The April Zero Guide to Japan (ROUGH draft)

About once a week (or once a day during April), someone messages me they’re going to Japan and if I have any tips.

In the interest of time and the most comprehensive experience, I’ve started to put things together into a reusable guide with everything I know about Japan.

I have spent a lot of time there and really enjoy it, so I will try to share more of why, what I usually do, and specific tips to help you have an enjoyable experience.

There is a lot of other guidance out there — blog posts, books, ChatGPT is really knowledgable — so I will try to provide more high level strategy and commentary you may not find elsewhere, rather than a checklist of places to go or apps to download (though you can also find that below).

If we are very similar, you could possibly copy my itinerary and favorite places exactly. Otherwise, I’ve also tried to provide a translation layer between US equivalents and teach you how to fish rather than just give you a bite, so to speak. There are lots of options and possibilities, but you will have a great time.

APRILZERO’S GUIDE TO JAPAN

As an adult, there have been just a few times where I’ve had to relearn everything from scratch: going to burning man, and going to Japan.

They are just totally different modes from standard Western civilization or your normal daily life, where you need to forget everything you learned as a child and start from scratch.

Many other places, for example going from New York to London, is like a 5% change. Hey they speak a funny accent, or drive on the wrong side. Slightly amusing, but your brain doesn’t have to work that hard to figure things out. Maybe some confusion at chips vs crisps vs french fries.

But going to Japan (or possibly other places in Asia), even basic things you think you know — like how to read, or open a car door, or use a toilet — no longer apply.

So there can be a steep learning curve.

But, as an adult, that is a potentially exciting experience.

And once you get past it and do get settled in to new customs, a special paradise awaits.

My first time

The first time I went to Japan, I was a teenager.

I spoke zero Japanese. It was a fun but terrifying experience.

Some parts of Tokyo felt like being in the future, with the bright neon lights and cyberpunk architecture. I really appreciated the design. Amazing food and drinks made it hard to go back.

I was also vegetarian at the time, which was like playing on hard mode (not recommended). My buddy Mike was showing me around, so I was mostly just hanging on to him for dear life without knowing too much of what was happening.

(Going somewhere with a local is always a good way to start, and reduces the learning curve. But now with the internet and accessibility, you could easily go alone and figure it out and have a good time)

Since then, I’ve been there too many times to count. After the initial panic and learning curve, now it is one of the few places in the world that is relaxing and safe.

The complex rules mostly make sense now. When I go back now, it feels like home. Everything is safe and well designed. It feels like nothing can go wrong. Most problems have been solved by someone who spent their life focused on it, even many first-world problems that you may not have realized were problems — like annoying noises, or the frustrating of having to wait for the bill when you want to leave a restaurant.

Many seeming problems come just from not knowing the rules, but the actual system often works well and is well designed. For example, the toilets are just much better. At restaurants, you have the bill with you so you can easily leave. Baths are better and also optimized for longevity, with sauna and cold plunge there — something biohackers are just now starting to discover.

If it’s your first time, you’re in for an exciting adventure and lots of learning. Hopefully this guide will make it a bit less terrifying and more fun.

If you’ve been before, then you can really relax and enjoy it, and try to go a level deeper than you did before — like a video game on the next level of difficulty.

Remember:

Never open a taxi door!

Always carry a towel (in case want to visit a sento)**

And don’t panic.

**not strictly necessary

* not actually everything is better, so don’t romanticize it too much. There are many issues (or tradeoffs) with Japan and Japanese culture as well, that you may encounter after a while. But these are largely related to living and especially working there — so maybe not a problem if you just go briefly.

1. Cities

TLDR: Fly into HND and stay in a nice AirBnb in Tokyo, then go to Kyoto or a nice onsen.

Your first major decision will be where (and when) to go.

There are many cities. Most people do Tokyo.

If you’re reading this, there’s a high chance you’re already planning to go to Tokyo. Or maybe you are even already there.

For your first trip to Japan, time in Tokyo probably makes sense. It is going to be the most familiar and comfortable, and most tourist friendly.

I don’t actually like Tokyo that much anymore (so don’t have that many specific recommendations for it), but have lived there a lot in the past.

There was a golden age of Airbnb about 5-10 years ago (before remote work became a thing) where you could get a sweet apartment anywhere in Tokyo for about $50. That is over unfortunately, and they cracked down on it and essentially banned them. I think the hotel lobby was to blame. But there are still some.

But now with the exchange rate everything is quite cheap (maybe 30-40% less than it used to be), so it still works out ok.

Back then, I lived in Manhattan and Tokyo and really enjoyed both. They are similar in many ways — taking trains around, lots of excitement, lots of people and crowds, lots of trendy restaurant options.

I think they’re probably optimal for extroverts or people in their 20s. Now I prefer Kyoto for general living.

So you can extrapolate that and decide if you wanna stay in mostly Tokyo, or explore other parts of Japan. There is a lot more — similar to going to the US vs just being in Manhattan.

However, Tokyo is also going to be the most tourist-friendly. As you go into other parts of Japan, you will encounter people who may not speak more than 1 or 2 words of English, or just won’t be able to understand your accent.

My general travel algorithm (not just for Japan but all cities) is to move around between places every few days, until you find a place that you really like. And then stay there until you get really bored and ready to leave.

Each place has its own vibe that is hard to really tell from reading online, but pretty easy once you get there.

The Main Cities

The cities are incomparable and these are a terrible analogy, but I will attempt to give some rough US translation so you can make decisions.

You can use these to translate quickly and depending on what you would enjoy doing in the US, experience the equivalent in Japan…

Tokyo ←→ New York, but imagine all the boroughs were double Manhattans

Kyoto ←→ Austin (smaller and walkable, bit more nature)

Hokkaido ←→ San Francisco (colder weather, good food, lot more nature)

Osaka ←→ Chicago or Boston etc.

Onsen Towns ←→ Calistoga or Napa or something

Small cities ←→ National parks or small cities in US

Okinawa ←→ Hawaii (I think, I haven’t actually been)

Think of it like if you enjoy going to _B_ you will probably also like _A_ rather than it being a direct equivalent or Japanese version of it.

Tokyo

Tokyo is the most famous city, and where most people go. It has a couple of the major airports (NRT, and HND (slightly preferred). It is like New York squared. Big buildings, big crowds, many restaurants, many trains and subways, 50 million people stacked vertically and horizontally.

Tokyo could be called a city but it is really a lot of cities in an area — kind of like Los Angeles county.

The many Tokyo neighborhoods

Tokyo neighborhoods have their own mapping and quite different vibes…

Ginza ←→ Beverly Hills

Shinjuku ←→ SOMA

Shibuya ←→ Times Square but a cool version

Ebisu ←→ Brooklyn

Nakameguro/Daikanayama ←→ Williamsburg

Minato ←→ Los Angeles

Roppongi ←→ Japantown

Tsukiji ←→ Farmers Market

Imperial Palace ←→ Central Park

Harajuku ←→ Santa Monica promenade (not beach)

Golden Gai ←→ Austin 6th Street

Anywhere else, having 50 million people stacked horizontally and vertically would be total chaos. In Tokyo, it just feels slightly crowded. Even in a crowded Shibuya station with a hundred thousand people rushing to catch their train, it feels (relatively) quiet and orderly. Still, it can get to be a lot.

If you are younger than 30, you will probably love Tokyo and want maximum stimulation. As I get older, I find myself not enjoying it so much.

The train works well, but can still take a while to get across town. At rush hour (on weekdays especially) they can get very packed. Therefore, I suggest doing one neighborhood a day, as getting between areas is a bit of a chore (maybe about an hour of train travel). Or picking an area you like, staying there, and just exploring it thoroughly.

One issue with Tokyo hotels is that if you are in a big hotel, then it probably is an area with lots of skyscrapers and likely a business district that isn’t really residential and cool. For example, like being in Times Square or Wall Street rather than Brooklyn or West Village, where there aren’t big hotels. For this reason, finding a cool AirBnb or alternative option can be worth exploring.

Though if it is your first time then everything will be new and probably all fine, optimizations worth thinking about if you are spending a lot of time or go often and want to refine it.

In Tokyo, my recommendation would be to find a nice airBnb apartment in a cool residential area like Ebisu or Daikanayama. Or just stay in a nice fancy hotel and do the whole experience there, though I worry you will get less of an authentic Japanese experience — but a bit more convenience with tools like the concierge and English speaking assistance.

Kyoto

Kyoto is currently my favorite place in Japan, and home when I am not in Austin. I used to go to Tokyo a lot, but now I just spend all my time in Kyoto when I can.

Like Jupiter shields Earth from various asteroids, Tokyo blocks about 90% of the tourists. This is optimal, and keeps Kyoto (relatively) less touristy, though at this point Japan has gotten so accessible and so cheap that there will be many tourists everywhere and it is difficult to avoid crowds.

However, you can still avoid 99% of tourists within these cities, by going to more of the local Japanese places or off the main city street.

In Kyoto, most stuff is clustered along the Kamogawa river that goes through it, similar to Austin’s lake.

I recommend avoiding the Gion area as it is just packed and hard to walk (like the equivalent of strolling through Times Square).

Hotels in Kyoto are quite cheap a lot of the time (compared to Tokyo, and when it is off-season), so you could easily use Hotel Tonight to find ones here a lot of the time. Or plan ahead.

However, during the peak season things are much more in demand and prices for accomodations increase accordingly (spring and fall). Food prices don’t change but will just be harder to get into places or get reservations.

Day Trips

There are also lots of adjacent smaller cities near Kyoto like Nara (with the deer that bow to you), Uji (where matcha is growth) that are worth checking out, and short day trips on the train.

Going north there are more options too. Kinosaki Onsen is a nice onsen town a few hours north..

Osaka

I personally am not a fan. It feels like a more generic version of Tokyo. Still very sprawling and urban, but not as exciting. The food is good though, and the people in Kansai region are said to be nicer.

If you have friends here or particular places you want to know, could be good to check out. Otherwise, I typically go straight from Kansai Airport into Kyoto. Otherwise if you have already been to Tokyo, may be better to go to more nature or smaller places than another major city — like going from New York, to Boston or Chicago.

Hokkaido

Hokkaido (especially capital Sapporo) is much less popular, but worth considering. I only went once, but liked it.

It has amazing seafood (a lot of the food in Tokyo comes originally through there), and my favorite place on earth: the Royce Chocolate Factory. Being an island, it is a bit harder to get to and one of the places that bullet trains won’t reach. However, domestic flights with Japan are fairly easy.

Not as many sushi places as Tokyo, but the seafood quality is the best.

There are some smaller towns like Otaru that I don’t really recommend, kind of like marseille or some random places, but not that much stuff to do so not really worth the trip. In general I would suggest doing a big city (like Sapporo) or more of a specialty thing like skiing, onsen, etc. rather than small Japanese town — especially if you don’t speak Japanese, but even just for general tourism around the world.

WHEN TO GO

If you are in Japan now, this section doesn’t matter. If you are planning a trip and debating when to do it, this may be interesting.

Weather in Japan (being an island also in Northern hemisphere) is similar between Austin or New York. In the summer, it also gets hot and quite humid — equivalent or worse than New York.

This also limits your arbitrage opportunities (vs. places in the Souther hemisphere where you get the opposite season), as when it is nice back at home it will also be nice in Japan. But ultimately, it is never a bad time to go. (Maybe February and March will be too depressing and rainy). Some times are definitely nicer seasons, but also have correspondingly higher tourists and prices as everyone else also knows that — so I think ultimately it evens out.

April is the most famous season with cherry blossoms. They look cool. Imagine bright pink trees. But once you’ve seen one, you’ve experienced it and the novelty wears off after the 10th or 15th cherry blossom. So depending how much you value seeing cherry blossoms, you could optimize your trip to go in April, or other times.

I actually like the Fall most now, around October to November. Some days may rain, but still it isn’t too bad.

Instead of pink cherry blossoms, all the maples turn bright red, which is quite striking.

Even the Winter isn’t too cold (by New York standards or something). In some cases, the cold may even be better for long walking or less crowds (or if you just like the cold).

The snow in the winter is also an interesting experience, and they have nice Christmas markets and illuminations too. For all seasons, you can just go to the local Uniqlo to get a bunch of clothes (tax free with your passport over $50), with custom outfits for that season hot or cold. (I don’t know about the health implications of all these artificial fabrics, but they do feel good and will keep you hot or cold in the winer or summer respectively.)

Summer does get quite hot and I would be cautious going then. It is comparable to summer in Austin or New York or the hottest place you have ever been. It gets hot and humid, with everyone is complaining that it is hot as a popular conversation topic. Still, you can survive, and millions of people do. The cool thing to do these days is to have a portable electric fan and cool yourself as you walk. For the first week, we made fun of the various Japanese people doing this. The second week, we got some of our own and it was fantastic.

They also have special jackets with cooling fans, but I couldn’t figure out where to get one. I think it is mostly construction workers and people with those. Next year I am thinking of bringing those to Austin and popularizing it, not sure if it will catch on.

HOW TO GO THERE (Airplane)

I typically save all my credit card points (ie. with Chase Sapphire) and use them with United to get easy tickets to Japan. Typically it is 35-55K points, with other business awards showing up sometimes or last-minute. Air Canada sometimes has better deals on points for the same routes. But if you buy tickets far in advance, there are also often pretty cheap flights and deals.

My preference of airports would be KIX (for Kyoto), then HND (for Tokyo), then NRT (maybe an extra hour on the train but also fine).

But really any airport that gets you into Japan is probably fine, and once you are there then everything is just an easy train.

The bigger Tokyo airports may have you waiting in immigration line for an hour or more at peak times. With NRT, it is about an extra hour to get into town (via train), HND is shorter.

From KIX to Kyoto is also about an hourlong train on the Hello Kitty themed Thunderbird (goes every 30 minutes). Note to self (because I always forget): You can use your Suica card to scan in and buy the limited express ticket on the train itself from the conductor (1200 yen, have cash) instead of going through the long line at the airport to get a ticket.

What to do

TLDR: Avoid tourists. Learn Japanese.

Ok, so now you have gotten to Japan. What should you do next?

Learning at least a little bit of Japanese before you go will help make the experience much better. Imagine you were in the US, but couldn’t read or speak english. You would kind of struggle.

Now there are so many tourists that there is decent English signage. Most places (especially in Tokyo) have some basic english menus, etc. but still it is a bit rude or you will just feel really dumb if you don’t know what is going on.

The bar is pretty low though, so even just being able to say basic polite things helps. Otherwise you also may get turned away from places (and they’ll say sorry reservation only) or you may just not be able to do much at a small local place that doesn’t speak any English.

My suggestion would be to go slightly off the beaten path, and avoid the places with lots of tourists, and try to find small local places that are highly rated (4 stars) on Google Maps / tabelog.

If a place has 5 stars it is probably all tourists, and if it is 2-3 stars then maybe too low. Around 3.5-4 is kind of a sweet spot.

Everyone will have different preferences, and so you can probably find the matching types of places for you. I’ve tried to provide more of the source code algorithm rather than my current exact recommendations.

Once you find the American category of things you like, you can translate that to find the japanese equivalent (maybe much better).

I particularly like:

nature · cafes · baths · sushi

Other things you may really like (which Japan has good instances of, but I am not an expert):

Jazz · cocktails · beer · motorcycles · ceramics · snow sports · shopping · hiking · rock climbing · etc.

Probably all have their own subculture, and really good japanese equivalent or unique experiences to try.

Many of these things are an upgrade from the American versions, or slightly different.

There are also new categories don’t really exist in the US, or are just extremely different so you may want to try for the first time:

· ramen

· yakiniku

· karaoke

· onsen

· hamburg

One thing that is pretty shocking is how everyone is following pretty much the same guidebook and same listing of popular places. I think someone wrote a list 10-15 years ago of their favorite places in Tokyo, that has been copied and shared 5000 times so these places are just infinitely more crowded even though there are probably many others just as good or better. (ie. Jiro’s sushi).

It really pays to go off the beaten path.

For example in Kyoto at Nazenji temple or on the Philosopher’s Path there will be thousands of people (and they are both nice). But you go 500 feet away there may be a similar shrine or random cool temple that has almost no people, and if you go into nature or to a spot that is not reviewed on Google Maps there will be literally no one else there.

The temples and shrines and places are nice, and probably worth checking out once, but there is a lot of other great stuff. One thing that has almost no crowds and is generally much nicer is going out into nature — especially hiking in Kyoto up to Mt Daimonji — or the top of Fushimi Inari (level 1 will have 1,000 tourists but apparently none of them like stairs, because by the time you get to level 3 or 4 there are just a few dozen).

Advanced challenge: most places will have special stamps. So you can actually buy a special japanese stamp book (or just use your own paper), and then get stamps from all the places you visit. Each temple or museum or other attraction will generally have their unique stamp you can go use.

I don’t quite have the patience for this, but some people may enjoy the challenge.

I did the stamp map at Kinosaki Onsen, where they give you a listing of all the bath houses and then you have to go to each one and go cold plunge/sauna there and get the stamp.

That was a fun adventure, and it makes sense that pokemon originated here because I was very motivated to catch all 8 bath houses and complete my booklet.

How to find the best food and drinks

Japan’s restaurants are the best.

It doesn’t have to be Japanese food — also the best pizza, indian food, coffee, cocktails and many other experiences I’ve ever had are in Japan (especially Tokyo).

Nowhere else has this level of high quality ingredients and attention to detail. It used to be expensive but worth it. Now with the exchange rates and changes it is also much cheaper.

(The only thing that’s not quite as good is Mexican food for some reason, but I think it’s just supply chain).

Usually when you travel somewhere you’ll want to get the recommendations of good places and make the reservations in advance, etc. This can be done for Japan, but one of the main insights and surprising points of Japan is everything is quite good and high quality, even a sandwich from Seven Eleven.

Even food from a convenience store or grocery store for example, will be amazing, while in the US I would never dream of having lunch at a gas station or Seven Eleven. So you don’t need to rely as much on someone’s curated list of limited places of truly good spots like in the US (and why I am not including one, though you can find many online).

I would suggest transferring over your regular habits there, so if you usually like restaurant reservations and having a schedule in advance then do that in Japan too. If you like just showing up to places or walking around and seeing what is available, you can do that in Japan also.

Higher end places are reservation-only usually and may require booking quite ahead of time (which can be done online often) or through your hotel concierge. In some cases this may need to be done weeks or months in advance. While middle-end places will require the phone and can be more of a hassle (also good candidate for help from hotel there). But casual places are often walk-in only and so there’s generally a system of putting your name down or waiting in line a while.

Unlike the US, the casual places aren’t necessarily worse though, it’s just a tradeoff or different experience, so I suggest doing a mix of both.

In either case, the reviews should help you find what you want.

(One of the best things I’ve ever eaten in Japan was a pumpkin ricotta mousse thing that I got for 50 cents at a 7-11. Even sushi at the airport or grocery store will probably be better than anything you had in the US. (Warning: but do make sure to look at the prices and that you are not off by 10 — you could easily spend $100 on strawberries or grapes at a store for example).

(This advice does slightly fall apart when you get into more tourist-places, and they may just take advantage of you or not really deliver. Where you are paying a premium for English speaking or they just don’t care about value, but if a place is designed for the Japanese market then that should apply and you can trust they will do their best and charge a fair price.)

Reminder: There is no tipping, which is kind of like an extra 20%+ tax on US prices. However, some fancy places may have a "service charge" around 10%. So keep that in mind when looking up prices of things.

I would suggest seeing what you like doing in the US (do you prefer dive bars or fancy cocktails? Having reservations at the trendy restaurant or going to a local fast food?) and then translate that to the Japanese version, instead of feeling like you need to do someone else’s top 10 list.

If it is Michelin star restaurants every night, then you can definitely do that in Japan. If it is dive bars and hole in the wall places, then you can find that in Japan too and will probably enjoy it. I recommend making a couple reservations at nice places that you researched (and the Japanese love writing detailed reviews and posting hundreds of photos on Tabelog), but then leave some things open to go back to places you liked or try out places that you walk by that look nice or show up on Google Maps for wherever you happen to be.

If you talk to a hotel concierge they will probably try to send you to more tourist friendly places, that a lot of other tourists will also end up at. I highly recommend ignoring what they suggest, but they are great for getting you a reservation and calling places on the phone that you found.

Two alternatives are:

· walk down the street and see what looks cool

· check on google maps and find places that are highly rated by japanese reviews (it should be ~4 stars). In most places the density is quite high (unless you are in the middle of nowhere or in some weird non-residential area like shinjuku), so there will be many great places within just a few minutes walking distance, often just a few blocks away.

Google Maps is quite great across Japan. The ratings and search function well, Japanese people are quite good at reviewing things critically. Some may say it is too harsh, but seems to keep everyone on their toes. “Amazing meal, 3 stars” “Best meal of my life, 4 stars” are real things you should see (auto-translated by Google from the original).

You may need a quite different algorithm for making decisions.

If someone came to Austin (or even New York), we would need to give them a list of the dozen good restaurants to avoid all the bad or mediocre places. But in Japan, the baseline is much higher and you actually could just walk down the street and pop into whatever looks good and have a good time. Most other places you would be an idiot for doing this, either just getting ripped off or even getting food poisoning. But the magic of Japan is kind of that you can get away with it.

(Side note: I would ignore the Michelin system in Asia. The recommendations are not great, or maybe even counterproductive)

If a place has 4 stars on google maps and you read the reviews and they aren’t all tourists, then it is probably solid.

Some places are still better than others, of course, so I will try to share a few of my favorites here.

You could also go the reservation route and make a bunch of reservations. I would suggest making a few key reservations in advance for nice fancy places you are really excited for.

And then leave the rest of the time open for more walk-in places or doing whatever looks cool, or repeating your favorite local places.

For making reservations at nice places, you can use a site called Tablelog (tabe means eat so it is a clever name). It is kind of like their version of Yelp. Their app isn’t in US app store though. (And the site is japanese but you can make it english by adding /en/ to the URL or somewhere in the interface) It has lots of reviews and photos to help you decide, usually around 3.5 stars is great. Generally there will be a fixed menu to select from, so you’ll be able to see the prices as well. Some places have lunch a lot cheaper than dinner (and harder to book), while others may have both be the same or just dinner.

This can be good for omakase-style sushi experiences or other sort of tasting menus and high end restaurants. Hotel concierges can also help recommend or reserve these sort of things, but you may need to really explain to them your criteria for what you want.

(Pet peeve: omakase just translates as “tasting menu” or literally “I trust you” so people saying their favorite food is omakase is like saying you like lunch special. But in the context of sushi, it is generally a fairly traditional sequence of nigiri and then a roll, and going with the recommendation or set lets them put in the best ones rather than you needing to pick on the menu which ones are fresh that day or most seasonal.)

With current exchange rates and Japanese value in general (and remember these are the actual prices, there isn’t an extra 20% tip, though few places may have some sort of service charge) it ends up being quite great value.

(Note: there is a specific section below for sushi)

My actual current favorite spots:

If you want to skip the advice above and just get an actual checklist, here it is:

Tokyo

Tokyo is massive and has thousands of restaurants, with new ones opening all the time, so less of a static list is needed.

My favorite pizza place is called Seirinkan and their margherita pizza is probably better than most in Italy or New York. There are other trendy pizza places also good, but this one is the best and the OG.

Kyoto

My top cafes in Kyoto (there are many great ones but these are current favorites) are Kissa Master (hidden in back of leather goods store), Ogawa Coffee (main store, there are a few and they also sell coffee beans to many other places), and Terminal Kyoto (basically a small art museum that serves matcha, the entrance is hard to find and you just need to open a few doors since it is basically an old converted traditional house basically)

In the US coffee shops are a lot more casual and a mix of laptops/wifi. In Japan the cafes are a lot more like trendy restaurants and smaller, so either won’t have wifi or it could be a bit awkward to try and work there but it could be done for shorter amount of time (but don’t expect plugs and things).

If you are up early (and you will be when you are jetlagged at least) and want coffee, all the Japanese cafes will be closed until 10 or 11am. Your options are Starbucks (actually not bad in Japan, and many have really beautiful architecture), or the lobby of the Ace Hotel (if you go tell the manager Yedi I said hi). Most cafes are kind of more like trendy restaurants rather than place to plug in your laptop, so for a work vibe Starbucks is actually quite solid and you can find dozens of Japanese people working or studying until nearly midnight. If you go to Starbucks, I like the matcha frappuccino.

My favorite ramen place has no name or sign (and they keep deleting it from google maps (though people keep re-adding it)) but it is located on the basement at these coordinates: 35.0095677, 135.7677002

Sushi is not quite as good or varied as Tokyo/Hokkaido, but favorite casual sushi place currently is Sushitetsu. You can just go and put your name down, and there is a short line but no reservation needed. There are also a handful of nicer sushi places that need reservations, though I suggest avoiding stuff in Gion as it is quite touristy.

Hokkaido

In the fish market, there are lots of spots that will sell bowls of fish on rice. Essentially deconstructed sushi. -don means rice bowl, so you can have various-thing-don and choose what you want on top. If you’re going to try sea urchin, this is maybe the place to do it (both cheaper and better quality). Try to go to one with less tourists or that has a good vibe, but all are probably good. The fish market here is smaller but better and less touristy than the Tokyo one

Royce Factory is about an hour train ride from middle of Sapporo, but well worth the trip. You can do just the factory tour which needs a ticket. There is a separate custom chocolate making workshop but probably not essential. The cafeteria afterwards has lots of interesting stuff including baked goods like delicious chocolate croissants, as well as full selection of stuff to buy. Most Royce you will want to buy at the airport so it is fresh and cold, but here you can get more special edition stuff to try, or more of the non-refrigerated lineup.

3. Culture: being more considerate of others

If freedom is the American key value, the Japanese one is harmony.

In the US, you probably spend about 20% of your brainpower on defense, probably even more for women. Like being in a warzone, you just constantly have to be aware of threats, noises, homeless people, not getting run over by cars breaking traffic rules, etc. Though this gets automated over time, it is still a mental tax. Freedom is good, but the cost of freedom is we also can’t have nice things as others are free to be dumb and annoying.

In Japan, you can mostly turn that off and relax. You may notice that it is much more quiet, and even the sounds on the train are well designed. Every store has a theme song that places when you walk in (like the convenience stores) and all the announcements on the train or plane are relaxing. (Ok they will all yell “irrashaimase” when you walk in, the trends of silence are not evenly applied)

Everything is quite safe and much better designed overall (once you get past the initial panic at least of being in an unfamiliar place and not being able to read or talk, etc.), so I have found it is possible to relax at a much deeper level. This gets multiplied if you do a relaxing activity like going to a bath house (again once you get over the initial panic of being naked or needing to learn the customs).

However, about 10% of your energy does get spent focused on everyone else and being in harmony or seeing what everyone else is up to and not being rude. This can be a bit exhausting, but still much less so than the ~20-30% spent on self defense and making sure your stuff doesn’t get stolen in the US, that it ends up being a net positive.

As a random example example, if you are on an elevator with a Japanese person they will press the open button when you are getting on or off so the door doesn’t close on you, even though there is an automatic sensor too. (Unlike the US, japanese elevators are very aggressive and the close button actually works. In the US the buttons are more of a placebo and it is expected that the people can’t be trusted to use it. Usually in Japan you can also double-tap a floor to turn it back off).

However, when they get drunk then people really let loose. (And this can be every night almost for many japanese office workers.)

At the basics you could consider it as a cleaner more orderly version of the US, but the difference is more fundamental and worth exploring. The concept of identity itself is different. In the US it is much more of an individualist system, and being your own person and having freedom is part of your identity even as a child. (I also found it jarring when I moved to India when I was 4 and they had really backwards concepts about different people’s values and rankings). I’m not sure there is a much better or right way to do this, but tradeoffs here in cultures and different abstractions around the illusion of duality.)

In Japan the primary focus is on harmony, and I think this means most people see themselves as part of a collective in many ways. In the US we do this too occasionally, like your political party or favorite sports team or family, so it is probably a built-in human capability, but in Japan it seems to be activated to a much higher degree across all of society (or all Japanese people at least.)

This leads to very different outcomes. For example, you’ll see a bunch of little 4 or 5 year old kids (or even younger) walking to school (at least in Kyoto or certain neighborhoods, maybe not in touristy areas of Tokyo) in the morning or on the train, by themselves, completely safely. And so you’re trusting the rest of society to not kidnap them or run them over, etc. which is also why people don’t jaywalk when they easily could. (Kids are taught to put their hand in the air when they cross the street for a better chance of being seen too).

Coming from the US where you would get arrested for negligence if you left your kids unattended (or put them on the BART by themselves), it is kind of wild.

And that’s also part of why Japanese people don’t jaywalk even if there is no traffic, which sometimes feels like being excessively rule-following. In general, there is a lot more obedience and trust of the rules. A lot of waiting in an orderly line, and also being quiet while you do.

However, the counterpoint to this is that people feel like they have less freedom or personal expression. As a tourist I haven’t really experienced most of the dark side of these things, but anyways we should appreciate it when we are there if not try to recreate it exactly at home.

(And on the polar opposite is India, where I have lived but will never go back, where no one else is really worrying about you, rules are highly optional if they even exist, and you really need to watch your back to survive). I think these roughly map to first, second and third world countries (considering US to be 2nd), where being higher on that ranking means more security but also less freedom. Some people really like places like India where anything goes and there is more chaos, while I think some people (especially designers) really like the order of Japan, and for many others maybe a country like the US is a decent mix of the two.

4. Learning Japanese

I would suggest doing at least some basic duolingo before going, or watching some basic YouTube guides.

You don’t need to learn how to read — Google Translate camera is great at that fortunately, saving you hundreds or thousands of hours of learning to read. Instead there should be three objectives: fixing your English accent (toire not toilet for example), learning to speak basic Japanese phrases, and ideally learning to understand basic sentences too).

You won’t be fluent, but in just a few hours should be able to learn a few words, be polite (or at least amusing) and not feel completely lost.

The main thing to do is to learn some basic greetings to start your interactions and at least be polite before they switch to english (in tokyo), or you revert to pointing at pictures (in other parts of japan where no English is spoken).

The other thing will be to practice your japanese accent and converting from english to katakana. This should take a few hours and will unlock a basic level of communication, especially at restaurants. (The common but incorrect strategy is to just say what you were saying louder and hope that somehow helped.)

The good news is that Japanese has basically been gentrified. They think English and Americans are quite cool, and so it is trendy and normal to use adjusted English words for many things, and you may not need to learn as much as you think.

Japanese has three different alphabets — hiragana, kanji, and katakana. The latter is used for foreign words. And many new items, technologies, foods, etc. are newer items that retain their foreign word. So that means you mostly know them.

Cookie. Glass. Wine. Cake. Google. Toilet. All these don’t have a separate Japanese word to memorize, but just need a katakana twist. Since the letters are not the same, so you can think of it as almost getting pixelated).

They also think english words sound cool, so often there will have been a japanese word that grandma would have used, but now they just use the english one. Like orange or apple or byebye or fight. Not all words have the same meaning though, like fight means "do your best" or “bitch” also means something else.

Even milk was originally gyu-nyu (cow + milk), but now can simply be ”miruku”.

So many times I’ve tried to look up words to say something — oven, therapist, whatever — and it ends up just being the same word. Convenient, and sort of makes up for the fact that you need to learn 3 whole new alphabets.

However, before you decide to just show up and speaking in regular English, it isn’t quite that simple. If you just say MILK really loudly they will not know what you are saying and it will sound really confusing, so you do need to say it with a Japanese accent (miruku). This may be unexpected or you may think it is rude or cultural appropration to use a fake Japanese accent, but it is correct and really necessary.

When I took Spanish in high school, there was a basic joke (or offensive stereotype, depending on how you look at it) that you can just put an o at the end of a noun and it becomes spanish. Unfortunately it’s absolutely not true and I had to memorize many flashcards. But in Japanese, it actually kind of is.

“It is said foreign words make up about 10% of the words in the Japanese language dictionary, but some of them have totally lost their original meaning and become what is called "Japanglish"or"Japlish"” — some website I Googled, or I should say Googuru’d (they don’t have an L letter, just R, which is one of the adjustments that occurs).

Watch this video to see this in action and see how many words you understand.

Once you learn the basic talking, you still need to deal with the fact that you are illiterate. Other languages like Spanish or german are relatively easy because you can instantly read everything. Even if you don’t know what it means, you can see what the word says with letters you learned when you were 3 or 4. With Japanese characters, you’ll have really no idea (unless you are Chinese maybe).

Google Translate is quite powerful now for reading signs and menus. As long as you have internet (which you can and should always have, via Airalo or just roaming), you can use the camera mode to instantly translate everything. (The translations may not always be right, sometimes Google gets it comically wrong but you can figure it out from context).

On a coffee menu once, it said blowjob. It turns out it was actually caffe latte (ca fe ra te - o) and it pulled out "fellatio" as a phrase.

I wouldn’t use it to actually translate things to say though. For individual words it may be way off, and for whole phrases also very weird.

ChatGPT however is quite great now, and understands a lot more of the local context and mannerisms to help you say things in a more casual way.

With languages in general, it is often a different way of thinking and not just a matter of translating one word at a time. For example, in Japanese you don’t really say “you” and instead it is generally the person’s name repeated (with -san or -sama to be extra polite). So if you were trying to translate a sentence to someone saying you, the whole thing has already gone off the rails.

But if you have limited time, I suggest the main thing to figure out is the accent.

Without it, people will have no clue what you are saying. Even if you say an English word like Coffee. It is “cohi” — many sounds that we use like L and Fi don’t exist directly in the alphabet.

The good news is once you learn that, you can say lots of common english things (especially many foods) and get understood. Or reading stuff that chatGPT tells you to say.

You won’t be fluent, but a lot of the things you might want you just need to know how to say — for example, toilet or restaurant or starbucks, etc.

This won’t let you have deep conversations, but basic concepts or nouns should be quite easy.

Anyways, I say all this to help encourage you to start on basic Japanese before or during your trip, which combined with your knowledge of English vocabularies and modern technology (Google Translate and ChatGPT) should get you into a good spot and fairly self-sufficient.

Without it, you may struggle at even basic concepts like ordering a “matcha latte” and you may need to stick to tourist-friendly places or you’ll just need to point at what you want. (”koré”)

5. Tools and Tips

Here are some practical tools to make your life easier.

Airalo (Digital SIM card)

· Not just for Japan, but especially useful there. Now I use it when I go to any country for more than a few days.

· As of a few years ago, iPhones no longer have physical sim cards (also allows for better waterproofing), so you can add a 2nd ESIM easily while keeping your old one intact. Can buy it before, but set it up right when you land. Need internet access + being in range of cell towers, so somewhere in Japan.

· This means you can still get 2FA SMS codes or your main imessages to your old number, but turn off roaming and data and then use airalo for cheap data everywhere. However, I suggest NOT turning off your local line (unless it is super-expensive or you don’t have roaming) in order to still keep that number for iMessage and get the occasional 2-factor auth codes which so much of our society now relies.

· Some cellphone plans now have international stuff pretty easily too for some set amount of days so you may want to check your plan. If going for more than a few days/weeks then I think getting a SIM card is much cheaper and more effective (only $5-10 for many gigs of data and no risk of high roaming fees if you go over), while for a few days you may just want to use ur regular roaming and it may not be that much or cost anything.

· Get $3 off Airalo with referral code ANAND9995

Suica

· Now your card can be added to apple pay too, but I really prefer having the physical card. Essential for the subway and getting around. A few different brands all on the same network and system (kinda like visa/mastercard/amex can be used interchangably) so you have Suica, Icoca, Pasmo, etc.

· Different stations and regions have different style cards as the ones you get when you buy it there. I have the classic Suica card that I think I got at Shibuya JR station a decade ago, and it has a cute penguin. If you care you can try to optimize for a cool one, but they all function the same. You can get one with your name written on it, or a generic one.

· Probably load it up with at least $100 (unless you are apt to lose things, then maybe not) as it is easy to spend and you don‘t want to keep having to reload to catch a train.

· Before Apple pay existed, this was the original contactless payment. Still works quite smoothly, can use it pretty much everywhere, even nice restaurants, but especially stuff like vending machines, trains, convenience stores, taxis, etc.

· Now that american credit cards have this feature it is a bit less exciting of a recommendation and you can also tap ur chase credit card at most places, but 10-15 years ago you really only had that with suica. Still it is marginally nicer than tap to pay with cards and then it takes time to print a receipt and do stuff.

Luup

· Scooters are now in Japan, and they are great. Especially in the Summer when it is really hot to walk around.

· Lot more sidewalk riding than in the US, where it is required to be on the street or these sketchy bike lanes. Being on the street is sometimes required though and still a bit nerve wracking. Overall experience is much better than in the US though, as they are only in designated parking spots and much more orderly.

· But there is a risk the ones near you may be all taken, depending on time of day and how many other tourists are nearby.

Shinkansen

· The famous bullet train. You can think of these as almost a better version of air travel (and similar price). But no taking out your liquids and laptops to get through security, needing to buy in advance, checked bags, etc. so just much nicer experience.

· You probably want to take the green car (its like business class), though the non-green car isnt bad either. Can get reserved seats, though there are also some unreserved seat sections. Between Tokyo and Kyoto (both directions) seat D is the one with window seat facing Mt Fuji. (You have some chance of seeing it, but often it is cloudy)

Google Maps

· Makes it really easy to get around, with great walking directions and also full train knowledge (especially shinkansen schedule, JR, subway, etc.). Apple Maps exists too but I don’t really trust it.

Google translate camera

· English menu isnt as required anymore with google translate camera doing a really good job (most of the time) with realtime translations.

Tabelog

Use this to find nice restaurants and make bookings. They have lots of reviews and you can filter by places with reservations available, see the prices (sometimes lunch may be half the price of dinner for similar thing), etc.

How to take a taxi

· You can now call them with Uber which is convenient. Though with all the one-way streets and rules it can take a while for them to come.

· Don’t touch the door! They are automated (99% of the time) so they will get mad at you if you try to open it manually, and maybe you will break it.

· However, taxis can get quite expensive (in tokyo at least) so for getting far across town you often want to use a train. In some cases (like if you have multiple people or aren’t going between places that have an easy train connection) or for the last mile taxis can be quite convenient. Since the price is linear, these are ideal to get to the nearest big train station and then take a taxi for the last mile. (For example, rather than a taxi all the way from the airport, which is going to be slower and more expensive).

· Now you can call them with Uber so it is pretty simplified, with taxis usually the hardest part was explaining to them where you want to go, but with Uber that can get done automatically. With the amount of one-way streets they can end up taking quite a while to come though, so I suggest calling maybe 5-10 minutes before you need it.

· If you are staying at a famous hotel or going to a really famous landmark they may be able to understand where to go (and if you can pronounce it ok in Japanese), otherwise it can be a hassle. In general though I find taxis in japan (maybe all countries) to be surprisingly frustrating, and they seem to often struggle with basic tasks. Train travel (except at rush hour in Tokyo) is generally more pleasant.

How to use a toilet

There are a lot of buttons. The best ones will have a heated seat. You should try the bidet features at least once.

Credit card points

I recommend the Chase Sapphire (Reserve or Preferred) and/or signing up for a new card once a year to claim the initial bonuses. These points can be used at high value for flights to Japan that may otherwise cost thousands of dollars.

Eating Sushi

But don’t feel too nervous about etiquette. The bar is pretty low. It is quite sad to go to a sushi place and then they have warning signs that the fish is raw.

If you’ve eaten sushi in the US at traditional or high-end places (or done things like use chopsticks, etc.) then you’re probably ok.

In Japan, you’ll usually get a cold or hot towel — if it is a fancy place a separate little napkin just for your finger — at the start which is useful because usually you eat sushi with your hands.

You may encounter some guides for things like sushi or sento, etc. that will often scare you or make it seem like there are a bunch of obscure customs or arbitrary rituals to memorize.

In reality, it is mostly well designed and makes sense. Just like when you were a kid you learned how to use forks and spoons and toothbrushes and all the things that seem pretty simple now, you’ll just need to do it once or twice.

You can find various etiquette guides on chatGPT and the internet, so I won’t go too in the weeds here.

Some high level strategy for sushi in Japan:

  • I suggest trying omakase (it literally just means tasting menu, so it isn’t some special type of sushi, but just like in the US differentiates a fancy place with fixed menu vs having a menu to order dishes from) of nigiri at a nice place to get the full experience early on, and then once you know what you like or don’t like you can also just order those yourself. Sometimes instead of omakase there will be a variety of set menus to choose from (or only-omakase rather, and not ala carte). Especially for lunch this can be common.
  • Most places will put wasabi in stuff, but also often ask if that is ok (say yes — it is likely that you have never actually had wasabi before, as the stuff in the US is actually something else and real wasabi is quite expensive and needs to be freshly grated).
  • It is much more fun to order things though, so if you feel confident in basic Japanese then go to a sushi bar that is more casual you can just yell out things at the chef that you want. Then they just put it down in front of you and you grab it and put it in your mouth. It is a much better system than having waiters and middlemen, though there will be waiters for drinks and cooked things going around.
  • Some things may be seasonal (especially shellfish and things). When in doubt, you can stick to the classics: (the tunas) chu toro, maguro, negitoro-maki, (the white fishes) kanpachi, etc. (cooked) unagi, (shellfish) ika, ebi, hotate, and if the place is really good or you are in hokkaido: uni. For dessert: tamago, or some fun rolls like negitoro maki / kanpyo maki. If you want to impress them, get natto.
  • I usually like sushi for lunch (not dinner). It just makes more sense, it is more light and casual. Often places will have a special lunch menu set. At lunch you’ll often see only Japanese people and then dinner is many tourists. There are many many other foods besides sushi in Japan too, though obviously it is also the only place you will get really great sushi so it makes sense to prioritize that. For dinner there are many other things to try, and that are usually more filling.
  • You can trace the route of the fish to determine price and quality. Hokkaido has maybe the best seafood as the original fish port and source, Tokyo quite good too (with many many options and major fish market and thousands of restaurants fully focused on it), Kyoto and other places maybe not quite as good but still solid, and so on from there. It’s not necessarily about the freshness (the tuna and things get frozen immediately) but the more hops you have the less high quality ingredients you’re able to buy and more of it goes towards the transport.
  • Standing sushi bars are fun in Tokyo and a place where office workers go for a quick meal, so optimized more for high quality items and faster turnover. If you don’t have a reservation and it is a crowded time it may be your best bet. Or you can go to a michelin star sort of place where rich people have brunch, they’re both good and interesting experiences.

Sento

Japanese bath houses are a special experience that I highly recommend if you don’t have any tattoos.

If you do have tattoos, you may still be able to find some places — especially private ones at some hotels.

Historically, people didn’t use to have baths in their houses, so it was a shared facility that had a really nice one. Now everyone can shower at home or most apartments have a little bath tub, but the big ones are much nicer and grander and it is still a core part of the tradition.

They can be an onsen (meaning natural earth-powered hot springs with particular minerals) (usually higher end and with a whole resort built around it) to sentos (traditional bathhouse) (usually more casual). It is kind of like champagne vs sparkling wine.

Some nice hotels will have a bath house as part of it, as well as onsen resorts where that is the main attraction. I recommend that and it makes the process easier and more user-friendly too, as you can just put on your hotel robe and go there. But even if not, there are generally ones in any major city every few blocks so you should always be able to find one.

Otherwise you can also go in town and just walk to the place and use the lockers.

I suggest you try it somewhere that you are (there will generally be one every few blocks in major cities, or at least a few anywhere) and then you can decide if you like it.

Usually you want to have a small towel. You can look up the exact etiquette and guidance elsewhere, but the highlights to know are:

  • · It is divided in a men and women section (unless you are at some private hotel and your room happens to have a small hot tub or they have some sort of private family baths you can reserve — however these are quite small and boring so you’ll probably want to do the full thing)
  • · You must be naked and can’t have tattoos (no exceptions to either rule)
  • · You must shower (sitting down) and clean yourself extremely well before going into the bath. All the supplies are there though, you just need your towel. The goal is to be fully clean before going into the public bath.
  • · Usually they have a few various hot tubs of different properties (temperature, bubbling, also some are electrified so be careful if you see a metal bar going through one lol) and then usually a cold one too, and a sauna. Cold plunge and sauna is the new trendy thing in US health and fitness, but Japan has had it for a long time on every block — and a better system I think where everyone can go access it for a few dollars.

There are entire towns and resorts devoted to it (like Kinosaki Onsen, spots in Hakone, and many other places built on natural hot springs), which can be good for an overnight trip or a stop in between the big cities (like somewhere in Hakone between Tokyo and Kyoto).

However, you can also go to a sento in a city and so it doesn’t need to be a special onsen or trip.

Konbini (Convenience Store)

Convenience stores are truly convenient in Japan. But the Japanese love shortening things, so it is combini. Personal Computer is pa-so-kon. Staba = Starbucks. Pokemon. (Lolicon = lolita complex). There are many more fun abbreviations to get everything to appropriate zen minimalism.

First of all, there is one almost on every block. So that is really convenient, especially if it is raining. Sometimes there will be one across the street from others, or two on the same block.

In the US you usually wouldn’t voluntarily go into one unless it was an emergency or you were on a road trip and really need a snack or to pee, but in Japan they are next level and a staple of life. So that is why there is an entire chapter devoted to conbini culture.

They do have grocery stores and bigger places, but often you can just pop in there to get a drink or snack or do many things. It could be considered similar to bodegas in New York, but much nicer and cleaner and more featured (and all with 3 companies).

They have many interesting snacks, fresh food, drinks, candies and stuff to try out. A common nightly adventure is to try some new thing you haven’t done before and get one thing that looks scary and one thing that looks good.

There are three main chains: Seven Eleven (7-11 or just 7&i sometimes) (sebun), Family Mart (famima), and Lawson (can’t make it much shorter unfortunately). They are roughly interchangable for the basic items, but usually people have their allegiances and they all have slight specialties.

I think 7-11 has the best fresh foods, though I like Family Mart as a brand and their drink and dessert selection. Lawson is more niche, and there’s also a healthy lawson version called Natural Lawson like the whole foods of convenience stores.

However, not all of them are the same and there are random variations to each. Some seven-elevens will have pokemon cards for example. Some seven-elevens have custom smoothies, and very few have my favorite drink.

It is very rare now but some 7-11s have a drink called Chill Out Zero Gravity (zero sugar), which is my favorite drink in the evenings. It has l-theanine, gaba and other things and usually improves my sleep a lot, you can think of it like an inverse-red-bull.

I also like getting some sort of non-caffeine tea for the evenings like rooibos or oolong, etc. which are available at all of them, and green tea for the mornings. Big bottles of water are also a must-buy to stay well hydrated, especially with all the walking around and in general.

They also have a decent basic selection of sake and other alcohol if you are into that.

Some 7-11s also have frozen smoothies (for a few dollars) though they often sell out, with fresh fruits and so you buy it and then check out and put it in the little machine and it blends it for you live and spits it out. Kind of fun.

And finally, if you are craving some fiber or healthy veggies or salad, you can pick up some little snacks like broccoli or mini salads at the convenience stores which taste quite good. People usually eat healthy at home, so restaurants in Japan are going to be more decadent but if you are only eating at restaurants you may feel yourself feeling sick after a while and just craving some fiber.

Anyways, your assignment will be to check out all your local convenience stores and sample all the drinks and snacks to find your favorites and report back.

Some staples:

  • Japanese puddings are really good and there are a wide variety
  • If you are wanting to be more healthy and get some more protein and fiber (especially hard sometimes, usually Japanese people eat healthy food like veggies at home so the restaurants can really focus on more fun and rare food) they have lots of little pickled veggies, hardboiled eggs, small salad mixes that are refreshing, or oikos greek yogurt.
  • Lots of great chocolate covered almonds and macadamia and other sweets. Worth trying them all at least once! Though be careful, it can be easy to eat the whole box.
  • Lots of interesting drinks: Greek Dakara is probably my favorite, Pocari Sweat (not made from real sweat) and dozens of others. They have lots of electrolyte drinks and teas that can be a fun way to stay hydrated as you walk all through town.
  • If you like drinking alcohol, I think the highballs and whiskey soda variations are also quite popular and there are lots of popular options

Note on buying things: They don’t really have public trash cans (and definitely don’t have littering), and also generally have a culture of not walking and eating/drinking.

Typically, you can buy stuff from vending machines or a convenience store and then just eat it there and throw it away into its own trash, OR take it home. If you take it around American-style to eat on the go then you’ll be carrying it around for a long time until you get back. For this reason it can be useful to always have a bag with you and then it sort of fills up with trash and receipts as you go about your day, until you finally get home and dump it out. You literally will not see another trash can (or aren’t supposed to use private ones).

So it helps to have a bag to put stuff, as it is common to accumulate a bunch of random trash through the day. Strangely (and one of my pet peeves) despite lack of trash cans, they constantly provide receipts and paper documentation.

However, don’t worry about using the bathroom as clean ones are everywhere. It is really quite the opposite of the US somehow, where there is trash and trash cans everywhere but a clean bathroom is almost nonexistent.

Other things you can do at a convenience store:

  • They all have an ATM, so if you need cash you can go to any convenience store
  • Some have bathrooms. However there are actually many easy public bathrooms (especially at any train station) so actually this is not as necessary here
  • You can also easily mail stuff, so if you are going between hotels or something you could send packages of your luggage instead of transporting it. I’ve not really done this and usually not necessary, but apparently it is a pro move.
  • Place to buy an umbrella if it is raining
  • They have a small alcohol section with basic stuff - beer, sake, canned cocktails

Omiyage

Souvenirs are a strong Japanese custom. And after some adventures there, you’ll probably want to bring something for your friends back home that missed out.

Currently the yen is very weak against the dollar (the lowest in my lifetime) and so everything in Japan is relatively cheap. Even otherwise, it is a pretty good place for shopping as there is a lot of unique stuff you can’t get at home.

Usually, I will try to bring an extra backpack or suitcase nested in the other one, to have more room for buying things and bringing them back.

Then check most of your stuff in your main luggage and have room to buy things at the airport and put them in your backpack or just get a whole new bag there.

I don’t really like shopping and vary rarely do it, but it is sort of fun in Japan where everything is fairly cheap, and generally higher quality or well designed.

Some ideas for things to buy are for yourself or friends are:

  • Good matcha, which doesn’t really exist in the US or would cost hundreds of dollars
  • Ichiran has their packaged noodle things that you can make at home
  • Fino hair mask, which is like a special conditioner that apparently Japanese girls go crazy for (and I really like now too)
  • Your favorite konbini snacks from the previous section
  • Mintia mints (blue is classic flavor, the fire ones have caffeine)
  • Ceramics or cool kitchen stuff
  • Clothing
  • Royce’ nama chocolate, the best chocolate in the world — but you can get this at the airport after security so you don’t need to buy it in advance.
  • Whatever else looks cool to you

I usually just fill up on Royce chocolates at the airport, getting as many as can fit in my bag. (~20 boxes?)

Shopping is beyond the scope of this guide and probably something you already know how to do.

Tax Free

With a foreign passport, you can do “tax free” shopping at many places, which is kind of like duty-free but can be done across Japan and basically you don’t pay the ~10% local sales tax So basically you can think of it as a 10% discount on big purchases, which can add up. Only foreigners can do this, but only certain places offer it.

Not all stores will have this so you may want to ask, but most will, especially big department stores etc. or places like Uniqlo, bookstores, etc. There usually is a minimum threshold (about $50) to qualify though. There is also technically a requirement that the item cannot be opened or used when in Japan, though this isn’t really strictly enforced or checked (in most places, though in one place I had them seal the books I bought lol). This may be changing in 2025 too, to be more of a retroactive thing you claim at the airport like VAT.

Some places are more strict and will give it to you in a sealed locked plastic bag, while others are a bit more lenient and don’t really care. So it is optimal for souvenirs that you plan to take back home anyways. You may want to keep all the receipts and documentation for customs, though I’ve never actually needed to and I think ultimately no one really cares. (This may change).

My current go-to for gifts to bring back is Royce’s nama chocolate (nama means raw and nama-chocolate is a type of small fudge-like dessert that is traditionally served as a small cube along with matcha (or a piece of mochi)) which is conveniently located at all the airports past security, so you don’t need to buy stuff and carry it around everywhere.

Ideally, buy it soon before boarding since it needs to stay refrigerated. They will give you a cooler bag and icepack though to keep it cool until you get home, hopefully within 24 hours, and put it into your fridge (or freezer for long-term storage).

I’ll usually get as many as I can carry (you may want to start going to the gym now to increase your Royce carrying capacity), and have some for myself and then many more to give away. They last a few weeks in the fridge, but can be put into freezer for longer-term storage.

I’ve tried many other chocolates and there are many pretty good ones, but these are by far the best. (The best flavors are the dark blue box (classic) or dark green (champagne), unless you go to the factory in Hokkaido and then they have more special edition ones.)

Otherwise, japanese Kit Kat are also popular and come in a variety of flavors. Each town has its own local flavor as well usually. But these are a bit more of a gimmick, while Royce is just really good and more rare, so now I prioritize that. But if the refrigeration requirement is a problem and you won’t be heading straight home, those can be a good option or fun gift. For example, sake or wasabi flavored kit kat.

Things like Royce or Kit Kat you can easily buy at the airport after security (and tax free I think), so you don’t need to buy those ahead of time and carry them around town.

Save travels!

I hope you enjoyed this guide or find it useful on your trip.

Would love to hear how your journey went, and if there are any other tips you think people should know.