Japan Blog Post 🔗

Language 🔗

My recommendation is have the Google Translate Japanese dictionary downloaded, so you can have access to translation on and off line. In addition, I would add the “Japanese - Kana” keyboard to your phone, so that people can type in Japanese back to you. I used Google Translate my entire trip and had no major issues with it. The Google Translate Camera translation system was also a huge help, but know that you must have internet access for it to work.

Internet 🔗

I used a pocket wifi to ensure that I have high speed internet wherever I went. I specifically rented mine from iVideo, which allowed me to pick up at a Lawsons close to my airbnb (you can pick any Lawsons) and drop off at any other Lawsons. Just as a heads up, the pocket wifi doesn’t have the best battery, so definitely bring a portable battery. It usually ran out about two thirds of the way into the day.

Cash 🔗

Japan used to be a mostly cash based society - in reality, it still relies on cash. Definitely bring a coin purse, or expect to pick one up while there, as you will receive a lot of coins. Otherwise, be prepared to carry bills.

Since COVID-19 many places allow cashless payments. What is interesting about this, is that since many locations started accepting cards so recently, many of them didn’t have any credit card restrictions (ie I was able to use an AMEX anywhere that accepted card) due to the late adoption of the most up to date technology.

Cash can be widthdrawn at any convenience store (conbini), so don’t worry too much about it.

If you have an iPhone, definitely add the Suica/Passmo to your Apple Wallet - it definitely was time saver. Learn how here.

Tours 🔗

I only took a few tours while in Japan. While I didn’t take any AirBNB experience tours, I’ve heard great things about them from my friends who did - next time I’m there I definitely am going to take a few. I would recommend it, especially in cities you spend a longer amount of time in. The local hosts will tell you the best secret spots.

If there is a company sponsored museum, I definitely recommend the tour. A great example is the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum and the matcha factory tour in Kyoto. If not for the interesting facts that you learn, then for the awesome deals that you get.

From the sake tour, we got a free sake glass and three sake tastings for ¥800. The matcha factory tour only cost ¥500, I got the ¥500 back as a shopping voucher, a matcha making tutorial, a factory tour, 2 dango treats, and a 10% off coupon.

Hotels 🔗

I used AirBNB to book my living accommodations. Didn’t have any issues, all hosts were great! If you want a traditional capsule hotel experiences, I highly recommend the 9h (nine hours) chain. Interesting architecture, spacious capsules, and great locations. Definitely watch this video below to get familiar with how the 9h capsules work.

A hostel group I enjoyed my first time in Tokyo was the Khaosan hostels - I definitely recommend checking them out for affordable hostels.

As a heads up Muji has a hotel in Tokyo - I’ve never been, but if you’re a Muji fan, definitely check it out. Learn more here.

If you want a hyper traditional Japanese hotel experience, look up ryokans in the area. This is almost like a bed and breakfast, but you get the traditional Japanese hotel experience.

Restaurants 🔗

Tokyo 🔗

茶寮 花ぞむかしの - Asakusa District See on Google Maps

Best cup of iced hojicha tea I had all trip.

Menya Haruka - Akiahabara See on Google Maps

Go for the Mazesoba - its a type of dry ramen, it’s delicious. Just be aware that, when I went, their actual location is a few blocks away from their google maps location, so you have to do a little bit of a hunt (both on google and online) for the actual location of the restaurant.

Kisaburō Nōjō See on Google Maps

Farm fresh eggs from a variety of chickens - get the all you can eat tamago kake gohan.

越路 (Koshiji) See on Google Maps

Fresher than fresh fugu, or puffer fish. Come here to get a feast of different ways to enjoy this potentially poisonous delicacy.

Kyoto 🔗

Swimpond Coffee See on Google Maps

One of the most intentional cups of coffee I’ve ever had.

Junsei See on Google Maps

Traditional Japanese Tofu experience, definitely come here for a more gourmet experience.

Handmade Udon & Soba Shōraku See on Google Maps

Small local udon joint with excellent tempura. Cash only.

(THISIS)SHIZEN See on Google Maps

Aestheic coffee shop for all your daily cafe needs.

Kichi Kichi Omurice

A TikTok sensation and tourist destination - definitely book a reservation ahead of time if you can. I didn’t so I showed up an hour before opening to wait to see if there was any avaialbe time. Be aware that a line of people looking to get in, so if you’re passionate about seeing the performance (because it really is a show), get there early.

Chains 🔗

Coco Curry

Start here if you’ve never had Japanese style curry before, you can highly customize your food, but still get a starter experience.

Kura Sushi

This is the conveyor belt sushi chain that you see the most, definitely recommend going if you’re looking for a fun, cheap bite.

Marugame Seimen

A great fast food restaurant that serves fresh made noodles and tempura. Quick, easy, to the point, delicious.

Food 🔗

Here’s a list of random foods that you should look out for

• Oyakodon - egg and chicken thighs, cooked in a dashi stock, and served over rice
• Yaki Imo - Japanese sweet potato cooked over rocks
• Mazesoba - dry ramen, with a delicious flavoring paste
• fruit sando - fresh fruit, in a whip cream on shokopan (milk bread)
• egg salad sando - its egg salad, yes, but they’re really good. Familymart has the best of all the conbini (convenience store).

This website ranks all of the food at the conbini’s every week so definitely check it out - it’s fun. In addition, apparently the restaurant review website for Japan is Tabelog - wow the reviews are honest.

Also check out Taste Atlas to see what the local delicacies are for the area.

Izakaya (general concept)

These are the local bars - where you’ll find cheap drinks and small plates. Go here for a jaunt with the locals.

Drinks (alcoholic) 🔗

• Umeshu Soda - this plum wine over sparkling water, a sweet drink that is a must try
• Lemon Sour (or any sour) - popular shochu based drink in Japan (Recipe here)
• Whisky - I don’t drink it but apparently it’s popular and good there

Sight Seeing 🔗

Depending on when you travel, Japan can be a lush green space of tranquil gardens and beautiful atmospheric experiences. But, let’s just be real, unless you’re going for a religious experience, once you’ve seen a few temples, you’ve seen the gist of many of them. Look for the popular temples in your area.

Also, for the city that you’re staying in, look up the festival schedule. There’s different festivals for the different temples happening all through out the year, so there’s a chance that you may overlap with one during your trip. This is where you will find the stereotypical Japanese street food that you see all over the internet.

Snow Monkeys

To see the snow monkeys, you can either go out to Nagano or go to Aranshiyama. Nagano has a higher chance of there being snow, but each are similar in which you hike up a mountain and can see the monkies.

Fox Village

Aquarium Art Museum Ginza

One of my top experiences from my last trip in Japan, as some one who is a fan of goldfish, this was a stunning experience. I would 10/10 recommend checking out this art installation.

Thrifting 🔗

Shopping 🔗

Tax Free 🔗

Many stores offer tax free options on shopping - look for the tax free poster at check out.

For your purchase to qualify for tax free, you will need to spend ¥5000 and will need to present your passport. So don’t forget it on your shopping expeditions.

Tokyo 🔗

Kappabashi Dougu Street See on Google Maps

For all kitchenware, check out Kappabashi Dogu-gai, the restaurant and kitchen center of Tokyo.

Omotesando

If you want to go to Harajuku, it’s in Omotesando - spend time going through all the streets here, as many smaller Japanese brands have brick and mortar shops tucked away in this district. Also, go to the Rick Owens store to see the Rick lizard statue.

Shimokitazawa

Honestly, I believed that Shimokitazawa is a waste of time. Many of the thrift stores in Shimokitazawa are just American brands upcharged for a Japanese audience. I felt as though I found more interesting stores in Omotesando/Harajuku and in city halls than I did in Shimokitazawa.

Stores of Interest 🔗

Ginza Karen (Tokyo) - If you need a cheap suitcase, definitely check out Ginza Karen. When I needed a spare suitcase, I went here and found quite affordable suitcases.

Beam [and all variations] (Around Japan) - sells japanese specific brands

WeGo (around Japan) - The forever21 of Japan

Kindal (around Japan) - Thrift store that sells luxury goods

2nd Street Thrift (around Japan) - Thrift store that generally carries luxury goods, but depending on the store, may sell affordable Japanese specific clothing brands.

GU (around Japan) - Uniqlo diffusion brand. Sells a wide range of sizes, as well as high quality jeans

Character Stores 🔗

If you’re looking for character goods, there’s a nonzero chance there’s a store dedicated to the brand or to the specific publisher of that brand. These will be the “official” branded stuff, but there’s also the local boot leg official stuff too.

Keep an eye out for:

KiddyLand

Village Vanguard

Don Quijote

Don Quijote 🔗

There is nothing I love more, when going to Japan, then walking through a Don Quijote. It satisfies the same brain space as walking through a Target, but better. It’s an extremely overwhelming, loud, colorful, hyper stuffed store that sells EVERYTHING. From Liquor to Pokemon hair clips to designer purses, this is the Walmart of Japan. If you’re curious where someone got something that seems a little weird, they probably got it at a Don Quijote. This is the store that has it all. Definitely a DO NOT MISS - and they’re all across Japan. Img 1 source Img 2 source

Stuff Stores 🔗

There are these variety shops I call stuff stores. They just sell everything - from kitchen supplies to pens to leather working tools. Two stuff stores I highly recommend are Loft and Tokyu Hands. Muji is also technically a stuff store, as they literally sell everything, but as many of us know, Muji stuff has a certain aesthetic because it is all internally branded.

As a heads up, these stuff stores are DIFFERENT from Don Quijote, in a way that I truly cannot describe.

Beauty 🔗

Cosme is the Ulta/Sephora of Japan - they have their own rating system that brands tout upon receipt. Definitely look for local Cosme if you want, but you can also just buy most of the same stuff at your local Don Quijote.

Spa Treatments 🔗

If you’re looking to get spa treatments, check out HotPepper Beauty. This is the equivalent of Groupon but for beauty treatments. You can narrow down based on type of treatment you’re looking for - massage, nails, haircut - location, and other factors, while also getting discounts. The website is entirely in Japanese, so you will need to use the built in browser translator. As a heads up, the translation isn’t perfect, so you will have to logic together some concepts, and use google searching to help fill in missing gaps.

If you’re looking for a massage, you can see how many private rooms are available per studio. If you want to not be in a room with other people, be sure to check how many private rooms are available.

Onsens 🔗

If you’re staying in Kyoto, you can take a day trip to Kinosaki-Onsen town using the Shinkansen. There is one train that leaves in the morning from Kyoto station that is a direct trip, otherwise, you will have to do a quick transfer down the line. In addition, I believe the last train out of the town back to Kyoto is at 4:30 pm, so be careful of your times while there. As a heads up you will have be NAKED for these onsens. To get into the onsen you have to first wash your body using the “showers” provided (their more like little seated areas with a shower head that you can wash at), and then you can get in.

Kinosaki-Onsen town is a gorgeous town that has 7 well known onsens. You can buy a daypass to go onsen hopping between the town and visit all seven of them. I brought in a facemask to do a little spa treatment, so feel free to bring any toiletries you might want to in order to treat your skin or wash your hair.

As a recommendation, go to a FamilyMart before you head to Kinosaki-Onsen and pick up a onsen towel from their “Convenience Wear” line, so you don’t have to pay for a towel at each onsen. There’s no “convenient place” (in my opinion) to put your towel at the onsen, so I just folded mine up and kept it on my head.

Source - I dont remember if the towel is called an imabari towel or something else, but this is what the packaging looks like. Look for the full size onsen towel, not 25x25 towel.

If not you can definitely find something local, but be aware, some onsens don’t allow tattoos. I don’t have any so I cannot help you navigate that…. sorry 🙃.

Onsen Theme Park

When staying in Tokyo, I went out to the onsen theme park - it took around 2 hours to get there, but was definitely an experience. I actually learned about this place via Safiya’s video, so check it out below.

Research 🔗

In planning your own trip, you might want some resources to help you get started. Here’s a few that I recommend

Atlas Obscura

Definitely check out the Atlas Obscura site for where you’re going, if applicable. There you’ll find the unique sites.

Atlas Obscura Kyoto

Atlas Obscura Tokyo

YouTube

Most of my interests and knowledge came via youtube channels. Here’s my recommendations:

1. EatyourKimchi (now defunct) - ignoring the messy divorce, the content this former couple had about their life in japan helped me learn about interest things and daily life in japan.

• King Kogi - Martina still makes videos about things in Japan, so definitely check out her content.

2. Abroad In Japan

3. Sharla In Japan

4. Paolo fromTokyo

5. Rachel & Jun - They have videos from earlier in their youtube career about exploring Japan, but their content has evolved away from that. Definitely go through their earlier videos though!

6. Pewdiepie (unironically) - now that he has moved to Japan, he’s been making more day in the life content about exploring Japan, so if you’re willing, check it out.

7. DancingBacons - a silent youtube channel that showcases interesting foods and snacks around Japan and other Asian Countries.