Japan - what have I forgotten?

[OneOfEachPlease]

I’m going to Japan in March with DP and the kids (10 & 13). I am mainly excited but also anxious. We’re not well travelled, just a bit in Europe, and while I have crawled over our itinerary I am nervous I’ve missed something.

So come one, come all and tell me: what are the obvious and not obvious Japan/long haul things I should know/check I have done/bought/planned for!

Also, help me get excited! Thanks!

You need small notes a lot but can change big notes easily at train stations. Ask the guides to give you orientation tips, ours were incredibly helpful. Save the plastic bags you get at Kombini stores to put your rubbish in to take home. Hotels have washing and drying machines as the norm and the washing machines are preloaded with soap powder but in big hotels they get very busy. Go to Team Labs in Tokyo.

Good to know about the combini microwaves and boiling water! Do many of them have those smoothie blender machines?

Noted on chopsticks - thanks!
I am hoping not to do too much washing but good to know there’s the option with a ten year old in tow!

Team labs booked!!

Wear slip on shoes.. I was taking them in and off several times and day and my laces were most cursed!

And visit the art islands at neoshima .. best part of my recent month there

Some amazing islands off the coast to visit.

Aeon malls have a supermarket in the basement - have a wander around and try the delicious fruit. It will be expensive and worth it for the taste. Morinaga carre de chocolat - tiny boxes and inexpensive strawberry chocolate squares are so moreish. They also have a larger range of bento boxes and sandwiches. The pork cutlet sandwiches with sauce have to be tried. You’ll probably be using Shinagawa Gateway station and go past the branch of Andersen bakery for all the goodies.

If anyone in the group likes Hello Kitty there is an elegant box of sushi with Kitty and the Nara deer on the lid at Delica. If you are in Kyoto station and go through the Shinkansen gates you’ll see Delica in the corner on the side where the souvenir shops are. But don’t avoid those souvenir shops if you like cotton handkerchiefs and postcards.

Yodobashi Camera or Bic Camera sell everything from electronics to cosmetics to stationery and luggage. They were also the most helpful when dealing with the tax free refunds. They’ll also have a food court - use it as we needed a break and something to eat between browsing as the shop is huge.

Tully’s Coffee are a national chain of coffee shops and we found their hot chocolate delicious when we last visited in November and found it cold. And they do teddy bear bag charms with prefecture specific designs. Very cute.

As for long laul flights, they’re an endurance. But if you’re lucky and on the left hand side of the plane facing the cockpit you may get a view of Mt Fuji when flying London to Tokyo if it’s a clear day. I just take extra snacks and lots of fruit, grapes and similar as the airline never have much fruit. And new audiobooks and just sleep as much as you can.

But when you get to the hotel and they’ll probably let you store your luggage before checking in, have a good browse of the amenities station in reception. The first thing I do when getting to the room is run a bath, add one of the bath powders and soak. I try and book a JR hotel for the first couple of nights as they’ve very close if not linked to the station and I’m exhausted after the flight and everything.

I’m rambling - been to Japan three times and saving to go again.

I forgot one other food highlight. Go past a 7/11 or a supermarket and buy the crème brûlée ice cream. Richest vanilla ice cream we’ve ever had and a burned sugar topping.

Have you looked at one of the Japan travellers Facebook groups.

Are you going to Nintendo world?
Lots of places need to be booked one month in advance.

Copied from something I wrote on another thread:

A few ideas my teens reminded me of:
Jonathan's - good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Like a Denny's but your food is brought by a robot. Has English and Japanese menus.
Kura sushi - cheap conveyor sushi. You can fill up fast and it's good fun as you order on a screen and then it whizzes round to meet you.
Baseball batting cages - these are everywhere and cheap family fun. (you can choose different ball speeds)
Karaoke - really fun because you can get the booths to yourselves. These are often upstairs so you may need to look at the side of buildings.
Standing train station noodle shops - super fast, super cheap, you stand in little booths
Ekiben (special Japanese lunch boxes) for the train
Video game shop - such different and varied games (e.g. drumming in time to the music). Worth a visit and a play.

Read the etiquette guides, it makes a difference. Don’t talk loudly on trains etc.

the shopping centres and larger train stations all have very good restaurant floors. Great choices to eat in.

try and get away from the very touristy bits even for an afternoon….

Advice for flying long-haul - have travel pillows and earplugs so you can sleep. We take our shoes off on the plane even tho' they are hard to put back on when we arrive, our swollen feet soon go back to normal. Make sure you drink plenty of water - flying is dehydrating. Also take some we twipes in yoru hand luggage for sticky hands and also to wipe yourself over before you disembark - it will still be a while before you reach your hotel and can shower.

Again, copied from another thread... hope it's helpful

I recommend a day trip to both Nara and Hiroshima. (you can do Hiroshima and Miyajima in one day, especially if you book the ferry that goes direct). https://www.aqua-net-h.co.jp/en/heritage/
An excellent day trip from Tokyo is to the Great Buddha at Kamakura and then Enoshima Island (temple, caves you see with candles, great food) and beach. If you are lucky, you will see Mt Fuji from the beach.
Kamakura: www.japan.travel/en/spot/1588/
Enoshima: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3117.html
Look at the local tourist board websites before you go to find local festivals and events. We were the only foreigners at an Obon festival at a local temple in Kyoto which was one of our more memorable nights. This is where the Kyoto events are: https://kyoto.travel/en/news/events_in_kyoto.html
We also had a great (and relatively inexpensive) tea ceremony experience at a cultural centre in Nara. https://www.sarusawa.nara.jp/services/
The baseball was fun! We were in amongst the super-fans which was brilliant. If you go to the Tokyo Dome, it is really near the Bunkyo Civic Centre (basically the town hall of the Bunkyo ward). It is free to enter their observation deck and you can see Mt Fuji on a good day

I put these on my trainers, which turns them into slip ons. Game changer.

Japan is amazing your kids are perfect age to enjoy it I'm dying for mine to be older to go back there! It's so safe and clean and polite. I did try to learn some Japanese but the more helpful thing I did was keep a piece of paper in my wallet where I had copied the kanji symbol for different meats-chicken pork prawn etc so that I could match the symbol visually if the menu was only in Japanese. I'm fussy about meat so wanted to mostly be able to order chicken or veggie. As a PP says many menus are in English however in the more authentic izakaya bars they sell different yakitori (skewers) which are displayed with a little sign, and its expected that you'll just point to the one you want, there's not really a menu.
Enjoy its an amazing experience

Japan is amazing! I’m going for the second time this year! The only thing i can suggest is take an empty suitcase! 😂 For the long haul flight, just try (and i know it’s difficult with the kids in tow) to sleep a little! It can help lessen the jet lag. I also take a tablet for the kids with downloaded movies that i know they will like, just in case the flight doesnt have any appropriate movies.
You will love it and I’m sure the little ones will too! If you’re going from tokyo to osaka, you can send your suitcases ahead of you so you dont need to take them on the train!
Most places can be booked through Klook. This includes Tokyo Disney and (if you like Sanrio) Puroland! I also highly recommend reading thetokyochapter blog, they have some great recommendations and resources for those with or without children!

Take packets of tissues for the toilets. They often do not have paper. Also take a small flannel/face cloth to dry your hands. Again they often do not have paper towels or hand driers.

There should be in flight entertainment but also take books, snacks etc.

Enjoy your time there. You'll love it 🥰

Klook add a lot on to normal ticket prices for some things.

Id really recommend booking to see Team Lab Planets borderland. It's incredible and a million times better than the rubbish copycat ones. Booking is already open for March. See link

Link here

We didn't use cash much that much. Apple Pay works well as does the Post Office money card.

We used an eSIM for our phones. It's much easier than fussing about with wifi dongles.

It’s far cheaper than you imagine! Prepare to become addicted to 711 egg sandos. Inchiran ramen is honestly amazing. Definitely try to go to Skylabs, it’s brilliant. Lucky lucky you - I’ve travelled all over the world but Japan is really something else.

If you're going to learn any Japanese from an app, Lingodear is way way better than Duolingo. It's not free, but not massively expensive either.

Background to this claim:
I speak Japanese and used to live in Japan. I worked through the full Japanese courses of both apps back when both were completely free and were actively working on improving their apps from user feedback. Figured that feedback from me would be helpful in return for me being able to use their apps for free to learn other languages.

Both apps have changed a bit since then, but I wouldn't say that Duolingo improved with its changes. Some of the things it teaches (mostly involving the pronunciation of some characters) are actually outright wrong.

We looked at this but chose to use eSIMs instead for ease and cost for 4 of us.

Lots of places in Japan still use cash, and the coins can be confusing. You can buy a Japanese coin holder for a few pounds on Amazon that makes it easier to handle the different denominatons.

Hotels sell and rent amenities in reception, including pyjamas, portable speakers, individual toiletries and umbrellas.

The Klook app makes it really easy to book eSIMs and shinkansen tickets.

This is so amazing! Thank you so much! I’ve noted down absolutely loads of these tips. But also it’s kind of reassuring that quite a lot of stuff I’d already arranged. So that’s making me feel a bit more relaxed as well.

Hello, me again! I’m in the countdown now. I have a sensitive stomach. Has anyone taken loperimide (Imodium) into Japan? Was that ok? They have tight meds rules.

Oh! And! I am planning to use my Monzo card - anyone has any issues with that? Monzo only have community advice, not actual support, to check with.

My kids used Monzo cards easily. I used Apple Pay linked to my Post Office Travel card.