Visiting Japan

Which airport to fly into, how to get from the airport to the city center, immigration and customs basics, and luggage-forwarding for onward travel.

Business hotels, ryokan, capsule hotels and minpaku explained, check-in and check-out customs, and hotel search shortcuts for the main cities.

Choosing the city and neighbourhood to base yourself in — station access, one base vs moving around, budget bands, and area guides for the main cities.

A comparison of Japan travel eSIMs and Pocket WiFi — how they differ, indicative plan pricing and data, and how to check your phone supports eSIM.

Japan gets more cashless every year, but keep some yen for small shops, shrines and rural areas. 7-Bank and Japan Post ATMs reliably accept foreign cards.

Offline maps, transit-routing apps, and why Japanese addresses describe a block of land rather than a position along a named street.

IC cards and transit apps for everyday travel, plus whether the JR Pass still pays off after the 2023 price rise and where to buy it.

Google Translate camera and conversation mode, restaurant-menu translation tips, and the signage kanji worth recognizing on sight.

A before-you-go checklist — power adapters, apps to install, cash vs card, and seasonal packing notes.

Shoes, chopsticks, onsen rules, trains, temples and shrines — what actually matters, and what visitors tend to over-worry about.

One national rule indoors, but the street outside is a patchwork of local ordinances — where zones carry fines, where rural areas have no rule at all, and where to actually find a place to smoke.

How safe Japan really is, the 110 and 119 numbers, earthquakes and typhoons, and where to find multilingual medical and embassy help.