Japan

I went to Japan for the first time in my life in late autumn of 2016. Japan was one of the countries I've always wanted to visit, so I was incredibly excited+anxious for weeks leading to the trip!

The 2016 trip to Japan was actually something my dad had wanted to go on for a while with my mom, my sister, and myself. However, my sister was recovering from a terrible fever and our regular doctors advised her not to travel, so she (sadly) didn't.

Anyhow, my posts on my Japan trips are on:

Kyoto: 2016

Nara: 2016

Osaka: 2016

Tokyo: 2016

Here are some things I learnt while I traveled in the above cities:

Getting to places

Cycle

Cycling is very popular in Japan, and many areas (except for metropolitan Tokyo) are cyclist-friendly. In places like Osaka and Kyoto, some shops sell/rent bicycles, so this may be a funner, greener and cheaper option to get around town.

Bus

Buses are cheap if you have a bit of free time and don't particularly feel like walking to get to where you are, but they're not the fastest way to travel as they depend on traffic and weather conditions. 

In Osaka, each bus trip costs 120yen, which you pay before getting off the bus using cash/travel pass. Bus stops here state which and when buses will stop to pick up people, but stop names (on the pole and in the bus) are all written in Japanese, so if you can't understand the language, remember to count the number of stops (or inform the driver) if you have a specific place to get off at.

I didn't get to take a public bus in the other cities, so I'm not sure what the fare is like in other parts of Japan.

Subway

The fastest way to travel is to take the subway, and it's quite easy to use even if you don't speak Japanese. 

Each subway line is indicated with a specific color and an alphabet, and each station is labelled with this color, alphabet, as well as the station number. For example, the station nearest to our hotel, Higashi-Umeda, is the 10th station on the purple Tanimachi line, so the station name is T10. So, even if you can't remember where to get on/off, you can indicate line/station by its color, alphabet, and number of your stop.

To travel by subway (of which there are many operators -- make sure you're buying the right line's tickets!), you can either use a ticket, coupon, or travel pass.

To purchase your ticket at the ticketing machine:

1. check the fare for your trip by scanning the huge subway fare map directly above the ticketing machine area (or ask someone if it seems confusing)
2. head to one of the ticketing machines
3. click on the 'English' button
4. insert your cash
5. select how many tickets you'd like (if more than one pax), 
6. select your fare, 
7. collect mini ticket(s) and your change at the bottom.of the machine.

I didn't use any other travel pass/card for the rest of our stay in Japan, because we didn't get to travel too much in the city areas.

Taxi/Uber

Taxis are expensive; walk or take public transport if you can. 

Uber isn't popular here, and is even more expensive than taxis.

Other modes of transportation

To be completely honest, I find the railway system very confusing compared to the subway system, because there are SO many rail lines and train operators. I have to study a bit more on how to navigate the railway lines, purchase tickets/travel passes etc before writing about them.

I've been told to use Hyperdia, but I didn't really use it because Google Maps and the free maps I found around train stations seemed adequate for me. FYI, Hyperdia has a mobile app, but it's not free, and from what I gather, it doesn't work offline either, so :/ I probably didn't rely on Hyperdia because I didn't travel much via public transport in Japan though, so if you are going to be using a lot of mass transit, do check it out.

Getting connected

See: This is partly covered in another post I wrote, about financial matters

Not having internet connection makes it very difficult to navigate since I couldn't download my maps into my devices. It's also hard when you need to keep in touch with people back home

There are a few options for internet connection, though this info will be relevant to only Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo, which I visited in October 2016.

Free public wifi

Airports, major train stations, hotels, and some tourist spots around town usually have free wifi. There are some mobile apps that can show you where to find public wifi, but I didn't plan to use it... relying on public wifi is my Plan B. Having said that, Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) seems intent to improve public wifi coverage nationwide, so if you won't be using much internet (or are on a tight budget), this may be adequate for you. :)

Paid Option 1: SIM card

Getting a local SIM card means that you'll be able to stay connected 24/7, but based on my research it is the most expensive option in Japan for both SIM card types (i.e. internet+calls+text and internet only). There are plenty of short-tem SIM cards to choose from; some of them are compared here. Jsyk tho, some SIM cards are meant for tourists and so may be cheaper than if you were to buy normal SIM cards when you're already in Japan, but you'll have to buy it before you arrive.

Paid Option 2: Portable internet

Renting a portable internet device is generally cheaper than getting a SIM card if you're a tourist, and you can even share the connection if you're travelling in a group. From what I gathered, you can pick up the device when you arrive at the airport, and drop it off (via post) before you fly back to your country. Like tourist SIM cards, you can also pre-book the device before you set foot in Japan. The process seems a bit complicated to me though, and I worry about losing the device (not that I tend to lose stuff, but hey) so I decided to forgo this.

Paid Option 3: 'Roaming' internet

When I arrived in Kansai airport and after scanning the SIM card vending machines, I realised that the cheapest option to stay connected in Japan is really using my phone service provider's roaming plan. For the record, I'm currently based in Malaysia and using Maxis' Hotlink, which offers 3 types of 'internet passes' specifically for Japan:

• Japan Roaming pass, RM38/1 day: Unlimited internet until 11:59pm of day of subscription. 
• Japan 3D Social media pass, RM20/3 days: 200mb for data (but Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp is free) until 11:59pm of 3rd day of subscription; 
• Japan 1D Social media pass, RM10/1 day: 50mb for (but Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp is free) until 11:59pm of day of subscription. 

In the end, for  my October 2016 trip, I took 2 x 3D Social media passes + a topup of RM5 for an extra 50mb, which came to RM45 in total (about 1,100yen for 450mb). If I'd taken a Japanese SIM card/portable internet device, it would've cost me 2-3 times more!

Last Updated: 2016-11-04