Japan Travel Tips for First Timers: Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me

My first Japan trip was almost perfect. Almost. The gap between “almost perfect” and “perfect” was filled with small mistakes that were entirely avoidable — and looking back, every single one of them would have been solved by someone telling me, plainly, how things actually work.

Here’s that conversation.

The Cash Thing Is Real

Japan is a famously cash-dependent country, and this surprises almost every first-time visitor from the West. You will need cash regularly: small restaurants, street food vendors, temple entrance fees, rural vending machines, onsen admission. Many places still don’t accept cards at all.

The best place to get yen is a 7-Eleven ATM. They work reliably with foreign cards, the fees are reasonable, and there is a 7-Eleven ATM approximately every 200 meters in any Japanese city. I learned this after my card was declined at a local bank ATM outside Kyoto at 9pm and I nearly had to skip dinner. Get cash at 7-Eleven and get enough to last a few days.

Don’t tip anyone. Not servers, not taxi drivers, not hotel staff. I didn’t know this before my first trip and tipped a cab driver, who looked genuinely uncomfortable and tried to give the money back. Tipping is not part of Japanese service culture and can read as rude. The service will be impeccable without it.

The Shoes Decision

This sounds trivial and it is not. In Japan, you will take your shoes off constantly: at traditional restaurants, ryokan, many temples, some homes if you’re lucky enough to be invited into one. This means two things. First, your shoes need to be easy to slip on and off — laces with many eyelets are a daily inconvenience. Second, your socks need to be in good condition, because people will see them.

I wore my most comfortable walking shoes on day one — great for the feet, took forty seconds to unlace every time. By day three I’d bought a pair of slip-on shoes from a convenience store. Lesson learned.

The Train System Isn’t as Confusing as It Looks

Tokyo’s subway map looks, at first glance, like something designed to induce panic. Don’t let it. In practice, Google Maps in Japan is excellent and will tell you exactly which line, which direction, and which exit. The trains run on time to a degree that feels almost implausible — a two-minute delay is announced with a level of apology usually reserved for disasters.

Buy a Suica card at the airport, load ¥5,000 on it, and tap in and out of every gate. You will never need to figure out ticket prices or buy individual tickets. If your balance runs low, top it up at any station machine or convenience store.

The one thing Google Maps doesn’t always make obvious: the exit number matters. Major stations like Shinjuku have 50+ exits, and coming out of the wrong one puts you 10 minutes in the wrong direction. Check the exit number before you start walking up the stairs.

Etiquette That Actually Matters

Japan has a reputation for strict etiquette, and it’s not entirely wrong, but the rules that matter most to daily life are simpler than they seem:

Don’t eat or drink while walking. Eating is done standing still (at a stall, a bench, a konbini) or sitting. A Japanese person eating while walking is unusual enough to be notable.

Be quiet on public transport. No phone calls. Low voices. The silence on a Japanese subway during rush hour — hundreds of people, barely a sound — is one of the stranger, more impressive things about the country.

Both hands when receiving something. When a shopkeeper gives you your change or a business card is offered, take it with both hands and a small nod. This takes about two seconds and goes down extremely well.

Don’t stick chopsticks upright in rice. It resembles a funeral offering. Rest them on the chopstick holder or across the bowl.

The Thing Nobody Mentions: Convenience Stores

I need to say this clearly: Japanese convenience stores (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson) are not like convenience stores anywhere else on earth. They are extraordinary. The onigiri are made fresh that day. The sandwiches are genuinely good. There are hot foods — steamed buns, fried chicken, nikuman — that you’ll look forward to. The cold coffee cans are numerous and excellent. The ATMs work. You can pay bills there. They sell travel-size toiletries. They stay open 24 hours.

When you’re tired or it’s late or you can’t decide where to eat, go to a konbini. I’ve had some of my most satisfying Japan meals standing in a convenience store parking lot at midnight.

What I Got Wrong About Pocket Wi-Fi

I rented a pocket Wi-Fi device thinking it was the obvious solution to staying connected, and for the first trip it was fine. Then the battery died at exactly the wrong moment — standing at a complicated junction in rural Kyoto, offline, unable to look up which path to the temple — and I realized a pocket Wi-Fi is one more device to charge, one more thing to carry, one more point of failure.

For subsequent trips I’ve used a Japan eSIM. You set it up before you land, it activates when you touch down, and you never worry about it again. Data is fast, coverage in cities is excellent, and there’s nothing to return at the airport.
— book via Airalo eSIM for the best deal.

The tip that matters most before you leave home: download offline maps for every city you’re visiting. Open the Google Maps page for Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka — tap your profile, tap Offline Maps, download the areas. When you’re standing at an unfamiliar intersection with bad signal, those offline maps are the difference between lost and found.