50 Things I Wish I Knew Before Visiting Japan
EST. READING TIME: 15 MIN
Prior to visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka in May 2024, I had never traveled to the continent of Asia before. My perceived cultural differences between the East and the West made me quite anxious prior to this trip, spending hours upon hours researching local customs and best practices to ensure I’d be a respectful visitor in Japan. I’m relieved looking back now with the knowledge that all my worries were for naught, and my first trip to Japan completely went off without a hitch—so much so that it’s now one of my favorite destinations I’ve ever visited!
Nevertheless, if you’re planning to travel to Japan for the first time and aren’t sure what to expect—I’ve compiled all my learnings and Japan travel tips into the following list, summing up the fifty things I wish I knew prior to my own virgin voyage. This comprehensive guide covers quite literally everything that would be helpful to know as a first-time visitor, and after reading this list in its entirety you’ll be more than prepared to explore the marvelously beautiful country that is Japan!
Culture
1. You’ll be hard pressed to find a trash can in public, even though the streets themselves are generally spotless without any graffiti tags or stray litter. As a best practice, consider carrying around a little Ziploc bag in your purse–if you’re a pet owner, think of this as a doggy bag for yourself–to store any trash you collect during the day. If you do end up accumulating a rather large and messy piece of waste like an empty Starbucks coffee cup, you can generally find trash cans inside public restrooms as a last resort. Don’t try to sneakily indulge in any bad habits you may have brought over from home either–littering is strictly prohibited in Japan and may be considered a crime if you’re caught!
2. The rules of the road are reversed in Japan, so vehicles drive on the left side of the road–this is important to know if you’re planning to embark on a street cart excursion through Shibuya (and you’ll need to get an IDP before your trip from AAA while you’re at it). For pedestrian purposes, this means you should walk on the left side of sidewalks and head up escalators and staircases on the left as well.
3. Pedestrians are quite orderly and follow all the rules, meaning you won’t see people jaywalking across the street unless it’s truly their right of way. Even when boarding trains, passengers will quietly line up in an orderly row according to floor signs dictating where various passenger groups should stand.
4. Nearly everyone you encounter in the major cities will speak English, altogether locals can be shy about their language skills and act like they lack this ability. If you do encounter a vendor or other citizen who you’d like to converse with but they only speak Japanese–which is also a pretty good sign that you’re in an authentic, local spot!–use the DeepL app for translations. ChatGPT can work in a pinch too. Regardless, everyone we encountered was extremely kind and friendly to interact with–I can’t recall even one negative experience with a Japanese native from this whole trip.
5. This is an embarrassing revelation but…when entering an onsen you cleanse yourself FIRST with the provided products in the shower area before entering the warm tub, not the other way around. Let’s just say the first time I did this, I performed these steps in reverse, but luckily I was only using a private onsen!
6. The outlets used in Japan are the same type used in America, so you can bring all your standard charges and electronic products without needing a socket adapter.
7. There’s a lot of discourse online about eSIMs and let me be the first to say you don’t need one. It may be a cheaper alternative in the long run but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle and my AT&T international day pass signal worked just fine, even when we were deep in the mountains of Kurama.
8. In Tokyo, say thank you by using the phrase “arigatou gozaimasu.” Our MagicalTrips guide Hide told us about the local dialect in Kyoto and Osaka which lends “ookini” as another option in these cities for saying thank you–and when my travel companion and I used this alternative we experienced an extremely positive, joyful reception from locals in response.
9. In case you’ve never seen one, the first time you head to the restroom you’ll likely be greeted by a fancy, robot-looking contraption on the toilet that can play bird noises while you do your business. This is none other than a bidet, which sprays water onto your lower half as a cleanup mechanism, basically a more sanitary alternative than wiping. If the thought of spraying water down there isn’t very appealing, you can ignore all the buttons on the bidet and simply go about your business as usual, but if you do start playing around with the settings be prepared for this incoming spray!
10. Summertime in Japan is accompanied with notoriously hot and humid weather, so it’s in your best interest to carry around a small folding fan in your purse. All the public transport we took and buildings we entered were sufficiently cooled by air conditioning, but when you’re walking around outside or visiting ancient temples full of tourists you’ll be very thankful to have a cooling device on hand!
Transportation
11. As a culture the Japanese are very acutely aware of other’s personal space and take active measures to make the ambient environment comfortable for all. This means that on trains you’ll find most silent passengers with their eyes down, focused on their device or the floor, taking up no more space than is necessary for themselves and avoiding messy measures like eating or drinking. There’s even kind announcements broadcasted over the speakers reminding you to avoid playing music at such a loud volume where the sound would “leak out” into the surrounding quiet airspace–the Japanese take respectful community considerations to a whole new level!
12. Certain train cars are designated specifically for women and priority seat sections are especially set aside for mothers and the elderly. If you don’t fall into any of these demographics, be aware of your surroundings and ensure you’re not taking up the space marked with signage for them.
13. For the most part you don’t need to purchase train tickets in advance, just tap your digital prepaid Suica card via your phone’s virtual wallet on the payment machines as you’re entering the station. The one notable exception is the Shinkansen bullet train, which I’d recommend buying online a few days before your trip since the non-reserved cars can quickly fill up with commuters during peak morning hours. Be sure to purchase these tickets from Klook instead of RailNinja, otherwise you’ll lose a significant chunk of change to useless fees! Even when purchasing a bullet train ticket in advance, you’ll still need to print out physical tickets at the respective Shinkansen machines using the virtual QR code you received previously, so build in a few extra minutes for this task when planning your train station arrival. While this process may sound a bit complicated, fear not because Klook will send you step-by-step instructions with written and photographic guidance! Once you’re onboard, these trains have pretty much the same amenities as flights, offering free Wi-Fi and outlets galore.
14. Apple Maps has a super cool feature that allows it to compare your current Suica balance with the exact fare of the route you’ve entered, so you’ll know in advance if you have enough cash on your card to make the whole journey. If your route requires more yen, you can just top off your Suica digitally within the card features of your virtual wallet before scanning your phone and boarding the train. While your initial Suica set-up requires a set amount of yen to activate the virtual card–¥1,000 is the minimum I believe–after this you can enter exact amounts, and since you can figure out your trip fares in advance, you don’t have to worry about having any extra change left on your card at the end of your trip. P.S. – the digital currency on your Suica card can be scanned and used to buy drinks at vending machines, like the ones you’ll find in the train stations!
15. If you intend to use a luggage delivery service like Yamato Transport, be warned that you’ll need to turn your luggage over two days in advance to the carrier when shipping between cities. Since we evidently needed things from our bags during that would-be two-day waiting period, we felt like this service wasn’t worth the hassle. Luckily, we found it quite simple to travel on trains with our luggage as the necessary transport alternative, as there’s elevator service in all the main train stations and luggage racks within the large trains used to travel between cities.
16. Most taxi doors are automatic, so avoid slamming the door like you’re used to in America. Simply depart and the door will close by itself. You can also tell which taxis definitely accept cards as a payment method by looking for a machine attachment on the back side of the right passenger seat, or by looking for stickers outside the vehicle detailing the card providers they accept. If you don’t see this screen–which usually also serves as a translation mechanism amidst serving you ads–simply ask the driver before departing if your intended payment method is accepted. For a sure fire way to pay with card without having to deal with a potential language barrier, you can also call taxis using the Uber app!
17. If you’re worried about using public transportation, don’t be. Japan’s train and bus stations boast the best signage in a transport system I’ve ever seen. The direction, intermittent stops, and end destination of each line is extremely clear, and I never hopped on transportation going in the wrong direction from my intended stop like I always do in New York City. Each stop is numbered and each line is colored with signage on the wall describing which stops the line is heading towards–in both English and Japanese, thank goodness!–and the screens on the sides and interior of each train display and play audio describing where it’s headed. In other words, you have to be pretty distracted to get on the wrong train, since English directions are written everywhere and played aloud.
18. As with any large city, traffic congestion on the streets can become a real issue during peak hours, delaying you to scheduled events if you don’t build buffer time into your departure plan. Taking public transportation is generally quicker than riding in a cab, and since the buses and trains run on extremely efficient schedules you’re pretty much guaranteed to arrive at the posted route time.
Money
19. Unlike Europe where American Express credit card holders can find themselves in a bit of a pickle when many establishments only accept Visa and Mastercards, I was able to use my Amex for nearly every purchase I made in Japan–the only exception being cash-only vendors.
20. Speaking of cash-only, you’ll find that credit and debit cards take you 90% of the way in terms of covering your total purchase volume in Japan. The exhaustive list of venues in which you might find yourself hungry or barred entry without cash on hand are: street food markets like Tsukiji Market, similar street vendors selling wares outside of popular landmarks, entrance fees to temples and shrines, Golden Gai minibars, gachapon shops, a few vending machines, and some local bus and train lines. In all of these instances you’re never paying more than a few thousand yen, so make sure to carry just a bit of cash around and always save the change you’re given–you never know when it could come in handy!
21. When paying with a card or cash, avoid handing the currency to the seller directly, instead place it in the small tray they’ll present to you–which typically will be holding your receipt for the purchase made as well.
22. If you plan to make a tax-free purchase–which can reap significant savings if you’re indulging in any designer goods or luxury skincare–make sure to have your passport on hand for the purchase. Some shops will accept a photo of your identification page in lieu of the physical passport, but it’s better to be safe than sorry–especially if you’re making a large purchase!
23. When making hotel and restaurant reservations, you typically have to confirm your intent to stay or dine via email by providing your credit card information in advance, even though this payment method isn’t charged until you actually partake in the respective service. We were initially a bit skeptical about this–both in terms of sending our card details in an email and even wondering if the supposed “reservations” we were making were real–but upon our arrival all of these bookings were accounted for.
24. If you cancel a reservation you may incur a charge via the provider’s cancellation policy. Typically they will contact you with the phone number you provided, with the potential to show up to your hotel with a mobile payment device or send a payment link to the hotel where you’re staying. This insistence to literally track you down and collect your payment is due to a persistent problem in Kyoto where visitors make a reservation, but then don’t show up on the day of to restaurants that are typically quite small and only serve a few patrons a night.
Clothing
25. You can get away with not packing pajamas in your luggage as long as you’re staying in at least mid-range hotels, since every establishment I stayed in within Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka provided clean slippers and robes–and sometimes even nightgowns and matching sets–inside the closet. I can’t speak for hostel amenities in this case, but hotel-wise you should be fine to use that extra space in your carry-on to pack additional sightseeing outfits!
26. Maybe no one else would even think to do this but…don’t wear the complimentary hotel slippers (or robes for that matter) presented in your closet outside your room. As I was kindly told, they are to be worn in your room and not down to the hotel lobby when you’re foraging for snacks in the middle of the night.
27. On the topic of shoes, some restaurants will require you to take your shoes off before entering the establishment, particularly if the flooring consists of tatami mats or if you’re dining in a sacred temple like Shigetsu, Tenryu-ji’s Zen vegetarian restaurant.
28. Although we were very concerned about creating offense with our outfits originally—yes, you can wear a crop top in Japan. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this while visiting sacred sites, but when walking around a cityscape like Tokyo no one is going to bat an eye.
Dining
29. You’ll oftentimes find photo realistic fake food displays in restaurant windows to demonstrate what each dish served by that establishment looks like. This is particularly prevalent in foodie tourist destinations like Dotonbori. On Kappabashi-dōri in Tokyo you can even find the vendors who sell this plastic food to restaurants and take home some replica food for yourself while learning how these fake plates get made! The lower budget version of this manifests as food photographs on the walls of hole-in-the-wall haunts.
30. If you plan to eat during peak dinner hours from 5:00 - 8:00 PM without a set reservation anywhere, be prepared to wait in line–especially if the establishment is notable like Ichiran in Tokyo. Unless you’re signing up for a set course menu, many restaurants don’t accept reservations anyways, so be sure to account for this waiting period in your overall itinerary
31. Do not do set menu omakase courses if you’re not an adventurous eater. Consider this your first and final warning, you will certainly be served something you’re uncomfortable eating at least once during an omakase meal in Japan, even if it’s not strictly sushi on the menu. I would say I’m a pretty open eater and am willing to try everything at least once–with seafood being my most beloved cuisine–and even I was pushed to my limits during some of our meals. After eating raw octopus and uni off the street without batting an eye, the thing that really got me was a fully fried and skewered Ayu lake fish served during a tempura dinner at the Yoshikawa-Inn. After fully biting off the fish head, that was the end of my delicacy experimentation for this trip.
32. Do not schedule a set menu omakase course for every dinner. After reading the point above, if you still want to experience the entire range of cuisines that Japan has to offer with full faith in the chef in question, I would not recommend reserving such a meal style for every dinner during your trip. We attempted pretty much just that to avoid having to wait in line for dinners without a reservation, and aside from the gradual annoyance of continually being served dishes our Western palates didn’t care for or couldn’t handle, the volume of food served during these meals is so outstanding that you’ll find it incredibly difficult to keep eating that much food every night. Towards the end of our trip we even tried showing up to reservations and asking to switch to the à la carte menu, having no appetite for another 15-course meal with seemingly small plates that amount to a LOT of foot, but these involved tastings are generally prepared by the chef in advance and thus you can’t opt out once you arrive. Rotate between à la carte and omakase dining styles and you’ll be much happier with the outcome–both your stomach and wallet will thank you!
33. Contrary to what you might assume, when omakase style dinners are offered in a range of price points–a higher price does not correspond with you being served more food, and vice versa. Generally the same number of small plates is served across all offered omakase price points–that is, unless the menu enumerates the number of dishes within each option–with the price scale instead determining the quality of ingredients used to prepare your plates. This is most pertinent for sushi restaurants where tuna nigiri may be served across the board, but on the more expensive tasting menu you’ll find higher quality, premium cuts of the same fish served at each price point.
34. Modern omakase dinners will typically be served in an intimate dining room where you can partake in a jovial interaction with the chef throughout dinner. The Bellwood in Tokyo is a perfect embodiment of this creative, modern style, fusing global cuisines with the art of sushi-making and landing the top spot as our favorite dinner and favorite omakase tasting by far during our entire Japan trip. On the other hand, traditional omakase styles are quite quickly paced as the chef generally won’t speak many words to you, instead they’ll rapidly prepare nigiri to fill your plate with the next piece as soon as you finish your current bite. The Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi Hills location quintessentially embodies this traditional style, as the classically-trained son of sushi master Jiro Ono heads this coveted establishment. With the 15-course lunch only lasting 45 minutes before we were quickly shuffled out, this meal felt a bit stale compared to the two-hour long journey around the world we embarked on with Aya at The Bellwood–especially since that dinner lasted twice as long and was half the price! If you’re in a hurry though, the traditional style will be your best option to quickly experience omakase before continuing on with your day.
35. Outside of Tokyo, which boasts a famed international dining scene, the food reflects the largely homogenous population, and you may begin to feel as though your only options for food are fish, beef (notably wagyu), and noodles like ramen and udon. By the middle of our trip our Western palates were desperately craving some bread, so my best friend and I scoured every tiny café around Kinkaku-ji until we found a location serving buttered toast with honey–which at the time tasted extra delectable! These types of cafés catered to serving tourists around famous landmarks generally have more Western options like sandwiches on the menu, but if you’re in the city and need a break from Japanese cuisine Dominos is your best bet for pizza and Baskin Robbins for ice cream–the popping shower flavor is a fan-favorite in Japan!
36. Coffee culture is not really a thing in Japan like the way it’s revered in the morning as a daily ritual by Americans and Italians. As such, you’ll only be able to find a sparse smattering of local coffee shops, and they probably won’t be open as early as you’d like or offer takeaway options. Although it pains me to say it, if you want to replicate your basic 8:00 AM iced coffee experience, caving and heading to a Starbucks is likely your best option, even if it’s not the most authentic. 7/11 corner stores also serve bottles of cold coffee to-go from their refrigerators, and while commuting you can usually find a Doutor Coffee train station location selling pastries and roasted cups of the sacred bean. For a truly Japanese experience on your trip, substitute your typical coffee intake with green tea.
37. Authentic matcha is not meant to be sweet but is actually quite bitter. Luckily, this beverage of choice is often served with a small sugar candy corresponding to the seasonal flora to balance out the grassy taste.
38. I’m not sure how we even came to this assumption before our trip, but conveyor belt sushi doesn’t mean that the sushi itself is literally on a plate coming down a conveyor belt. Instead, signs with photos depicting the type of nigiri and associated price are what actually rides the conveyor belt, and once you grab a plate the chef will prepare the specified piece for you. Obviously we had sanitary concerns with our initial assumption of how we thought this set-up worked, so rest assured your fish won’t be taking a joyride before you eat it.
Landmarks
39. The Imperial Palace in Tokyo is closed on Mondays and Sundays–both in the beginning and end of our Japan trip we planned our dates so poorly that we were only in Tokyo on Mondays and Sundays…hence no Imperial Palace visit for us. If you do make the trip on a day when this fortress is open, note that you must participate in the free guided tour to actually gain entry to the emperor’s home–which comes with its own process and caveats that will require some advanced planning on your part.
40. Unless you head to Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto well outside of normal waking hours, you’re bound to see hordes of people slowly shuffling through the initial entryway into the tunnel of red torii gates. As we learned from following two school children visiting this same site, you can cut through and around the crowds by slipping out through a gap in the gates and then following a dirt path running parallel to the tunnel. You may start to worry that the path looks like it will veer away from the gates or that you won’t be able to re-join the pack, but fear not–the path conveniently leads up to a staircase on your left that will bring you right back into the thick of the action, you just won’t be stuffed between hundreds of people like sardines anymore! From here you can continue on through the rest of the much less dense sections, and snap your obligatory torii gate photo without tons of people photobombing the background!
41. In Kyoto, restaurants and shops in general are closed on Wednesdays. It’s also incredibly difficult to hail a taxi when it rains in Kyoto, with scheduling a ride through your hotel being your best option. If you try and order an Uber it will likely never come, you won’t be able to find an unreserved cab on the street, and even through your hotel you’ll likely need to wait upwards of thirty minutes for your car to arrive. If you have scheduled activities during a rainy day, account for this delay in advance.
42. There’s a substantial vintage shopping scene in Kyoto within the covered commercial walkways like Teramachi-dori. If you love to seek out really interesting old and reworked pieces, you’ll be blown away by the volume of Japanese vintage stores filling this mall.
43. Commercial retail generally opens later in the morning than what Americans are used to, usually between 9:00 - 10:00 AM. If you’re an early bird–or jet lagged after coming over from America–the best use of your time in the wee hours of the morning is to head to perpetually open shrines and temples, since these tourist hotspots become swarmed with school children once the rest of the city wakes up! For temples and shrines with set opening hours, you’ll want to arrive a few minutes prior to opening time or otherwise join the end of a long queue. Since these beautiful sites will start to look quite similar once you know what common elements to keep an eye out for, balance shrines and other types of excursions every day in your itinerary for the best results.
44. Speaking of school kids, I know Japan is notable for its aging population, but I felt like I saw more children at these popular landmarks than anywhere else I’ve visited in the world. Granted these are also likely visitors rather than local Japanese children, but be prepared to see seas of school uniforms rather than the adult tour groups you’d expect to find in other destinations.
45. This is probably not a fair assessment considering we only spent one full day in this city at the tail end of our trip, but my hot take is that you could easily skip Osaka if you only had time to visit two cities. In my initial experience it came across as a less cool Tokyo, and I imagine the local octopus okonomiyaki and takoyaki dishes that Osaka is known for could probably be acquired in Tokyo anyways. I’d also say it’s not worth going inside Osaka Castle, strolling around the gardens watching street performers or taking a spin in the golden moat boats was my preferred way to spend the afternoon at this landmark.
46. Plan to participate in at least one tour or excursion with a local guide so you can learn firsthand about important customs and rituals performed at shrines and temples, along with the meaning behind each of these practices. We embarked on an educational walking tour of Kiyomizu-dera with a native guide from MagicalTours and had the best time!
47. At pretty much every temple and shrine you’ll find a purifying station located just around the spiritual landmark’s entry point. There is a proper way to engage in the purification ritual–first bowing and clapping twice before rinsing both hands and the inside of your mouth (but not swallowing the water!) as you then step through a torii gate to enter the site.
48. Torii gates serve as the entry points for most temples and shrines, embodying the physical manifestation or gate between the physical and spiritual worlds. Once inside popular sites, amulets and offerings are sold for a few hundred yen, like prayer candles you can light or wooden plaques upon which you can write wishes and hang on a tree of good fortune.
49. Generally, a brown temple belongs to the Buddhist religion while a vermillion red shrine is Shinto, although both schools of thought are intermixed and present throughout Japanese sites together. The particular red pigment of Shinto structures is considered an amulet against evil forces and is made from mediocre and red earth; this mixture has been used to preserve wood since ancient times.
50. Shrines and temples across the country offer collectible goshuin, or honorable stamps which can be combined to create a seal book which serves as proof of pilgrimage to each location. The stamp will include the site’s name and the date of the visit, and oftentimes these are handed to you already printed on a slip of paper once you’ve paid your entry fee. A completed goshuincho, especially one that checks off visits to certain sites, is said to attribute spiritual fulfillment to the owner. If you’re not automatically handed a slip, you can kindly ask an attendant on site for help getting your collectible book stamped.
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