Marcin’s highly subjective guide to Japan

6 min readFeb 24, 2018

I mostly care for design, type, infrastructure, cities, tech history, nerdy stuff. This guide will reflect that. I was in Japan in February 2018, in the middle of winter.

Questions? Here’s how to contact me.

Stuff you should arrange for before

JR Pass. This is a (paid) train pass that allows you to take many/most trains for free. You have to buy it in advance — you get a voucher and then you can translate it into a proper pass when you’re in Japan (even at the airport). I bought mine online.

Ghibli Museum. I have not been, but I heard nothing but praise — and apparently it sells out, so you should buy tickets weeks before you arrive.

(If you’re in San Francisco, there’s reportedly a Japan travel center where you could do both in person at the same time.)

Logistics

SIM Card. I went to a BIC Camera and bought a 2GB SIM Card. I used it on my (no contract) iPhone. It was relatively painless, although it required wi-fi to get started. I had a pretty good signal throughout my trip. I ran through 2GB exactly within two weeks, although I used the free wi-fi a lot when available. I would list a type of card, but it’s my impression that they change a lot; the staff helped me figure it out. My network was Docomo.

Wi-fi. There’s a lot more free (and good) wi-fi than I expected: in shopping malls, subway stations, little shops. There are apparently vending machines that broadcast wi-fi!

PASMO. Get a PASMO or SUICA “IC” contactless transit card as soon as you can. (As far as I understand, they are both functionally identical.) You can use it for transit fare gates, to buy stuff in some vending machines, to pay for lockers, etc.

Cash. You basically need to have cash. Few places accept credit cards or NFC-style communication, although it’s changing. With cash, there will be a lot of coins involved, so make sure you have a pocket or something for those.

Google Maps. It’s essential since addresses are weird in Japan, and transit is effective, but can be complex (many vendors, etc.). I downloaded some other map app that allowed me to pre-download the entire map — something Google Maps doesn’t allow for some reason — but in the end ended up not using it at all.

Google Translate. If you get the Google Translate app, you can use it in the mode where you point your phone at something, and it will switch Japanese to English in real time. The quality is not so great, but it can give you at least a hint of the tone/meaning of the sign on the street, a paper slid your way, etc.

Handkerchief. There are no paper towels in bathrooms, and even hand dryers are rare.

Activities and stuff to check out

Vending machines. Those are a lot of fun. Most are only liquids, but a lot of it is unlike in America. Check them out often and buy stuff that you don’t recognize!. Coffee-related, sodas, corn soup, tomato soup, etc. It’s all great.

Onsen. Hot baths that have many names. Sometimes they’re built into hotels, even regular, business-like western-ish hotels (that’s the best way to get started), there are also public ones. They’re bigger and smaller. You’re naked. This guide helps. Worth trying many out — I had one where I sat in hot water under a night winter sky, and it was beautiful.

Trains. Subway, little regional trains, fast bullet (shinkansen) trains — they’re all great. JR Pass allowed me to get on many. It was always a fun experience, seeing this whole infrastructure put in motion. Some of them travelled through beautiful surroundings. Next time, I will research that more — also, in some cases it might be worth upgrading to Green Car (business class) not just for comfort, but for better views.

Look around. Japan is filled with tons of thoughtful details. I wrote a whole Twitter thread listing hundreds of those, although you might want not to spoil your future surprises!

Walk around. Japan is safe. If you’re in Tokyo, it’s endlessly fascinating. Subway will take you in many places (and it will be in adventure if you do it in rush hour). Taxis are different and you should try at least one. But it’s worth it just to walk around from place to place; you will spot many interesting little things.

Places

Tokyo

Akihabara (a.k.a. Akiba). A place of many electronics stores and stores for specialized interests (otaku). It’s worth checking out the big, multi-level stores — BIC Camera and Yodobashi Camera. I particularly liked some used electronics stores: Softel Apple, Radio Center (hard to find), a tiny retro game store called BEEP, used bins in stores like Hard Off.

Shibuya. Rapidly changing, with the huge station being rebuilt, and new skyscrapers. Worth going to Tokyu Hands, a massive store with all sorts of DIY things. There’s also Tower Records and so on.

Jinbōchō. A neighbourhood with used books and record stores. Fantastic.

Ginza. I haven’t spent that much time there, but it seems like an interesting fancy neighbourhood, with skyscrapers, et al.

Architecture museums. Fukagawa Edo Museum is a place within Tokyo that has an (indoors) reconstruction of a small Japanese village. Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is a huge outdoors version with many houses. It’s a bit of an adventure to get to that one, but they’re both worth it.

The Center for the Tokyo Raids and War Damage. A tiny museum that’s mostly in Japanese, but that might make it an unforgettable experience.

Outside of Tokyo

Hiroshima.
I went to the peace museum and a few places around it (memorial hall, hypocenter plaque, the A-Bomb dome). It was tough and sombering and I would recommend it.

Onomichi.
Very close to Hiroshima. There are a few fun things there — you can rent a bike to cycle through a bunch of islands connected by beautiful bridges (I did that and would highly recommend it). If you’re really into cycling, you can even rent a proper road bike or attend some more intense activities (I didn’t). You can stay in a modern bike-themed hotel (I did that). There is also a ropeway and temple with views.

Shibu Onsen.
A little faraway town. It has cute ryokan (traditional Japanese hotels), and many hot springs baths, and a nearby park where snow monkeys hang around and bath themselves. It was great: I walked in a winter kimono and traditional wooden sandals throughout the city after dark, I had tea in a tiny tea house owned by an elderly couple. BTW I don’t know, however, if this is the best option if you’re really into seeing the snow monkeys! I get a sense that there are better places; you might want to research it further.

Kyoto Railway Museum.
New, big, and unforgettable. So many great things to do there, be sure to check it out if you’re into trains.