctly. Rating: 8/10

We visited the Arashiyama area afterwards which consisted of the Tenry-ji temple, Shishiku garden, Arashiyama Park, Arashiyama bamboo forest, and Togetsukyo Bridge. We paid $8 to enter the temple and garden which was worth it because the garden was pretty. The bamboo forest was packed as usual and a little underwhelming to be honest. However, we went to one of the viewpoints which overlooked the river and was quite nice.

It was INSANE how many tourists there are in the Arashiyama area though. Literally where did all of these people come from…

While strolling through, we got some desserts and I saw a Cremia ice cream stand. I saw someone talking about that brand on Instagram and decided to try it even though it was on the more expensive side. To be honest, the ice cream didn’t taste that special and the cone was structurally unstable because the wafer kept leaking. Rating: 6.5/10

Since we’re in a new country, one of my priorities was trying the different foods available there. Okonomiyaki is essentially a Japanese pizza which Osaka is known for. I found a restaurant called Genki that had a lot of reviews specializing in this dish and turned out to be a local joint. The restaurant itself is small and probably a bar because every customer is forced to order drinks. My dad ordered my mom a beer and that was also the first time I’ve ever drank with my parents.

I got the pork modern okonomiyaki which included yakisoba noodles on the bottom. The sauce itself was a new flavor I haven’t tried before but it was pretty good, just a little heavy.


Nara

Duration: 1 day

  • Breakfast @ Horiuchi-kajitsuen
  • Nakatanidou - mochi men oogabooga-ing
  • Nara Park ft deer
  • Lunch @ Kamaiki Udon
  • Isu-en Garden, Todaiji Nigatsu-do
  • Supermarket
  • Dinner @ McDonalds

I attempted making Japanese fruit sandwiches with my friends before but it was a disaster. If you know me, I also can’t survive without fruit because I need to eat it every day. Unfortunately, fruit is difficult to find in Japan and is pricey. I learned from Reddit that to find these sandwiches, you have to search “fruit parlor”.

The shop above was in Nara and honestly really good. The bread was so fluffy and all of the fruits were sweet. One of the sandwiches was a little odd because it was kind of like a salad + imitation crab + apples on some bread. However, this ended up being a balanced combo since our other two sandwiches were sweet.

Since we missed the monkey park at Arashiyama, I wanted to see the deer in Nara Park. They are quite literally everywhere in the park and my parents loved them. One deer even bit my mom’s cardigan which she wasn’t the biggest fan of. Throughout the 1.5 hours spent there, my mission was getting a selfie with a deer. It was mostly unsuccessful since I have no rizz.

The mochi slapping men have risen to fame which is why we had to see them in action as well. We arrived at the shop around 10:30 AM and it was already pretty packed, though they have different performances. I’m not the biggest mochi fan so it wasn’t revolutionary to me but I’m sure it was quality mochi.

We hadn’t eaten udon yet in Japan so I found a restaurant that apparently received a Michelin star years prior. Unfortunately, I thought that the meal was pretty standard. Honestly, Marugame Udon might be better…

We visited the rest of the area in Nara and I was pretty interested in the history there because I started to actually read most of the signs HAHA. We ended up eating at McDonalds because I wanted to try the Japanese items on the menus.

Throughout this trip, I was admittedly mean to my mom and ended up making her cry during dinner. She’s a lot older and slower than me but incompetency/slowness is my biggest pet peeve which got on my nerves. I feel really bad about it and should apologize to her…


Shinjuku City *

Duration: Late afternoon + evening, 1 hr the next day

  • Breakfast & Lunch: Various 7/11 pastries + milk
  • Bullet train from Osaka to Shinjuku City
  • Hair cut + dye @ youres hair 新宿WEST店
  • Dinner @ Fūunji
  • Daiso + some mall in Shinjuku City

Since this was another travel day, we spent very little time exploring Shinjuku City. The main priority on the agenda was getting hair cuts since that was what my mom wanted to do the most. I had previously searched online for hair salons and almost all had a reservation/appointment system.

Turns out, hair salons prefer customers to schedule appointments (even if it’s an hour before). We had walked into a salon and they were fully booked, so I found another salon called “youres hair 新宿WEST店”. I hastily made appointments for my mother and I literally an hour before our actual slots.

This was the first time I had professional hair treatment in a salon, in addition to dyeing my hair (rip to my hair virginity). Typically, my mom made my aunt or random acquaintances cut my hair on an old and smelly porch in my uncle’s backyard. I had quite the opposite experience since the salon itself was very clean and sophisticated. My hair was EXTREMELY long since I hadn’t had a haircut for over a year.

Due to the language barrier, I communicated with my hair stylist via Google Translate which honestly wasn’t too bad. Since I was so inexperienced in the hair world, I literally didn’t understand some of the phrases he was using and told him to just “do whatever you think is best”.

We had shown up so late in the afternoon (~5 PM) so he informed me that I wouldn’t be able to get highlights or bleach my hair. I ended up coloring my hair to a darker brown in addition to a hair cut.

First, I got my hair slightly wet for the coloring process. Afterwards, he applied the dye onto my hair and I ended up looking like a seran wrap conehead. I had to wait a bit for the dye to color my hair and the salon provided tablets with Amazon Prime and drinks (tea) for their customers to consume. I played some fruit game on my Huawei tablet :D.

Once the dye settled onto my hair, my stylist washed my hair and massaged my hair which was a nice experience — I almost fell asleep. My initial reaction after seeing my colored hair was that I looked weird. He trimmed my hair but I had to tell him a few times that I wanted to chop off a bunch of inches because I was paying so much money for this. He gave me surface layers and curled my hair at the end.

I thought I looked REALLY WEIRD but my parents told me it looked good. In the meantime, my mom got a hair cut and perm which looked great on her. My dad was just happy because there was Wi-Fi while he was waiting for 2+ hours.

My sister's reaction to my hair

Since the hair appointments took so long, we only had time for dinner. Fūunji is a popular dipping udon restaurant which had an ENORMOUS line. The seating is only at the counter and as you’re eating, the line of people waiting is directly behind you, staring at your soul while eating. That part was a little uncomfortable but the udon was really good. Rating: 8.5/10

Afterwards, my parents and I went to several 7-11 stores to buy food for our upcoming flight and search for the coveted 2% low-fat 7/11 milk carton. That was literally the only thing my dad kept raving about — how delicious that milk was. We went to four different 7-11’s and unfortunately exited empty-handed. Perhaps, that milk carton is only available in Tokyo(?) or maybe it is so scrumptious that it sells out quickly…

We had planned on spending our last day shopping but the hair appointment took so long that most stores were closed by then. As such, I planned on allocating 1.5 hours to shop before taking the subway to the airport. What a terrible idea…

We briefly shopped at a Daiso but I literally could not locate the LOFT store in a mall. That wasted about 20 minutes and by then, it was nearing too close to the time we should depart for the airport. I decided to just navigate us to the airport but the station in Shinjuku City was especially confusing and for some reason, all of the subways we traveled on had random transfers/stops. The ride to the airport took almost four hours when it should have taken a little over one hour…

In addition, ZipAir requires passengers to arrive one hour before departure at the latest and we were really close to that deadline. As we were rushing, my mom fell too ;-;

All in all, that train ride was extremely stressful because if I had missed my flight, I wouldn’t be able to go to Seattle the next day since ZipAir flights only operate once a day.

Once we arrived at our gate, we wanted to use up the remaining coins we had at an ice cream vending machine. The ice cream bar depicted below was the most expensive one purchased whilst also being the smallest. I shared the bar with my parents since it was the last one but I had completely forgotten that my dad was sick. As a result, I got a sore throat on the flight and ended up falling extremely ill after the flight (in fact, I’m still sick more than a week later as I’m writing this).

During takeoff, I noticed that the plane’s wing was a little suspicious and unstable. I’m no expert on aircraft but that doesn’t look very safe… perks of choosing cheap flights! Usually, I welcome death but I had never feared my death as much as I did on that flight because I didn’t want my parents to pass away.

I had read on Reddit that the 7-11 egg salad sandwiches were delicious so obviously, I had to try one myself. I bought one for the flight back but unfortunately, it got squished.

During the flight to Japan, I watched “The Idea of You” which is a horrible choice when you’re sitting next to your parents. On the flight back, I watched “Barbie” which made me fall asleep two times. slayyyy 💅


Takeaways

  1. The public transportation system there is SO GOOD but also simultaneously so overwhelming.
  2. Everything in Japan is so cheap compared to the USA. Travel LIGHT, you’ll want to buy stuff (in fact, do because the yen has depreciated so much).
  3. Food is infinitely better in Japan. 7/11 is FANTASTIC.
  4. Society is kind of “old” but technology (especially transportation) is strangely advanced?
  5. Why are there SO MANY PEOPLE at the subway stations and everywhere in general? Where did they spawn from…
  6. People use umbrellas for the smallest amounts of rain. I’m from California where people freak out over rain and even I think the umbrella usage is ridiculous — it was literally for DRIZZLE.
  7. Enter the bus through the middle without paying but when leaving, exit through the front entrance after paying via tapping your Suica card.
  8. Japan is not very accessibility-friendly. Lugging suitcases across flights of stairs is terrible.


TLDR

Traveling with parents is difficult and don’t go on a vacation that you haven’t planned for right after finals and before another trip. Also, don’t share food with sick people (but the food is FIRE there).

Japan has a bit of a … stain in my perspective so I’ll be needing some time away from this country. It’s not them, it’s me.