did I just say that on camera
Hello YouTube family it's Emily here.
Today i thought that i would share with you ten things that you should know about traveling in Japan.
A lot of you always ask questions saying that you're coming to Japan and you'd like to know more about it.
So, here is a video just for you guys.
In this video i'll be giving practical advice about traveling in Japan.
I will be making a video soon about the customs and cultural differences as well. So, stay tuned for that.
Without further ado let's get straight into it!
Tip number one, internet and Wi-Fi here in Japan.
If you are planning on traveling here for a long time and you don't want to rely on just the regular Wi-Fi that's available here and there around Japan,
I highly recommend picking up a Wi-Fi router which you can pre-organize and pick up at the airport.
And, you can also just go on the day to the airport and pick one up as well, but you may have a chance that it will not be available.
If you don't really want to do that you don't want to hire portable Wi-Fi device, you can rely off Wi-Fi around the different places in Japan.
But, it can be a bit more difficult if you're planning on traveling to a rural area.
But, If you're planning on staying in the city you can find Wi-Fi at obviously your hotel. Most hotels have Wifi.
But also the conveniencestore so 7-11, Family Mart, Lawson. They all have free wifi.
Recently, Tokyo Metro has also opened up free Wi-Fi at their stations. You just have to register and
apply for the free Wi-Fi and you can get it really quickly.
With all of that information you have a few options.
So, for me personally if i was traveling to Japan as a tourist again i think i could get away with not having a Wi-Fi router.
But, if you're someone that relies on the internet 24-7 I probably would recommend getting the Wi-Fi router.
Tip number two trains and traveling in Japan.
So, the trains are super convenient and super reliable here in Japan.
And i highly recommend using them as your main source of transport.
They can be a little bit expensive but because you are travelling from your country,
you can actually apply for a thing for the Japan Rail Pass
And this is a pass that you can get which has unlimited access for seven days, two weeks or three weeks depending on which version that you get.
And, they are much much cheaper. Especially if you're gonna be like traveling all over different parts of Japan.
If you're not planning on doing that much travel within Japan.
I highly recommend getting one of these.
This is a 'Suica' card. This is a really old school one i've had this for six years but i highly recommend getting a 'Suica' card.
They are 500 yen at the train stations
And you can just load your money on to there and then you don't have to worry about buying a ticket every time you get on the train.
You can just swipe it and go through and swipe off.
And, actually you can use these now on a lot of the Express trains.
So, even express train has like a surcharge you can just scan it when you get on the train as well and i can pay for your seat.
A lot of people also have the myth that it is very terrifying traveling around Tokyo and trying to navigate all the subway systems.
And, it is to a point but if you can access the free Wi-Fi that is available,
Then you'll have no problem. So, if you download a train app like Hyperdia before you come you can quickly look up where you want to go
And, it will tell you where you need to change and how to get to different places, so i highly recommend downloading that app.
And that will help you a lot. If not you can get English maps at the station.
And, obviously ask someone but that's a little bit harder
The only thing that can be confusing is which direction the train goes. which
And which direction goes to your station. But, they do have signs in English and they might take a bit of time
but you can figure it out.
Tip number three!
So many foreigners come to Japan thinking they can just use their ATM or their credit card and it's really that simple.
But, Japan is still solely a cash based society.
You might find that many places don't accept cards and they only accept cash.
So, i highly recommend carrying quite a bit of cash on you and I know that sounds really weird.
And when i first came to Japan I could not for the life of me justify carrying like 200 or 300 was just in my wallet
because I was scared someone's gonna steal it.
But, Japan is so safe. So, you don't need to worry about that.
But yeah they're still a very cash based society. So, you have to pay cash a lot of the time.
With that being said it is very difficult to try and get money out here in Japan.
So, there are a few ATMs. I think there's a few international ones that you can get money out.
But, i know that you can definitely get them out at 7-11 ATMs.
Up until a few years ago you could use your card to get money out at the post office but that has ceased.
And now you can only really get out at 7-11 ATMs
The ATMs offer an English service. So if you do find a 7-11 ATM or an international ATM you can qet money out quite easily.
Tip number four. Tipping is a no-no here in Japan.
We don't do it in Australia but i know that many other countries do.
And so if you're from a country where tipping is normal you can just forget about that because you don't need to tip
So, i guess that's a good thing i'm not sure.
But i heard from friends who have come to Japan and they are from America where they do tip.
That they've actually tried to tip and left the money on the table. And like the ladies have run out
"no wait wait wait wait" and i tried to hand back for money.
Anyway, they got their money back. Japan is a non- tipping society. So yeah, don't tip.
Tip number five, BINS! It is very very very very hard to find bins in public spaces here in Japan.
I recommend going to the convenience stores they have bins there.
But, out on the street you will rarely see them.
The only beans that you will see are for the vending machines and that is for the pet bottles of the plastic cans.
And, yeah that's it you can't really find bins here in japan. I think that shocks a lot of people.
Tip number six, toilets!
Oh my gosh isn't this a biggie. So, maybe you have heard of the japanese-style toilet
and NO i'm not talking about the fancy dancy high-tech whoo-hoo
water water water one's. I'm talking about the traditional Japanese toilet.
So most of your hotels and most of the places that you stay will probably have a
regular high-tech fancy toilet. But, if you're going to be going to the toilet
in a public area for example, stations. A lot of the older stations and even some
of the new ones still have the japanese-style toilet
Don't be shocked too much by the toilet.
And if you are lucky enough to find the fancy dancy hi-tech toilets don't be afraid to use them.
They're quite fun. Did I just say that on camera... Anyway they can be fun.. So yeah explore.
Tip number 7, smoking.
So if you smoke, I am not, but if you are a smoker you might want to be aware that you cannot smoke on the street here in Japan.
So that means like walking and smoking is a no-go.
Most places have a smoking area. A designated smoking area where you can go and smoke.
Also, in restaurants here they still have a smoking section.
That was one thing that I was really shocked about because in Australia you're not allowed to smoke inside restaurants.
So, when it came to Japan it was that kind of like going back in time
and it was really shocking. But just know that there are smoking sections at restaurants
and also designated smoking areas in public.
Tip number 8, noise.
So here in Japan people are very very very very very very quiet.
And you might notice that when you get onto a train there are so many people you have the carriage is dead quiet.
More often than not you will see tourists going on the train
and talking really really loudly and Japanese people will just literally
they won't saying anything but they will just stare at you.
And people think that 'Oh, they're staring at us because we are foreign' but they're probably just staring at you because you're really loud and they want you to be quiet.
Even if there is two Japanese people talking they're like whispering or talking very very quietly.
So just to be mindful of noise and just to kind of keep to yourself and don't go around yelling.
Tip number nine, tattoos.
Tattoos is quite a big issue here in Japan and it only really really affects you if you are planning on going to a Japanese onsen or a Japanese hot spring.
Because some japanese hot spring still don't accept people with tattoos,
although it is changing and more and more places are becoming tattoo friendly
but just be aware that you may be turned away if you do have tattoos.
You're probably wondering why it's kind of bad to have a talk to here in Japan.
But Japanese people think that having a tattoo you could be related to the Japanese mafia or the Yakuza.
It's becoming more accepted that you know foreigners don't apply to this rule. More and more places are becoming tattoo friendly.
Tip number 10, PDA.
Public displays of affection. So, here in Japan PDA is not very very accepted.
You might see people holding hands or occasionally putting their arms around each other.
But anything beyond that you won't really see.
So that means that kissing, making out or being overly touchy-feely you won't really see.
I think it's because Japanese people are a bit more conservative and they care about their privacy.
So they don't really want to display that kind of thing in public
and it's more of a private matter to them. You don't really see it too often.
That's all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Once again thanks for watching and i'll see you next time!