Notes on Visiting Japan

• Infrastructure to prepare
• Public Transport: How to
• Communication beyond languages
• Behavior and etiquette
• Cultural contexts
• Some brief summaries of visited places
• Some personal discoveries and experiences
• Impressions I would love to draw inspiration from

I’m trying to collect some of the things I wish I knew before visiting Japan here.

Infrastructure to prepare

• Japan has type A and B sockets, but I hardly ever encountered type B. Don’t buy a fancy and expensive converter as you’ll find plenty in Japan for little money. They are often very compact and less complicated than what I found in my country. Many hotels offer USB charging sockets in the rooms.
• Install Japan Transit Planner by Jorudan to plan your public transport. Lets you read your IC Card as well.
• Install the Japan Safety Tipp app. Next to giving you warnings about possible catastrophes, you can also get the weather.
• Don’t bring too much cloth. There are cheap laundromats everywhere in the cities.
• Please keep in mind that Japan is an island in the pacific. It’s mostly subtropical and very humid.
• Don’t bring an umbrella, they are cheap and everywhere.

Public Transport: How to

• Trains are organized in lines and speeds. A line usually has a name, a color and sometimes an icon. A line also has several speeds, from local to super-express, with the only difference being at how many stations the train stops for a line. The speed of a line usually also has a color, which is not to be confused with the color of the line.
• Japan Transit Planner by Jorudan is a must-have application for your smartphone, or access it via Japan Transit Planner. It’s the most reliable way to plan your trips with public transport.
• The Japan Rail Pass became way more expensive since the Covid lockdown. Calculate if it’s worth it via the Japan Rail Pass Calculator.
• IC Cards are a must for everything but the fastest train speeds. IC Cards are prepaid debit cards, that can be used in public transport, some vending machines and some shops. Read more in IC Cards via Prepaid IC Cards in Japan. If you have a modern smartphone, you can use IC Card Apps instead. Different regions of Japan issue different cards, but they work interchangeable. Some areas don’t use IC Cards, such as the Nagano prefecture.
• Another important topic is seat reservations. You always pay a base fare for every trip, but for some of the quicker speeds, such as express or super express (shinkansen) it is recommended or sometimes even mandatory to reserve a seat. Some shinkansen have cars with non-reservation seats, but can become pretty packed.
• We bought our tickets for the express or super-express trains between city usually around 2h before departure at one of the designated ticket machines. That worked out well for us, even if we had to wait 15 minutes in line sometimes. The machines are usually labeled “Reserved Seat” or “Shinkansen” on huge signs above and found at the JR ticket centers/corners.
• Public transport usually provides minimum necessary English translation. You should be able to find your way around stations.
• Usually, the announcements mentions the station after the next, which helps to evaluate if you are on the right line.
• Since there are so many lines, often operated by different companies, and speeds, things can become complicated sometimes. Like changing from a shinkansen to a limited express between Kanazawa and Osaka for which there is a dedicated website under West Japan Railway Company - Transfers at Tsuruga Station - with a video walkthrough on how to get from one train to the other.

Communication beyond languages

• Almost nobody speaks fluent English, if any at all. But, people are always more the willing to engage and communicate with you. I never encountered any bad situation if I just trusted the process. I had it happen all the time that people just continue speaking Japanese to me, and I found that really lovely, although I was very sorry that I could not engage better.
• Learn the most basic words and phrases, such as questions or greetings. Japanese people are incredibly cute and grateful if you can meet them half-way and I encountered a lot of gratitude for trying and offering my own vulnerability ¹.
• Download the necessary language packs for your favorite translation app. Even if the results are often subpar, they are still better than not being able to read what’s in front of you.

Behavior and etiquette

• Be minimal intrusive in public space. Be respectful, gentle and don’t express yourself too much. No display of public affection for example. There are other places, where you can be free, for example izakaya bar-restaurants.
• You’ll find yourself in places where they are not used to western tourists, such as Kanazawa. You’ll be stared at and disbelieved, if you want to enter a restaurant even if they don’t have an English menu. They still will try their best to treat you as a good customer. Act accordingly.
• If restaurant staff points you towards a table, you take that one. Sometimes they place you in a way, as not to offend the restaurant or it’s customers. They don’t know if they can trust you to pertain to social protocol. Western couples often get seated at the bar, and not at the table, to restrain the possibility of display of public affection.
• Read a bit on Japanese etiquette²

Cultural contexts

• The only book you need to read is Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton³. You’ll encounter many things that are weird, but those don’t do much beyond being a novelty. Polly Barton writes about her experience being an English teacher in Japan, and she writes so profoundly about the many small differences that will actually make up your experience.
• Stamps
  • You can collect two different kinds of stamps, eki and goshuin ⁴. Eki means station and shuin is a seal stamp. I found this to be a beautiful past-time on my visit and it made me have many experiences that I would not have had otherwise.
  • The former can be found at train stations and important landmarks, such as museums, castles or other places of national importance. The latter at buddhist and shinto temples and shrines, and castles. Eki stamps often have to be searched and can come in various sizes, colors and aggregates. It helps to ask the station staff.
  • Goshuin stamps are a bit more ritualized and best you read some about Goshuin Manners.
• Tattoos
  • Don’t worry too much about your tattoos, but know that it can be a sensitive topic. Try not to boast your tattoos in public spaces, and inform yourself if a bathing place permits people with tattoos.
  • There is a slight change in the taboo on tattoos, indicated by communities like Tattoo GO—A community site for info on hot springs/public baths that allow tattoos.
  • Some more information and experiences on the topic by Tara Moss via Visiting Japan With Tattoos - Tara Moss or India Kushner via When I Traveled to Japan, I Worried Having Tattoos Would Make My Experience Difficult.
• Waiting lists: Often you’ll find a paper form in front of a restaurant. The form indicates that you probably have to wait right now. Just write down your name and the number of people (adults and kids). If you don’t see anybody waiting before you, announce yourself to staff indicating how many people you are with your fingers.

Some brief summaries of visited places

• Tokyo: I experience people to be very reserved. not walkable
• Matsumoto: Cutest mountain city with warm-hearted people and adorable craft-shops. walkable
• Kanazawa: The architecture has such a gravity here. Buildings are more block-like than in other parts of Japan. People speak almost no English and the food was fantastic. I fell in love with the style of this place. walkable
• Osaka: We stayed in the south of the city, in Sumiyoshi ward. Very hearty people, very direct and sometimes even not shying away from wanting to hug us. walkable. Besides, Osaka is huge and Dotonbori is hell. not walkable
• Odawara: Very cozy and run-down sea-side city. People seem a bit more reserved, but maybe also had plenty of bad experiences with tourists, since the town is on the way to Hakone. Many cute coffee places, everything smells like freshly roasted coffee all the time. walkable

Some personal discoveries and experiences

• Yukitsuri - Wikipedia, the way of supporting trees against heavy snowfall, in Kanazawa.
• Nights are often brighter and louder than I’m used too. Not generally, but living spaces are often more porous than expected.
• A country with a rich tea tradition brews coffee like tea as well.
• We’ve been offered to do an abbreviated Kambutsue ritual, where we shower baby Buddha in Amacha (hydrangea tea) and drink some ourselves afterward. I neither knew nor understood this act, but the person offering it to us was seemingly touched. A beautiful event, accidentally and welcomed.
• Drawing as a way of seeing. Often I encountered cute drawings to explain things, or handmade maps.
• I saw a woman with a Sony Aibo robot dog at the shinto temple in Iwashimizu Hachimangu and that made me thrilled.
• Cicadas can sound like there is a big problem with the power lines.
• Nobody as invested in shower experiences as Japan.
• Japanese stamp shops peak human culture. These places are heavenly.
• I’ve been hit hard by being sad about the future loss of innocence towards wonder.
• Nobody as invested in dioramas as Japan.
• Peak Japan. Kei car kitchen selling hot dog under cherry blossom in full bloom.

Impressions I would love to draw inspiration from

• The density of space combined with the frugal application of necessity. Nothing is placed anywhere just because one does like it to be there, but is asking as well, does its placement also make sense.
• The porosity of space. Arrangements are made not just to place things, but also create relations. Sometimes nothing is higher than the lower end of the windowpane to let the outside be inside. To let through what needs to go through.
• Offline first. I enjoyed being off the internet during long periods. It makes we wonder when always online became a norm, and why. Online per se doesn’t even exist, since it’s merely a transfer of data. There is more often then not no necessity to have this transfer going on at all times. I’d like to see the exchange of data rather as a ritualized means of transaction.
• Separations of social concerns. I got the impression, that social spaces are better outlined. Public transport is a social space shared with stranger, so one is usually reserved. Izakayas are social spaces shared with friends, family and drunk people, so, one is more relaxed, outwardly and loud. Transitions between these social spaces are often ritualized, for example, by having different shoes for the outside, the inside, and toilets. Even if we handle shoes the same, the act of changing is much more nuanced here by making the different shoes mandatory.