First Trip to Japan: What to have in mind

Everyone should visit Japan. Beautiful and evocative, Japan awakens all the senses, unleashes the imagination and exceeds any expectations one may have.

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We rented a really cheap AirBnb that was just blocks away from the center of Shinjuku!

Japan is a nation both innovative and protective of its history and culture, and that's what makes it so interesting to visit. Temples, shrines and peaceful gardens and traditional tea houses live together with advanced skyscrapers, futuristic architecture, bullet trains, anime and gaming stuff. It can be contradictory, I know, but its what makes it so perfect. It's the perfect balance and the reason so many people from different countries, cultures and ages decide to visit it.

This year, my husband and I decided that we wanted to make our dream come true and visit it and so we did. Last June, we took two planes and lots of bullet trains and visited a lot of cities of this amazing country. And I want to share my experience, mostly to those first-time travelers like I was myself before going, so you can know what to expect and what to have in mind at the time of visiting.

What to have in mind

Plane tickets: Plane tickets to Japan tend to be expensive. Of course, this depends where you're travelling from, what kind of ticket you're choosing and how long you'll stay. But sometimes airlines offer some 'special priced' tickets, which make them way more affordable. How to know when there's a special promo? Follow searches in websites like Expedia and Despegar, or in apps like Hooper. They will send you alerts when there's a price reduction (or prices are going up!).

Extra tip: don't forget to bring a rain-coat and comfy sneakers, because there's gonna be a lot of walking!

Do you need a VISA?: Some countries don't need Visas and can stay in the country for up to 90 days (from the day of entrance), but others do need it. Check out if you need a Visa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan's website.

Where to stay: Hotels in Japan tend to be expensive, small and with not that much of amenities (of course, depending on how much you're paying). In my experience, I looooooved staying in AirBnbs and highly recommend it, because they offered a lot more than hotels (like Pocket Wifi, bicycles, etc). But to choose where to stay, you must think about what you want to do and visit, and pick a place that is not that far (so you can go walking) or somewhere that it's more connected by public transport with the places you want to visit.

Public transport: There's no better (and kinda cheaper) way to move around Japan than public transport. Trains are amazingly efficient, they take you everywhere and offer an amazing service... but don't get me wrong: it's not going to be that cheap. Yes, public transport is cheaper than taking taxis and so, but it's still pricey and it can be a lot of money if you plan to move around the country a lot. That's why Japan Trains offer "Rail Passes". This passes offer you unlimited travel both with local trains and bullet trains for a determined period of time. There are two kind of this passes that work nationwide: JR Rail Pass and the JR Seishun 18 Kippu. I suggest to buy them before going to Japan because they can be more pricey once you arrive. Here you can check all the Rail Passes, to see which one is more convenient for your trip and here I leave the website where we bought ours.

Japan combines technology and modernity, and tradition and love for their culture.

What to visit: With my husband we always plan ahead what we want to visit so we don't waste time once we are in our destination. And there's so much to see and experience in Japan that I really recommend you do it too. Not like an itinerary with what to do each day, but like a list of places, so you mix and match depending the day, the weather and your energy! To actually choose the places we watched tons of YouTube vlogs, wrote down the places we liked and then googled about them.

Money: The currency in Japan is the Yen and even though the best exchange rate is with credit cards (well, almost all Banks offer good rates), there are little shops that accept it. So you need get it in cash: but good news! You can have the credit cards rate by getting the yens at an ATM. There are plenty all around Japan, mostly in the Seven Eleven stores. So first, check what is the fee your bank offers, then check out the fees Exchange Currency Offices offer, compare and decide which way you'll get it.

The currency in Japan in the Yen, and the most common way to pay is with cash. Not a lot of stores accept credit cards.

Language: If the only japanese words you know are kon'nichiwa, arigatō and sayōnara, you're gonna need a way to communicate with the people. If you know english, that's awesome! With that it will be okay. But if you don't or if you want to have a back-up in case you're not being understood, download the Japanese dictionary in Google Translate.

Food: The food in Japan is amazing! You have to be open and try everything, please! It helped us a lot to use the app Yelp to find good places where to it but another way to know if a place is good or not is, basically, to look if there's people inside and outside forming a line. Yes, you'll find that Japanese people love to wait outside stores/restaurants that are good!

Have you been to Japan? Do you have any other suggestion for first-time travelers? Let me know in the comments! ❤︎