Travelling in Japan

Travel and Leisure

Well, for our first trip to the Orient together, I would call it a moderate success. We did and saw amazing things, but also endured challenges and frustration along the way. Not enough to ward off others from going, but sufficient that I would offer a number of cautions before sending friends or family to Japan.

The downsides

In a nutshell, it was too hot, crowded and difficult to work around the language issues for us. Additionally, we found the cuisine not to our liking, which I know is a specific issue to us. Let's review each of these.

Too hot even for this local

The heat: We had picked the first two weeks of October primarily because we had pivoted away from another trip that we were going to take to South America around the same time, so we had this gap in our travel schedule. And we managed to get good prices for air for this window, vs. any time later, where the price jumped up significantly. Daytime highs were always above 28º C, but mornings started out in the low 20s, with 85% humidity. We'd literally be sweating at 7 pm at night, even after the sun had gone down. This made for abbreviated days; by early afternoon, the oppressive heat had sapped our energy such that we'd head back to the air-conditioned haven of our Airbnb. You can/could travel in the spring to avoid the heat, when you'll get to see the cherry blossoms, but you'd get even more of the associated...

Of course it's busy at the Shibuya Scramble

Crowds: I knew it would be busy there, but still was not really prepared for just how crazy it was. We'd been to the big attractions in Paris, Rome and other major European cities... how bad could it really get? Bad. Aside from a couple of times where we got to the temple early or went a lesser known site, the masses of people around us was astounding. I had told her that since they drive on the left there, that they walk on that side as well; that turned out not to be true, and often there'd be signage to walk on the right side of the stairs instead of left! We did find a few oases of calm here and there, but for the most part, were surrounded by a sea of people.

Wait... is this a bear warning?

Language barrier: In Europe, most people in the service industry have some level of English proficiency; not so in Japan. We'd have to use our phones with Google Translate to decipher signs or instructions multiple times each day. And despite being a popular 1st-world tourist destination, not all attractions were well-equipped with English information or summary descriptions. Sometimes, even Google Maps would give you directions to turn right at "外苑東通り/都道319号". Wha? Thank goodness I managed to recalibrate my iPhone's GPS to actually point me in the direction we needed to go, as many times we would have been lost.

Typical Japanese-only menu

The cuisine: I thought I would love Japanese food... after all, I like sushi, teriyaki anything, tempura, and noodles. Unfortunately, she doesn't really eat any seafood, but I still thought we'd be ok, knowing that there's lots of chicken on rice, bbq etc. to get us by. However, what I didn't realise, is that many dishes use a fish sauce base or broth, which threw even me off. So almost every afternoon, we'd be on Google, searching for meal options that we thought we'd like. We defaulted to some non-Japanese restaurants a couple of times (Indian and a kebab joint), and went to the same beef restaurant twice (Japanese beef is excellent). And I'm not ashamed to say that we had hamburgers a few times as well; they were some of the best burgers we've ever had!

Getting around

I wouldn't say it was easy navigating around Japan, but if you know what you're doing, it's relatively fast and efficient, most using the prepaid IC card (Icoca, Suica). But since we were Japanese travel rookies, we made quite a few mistakes. Our first was trying to use the bus; since they are usually quite full, they actually open the doors before the actual stop to let out passengers, and then pull up to let new passengers in. We did not know this of course, so ran back 20 metres or so when our bus pulled up, pressing the button on the rear door for access (noobs!). Finding the stop for a particular bus at larger transfer station also proved to be a challenge, and we missed more than one bus while trying to find the right place to stand and wait.

The Icoca card we used is worth discussing for a moment. These IC (integrated circuit) cards are used for pretty much all your public transit needs. Confusingly, they are called different names based on the region in Japan where you purchased it, but they all operate the same and are interchangeable. For us foreigners, you can't use your smartphone, as the app isn't built to accept our VISA cards for some reason, so you have to go and buy a physical card from a station. The other annoying thing is that you need cash to re-charge your IC card, as we found out when trying to exit a station once, and her card had run low on funds. You can use your IC card to pay for things at 7-11, Lawsons and Family Mart, but it's not really a benefit, as you can tap your VISA or smartphone there anyways.

We struggled with the metro a number of times, where the name of the end stop was not listed on the signage for the subway platform we were waiting on (or couldn't find the right platform since the end destination we wanted was not shown). Sometimes we just gambled that Google Maps had the right time and platform was correct, and got on the train that was loading at that specific time. And even if it was listed correctly, you'd have to wait for the English version to come up on the overhead sign.

Some fare gates are IC card only!

Then there's some of the "Limited Express" trains where you pay for reserved seating on top of the fare subtracted from your IC card. This got us when we were trying to go to Nikko, as we thought we had become Japan train veterans by this time. Nope. Since we had not pre-purchased the reserved seating leg of our trip, we had to wait almost 2 hours for a train with available seating. You end up tapping in/out with your IC card and inserting your paper ticket for the Express portion. Confused yet?

Standing in-between cars to Osaka

The final gotcha was booking our Shinkansen ride from Odwara to Osaka. We used the "Easy for Foreigners" ticket machine in Kyoto, and we were successful on that trip, but this time we screwed up royally. It seemed we had found the train that was leaving around the desired departure time, but no Green Car (first class) or Ordinary Car reserved seats were available. We thought, we'll just buy the non-reserved tickets, and do the festival seating when the train shows up. Well, when our train arrived at the station, it was coming from Tokyo and all of the seats were taken already, so we ended up having to stand for over an hour and a half!

Stranger things

In no particular order, here are a number of things that seemed odd to us, as Canadians who are relatively well travelled.

You need cash here: I was surprised at how often we needed to use up our Japanese yen, especially at restaurants. Many/most of the food vendors on the street and smaller establishments were cash-only, so it was something that you need to verify before you sit down with only your VISA. Also, in most/all of the cultural attractions, cash was the only way to pay, specifically at the temples in Kyoto. And then there's the aforementioned IC card recharging; I'd say that in general you need 2-3 times more cash in Japan than you'd bring on a European trip. Oh and for you Americans using your credit card, make sure you know your PIN, as almost 1/2 the places we went did not accept tap to pay.

A small park where we ate in Nikko

There's not many places to sit: When we were walking around the public spaces in towns and attractions, we found that there was not a lot of seating. Apparently this is by design, to eliminate loitering and their cultural emphasis on order. Nonetheless, it does make things somewhat annoying for foreigners, as it is also a no-no to eat or drink on the street. So what do you do? For street vendors, you stand and eat/drink right in front of the place you bought it, then move on. If you've bought some take-away, you either take it back to your hotel/Airbnb, or as we did a couple if times, go to a nearby park where there's benches to eat.

Restaurants: Aside from the issues we had trying to find places we wanted to eat, there are some other curiosities to be aware of. When you sit down, wet towels, called oshibori, are provided for cleaning hands before eating; this is not to be used to clean your face or wipe food from your mouth. However, often we'd find that either no napkins/serviettes were provided, or if they did, they would be small waxy things that were almost useless. We ended up buying a pack of paper towels to bring with us to restaurants for this purpose. Finally, the idea of having a separate dessert course after a meal is not traditional in Japan, so once you're done with your meal, you simply get up and pay at the till. A few times, a bill was presented after delivering our food, and you brought that up to pay on exit.

Minor hotel differences: As with other countries we've visited, it was not common to get wash/face cloths in Japan, nor was there any bar soap provided. We bring our own for both, but just something to be aware of for those who prefer these. There was always shampoo and conditioner, but those with brand preference might want their own products. We booked Airbnbs because we wanted to be able to do our own laundry, and at each place they provided the necessary washing detergent pods. One unique feature of their shower/bath rooms, was the integrated heating system, where you could hang your laundry, and dry your clothes overnight. It was very effective, and we used it a number of times. Lastly, all properties we visited had automatic bidet toilet seats!

All things cute: We both knew about Hello Kitty, anime and other cute icons that are popular in Japan, but we didn't realise the extent of it. It's referred to as "kawaii", a cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. Hello Kitty traffic barriers? Why not? They were also embroidered into the headrests on one of our trains! There's even these shops, where you buy nothing but cute little keychains and things from rows and rows of vending machines. We didn't get it.

Clean streets, but where are the trash bins?

It's very clean and orderly: Everything is very clean and you're safe pretty much anywhere. Unlike major European destinations where pickpockets abound, you don't need to worry about that here, even in crowded areas. The people are courteous, but since many/most don't speak any English, they do not engage with foreigners whatsoever. Despite sometimes questionable signage, everyone was very orderly (even tourists) and queued up properly for transit or other busy places. 

A rarely found recycling container

Trash talk: Speaking of clean, there's virtually no trash anywhere to be seen, despite the lack of rubbish bins. You heard that right... they don't have garbage cans in public areas. Apparently this was as a result of the 1995 Sarin gas attack, and cultural norms to keep things clean. So you end up packing your trash around with you, and then dispose of it at the hotel or Airbnb. However, we did find the amount of plastic waste to be astounding, considering that there is no soft plastics recycling, and it ends up in the garbage incinerators. Even in the free public washrooms (which are almost everywhere), there's no trash bin, so you don't get paper towels to dry your hands (most did not have the air dryers either).

The conclusion

Japan was definitely an interesting country to visit, and it is certainly a unique place to travel. While I think the above may deter first-timers from going, that is not my intent. You will experience a country rich in history and culture that is far different than anything we've ever seen before. At 16 nights, I feel as though we did a pretty decent job of seeing a variety of things and places; if I had to trim a couple of nights, we could have dropped our "decompression stop" day in Kyoto, and another on departure from Osaka. I would also suggest that maybe, just maybe, an organised tour (vs. self-guided) would take out much of the angst that we experienced with missed opportunities and transit mishaps.

In summary, the obvious question is, "would I go again?", to which the answer is "no". Not because I didn't like it, but because I've seen enough to satisfy my needs. Even if the handful of negative issues could have been overcome, I'd still say that I don't need to go back. Sorry Japan.