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Plan Your Trip

Practical guides and itineraries to help you plan a Japan trip that goes beyond the tourist trail.

Practical Guides 27

Transportation, budgets, and essential travel info

Japanese yen wallet with notes and contactless card
Practical Guide

How Much Does a Japan Trip Cost? A 2026 Budget Breakdown

Two-week, two-person totals for lean, mid-range and comfortable budgets. Flights, JR Pass, hotels, food, activities — build your own number.

8 min read
Calm Tokyo skyline at dusk with seismic-engineered office towers visible in the foreground
Practical Guide

Earthquakes in Japan: What J-Alerts Mean and What to Actually Do

How the J-Alert early-warning system works, the 30-second drop-cover-hold drill, and why the doorway myth is wrong.

5 min read
Three travel suitcases neatly lined up on a Japanese hotel bell-stand carpet
Practical Guide

Yamato Takkyubin: Forward Your Luggage and Travel Hands-Free

Hand a suitcase to the hotel desk or any 7-Eleven, pay ¥2,000–2,500, and it arrives at your next hotel before 18:00.

5 min read
Classic black Tokyo taxi at the kerbside at night, rear door swung open onto wet pavement
Practical Guide

Taxis in Japan: The GO App, Auto Doors, and When They're Worth It

Auto-opening rear doors, the GO app for English-language booking, no tipping, and when a cab beats the metro.

5 min read
Entrance of a small Japanese ramen shop at night, ticket-vending machine glowing softly inside the noren curtain
Practical Guide

How to Order at a Japanese Restaurant: Ticket Machines, Tablets, Counter Calls

Six restaurant types, six order systems — ticket machines, tablets, verbal counter calls, sample windows, kaiseki.

6 min read
Long bank of clean modern Japanese station coin lockers in a station concourse
Practical Guide

Coin Lockers in Japan: The Day-Bag Trick Everyone Misses

Sizes, prices, IC payment, and the day-bag system that lets you skip dragging a suitcase through narrow streets.

5 min read
Open carry-on suitcase with neatly folded clothes, passport, sneakers, toiletry pouch and charger
Practical Guide

Japan Packing List: What to Pack (and What to Buy There)

The actual six-item Japan packing list — Japanese drugstores, Donki, and Uniqlo cover the rest, often better.

5 min read
Tidy row of four colour-coded waste bins inside a Japanese convenience store entrance
Practical Guide

Trash in Japan: Why There Are No Bins (and What to Do)

Why Japan removed its public bins, and the konbini-station-hotel loop that handles trash without thinking.

4 min read
Open Japanese leather wallet with yen notes, coins, and a contactless card on a wooden table
Practical Guide

Cash vs Card in Japan: What to Actually Carry in 2026

How much cash to carry, when Visa/MC fail, why JCB matters, and how to skip the airport currency exchange.

5 min read
A smartphone glowing softly on a wooden cafe table — eSIM setup at home before flying
Practical Guide

Japan Internet: Why I Switched From Pocket WiFi to Airalo

Set up an Airalo eSIM at home before flying. Land in Japan with bars. Pocket WiFi only still wins for groups.

5 min read
Steam rising from a stone-lined open-air rotenburo at a Japanese mountain ryokan
Practical Guide

Onsen for First-Timers: How to Bathe Without Offending Anyone

The full onsen etiquette walkthrough plus the truth about tattoos in 2026 — from a half-sleeve who has never been refused.

6 min read
Quiet Tokyo backstreet at night with red paper lanterns above wooden restaurant fronts
Practical Guide

How to Find (and Book) Good Restaurants in Japan

Tabelog to find them, TableCheck or Pocket Concierge to book them. The actual locals' workflow.

6 min read
Aerial view of an aircraft wing with Tokyo coastline below
Practical Guide

Tokyo Airport to City: Narita and Haneda Without Wasting Money

Pick the right train in two minutes — Skyliner, N'EX, Keikyu, or skip the bus altogether.

6 min read
Brightly lit konbini exterior on a quiet Tokyo street at night
Practical Guide

The Japanese Konbini: Cash Machine, Ticket Office, Restaurant, ATM

Pay with Suica, withdraw cash with a foreign card, print tickets, eat hot food at 02:00.

5 min read
Shinkansen N700 series train at a Japanese station platform
Practical Guide

Shinkansen for First-Timers: From Booking to Ekiben

Smart-EX app, reserved vs non-reserved seats, the right side for Mt. Fuji, ekiben etiquette.

7 min read
Tokyo subway platform at night
Practical Guide

Tokyo Subway with Google Maps: A Foreigner's Guide

The four-step Google Maps workflow that gets you anywhere on the Tokyo subway — without learning kanji.

4 min read
Shinkansen at Tokyo Station platform
Practical Guide

JR Pass: When It Pays Off and How to Use It

When the Pass actually pays off, how to exchange the voucher, and how to use it at the gates.

6 min read
Yamanote train passing through Tokyo at night
Practical Guide

Suica on iPhone: Setup + Top-up Guide for Japan

Set up Suica in Apple Wallet in five minutes and top up from anywhere in Japan.

5 min read
Cherry blossom season in Japan: when and where to see the sakura
Practical Guide

Cherry blossom season in Japan: when and where to see the sakura

Cherry blossom season in Japan, region by region: when the sakura peak from Okinawa to Hokkaido, how the bloom forecast works, and how early to book.

4 min read
Best time to visit Japan: a month-by-month guide for 2026–2027
Practical Guide

Best time to visit Japan: a month-by-month guide for 2026–2027

The best time to visit Japan, month by month: crowd levels, weather, cost, and the exact dates to avoid (Golden Week, Obon). Find your window.

8 min read
Tattoo-friendly onsen in Japan: where you can actually bathe
Practical Guide

Tattoo-friendly onsen in Japan: where you can actually bathe

Yes, you can onsen with tattoos. Verified tattoo-friendly onsen in Japan — Beppu to Hakone — plus the sento loophole and private-bath workarounds.

5 min read
Japanese leather wallet with yen notes and contactless card
Practical Guide

Japan Travel Budget: What a Realistic Trip Actually Costs

Three honest budget tiers for two weeks in Japan — backpacker, mid-range, comfortable. Spoiler: it's not as expensive as the headlines suggest.

2 min read
Open Japanese leather wallet with yen notes, coins, and a contactless card
Practical Guide

Money in Japan: Yen, ATMs, IC Cards, and Tax-Free Shopping

Cash isn't king like it used to be, but it still rules half the country. Here's how the money side actually works in 2026.

2 min read
Smartphone glowing softly on a wooden cafe table — eSIM setup at home before flying
Practical Guide

Japan SIM & Connectivity: eSIM, Pocket WiFi, Prepaid SIM

Three ways to stay online in Japan — and why eSIM beats the other two for 90% of travellers in 2026.

2 min read
Travel passport at a Japanese station counter
Practical Guide

Japan Visa Requirements 2026: Who Needs One, Who Doesn’t

Most Western tourists get 90 days on arrival, no paperwork. Here is what you need to know about the visa-on-arrival window, the new digital arrival card, and the cases where you do need a visa.

3 min read
Shinkansen N700 series train at a Japanese station platform
Practical Guide

Getting Around in Japan: The Complete Transport Guide

Hub guide to all Japanese transport — IC cards, Shinkansen, metros, taxis, ferries, planes, bikes. The decision tree that says when to use which. By Nick van der Blom.

5 min read
Shinkansen N700 series train at a Japanese station platform
Practical Guide

JR Pass: The Complete 2026 Guide

Complete JR Pass guide for 2026 — current prices, calculator that does the maths, regional alternatives, and the simple rule for whether the pass pays off your trip. By Nick van der Blom.

5 min read

Itineraries 9

Day-by-day travel plans for every type of trip

Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen at golden hour
Itinerary

Seven days in Japan, honest

One week is too short. So we cut a city. Tokyo and Kyoto, done properly, instead of three cities done badly.

18 min read
Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen at golden hour
Itinerary

First-timer's ten days in Japan

Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka · Hiroshima. The classic ten-day arc, without the mountain detour. Same big three, one heavy day-trip, home rested.

22 min read
Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen at golden hour
Itinerary

First-timer's two weeks in Japan

Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka · Hiroshima · Takayama · Hirayunomori. The route I'd send my own family on, with a real ryokan at the end.

28 min read
Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen at golden hour
Itinerary

Two weeks in Japan with kids

The 14-day first-timer route, framed for families. Three nights per city, real ryokan, manageable transit days, and the temple-with-Pocky-break version of every must-see.

28 min read
Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen at golden hour
Itinerary

Three weeks in Japan, the deeper route

The 14-day first-timer route + a seven-day Kyushu finale. Hakata yatai stalls, the Aso caldera, the ryokan valley at Kurokawa, Sakurajima across the bay.

42 min read
Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen at golden hour
Itinerary

A ten-day Japan honeymoon

Ryokan over hotels. Slow trains over Shinkansen sprints. Tokyo + Kyoto + Osaka with the luxury tier as default — and an optional slow-travel anchor at the end.

22 min read
Kyushu landscape
Itinerary

Ten days in Kyushu, the hidden island

Fukuoka yatai, Nagasaki harbour, an active volcanic caldera, Kurokawa onsen, Yufuin, Sakurajima. The Japan most travellers miss.

24 min read
Tohoku landscape
Itinerary

Ten days in Tohoku, Japan's quiet north

Matsushima Bay, the cliffside Yamadera temple, Ginzan Onsen, Lake Tazawa, Kakunodate samurai quarter, Aomori's Nebuta floats.

24 min read
Hokkaido landscape
Itinerary

Seven days in Hokkaido, snow + food + nature

Sapporo ramen and beer, Otaru's canal town, Noboribetsu's hell-valley onsen, Hakodate's top-ten-night-view harbour.

18 min read