This section was placed at the very top of the guide to be available as quickly as possible in case you open it.
Emergency numbers in Japan :
If, when wandering around in Japan, you suddenly hear all the cellphones/smartphones around you ringing at the very same time, it's very probably a preventive earthquake alert.
In case of an earthquake, don't panic. You're in one of the safest place in the world when it comes to earthquakes. In general :
For those wanting more information you can consult the earthquake english guide from the Tokyo town council here. It's quite extensive and covers generalities on other type of catastrophies, that's a good read.
The more you correctly plan your trip, the better it'll be. That's why Mereck never plans anything.
We now have a discord server open for those who want to coordinate on the next Comiket or simply discuss with us about it or Japan in general : http://discordapp.com/invite/EQ8wExE
Small non-exhaustive list of things not to forget to bring:
Living up to their reputation, Japanese trains are on time. If you missed your train there is a 99.9% chance that it's because you're a piece of shit that can't read a fucking clock you messed up with the timetable. Timetables generally indicate the DEPARTURE time, not the arrival time.
JR Pass are super useful if you intend on moving out of your arrival city. A bullet train Tokyo-Osaka return ticket costs more than a one-week JRPass which allows both unlimited use of this line and unlimited use of the JR Lines in Tokyo and Osaka in this precise case (as a side note, the JRPass price is actually its fixed value in Yen converted to your local currency).
Don't forget that Japan Rail is the historical national railway operator, which is usually comparable to a lot of its other countries counterpart (in France for example, Paris' railways are divided between 2 operators, the RATP [Paris transports] and the SNCF [National transports]).
Last but not least, JR Pass also allows you to ride a lot of local buses for free, and even a ferry… here is a more exhaustive list.
⚠️ Be aware that you must buy your JR Pass coupon BEFORE going to Japan. You can order it onlinen, apparently anytime before your departure, or buy it directly in some travel agencies (Mereck personal experience: bought it a day before departure kek).
Remember to compare prices online before buying (price is usually just a conversion of a fixed Japanese price, but both online and offline travel agencies selling them are applying their own conversion rate).
JR Pass 'Green' allows you to travel in 'first class' (Green Car is the equivalent to the usual First class in other countries' train system, there is also the Gran Class coach which is equivalent to something between business and first class airline coach… with a price on par with them). JR Pass Green is more expensive than normal JR Pass but it might be a very valid option if you travel between big cities during high traffic periods and those extra 80€ will allow you to have an almost guaranteed seat since Green car seats are way more expensive than normal ones. As a bonus, Green Car seats are way more comfortable, featuring individual power socket, extra recline, motorized footrest…
If you are a true penny pincher, or if the JR Pass you took doesn't cover the full length of your stay, you can also get the Seishun 18 Kippu. Contrary to its name, it is not restricted to 18 years old and younger. Nevertheless, it is restricted to some school holiday periods (detailed here), but most of all, you will get a 5 days/person ticket which can be used independently and non consecutively. This means that you can also use it for multiple person.
You can picture it as 5 credits. Here is an example: Day 1, you are 2 to travel somewhere, you use 2 credits. Day 2, you do nothing, no credit used. Day 3, another travelers joins you and you are now 3 to travel, you use your last 3 credits.
Obviously, the ticket holder have to be with the other travelers in case of a control.
The limit of this ticket is that it is for use ONLY for rapid and local lines (express lines are NOT available with it, let alone bullet trains…).
That ticket only costs 12050 yens, meaning 2410 yens per day/person, which is rather cheap if you want to travel far away. This ticket seems to be available at all stations (but you might have to ask to the station staff).
For the real penny-pinchers, another alternative is the long distance (most notably night) bus. It's quite comfortable, very cheap, and the risk to be bothered by kids since most of the people using this transportation mean are the elderly.
Also, sometimes, Airlines (almost only ANA and JAL) offer 1 or even 2 stopover in Japan for not so much more (sometimes as low as 50-100€). It can be very cost-effective particularly for long distance traveling (Tokyo -> Okinawa, Fukuoka, Aomori, Sapporo, etc...) and if you stay on some of those big destination without moving much afterwards around it. It is also interesting if you prefer flying on 'big airlines' (and not low-cost ones).
In the same fashion, air travel can be more interesting than train on long distances. Typically, if you go Tokyo -> Sapporo (Hokkaido) or Tokyo -> Fukuoka (Kyushu), the time spent flying and connecting will be way less than using only the train lines, and sometimes can be financially more interesting as well (1/2 less days used on JR Pass / no expensive train ticket).
Let's use the example of Shinjuku (Tokyo) -> Hakata (Fukuoka), in high season you'll spend almost 5 hours and a half without a JR Pass (Shinkansen Nozomi is not available for JR Pass holders) for 14000 yens, and 6 hours without it (meaning you use 1 day of JR Pass) vs 4 hours via Haneda + connection before/after for 150€ (low cost airline ticket) + 1210 yens for connections.
The gap is even wider for Hokkaido since the Shinkansen doesn't go all the way to Sapporo (and the price gap is even bigger).
Car rental can be quite the hassle, we detail that in the next section.
Depending on where you live, international driving permit might or might not work.
If your driving license was issued in Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco, Estonia or Taiwan, you can get your license translated in Japanese and drive freely in Japan as long as it's with a visa of less than 1 year (if you leave Japan and come back it, of course, reset that limit to 1 year again). Details can be found here.
For driving license issued in other country you can check this page for details.
All the countries listed above have signed a treaty with Japan on that matter, making it way easier for us to drive in Japan. Main pro is that you are then able to drive freely as long as your driving license isn't expired and hasn't changed (in case of any addition on your driving license you must renew your translation for it to be valid). Main con is that it must be done in Japan, either on site, or by mail with postal order and with a return address in Japan.
From personal experience, Mereck translated his own and his father's (yes, you can translate someone else's license) and it was rather easy. You just have to show up at one of the JAF's branch office (that support translation, be sure to check that beforehand), fill in a paper in your language, give your driving license with the payment, they will give you a number and you will have about an hour to do stuff before coming back to fetch it (you can also come back the following day if it's already late). In Mereck's case it took 4 hours since his dad's license was an older model not being issued anymore with manually written fields on it that were badly written.
If you are a bit in a hurry, come as soon as the branch office opens (it can take up to a day in some branches).
Unfortunately as of now, all our driving capable members are mainly coming from countries from that list so we are lacking intelligence on that part. If anyone got information about that, feel free to participate here.
In 2018 we rented a car to visit Gunma prefecture (which is very much the inaka), it was quite useful must notably due to the fact that we saved about 20-30 minutes for most itineraries since public transport density is very low in that region. The car costed around 50€ per day, making it not very cost effective for 2 people (against 2 JR Passes), 3 people would have been ideal for cost effectiveness. But then again, factoring in the time saved and the flexibility offered by having your own mean of transportation outweighed it for us (we estimate around 4-5 hours saved in our 4 days / 3 nights trip).
In 2019 we made a trip through Hokkaido and car transportation proved to be quite essential. Interesting places to visit are frequently quite inconvenient to reach by transports, most notably everything revolving around "nature". We also chose to have our lodging in the middle of the countryside, further exacerbating the need for a car.
Driving itself is a bit peculiar (except if you are a Britbong or coming from a shit-hole), you'll have to get used to left-hand driving, as a result the driver's seat is on the right. If you've never driven that way it's gonna be quite disturbing for the first few minutes (protip: levers such as blinkers, wipers and lights commands are inverted).
The speed limits sometimes look like they are indication, not compulsory. It is quite rare to see Japanese people respecting those limits strictly (except for noobs and seniors). Most drivers seem to drive 10 km/h and sometimes 20 km/h above the speed limit.
This seems to be mostly due to the fact that there is quite a bit of tolerance on speed limit enforcement, the tolerance being around 20 km/h. Also, most notably on 'high speed' roads, those limits don't make any sense (60 km/h for highway, 100 km/h for expressway). On the other end of the spectrum, with that 20 km/h tolerance you'll see people cruising at 50 km/h on 30 km/h limited roads in the middle of cities where it should be more strictly enforced.
Safety distance is also a concept that doesn't seem to be quite understood in Japan, but since road accident are quite rare I'm gonna assume they just have S-rank reflexes.
As a side note, a shit-ton of Japanese people are driving while playing on their smartphone, and they manage to drive without lifting their eyes from their phone and not have a shit-ton of accident related to it (also don't do it, it's as illegal there as anywhere else in the world).
Apart from those things, Japanese people are by nature quite respectful of others, you will not see them playing dirty on the road, we sometimes even saw some give way when they shouldn't, making it a bit confusing at time
On traffic rules, we highly recommend you to read the JAF Traffic Rules guide. While it only covers the basics, it's still better than nothing. You can go a step further and buy the full Rules of the Road guide.
On the pro side, you won't find any manual transmission car in Japan (except if you specifically look for one) so you won't have to manage that, and almost all rental cars come with AC (which is quite a big plus in summer).
On a closing note, keep in mind that while car rental is not that expensive you must take into account the fact that expressway are quite expensive in Japan, particularly if you intend on doing long distance trips. Some rentals (depending on the region) will offer expressway subscription (usually for the region you are in), it can be quite interesting if you intend on using them a lot.
Tokyo is well suited for biking. Except for the motorways and aerial routes, bikes are allowed on almost every roads out there, even dozens of kilometers out of central Tokyo. Tokyo got quite a few elevated points, making it potentially a bit demanding but if you can accomodate that, then biking in Tokyo will be mostly pleasant.
Japanese bikes are all registered. If you intend on buiying a bike, you will have to register it to the local police station, and then keep the registration documentation on you at all time while using it. Controls are frequent, particularly if you are not 'Japanese looking'. When buying from an individual you will have to register it with the seller at the local police station.
Renting bikes is possible in almost all 'big cities', and often near train stations in the more remote places of Japan. Bike rental is generally quite affordable and allows for quite an improvement in mobility without having to rely on transports + foots for certain cities (and a good alternative for those without a JR Pass).
If you are lazy and/or have heavy luggage, and forking a bit of cash for comfort is fine, then don't forget about the "Takuhaibin" services. Basically you give your luggage to a postal company and they will deliver it to you at a train station / airport / hotel. Sometimes you can even drop them at a konbini. Generally you can get it delivered for the next day, or in some cases, for the same day. Protip: most companies allow you to delay the delivery by a few days (generally up to a week), so you can get both a temporary storage of your luggage and its delivery at your point of arrival.
The 3 most renowned companies doing that are Yamato Transport, Sagawa Express, and the national Japan Post. Whichever one you use don't forget to compare both their price and accessibility from your location to the receiving counter, and from the delivery counter to your next location.
For example for a Tokyo -> Narita Airport kinda large (160 cm total size) luggage, Yamato will cost 2750 yens (2500+10% VAT, you'll have an airport fee if you send it the other way around), Sagawa will cost 2728 yens (2068 basic fee + 660 airport fee, we are assuming VAT is included) and Japan Post will cost 2710 yens (though there is apparently a 120 yen discount if you bring it to the post office). Also for some reason Sagawa list the same price for next day and same day delivery, but please confirm that information at a Sagawa service counter before relying on it.
Be extra careful to check the minimal transit time BEFORE thinking about sending your luggage to avoid a nasty surprise.
When you arrive somewhere you might want to do some sightseeing before going to your hotel/AirBNB, and if you have annoying to carry luggage you will probably want to store them temporarily.
You will find coin lockers in the bigger train stations of Japan (and sometimes even at other places). It should cost you 300 to 700 yens depending on the size of the locker (for suitcase you will almost always have to go for the most expensive ones). In general, if you leave your stuff for more than a day you'll just have to pay an additional fee of the day fee x the number of extra days, NEVERTHELESS, it is often indicated that you shouldn't exceed 3 days. Should you exceed that your stuff might be discarded / seized. Lifehack: coming back, paying, opening and immediately closing back your coin locker resets that limit.
Be aware that opening your coin locker for any reason will make you have to pay again to close it.
As a side note, most coin lockers are now digital one (without keys). The main pro is that you can pay for your stuff with your Suica (or any contact-less compatible payment card) and have it registered automatically for retrieval of your stuff. Otherwise pay in cash and the machine will give you a QR Code to scan to retrieve your stuff. The main con is that losing your Suica / QR Code means you'll have to ask for help to open your locker again.
If you need to have your luggage somewhere for longer than a few days and/or no coin locker is available - something that happens quite frequently in high season - there's the Ecbo service, calling itself the “AirBNB of lockers”.
Basically you create an account, book some space for X pieces of luggage for X days, pay and drop them. It's simple, fast and not that expensive (as expensive as the bigger coin lockers). There's tons of options to drop your luggage off (particularly in Tokyo, and since that's probably gonna be your point of arrival/departure that's gonna be your most convenient option), from train stations, to post office, to random shops who wants to supplement their income. Expect 800 yens per day for a piece of luggage that's “suitcase sized” (anything above 45 cm / 17.7" on its biggest length). Just know that above 3 days and below 1 week, Takuhaibin services are generally more interesting money-wise.
Alternatively Sagawa also has a luggage storage service, but they only have 3 locations in Tokyo, and except for the fact that one of those 3 is a bit cheaper (500 yens), it's probably not worth it (plus there's a 5 days limit).
Above 1340€ in a month, the N26 card is more interesting than the Revolut one. Which is something that can happen quite fast in Japan.
