Skip Navigation
7 comments
  • We visited Tokyo in Autumn 2018, staying at a hotel in Shinjuku. Given that this was 7 years ago, note that our experience is that of the time.

    We stayed mainly in & around the city, but we did make a trip out to Hakone. Having a local friend who speaks the language made all the difference - especially out in Hakone - but it is easy to pick up the most basic greetings & manners.

    Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

    Confirmed Expectations

    • Public transit runs well and is frequently overpacked.
    • High speed trains are exciting.
    • People are generally polite & will try to help.
    • Food is to die for.
    • Gaijin tax does exist in some places - e.g. foreign language menus with different prices. Only ran into this twice over a 10-day stay.
    • General orderliness and tidiness. Almost everywhere.
    • Salarymen can drink like fish.
    • Most things can be obtained from a convenience (Lawson, 7-Eleven etc).

    Surprises

    • Cash is king.
    • Depending on the line, the trains may change track at fairly high speed. You are warned when this will happen. How the locals can free-stand and not fall over during this remains a mystery.
    • Smoking is inside, not out, with some exceptions.
    • Not many public bins - expect to hold trash for a time until you find one or get back to where you are staying.
    • The best and worst in toilet technology.
    • The variety in the KitKat department.
    • Hot bottled drinks in vending machines.
    • McDonald's is actually good, and caters to the local tastes.
    • 100 Yen shops have some neat stuff.
    • Elevators to places that open onto the street, and tell you if you need an umbrella.
    • On umbrellas - stands exist in shops specifically for quickly wrapping wet umbrellas, preventing puddles.

    Tips

    • Don't tip.
    • Bow.
    • Accept and give anything meaningful with both hands. Gifts, cards etc.
    • Look up customs at shrines & temples before visiting.
    • Buy your transport tickets (JRPass esp.) in advance.
  • It was a pretty fun and educational experience

    Having visited as a weeb high schooler ca. 2012, who mostly knew about Japan through anime/manga and Japanese language classes, very little of my previous ideas were confirmed, lol. Except that the public transit kicks ass and the food is absolutely bomb.

    Surprises included:

    • how emotionally reserved everyone is (especially coming in with a very anime mindset lol)
    • how RIDICULOUSLY GOOD ALL THE COFFEE IS
    • my host family's microwave had a heating element in the top, making basically it a combo toaster oven. this was mind-blowing future technology to my idiot American brain
    • the touch screen in the car in 2012 was similarly mind-blowing
    • the prevalence of cash and relative unavailability of card payments
    • my ability to just go places and do stuff as a teenager without parental accompaniment without it being seen as weird or like i was up to no good
    • fruit and dairy was crazy expensive (this was Okinawa so it being a relatively isolated island didn't help)
    • the US military Ospreys and other aircraft were EXTREMELY loud and disruptive. I was so ashamed to be American given how disrespectful my county's military was being to everyone on Okinawa.
7 comments