Travel tips for Japan – general tips, info and advice for traveling in Japan

Japan seems to have its own rules compared to the world and sometimes you will stop and shake your head in amazement. This doesn’t mean that you have to feel lost. These travel tips for Japan will help you to have a great time during your travels.

General info and travel tips for Japan

Prices

You always hear that Japan is so expensive but compared to Switzerland and Scandinavian countries it’s still cheaper. Here is a breakdown of the money you will need.

Transportation

The only thing that will cut deeply into your pocket are the fares for public transportation. We spent $411 on a two-week Japan Rail Pass which is very valuable if you travel to different cities but on top of that, we still spent about $7 per day for local trains and buses (including the trips to Hakone and Fuji Valley (5 lakes area)).

Accommodation

You can find a bed in a hostel dorm for $18 to an Airbnb for $21 and a hotel for $35 per person. However, these would be in locations a bit away from downtown, yet still well accessible. Downtown you look at prices from $28 for a hostel dorm and anything upward from here. (Book here and receive 15 Euro)

Food

These prices we were most surprised about because dining out in Japan actually doesn’t cost that much (of course you can also pay a lot but we found that no matter how much you pay, the food is always delicious.

Supermarket

Here you can fill your stomach with sushi/sashimi from $4 and other complete dishes up to $7. Two liters of water cost about 90 cents and a cheap ice tea 60 cents. All the other sweet drinks are about the same price as you’d find it in the vending machines.

7/11 and Lawson

These are the two convenience stores you will find everywhere and they have cheap prices for snacks and coffee ($1.20).

Ramen and Udon shops

These were our favorite places to eat because they were always delicious and most times we could order our beloved gyozas as a side dish. For a noodle soup or cold noodles, you pay between $3 and $8 depending on the restaurant. Here, I actually really liked the cheaper chain shops because you always got to add so many little spices and vegetables.

Restaurant with meat

Set courses with rice, soup and meat, shabu shabu (hot pot) or bbq cost from $12 onward.

Snacks

No 10 square meters are covered in Japan, where you can’t buy food and you can find any snack possible reaching from edamame beans ($1.70) to different kinds of meat skewers or fried chicken (better than in any other country we ever had fried chicken, $1.70-$3) to sweets and ice cream ($2.50 to $8).

Arrival time

In no other country, I ever had so much trouble with checking into a hotel or being able to store my luggage as in Japan. In most hotels, you can’t check in after 10 pm or 11 pm. To be safe, always tell them your arrival time in your booking and then discuss your options. Check-in times without any troubles seem to be 5 pm to 8 pm. In an Airbnb it’s different, they are much more flexible and compliant.

Luggage

Japan is crowded and there is no space for large luggage if you travel around. In cities, there aren’t any luggage storage rooms but only coin lockers. A 50l backpack will fit anywhere. At the onsen, this size locker was free and otherwise, it was $3 or $4 for 24h. With a larger suitcase, you might sometimes not be able to fit it into a locker and squeezing it through the metro or train stations will be quite inconvenient as well.

JR Pass

Japan Rail Pass is a special train pass for tourists who are traveling in Japan and you can save big money on transportation fares if you buy a JR Pass. Read the post with more information about the Japan Rail Pass .

Where to spend the night in Japan

The cheapest places for one or two people are definitely capsule hotels where you have a “cell” to yourself with a shared bathroom. Be aware that some of them are for men only and check before booking. There are many cute hostels where the employees even speak English and hand out free maps. In the hotel category, you find all the international ones and Japanese business hotels which are simple but cheaper than other hotels. If you want to have a really nice room for a night with lots of extras, try a love hotel (it’s also fun if you don’t go there with your lover because the rooms are really neat). Be aware that it’s not common to book these rooms for more than a night or a few hours and at the one we were, they didn’t let us store our luggage during the day, so it’s really only a place for a quick night.

Book your hotel with booking.com and receive 15 USD via my link or book your Airbnb here and receive 23 Euro for signing up.

How to check train time tables in Japan

The easiest to plan your trip is to type in your start and end destination on Hyperdia and it will tell you where to switch trains and how much the fare costs. If you are on the JR Pass, all trains except the Nonzomi will be free (Hyperdia lets you uncheck the means of transport you don’t want to use and therefore is very convenient).

Japanese Toilets

Luckily, there are many public Japanese toilets and so your chance is big that you will find one when you are in need. However, how to use Japanese toilets might arise some questions. Read my blog post and do your business stress free 🙂

Japanese Language

It’s extremely surprising how little English Japanese people are able to speak. On the other hand, people are very helpful and will forget whatever they were doing to figure out what it is you want and help you. If you aren’t afraid to just ask person after person your question, you will eventually receive what you needed to know. It’s very helpful if you have the locations you need to go to written out in Japanese.

Wifi

All our accomodations offered free wifi. Further, there is free wifi at 7/11 and Starbucks and many public places in the bigger cities. However, if you can’t survive without having constant wifi coverage, it’s very easy to buy a portable wifi device.

Finding your way

Usually, I use the Nokia Here app to find my way around a foreign country, however, the map of Japan wasn’t availiable. Therefore, I installed maps.me on my phone and downloaded Japan for offline use. This has been a very useful companion every day and always brought me to the place I wanted to go.

Do you feel prepared for Japan now or are there more questions? What’s your tip for traveling in Japan?