Japan Travel Tips 101 Starter Pack: Quick Tourist Advice and Useful Info

I wanted to share some quick travel tips about Japan. Some of them I wish I knew before I went there. These are things I found useful and that I remember most after visiting Japan. Japan is a beautiful country and all my trips there were really amazing! This video contains some basic advice about going to Japan as a tourist but take this more as an initial set of information which I recommend to investigate further to be fully prepared for the visit of the Land of the Rising Sun!

General Japanese travel tips:
hitokageproduction.com/article/38

Basic and useful Japanese phrases for a tourist:
hitokageproduction.com/article/18

List of real places from ancient Japanese legends:
hitokageproduction.com/article/39

Top places to visit in Japan:
hitokageproduction.com/article/21

Hitchhiking and urban camping in Japan:
hitokageproduction.com/article/17

The topics covered in this video:
0:00 Introduction
0:22 Respect local culture
0:40 Bow
1:00 Basic Japanese phrases
2:00 What not to do
2:40 Smile and be kind
3:11 Pray in Shinto shrines
4:20 Engrish
4:54 Hitchhiking and urban camping
5:41 Dangerous animals
6:07 When to visit Japan
6:30 Bikes on the streets
6:48 Buying food and drinks
7:57 Japanese toilets
8:32 ATMs, paying by card and cash
9:06 Entrance fees
9:40 Public transport in Japan
10:29 JR Pass reservations
10:50 Other train passes
11:20 IC Cards (SUICA, ICOCA)
11:50 Seeing Fuji from Shinkansen
12:00 Google Maps
12:05 Buses
12:16 Online immigration/customs
12:35 Shopping and tax free
13:07 Coffee machine in konbini
13:41 Eating in public
14:03 Hotel reservations
14:42 What places to visit?
15:10 Hidden gems in Kyoto
16:04 Other top places in Japan
17:49 Conclusion

#japan
#japanese
#japantravel
#shinto
#kyoto
#tokyo
#travel
#japantraveltips
#tokyotravel
#japantravelguide

Filmed with: Panasonic Lumix S5MII – 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 V-log

hello so I’ve been to Japan a few times and I’m not an expert but I would like to share some quick tips really quick for people who are going to go to Japan or travel there just to share some things that I actually wanted to hear before I went there for the first time so the golden rule of all traveling is always to respect the local culture in Japan this is quite important even more more important than in any other parts of the world so in Japan people are so kind so polite and they really hate when somebody is rude in Japan definitely learn how to Bow I mean this is simple right but you know Bowing in Japan is the most universal and important language if you don’t know what to say in Japan if you are unsure about anything just bow and everything will be all right yeah so bowing is really important it’s also important to learn a few Japanese phrases I mean just learn some things like thank you I I I remember one Japanese that I met when I was in Japan he told me that thank you in his opinion was the most important word like everywhere and in the whole world so arato arimas these are really like thank you very much thank you the these are so important also for example in shops in convenience stores uh the assistant can ask you if if you want the plastic bag so fukuro plastic bag this is really important because otherwise you would be just you know stand there and may maybe bow yeah if you bow you can’t really do any mistake I remember when I spoke Japanese to some local people that every time they were so shocked they were so really happy so genuinely you know Overjoyed that somebody tries to speak their language and when you tourists that they really can appreciate that also remember that smoking is prohibited in many places in Japan another thing is learn how to use chopsticks Chopsticks are you know for eating food and uh you there are some things that you should not do with chopsticks like pointing at someone or maybe sticking them like vertically into the food this is considered very rude also blowing one’s nose in public is also considered very rude also behaving very loudly for example speaking loud in train in bus Japanese don’t really like this so pay attention and really study the cultural appropriation of the things that you are about to do in Japan and another important thing smile you know smile with the bow is the most important thing in Japan Japanese people are extremely kind when we were hitchhiking with my friend you know there was this guy who took us 150 km far away from his own destination which means he had to go in the middle of the night the same way back so he he rode 300 km just because of us you know this is incredible so please be kind as well in Japan you will definitely visit some Shinto shrines it’s really amazing and very cool if you learn how to pray there every Japanese will be so excited and Overjoyed seeing you praying there you don’t have to worry even if you do a mistake I remember Japanese people looking at smiling and they were really happy and even asking like how do you know how to pray in our shrines so definitely take a take a look at the tutorial and learn how to pray there the most important thing is when you enter the shrine there’s the Tory gate you need to Bow there then don’t go in the center of the road to go to the side because the center is for the gods then if you come to the purification place there’s water always flowing you take the Dipper uh clean your left hand your right hand then your mouth with your left hand and then the deeper itself then you go to the main Shrine you go to the place of worship then you toss a coin you bow two times clap two times pray in silence and then deeply bow and leave really amazing really great experience and then you feel like this Japanese atmosphere there also expect Japanese not to speak English very well sometimes I remember one lady who tried to speak English to me uh well actually I it’s first I didn’t even recognize it was English I I’m really sorry but she tried so so hard but you know I I understood her more Japanese than English so this this was really weird because sometimes their pronunciation is well quite hard to understand so definitely don’t expect maybe maybe you can take a translator just in case into your phone as I said we were hitchhiking and urban camping with my friend when I went to Japan for the first time well it’s actually quite okay the drivers always stopped and even if they couldn’t take us to our destination they gave us some gifts or bought us food really kind really amazing uh one if you if you want to hij hike in Japan then it’s really good to take a sign like a cardboard or something and write the kanji U or here you know the Japanese words for the destination the name of the city or maybe the direction or something like that because uh Japanese will maybe be afraid if you write this in English or if you just wave at them maybe they might be afraid that they wouldn’t understand you so it’s good to take a sign in Japanese actually maybe if you are scared of animals it’s some sometimes in the forest you might be attacked by a bear there are also these Tanuki animals they are they are quite a thefts they can steal some things from the from the camp or from your tent or something like that also you should be afraid a little bit of the Japanese giant Asian Hornets because they are quite dangerous but you in general Japan is pretty safe if you can maybe avoid visiting Japan in summer one of the reasons is that it’s the rains season and you don’t really want to go you know like spend your whole vacation raining right and also the humidity is pretty high also combined with the high temperatures it might be actually quite dangerous even for for your health when you walk the streets in Japan be careful because Japanese ride bikes a lot so and they don’t use any rings or any you know alarms they don’t don’t even shout at you so when you when you go down the street always look around and go by the side because you might get hit by a bike if you think of bringing a lot of food to Japan don’t do that because you know there is a lot of so-called convenience stores in Japan is like 7-Eleven LW Family Mart and they are everywhere in Japan so if you want to BU buy food you can almost everywhere buy it and with with drinks you know with something to drink it’s even better because if you don’t have these stores there then you have the vending machines literally everywhere I I saw that in the middle of the fields there was this vending machine so yeah they’re everywhere you might try some Japanese restaurants but in many supermarkets you can buy like almost finished meal meals like you know some fried meat or some rice balls soal onigiri very delicious I really recommend that or sushi or a lot of food so because Japanese are quite used to eat I think in haste maybe some businessmen or so on so there therefore you have a lot of options to eat even in supermarkets and so you can combine it with restaurants but so don’t be afraid about food in Japan talking about these facilities toilets Japanese toilets you’ve definitely heard you know the legends about Japanese toilets they are all true the Japanese toilets are something unreal they are the best thing is they’re everywhere almost you know in the cities you can find a lot of public toilets for free and uh even if you if you are thirsty or something like that the water in Japan is 100% portable safe to drink so you you can even take the water from the toilet and drink it I mean tab water of course not from the toilet itself but you know you know what I mean also make sure to have some cash with you I mean in every convenience store you can pay by card there are also ATMs in convenience stores they are pretty safe so you can use them but uh actually it happened to me that in in some convenient stores I just couldn’t use my European credit card I mean I I don’t know why it just didn’t work and then I I tried another one and then it worked so you always should carry some cash there are also some places for example in some shrines and so on or temples where you can’t pay by card regarding fees in you know usually in museums or some monuments like castles you pay some entrance then uh this is maybe the most expensive then there are some temples Buddhist temples where you also pay some fee but it’s usually less than in museums and so on and then there are Shinto shrines which are usually for free uh but don’t don’t worry you know the the fees uh the the money pay for the entrance is usually really low compared to for example European monuments and famous sites now traveling in Japan well you can use of course shans and trains or some local trains you’ve probably heard of Jr pass this is really amazing thing I used it and I was quite satisfied you can buy it on the official website and then you can or there in shinkansen there are some free seats and some reserved seats it’s always better to get the reservation because the free seats might be you know all full so when you do the reservations you usually need to actually pick it up physically in the green uh machine where ticket machine but don’t worry the ticket machine you can always select English language and it’s quite straightforward so don’t be afraid it’s really simple to use uh if you have problems with that you can always go to the counter there’s usually some assistant who will help you if you have your reservations on the official Jr pass site then you can change the reservations before you actually pick them up physically in the machine uh online you can change them online and uh if you have pick them already if you have printed them then you need to change them at the counter you can’t change them online anymore sometimes the gr pass might be too expensive for you so you can use some online calculators to actually make sure it’s worth for you if not you can use some other local passes from other companies so look for them too for example I once used when I went to kyaan I used a special ticket that actually was the direct ticket to kyaan with some uh with some discounts at the place like entrance fees or so on so always look for some passes and extra special tickets you might be lucky there to use uh public transport it’s the best thing you can of course buy some tickets every day or some on but you can also get the so-called IC cards like eoka card sua card these cards you just charge with money and then you can travel everywhere you know in most buses and public transport like underground or even in trains so this is amazing thing look for IC cards you can pay with them also in convenience stores or in the vending machines also if you take shinkansen if you go from Kyoto to Tokyo or vice versa then definitely look from the window because there’s High chance that you will will see Mount Fuji for timetables and uh train schedule you can always check Google Maps they are quite accurate if you like basses you can take some overnight bus or something like that I used the wheer bus once or a few times and it was one of the most luxurious buses that I ever wrote an interesting tip is actually when you go to Japan when you arrive you need to fill the immigration card and the pen is always broken and so on so uh the best thing to avoid all the problems is to do it online this is possible you can can just fill everything at home prior to your arrival to Japan and then just you get a QR code that you show at the immigrations don’t worry in shops because all the prices are written in Arabic literals so it should be readable to you when you if you want some souvenirs and Gifts it’s many people recommend going to So-Cal donkey donkey hot it’s really a great shop with literally everything and if you are there if you’re tourist then use the Textfree counter uh one limitation of that is that if you buy something for tax free you shouldn’t use it in while while being in Japan so just after you leave also in Comin you might notice that there is a coffee machine I mean in my country I’m used to in coffee machines when I I don’t drink coffee but when somebody buys a coffee it’s always with a cup the cup just Falls there and then it starts pouring into it in Japan be careful I had this four power and my my mom wanted uh coffee so I went to the coffee machine and just I don’t know I ordered the coffee and the coffee started pouring down the drain because I forgot actually in Japan you need to go to the counter and buy the cup like separately regarding food it’s considered quite rude to actually uh eat while walking in public in Japan you can sit down on some bench or something like that but Japanese don’t really like when somebody just starts you know eating while walking and just and being loud with it and you you know just try try to be quite discreet in Japan and really polite and quiet sometimes you might notice that in when you want to order or do reservation in hotel in Japan that there’s not much hotels in the online for example why is that well sometimes you might be used to ordering a hotel like year before your trip in Japan most many of the hotels actually open their reservations half a year before the actual date that you want to reserve so sometimes just wait because 6 months before the your date it might open a lot of new options might appear regarding hotels the rooms are pretty small so be be prepared for that a lot of people come to Tokyo then they wonderand there and they like oh this is Japan but you know personally to me Tokyo was probably the least interesting place from my whole from all the places that I visited in Japan I would definitely definitely recommend recomend Kyoto it’s you know there’s never enough time in Kyoto you know I I’ve been like once I was in Kyoto just for the whole week and it was still not enough and in Kyoto don’t just go to the famous places because Kyoto is really big there’s a lot of places for example in arashiyama there is this bamboo forest full of people crowded but not much people know that there’s also this thing place called risai bamboo forest which is a bit further away but it’s almost like nobody walks there it’s really authentic no tourists there very nice place if you want to visit a bit of nature go to Kur Mountain there’s a really nice Shrine and a nice hike one of the Hidden gems in Kyoto is the oiva abandoned Shrine and quite nearby are the momoyama castles and Magi mum which is very peaceful place Yoshi dama canun Shrine Kio in many places that are not the top attractions but are very nice so definitely take some time look at some hidden gems in Kyoto and try to visit them as well aside from Tokyo and Kyoto you can visit Himi really beautiful castle there’s also this shosha mountain it was the place where the Last Samurai the famous movie was shot another my maybe my top place is koyasan really very unique atmosphere it’s a temple Mountain uh there is the grave of kodashi very important person in Japanese Buddhism and uh there are many many amazing places especially the graveyard which feels like totally like from jibli movies like another world so definitely kyaan is something really unique I definitely recommend that also another famous destination is Nara with all the temples and you know shrines and the the sacred deer also you can find the deer in Hiroshima at The itsukushima Shrine Mima Island there’s the to the Red Gate in the water very nice place as well if you want to see some typical Japanese villages then definitely visit Shava very nice place very lovely Matsumoto Nagoya hakone also isine very interesting and very important place in Japanese Shinto if you are into mountains then go to kamikochi very beautiful volley you know with some huge mountains around if you’re a lot into hiking then you can go the sacred Kumo codo Trail if you are in Tokyo definitely visit Kamakura another place quite near it’s just a few minutes in the train another one is Nik the takava shrine very amazing Place very authentic it’s the grave of toava yasu the founder of the toava shunet and you can also try shikoku or kushu or another islands of Japan so this was just 101 you know visiting Japan I wanted to make this quick so we can look for further information on the internet I also wrote some articles you can check them down below in the description I also made some Vlogs about visiting Japan so if you go to Japan good luck enjoy it’s amazing country it’s been my dream visiting Japan for a long time and you know when I F fulfilled it I was quite emotional and you know Japan is amazing if if I had to say just one thing from all the things that I said be polite be polite bow this is the most important thing because you know etiquette and politeness in Japan is everything and when you you know when you just speak to the locals when you show them your good intentions they will open to you and then you can actually feel Japan Japan and Japanese people like more deeply and you know discover the country like more into into depth so see you next time this [Music]