5 Items To Bring With You To Japan (and 3 to leave at home)
A helpful list that not only informs travelers as they prepare for their trip, but gets them thinking about the journey they’re gearing up for.
Packing is a necessary part of travel that can be both exciting and stressful. Traveling halfway around the world to Japan can leave you with a lot of questions about what to bring with you and what to leave at home. Here are a few tips:
1. BRING: Comfortable shoes that are easy to remove
You're most likely going to be doing a lot of walking in Japan. Most historical sites and temples are quite old and don't feature even surfaces and modern conveniences like escalators or elevators. You'll encounter stairs and ramps - both stone and wooden - often at historical sites as well. Even if you plan to travel mostly by public transportation or private taxi, expect to spend a decent amount of time on your feet in Japan.
Comfortable shoes are a must here, but be careful about choosing your travel shoes. I meet numerous visitors who make the mistake of buying new kicks just for their vacation, and then have to walk around for a few days in a pair of shoes that they haven't broken in yet. If you don’t know how the shoes will treat your feet, carry a couple of band aids in your bag to put on any blisters that arise. Also, some shoes that can withstand a little bit of water would be useful, as Japan can be rainy year round. Finally, since the Japanese are obsessive about taking their shoes of indoors, bring some shoes that are easy to slip on and off. You may take your shoes off half a dozen times on a day visiting temples and shrines in Kyoto, and having to stop and retie your laces each time is a real hassle.
2. BRING: Cash
Japan is still very much a cash-based society. Credit cards are accepted at most hotels, department stores, and fine dining establishments, but good luck trying to pay with card at a local handicraft shop or traditional market. Debit cards for small purchases are not really a thing here like in the west. It's not uncommon for Japanese people to carry the equivalent of several hundred dollars in yen on them at all times.
Changing money can be inconvenient here. It’s getting easier with more exchange counters popping at stations and tourist info centers, but it's not always easy to find a bank or exchange office when you need one. Instead, either exchange your money back home before arriving, or use ATMs here to get yen. 7-11 convenience store ATMs will accept almost any foreign cards, and the charges for international transactions at 7-11 are minimal. Japan is a very safe country, so don't worry about carrying all that cash around.
3. BRING: Medicine
Bringing certain foreign medicine into Japan can be risky (more on that below), but some common over the counter stuff might come in handy while traveling here. Walking in to a Japanese pharmacy when you don't feel well is a daunting task, as most shop clerks don't speak English and being given a box of something to take when you can't read the labels can be quite scary. Stopping into a convenience store to pick up some simple medicine isn't really possible here, as you usually have to go to a pharmacy or drug store for even something as basic as aspirin.
Common medicine like aspirin, Tylenol, and generic pain relievers can be relatively weak in Japan compared to the west, and sometimes they simply don't do anything. The same applies to allergy medicine. Allegra and Claritin are available over the counter here, but if you suffer from seasonal allergies you might want to consider bringing over a few pills of your own stuff in case the pollen here hits you hard. Something to help your stomach in case Japanese food doesn't agree with you might be a good idea as well. A reliable equivalent for Pepto Bismol doesn’t really exist here.
However, be careful when carrying medicine into Japan. There are strict regulations on some medicines that are common over the counter brands like Benadryl or Vicks in other countries. For example, many common cold medicines that are standard in the west are not allowed in Japan. Some prescription medicines as well need to be accompanied by a special doctor's note called Yakkan Shoumei when you go through customs. A few minutes on google should help you find out if your particular medicine is allowed to be carried into Japan. If you think you might need to take something to get you through your vacation, bring it but do the research first.
4. BRING: A pillow
Huh? A pillow? Don't they have those in Japanese hotels? Well of course they do, but they usually are terrible. Believe it or not, this can be a make or break factor in your overall enjoyment of your time in Japan, especially if you're picky about where you lay your head at night. It’s getting better, but even with the recent tourism boom, hotels are still slow to catch on to how westerners like their pillows.
Japanese hotel pillows tend to be very firm. Sometimes they are even filled with little beans or microbeads that are not only very uncomfortable, but quite noisy as they slide around under your head. These pillows are particularly prevalent in traditional ryokans. Some people don’t mind this, but many travelers can’t wrap their minds around some of the pillow stuffing here. Other hotels try to show off their luxury by providing overly fluffy and very tall pillows that strain your neck. It might not seem like a big deal to you now, but the possibility of ruining your vacation with poor sleep and a constant stiff neck is not a risk most travelers want to take.
Bottom line is this: if you are at all picky about pillows, consider bringing your own. You can get travel sized or even inflatable pillows at most travel shops or even at the airport before takeoff. If you're reading this on the plane on the way over, consider “borrowing” the little pillow they gave you on the airplane (you can always return it on the flight back home). You'll be thankful that you have a backup when you see what some places expect you to sleep on here.
5. BRING: Printouts of your hotel reservations and travel plans
Japan is getting better with public wifi, but don't expect to be connected everywhere. I've heard plenty of stories of travelers who can't access their train ticket info or directions to their hotel they've bookmarked on their phone because of the lack of wifi. Even renting a pocket wifi can sometimes leave you with no access if the battery dies or it mysteriously stops working.
Simple solution: print this stuff out! Not only is this a foolproof way to avoid electronic debacles, but having a paper with your name and reservation number on it works wonders at check in desks where staff members don't speak English and communication is difficult. Looking up Japanese addresses or searching for an Air BnB location can be tough, so print out a map ahead of time and show it to a local if you get lost. It might seem old fashioned, but better to be prepared with paper than lost with a cellphone with no service.
Some of those five items might have you reconsidering your packing priorities for Japan. Well, I don't mean to make you unload that suitcase and start all over, but here are 3 items that you do NOT need to bring to Japan:
1. DON’T BRING: Pajamas and a toothbrush
This sounds crazy at first, but hear me out. Almost every single Japanese hotel will provide you with pajamas to sleep in, and many take it step further and give you an actual yukata robe to wear around the hotel. This can usually be worn as you walk to the public bath in the hotel, but be sure to read any rules about what areas you shouldn’t enter in your yukata. Almost all hotels here will offerr sleepwear of some kind, so leave the PJs at home.
Almost all hotels will include a toothbrush and toothpaste set in the bathroom as well. Some very small hostels or capsule hotels might charge you a few hundred yen for it, but you will never have to worry about having to go without a proper brushing in Japanese hotels.
(If you’re staying at an Air BnB, the above tips probably don’t apply)
2. DON’T BRING: An umbrella
Even if you have a favorite umbrella that's accompanied you throughout your travels, leave it at home and save the suitcase space. As wet as it is here most of the year, you don't need it. Most hotels will provide guests with umbrellas at the front desk, or you can pick up a sturdy, cheap one at any convenience store. At the end of your trip, leave it in one of the umbrella stands outside a convenience store for someone who gets caught in the rain in a pinch (we've all been there).
With all the hustle and bustle on the trains here (especially in Tokyo) and the massive clumps of umbrellas people leave in umbrella stands outside of buildings, there's a good chance your umbrella is going to get forgotten or misplaced along the way. Opt for a 500 yen convenience store umbrella instead of a fancy one from home.
3. DON’T BRING: Close-mindedness and unreal expectations
Sure, this isn't something you can "pack" but it's sure something that some visitors find ways to bring over with them. Wherever you're coming from, when you get to Japan you're in a different world. It's going to be unlike anything you've experienced before, and it might get a little weird or uncomfortable. Maybe even a tad stressful.
But remember that it's you who should be adapting to your new surroundings. You've come to another country to experience something different, and you have to learn to go with the flow to a certain extent. Just because the staff at a hotel or shop can't communicate with you properly about something that is a big deal to you doesn't mean they're not trying hard to please you. Be patient and remember that they're doing their best and working with a language barrier, and what might be a major issue to you may be something they place little importance on in Japan. Be mindful that what you think is a simple request can snowball here into a massive ordeal for Japanese people (you'll see what I mean if you try to make a menu substitution at a restaurant and they go to consult the manager, the chef, the guy who caught the fish, etc). Learn to be flexible and take things as they come, and you'll enjoy your vacation here all that much more.
In the same sense, keep you expectations about Japan open as well. Upon arrival, you might find it's not the land of Hello Kitties and geisha and samurais on every street that you expected, but that doesn't mean you still can't have an adventure here. If you are interested in traditional Japan and someone invites you to the modern art museum, go check it out anyway. Break out of your cultural comfort zones and experience all that Japan has to offer. There's so much to explore and discover here outside of what you might be expecting that you're bound to find some interesting new experiences if you broaden your expectations a bit.
Alright, zip up that suitcase and hop on the plane... because you're ready to come to Japan! Hope you found this advice helpful, and be sure to leave some room in your luggage for souvenirs.