Things to Think About When in Japan
Contributors:
Rebecca Zhang
Written by Aya Sakonju
1) Cash
Businesses are beginning to accept credit cards more frequently now, but for the most part many still only take cash.
2) Hand Towels
Having a hand towel is good to keep in your bag because a lot of public places don't have anything to dry your hands with.
You'll see that there are a lot of stores just dedicated to hand towels.
3) Lactase pills
Japanese ice cream is sooo good but if you're lactose intolerant, make sure you bring lactase pills. Japanese tend you use heavy cream which is why foreigners can experience really bad stomach aches after eating the dairy.
4) Muhi
If you're going to a more rural area, there tends to be a lot of mosquitos during the summer. You can buy an anti-itching cream called Muhi which is designed specifically to treat mosquito bites.
You can buy this in any drug store and it's quite magical.
5) Pasmo or suica train cards
It's good to purchase either a Pasmo or Suica card if you'll be using the rail lines a lot. These cards are essentially like credit cards for when you're in the train station. You just need to pay ¥500 ($5) and fill it up with as much cash as you want. If it's more convenient for you, they also have the option of getting these cards on your iPhone.
You can recharge it with money when you're low, and it allows you to quickly go through the gates. You can also use it at the vending machines to buy a drink and many train station stores will give you the option of buying items with your Pasmo and Suica card.
To learn more about how to purchase one, you can watch this video.
6) Double-checking to make sure you have enough money on your card
Japanese bus drivers and train drivers are expected to arrive and depart right on the dot.
When you're traveling, make sure you have enough money on your Suica or Pasmo card. If you're riding the bus and you suddenly have to go through all your coins because you're out of money on your card, the bus drivers can get a bit annoyed because they have to start making up the time lost.
7) eating on the trains
When speaking, people always add『お』
and call bento 『おべんとう』.
You're generally not supposed to eat on commuter trains, but if you're taking the shinkansen (bullet train), stores in the basement of
train stations sell a bunch of different types of bento（弁当 ）that you can eat while traveling to your next destination.
べんとう
8) Japanese toilets
Most large public businesses like airports, department stores, rest stops, etc. have begun to replace their toilets with Toto washlets. The Toto brand is becoming popular because it's much more comfortable to sit on compared to a regular porcelain toilet.
It's quite fantastic.
9) converting money in your head
Right now, ¥100 is equivalent to $0.95 (ie. ~$1).
To estimate how much something is, just move the decimal to the left two spaces.
10) Pulling out cash
To pull out cash, you can go to any 7-Eleven and they have an ATM.
11) Navigating the train stations
Looking at the Japanese railway map it can look really daunting. However, navigating your way around is actually quite simple (unless you're in the Shinjuku station. . . ).
Most people use Google Maps which tells you everything you need to know in order to get to your destination like train lines, cost, bus numbers, etc.
However, I find that it drains the battery quickly and I prefer to ask people for directions anyways. Instead, I'll usually use a site called HyerDia which tells you the travel duration, total travel cost, transfer, etc. It also provides you with alternative routes. I'll just screenshot the route I want to take to my phone.
12) Pulling hair back at onsens
If you're going into an onsen, your hair should never get into the water. Make sure your either tie it back or put it into a bun.
13) Love the food but can't finish it?
Japanese don't have take-out boxes unless the restaurant specifically does take-out orders.
If you do want to take something back to where you're staying, look
for the words お持ち帰り (take-out).
も かえ
14) CHopstick etiquette
You can always tell when someone has grown up in America and when a food blog post is made by an American because they tend to jab their chopsticks into the rice or try some sort of aesthetic criss-crossing thing.
In Asia, you should never keep your chopsticks vertically in your bowl because that's how people pray to their dead ancestors. Instead, either use your chopstick holder or lay them parallel to each other right through the center of the bowl.
15) Table buzzers
Restaurants have started to use ringers to call up waiters. Make sure you check to see whether your table has one before waiting for a half-hour. Sometimes they don't even look like typical buttons and you don't realize they're there so yeah. . . it's not fun waiting that long.
16) What you see is what you get
A lot of restaurants are starting to create English menus but if you really can't read anything, don't worry because almost all restaurants have the exact replica of their dishes in plastic form. You not only get to see what it'll look like, but you can just go out and point to the waiters which dish you want.
17) Eating out is cheaper than grocery shopping
Going to a restaurant to buy a freshly prepared meal is usually cheaper than buying the ingredients to make yourself the same dish.
Also, fruit in Japan is the best but they tend to be expensive. Obviously, the average cost is not like the $70 12-pack strawberries in the photo above, but a small container of strawberries can run up to $13 in regular grocery stores. The really expensive fruit you see sometimes, like ¥10,000 ($100) for four peaches or one melon are meant to be given as omiyage (gifts/souvenirs).
When I studied in Japan in the third grade, I went to a rural school so we got to go on a field trip to a local strawberry farm and pick as many strawberries as we wanted. I filled up a bag easily worth $40 and brought it back to my family but ate all of it on the way back. I still remember how good and huge those strawberries were.