Tips & Hacks for Traveling in Japan
Hey Guys! Today we will be telling you tips and hacks for travelling in Japan. These tips are from riding the trains to flying inside Japan. I hope that these will be useful when you travel to Japan!
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Tips & Hacks for Traveling in Japan
Because the train is one of the main transportations in Tokyo, it would be a hassle for people who have large families or if you have lots of luggage. A service that solves this solution is Luggage free travel. If you are in the Kanto Area, there is also same-day Delivery. For example, if you drop off the luggage before 10AM, you can pick it up at 6-9PM. If you drop off before 4PM, the luggage will arrive by 2-6PM the next day.
How to use the service
1.Go to their website and schedule a drop-off from airport or hotel in Japan
2.Show the QR code at the luggage counter spot and drop off done!
3.Show the receipt or confirmation number at the pick up spot to pick up!
An IC card like PASMO or Suica would be useful if you are just travelling inside Tokyo. But, if you are going to travel throughout Japan, Japan Rail Pass would be very useful and you can save a lot of money.
JR Pass allows you to ride all of the JR trains throughout Japan and there is a choice of one week, two week or three week duration types. In addition, there is Green Pass where you can ride with nicer seats and ordinary seat passes. Be sure to select the tickets carefully as there is a large difference in price.
You can always check on the Japan Rail Pass Value Calculator website if Japan Rail Pass is worth more than buying individual tickets or not. One drawback of the Japan Rail Pass is that you can’t ride on the fast Shinkansen. For example, from Tokyo To ShinOsaka, there is Nozomi (fastest), Hikari (second fastest), and Kodama (slowest). You can’t use the pass with Nozomi. Now, since this is a JR pass so this pass does not work with metro lines. One good thing is you can also use with buses and ferries.
3. Japan LCC Flights
LCC or Low Cost Carrier Flights would be good for traveling one or few places in Japan. They have Peach, JetStar, Vanilla Air, Spring Japan, Air Asia, and many more.
We can try to compare it with travelling from Tokyo to Osaka.
Even though this is a Monday (weekday flight), you can save ¥8890, so be sure to check different LCC websites and compare with the Shinkansen prices.
I will be explaining how LCC works!
If you are flying from Narita, you can go to Terminal 3, which is a 10-12 min walk from Terminal 2 or you can ride the bus. The terminal itself is very small but still has kiosks, convenience stores and a food court. Since LCC has a very low price, there is no food service on flights. They do have snacks on board but if you want to save up money, it is best to eat before or after the flight.
If you have more time than money, riding the overnight bus is perfect for you! You can save up the cost of staying at a hotel because you are travelling at night. There are a variety of buses and the level of comfort and convenience. If you are focusing on the price, you can ride “not so nice” buses and ride for several thousand yen from Tokyo to ShinOsaka. But there are also luxury buses as well.
At the waiting room, there is an information desk, souvenir spots, some vending machines and a computer area. You can also choose the time when riding the bus as well, in the day time or overnight.
The Willard reborn overnight bus that we took from Osaka to Tokyo is a bit pricey but it is very clean and cheaper than riding the Shinkansen. There are amazing features inside the bus such as getting your own pod, electric outlet, amenities and you can recline your seat. For me, I was a bit tired but this bus had the most comfortable ride.
Before talking about car rentals, one side note is that if you are just going to stay around in Tokyo, we would not recommend renting cars because train access is more convenient and if you still want to travel around by car, you can take the taxis. But, if you have a large family it would be good to travel together. There are still requirements for driving where you need an international drivers license or Japanese driver’s license. But there is also limited parking spots and can get quite expensive from 4000yen to 6000 yen per day.
If you see “空”, it means that there are open spots.
The process of renting a car in Japan is as easy as renting a car in other countries. The easiest is to book the car online, choose insurance and sign the documents. Most of the shops have manuals available in English and navigation systems. You can also buy a new driver magnet at the rental car shop or the 100 yen store because Tokyo streets are very narrow and the signs would be really different to the U.S. Free left’s and red lights are usually prohibited.
6. Japan Taxi
The taxis in Japan is more convenient than riding an Uber or hailing a taxi using an app because there are so many on the streets. Uber in Japan is very different compared to other countries where it is not run by Uber but private drivers and can be more pricey than regular taxis. There are not many taxis if you are outside of the city but you can always get a taxi from the station or ask the hotel to get a taxi. The taxi cars are gradually changing to spacious wheelchair access friendly cars and have charging ports installed. There is no worry for getting overcharged by the drivers but rides can get pricey so if you are only riding several stops, it is the best to ride the trains. Nowadays, you can pay with IC cards, credit cards and cashless payments.
If you see “空車” it means the taxi is taking fares.
“ 回送” means they are not in business.
Another interesting characteristic of Japanese Taxis is that the doors automatically open and close so you get really good service.
Bike rentals are the best for getting around if you do not want to take the trains or walk or if you like to explore a particular area. Docomo is one of the companies that give bike rental service and there are other areas outside of Tokyo in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Kanagawa, and Osaka.
The one day pass in Tokyo is 1650 yen and you can do a quick research to find bike spots and applying takes on 5 mins. For riding, you can set a password and to drop off, you can drop off at other stations.
For parking your bike, make sure that there is no “no park” signs around.
8. Japan Lockers
For travelling, there are usually three different sizes of lockers available. If you like to go around the city without luggage or baggage, then the locker is very useful.
Usually, you can only pay with cash but nowadays, you can pay with IC card and it will open up your locker if you swipe with the IC card. Lockers are usually found inside the stations but you can also find them throughout the city as well.
Thank you for reading the blog post. I hope that these tips and hacks would be useful when you guys travel around Japan. Be sure to check out other tips and hacks for travelling to Tokyo Disneyland and/or Universal Studios as well.