Japan

Flights

From NorCal, Japan Airlines or ZipAir had non-stop flights. ZipAir is a budget airline ran by Japan Airlines. I flew it back from Tokyo to SFO, and it was decently comfortable.

Accomodation

Hotels and Airbnbs both worked. I would recommend booking stays near train stations, esp. major train stations. It will make cities much easier to navigate.

Immigration

US citizens do not require a visa for temporary stay as of Sept 2024. Review more information here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Japan.html

You will need to fill out a customs declaration form. To avoid doing this on arrival, you can use this site to set everything up digitally before you land: https://services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/

Once done, you will have a QR code that the immigration officer will scan to get all your information, and you will not need to fill out a physical customs declaration form that is given to you on the plane or on arrival. A tax free QR code will be added to your passport when you arrive by the immigration officer. This is explained later in the section about Paying for things.

Data Plan

I had two options. Since T-mobile is my cell service provider, I could have asked them for an international data plan. Most US cell providers offer similar temporary international plans. Or since my phone is eSIM compatible, I went ahead with a separate provider. In my experience, eSIMs give you more choice to pick a network with better speeds/coverage. I went ahead and chose a Ubigi data plan for my stay. I only needed data and had no need to make calls within Japan. I downloaded the Ubigi app and then installed the eSIM through there. They provide instructions on how to do it.

Travel

For taxi, the Go app was clutch. Uber is also supported but I believe Go is in use more.

That said, public transit is your best friend, as Japan is thoroughly connected by public transport. It was easy to use Google Maps and understand how to navigate the system. The easiest way to pay for public transit is to add a Suica card to your Apple Wallet or Google Pay. Instructions can be found here:

Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108772
Google Pay: https://support.google.com/wallet/answer/13314575?hl=en

The Suica card allows you to tap to pay in train stations and on busses. It can also double as a payment card for pretty much anywhere that accepts credit cards and has tap to pay as an option.

You can pre-load the card with Japanese Yen using a credit card you have attached to your mobile wallet.

For trains, just look for turnstiles that say IC, and tap to get in. Then when you have arrived at your destination station, tap to exit, assuming you have enough cash loaded on your Suica card. If not, the gate will close, and the screen will read how much you owe. Once you load more cash onto your Suica, you can then tap and exit. If you have any issues, the officers working the stations are very helpful.

If you are looking to travel further, e.g. from Tokyo to Osaka/Kyoto, you will likely be interested in the Shinkansen, AKA the bullet train. The best way to book that would be using the SmartEx app. It was easy to go on there and book tickets.

Once bought, you will need to go to the Shinkansen ticket counter from your origin station to collect a physical ticket to get through the turnstiles.

Or another option, in the SmartEx app, you can designate your Shinkansen ticket to your Suica card, and then you can just tap to enter the station.

To do this, you will need to get your Suica card number. You can do this by downloading the Suica app.

Press the i Icon in the Suica app to reveal your Suica ID. You can then copy this number and switch back to the SmartEx app to designate your Shinkansen ticket to your Suica.

As far as large checked bags, you can fit them on the overhead of your seat on the Shinkansen, so don't worry about reserving seats with Oversize baggage area or compartments unless your bags are larger than ~30kg. I would also recommend splurging on the Green Car seats, which is the more luxurious class on the bullet train. The seats are more spacious and recline. We used the Green Car going from Odawara to Kyoto, and Osaka to Tokyo, and it felt well worth it. Still though, it isn't a must.

Paying for things

We barely used any cash. $200 USD is probably more than enough and then convert to Japanese Yen at tourist information centers, the airport, or I believe some convenient stores. Otherwise, most all places accept credit cards, usually from a mobile wallet like Apple Pay or sometimes you would need to provide a physical card. You can also use an IC card, e.g. a Suica card, to pay for things as well. If you are buying goods over ~5000 yen, ask for a tax-free payment or if there is a tax-free counter. Then they will take your passport and scan the tax-free QR code the immigration officer stamped into your passport on arrival.

Communication

A lot of people could speak decent English. Otherwise your best friend will be the Google Translate app. Pre-download the Japanese language so you can do translations off-line. It was very common to use the speech feature to have someone in Japanese speak into your phone, and have the app translate. And then switch languages on the app, respond back via speech/text, and show them the response translated into Japanese.

When Walking Around

Always carry your passport. Foreigners are required to be able to present their passport.

Make sure you wear for the weather. When I traveled in September 2024, it was incredibly hot and humid. A handkerchief to wipe sweat and hats were important. There are many convenient stores and vending machines around. You can use your Suica to pay at vending machines. Definitely stay hydrated. I would even recommend buying an umbrella or neck fan to help even more.

On the topic of convenient stores, the food at the 7/11 and Family Marts are worth trying if you need a snack.

Luggage Delivery/Storage

So say you are transfering between cities or hotels and don't want to lug your bags around, you do have options. In our case, we checked out of our hotel in Kyoto, wanted to visit Nara, and then train over to Osaka for the night. We did not want to lug our bags around with us during this travel. So we had two options.

Most major stations have luggage lockers where you can keep your bags for the day. I believe payment can be done via credit card, Suica, or cash. You should research ahead of time if the station has one, and for the correct size.
Use a luggage delivery service. If you are moving from one hotel to another, most hotels offer this as a service and you can ask reception. If hotels are not involved, many luggage delivery services exist. Yamato Transport is the one we used and has many locations. You can find the one closest to you, and give them the address of a Yamato Transport nearest to your destination. It was so easy to drop off our bags at the one closest to our Airbnb in Kyoto, travel all day, and then get to Osaka in the evening and pick up our bags at the Yamato Transport near our Airbnb. Apparently the convenience stores like 7/11 or Family Mart also offer this service, but we did not explore this with them.

Another thing I would recommend for any travel is to keep location tracking tags in all your bags. I had Apple AirTags in each of my bags so I could track where they were, especially when we were traveling from Kyoto to Osaka.

Places Visited

I try to save everywhere I visited on Google so here is my Japan list: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TT1K145V17rsumZi9

Regarding Shrines/Temples

We only got a tour guide for one shrine, which was the Senso-Ji temple in Tokyo. It was nice to learn about the history behind the shrine and the surrounding area. That said, once you've seen one shrine, they do start to blend a little, so if you need to drop something from your itinerary, don't feel too bad dropping a shrine unless there's a photo op you don't want to miss. One temple I would personally not miss was the Toda-ji temple in Nara. The temple and Buddha statue were an impressive site.