I’m 29, never left the country. My bucket list is visiting Japan at the very top. I have no idea what you do or if you have to go through travel agencies, how much money you should bring etc
Make sure you have a plug converter so you can charge your electronics
Or better, one converter and a power board for multiple plugs.
These are good suggestions
Something I haven’t seen suggested in other comments is to rent a mobile wifi dongle and unlimited internet. This was fantastic when I travelled there since I could get directions and translation in real time through my phone without having to deal with the hassle of roaming charges.
The process to pick it up was super easy - either at the airport or main train station (can’t remember which), and returning it was as simple as putting it in the provided mail package and putting it in a mailbox.
Some other things - in my experience Tokyo at least is not super accessible for wheelchairs and the like. I recall that the first subway station I exited from had a two story stair climb with no alternative, and this was hardly a unique experience.
Also, Japan still very much runs on cash. I don’t know what it’s like for you, but where I am (outside US), we’ve basically transitioned to a cash-free economy for 90% of transactions so that was a big change for me.
(I’m not disabled in any way) when you say cash do you mean American dollars or yen? Like obviously I’m better off converting my dollars to yen?
Not OP, not from the US and never been in Japan but I travel a lot in general: always assume local currency, at the very least it’s going to be cheaper and quite probably only very touristy places or airport only might accept $$. Here you can pre-order cash at your local bank and return any excess notes after. Exchange booths are usually a rip-off, and withdrawal abroad might cost extra, check with your bank.
Also don’t assume people speak English. They might, but treat that as a bonus.
So I exchange my dollars to yen at my bank first?
Local transactions would be in Yen (also all vending machines such as train tickets - very important for getting around).
I would say you’d want to have at least a few hundred dollars worth of Yen when you arrive, and you could possibly get more when you get there, depending on how your bank works. Another option is to get a prepaid Visa card which you can then use to withdraw money in Yen from their ATMs.
- Buy a ticket
- Ensure you have a passport (existing plane ticket gets you rush service on the passport)
- Pack a few changes of clothes in a backpack or suitcase
- Show up at the airport
- Fly to Japan
- Police officers usually speak a little English
- Scramble to learn as much Japanese as possible
If you do plan to rent a car you’ll need an international driver’s license. You need to set that up in advance. Ask about it at the passport office.
Get passport
Buy Ticket (kayak, price alert, etc)
Book Hotel (cheap is fine, hostel is fine, japan is generally good)
Pack Bag (only one bag, carry on is best, you need far less then you think you do)
While waiting for your flight learn some basic Japanese, Use Tinder, or Hello Talk to make some contacts where your going.
Arrange Cell Phone data (google fi, Arelo, etc), Get a International Drivers License ($20 at AAA), Travel Insurance (international sos is good), install google translate and google lens, practice translation. Learn how to use Chrome built in translation of websites (restaurant ordering through japanese QR code menus… its really helpful)
Money you will need $20-$50 (above hotel fees) a day walking around money, plus access to emergency funds (Schwab investor checking has a great international atm card)
Fly, once your on the plane keep japan time, don’t sleep unless its night in japan.
Arrive in Japan, wait in Customs, they will stamp your shiny new passport, and you will be in Japan. Use public transportation, or hire a taxi (uber works) to go to hotel.
Enjoy!
Rent a Car, Visit museums, Find new friends to explore with, invite people to dinner!
Eat food at the convenience stores, or go out and explore, meet people, have a great adventure.
… time passes …
Pack up your stuff, and fly back… plan your next trip and post a journal entry about it.
Visit !japan@lemmy.globe.pub
Speaking of plane tickets. As a man who flies to Korea to visit family every other year or so.
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Always brows tickets in incognito. Airlines may change rates based on whether you’re a return visitor to their site and not having cookies can help.
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Start with Google flights. This will give you an idea of when (what days and times) tickets are cheapest. Though generally Tuesday or Thursday are the answer.
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Once you have your time frame use kayak or some other ticket agregator. This will let you find the airline and flight that you want.
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Take that flight number and time and go directly to the airlines website. Aggregate sites like kayak rates are generally slightly higher that the airline because they gotta make dollars somehow.
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Though not always I’ve found that some foreign Airlines charge native fliers less. E.g. if you’re flying Korea air change .Com in your web address to .kr. This makes the site in Korean but Google translate page can help here
It’s a bit of a process but I generally pay less than 1,000 round trip for flight to Korea and I live in a state with no international airport so I always have layovers.
Speaking of layovers. Use them. See a cheap ticket but it has a 24 hour layover in Paris? Fuck it, that’s a day in Paris :). Just be aware that you need roughly 3 hours in customs depending on your destination. So a 5 hour layover is gonna be a boring 5 hours. Long enough to wait, not long enough to do anything.
Bonus tip!! If you have good credit. Look for a credit card that offers a huge bonus or mile’s up front then immediately cash those in for a cheaper flight. Side note though on the ones that give you 5% cash back or whatever. You always have to book through them and it’s almost always, in my experience, like 5% more expensive. Fuck you Chase.
Man, I flew to a Korean last year for around $800 a ticket but I CANNOT find anything under 1k this year so far. And I’ve been looking all year, I even use most of these tricks… I’m afraid flying there is just a lot more expensive now 😞
It can be. I’m actually headed there in 4 days. Tickets this time around were definitely higher than usual but I managed to get them for $940 ish. Not ideal since the whole family is going and my bank account is hurting. Also not ideal was having to choose a 3am flight with a trash layover in dfw… but fingers crossed cheap shopping while were there makes up for it.
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This is all very helpful thank you so much. Also is it true Japan isnt very liking towards tourists? I’m just your typical white guy…
Japanese people are great, if your polite and don’t have expectations, you will be treated nice in return… just like every other country I’ve ever visited.
There are some people who don’t like tourists, but they will just pretend you don’t exist, so you can ignore them right back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRIklga9IBQ
This video matches my experiences in Japan, people are curious, helpful, if you have a mission and purpose the whole world is open to you. Be interesting, dig into some small fun detail, history, mission and people will pop out of the wood work.
Sadly that black streamer who was rude af probably embarrassed Americans being in Japan
Oh, I just got back from there.
For a vacation less than 90 days, you only need a passport from your home country, and proof of your return flight in less than 90 days. Drugs were covered in another comment, but dont bring veggies or meat products into Japan, even if its like a Slim Jim thing you got at the airport, they’ll give you a hard time over it. The trip can be long, so its worth planning it out to give your future tired self less things to think about. Expect to be sleep deprived your first 2 days.
Travel agencies are good for booking hotels in advance, which i highly reccomend to do 1 month before. I stayed 2 weeks and that I think was a great amount of time. I booked the hotels and plane in advance, then had $2000 in savings to convert to cash yen for the actual trip. Use cash, Japan is very cash heavy. That was way more than enough spending money actually, i probably could have done it with half that amount. Fall time has great weather, and I avoided the more expensive spring season / cherry blossom bloom. That sounds nice, but tickets are more expensive that time of year.
Travelling in Japan, there’s the fast way and there’s the cheap way. For trains, they have the shinkansen and the regular regional trains, and for roads theres the side streets and the expressway. Beware expressway tolls. Getting out of Osaka wasnt too bad but getting back in beaned my wallet for ~$90 USD. Theres toll gates less than 5 minutes apart there. If you have 4 or more people in a car the expressway might be cheaper than the shinkansen, which you need individual tickets for each person. Using the expressway isn’t required, you can take side streets the whole way.
I had local friends who knew the language and could drive. They made my trip amazing. I tried to study some japanese language but when it really came time to interact with people i could not cut it. I really needed my friends to do anything more than sightsee and shop outside of tourist traps. My appearance and dress alone indicated me as an Obvious Foreigner and so people were quick to help and give me menus to point at. Even if your speaking skills were terrible, manners make up for it. Learn the local customs and formal etiquette, and people should forgive awful broken sentences and be patient with you. If you remember only one phrase: sumimasen. It’s excuse me / sorry / can i have your attention all rolled into one phrase.
Unfortunately I don’t know anyone in Japan and also didn’t plan on driving a car since the public transportation seems solid. So far I’ve been listening to Japanese made easy podcast on Spotify. Currently on lesson 3. Tbh this trip wouldn’t be for awhile. I just like knowing what you have to do way ahead of time.
The fact that people need to say get a passport is weird as an european
The problem is that international travel simply doesn’t make sense for many Americans. The U.S. only has two international borders - Mexico and Canada. Any other international destination is going to be a flight across an ocean (South America isn’t, obviously, but the distances/costs are similar), which can be $400-$1200 per person. The cost/duration of flights and need to adjust to a dramatically different timezone means that it really only makes sense to travel internationally when you can go for at least a week at a time. However, Americans tend to have very limited paid time off - usually only 10-20 days or so per year - and that is often a combined pool for vacation, sick time, etc. This means that a single international trip can chew up over half of the PTO for the entire year. So even if you can afford to travel, you don’t have enough time off anyway. Most of the time it makes much more sense to travel domestically and just take Thu/Fri off for a long weekend.
(This is speaking from experience, if you couldn’t tell, lol)
