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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Apprehensive_Heat176 on 2025-04-22 16:18:18+00:00.

I just came back from an epic trip to Japan. Here are my experiences and hope it helps others with their planning. I’m sure my routing wasn’t as optimal as it could be as I doubled back a bit. On the other hand, I didn’t want to schedule everything down to the last detail. I left enough wiggle room to explore openly. The only sites I booked in advance were TeamLab Borderless, Universal Japan and the train between Tokyo and Kyoto. We were really lucky and saw the sakura during the whole trip.

Klook Passes - I bought these tourists passes and made decent use of them. I do know that tourists passes aren’t always the best deal especailly for transit when you have IC cards…

Klook Pass Greater Tokyo with 3 Attractions for $65 CAD per person - I booked Teamlab Borderless, Red Tokyo Tower and the 72 hour Tokyo Subway Ticket. The pass more than paid for itself as Teamlab is already $40 CAD per person. Most of the other options in this pass didn’t interest me or were too far from where I was staying in Shinjuku. I wanted to book Shibuya Sky, but dates never lined up. I didn’t see the point of the other observaton decks like Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Tower or Skytree as we did the free Tokyo Gov’t Building and free-ish Asahi Sky Room. I thought about the 1-day ticket cable car and chair lift ticket to Mount Takao, but didn’t end up going there.

Osaka Amazing Pass - I bought the 2 day pass for $42.25 CAD per person, which gave me unlimited rides on the Osaka Metro and a whole list of sites. I probably could have seen more sites with the pass though. The pass is a bit tricky to use because the pass is valid for exactly 2 days as soon as you activate it. So I had to activate it just before taking my first trip on the Osaka Metro.

Transit - The transit passes for Tokyo and Osaka were a bit inconvenient to use because we had to switch to the paper or e-tickets vs using our IC cards. The Osaka Amazing Pass requires an active internet connection because it shows a unique QR code every 50 seconds or so. I did not have any issues with internet while in the subway though. As the pass holder, I had to get my friend to go ahead of me while I scanned the first QR code at the ticket gate. Then I could scan the second QR code so I could go through the ticket gate. I made good use of the NaviTime app to pick the transit lines that took advantage of the passes and check my IC card balance. If I visit Japan again, I would forego the transit pass and just use an IC card as it’s one less thing to fiddle with.

Internet - I travelled with a friend who has an older phone that did not support esims. He bought a roaming package through Freedom Mobile in Canada, but it did not work once we got to Tokyo. We went to BIC Camera to buy a SIM card (I think it was from Softbank), but it also did not work on his phone. The sales person was very helpful and used a translator device too.

I suspect his phone is still locked or is a 3G phone that could not connect to any network in Japan. Luckily, I brought a spare unlocked phone with me that accepted the SIM card and he used it as a wifi hot spot. I used a Saily esim for my phone and it worked quite well. I did experience a dead spot in a few places in Tokyo and Enoshima I think. We also made use of the Japan Auto Wifi Auto Connect app.

Battery Pack - My friend also did not buy a USB battery pack before the trip. This was easy to fix on the same trip to BIC Camera.

Luggage - I’ve haven’t checked a bag in over 20 years. The last time I checked a bag, I had to make a tight connection. My bag didn’t make it on the connecting flight because of a weather delay. So I had to wait a whole day for my bag to catch up. I was on a multi-city tour so that could have ended in disaster with my bag constantly playing catch up and being left without fresh clothes for the whole trip. Even if a checked bag makes it to the destination, you have to spend time waiting for it at the carousel on both ends.

My friend way over packed for the trip and didn’t have a proper travel suit case. It looked like he used a soft shell hockey bag with wheels and a gym bag as a carry on. Not sure what he was carrying, but the gym bag felt heavier than my carry-on wheeled luggage that was already 18 pounds. He also had a draw string backpack and a small Pacsafe wallet to keep credit cards, cash, passport and phone. The Pacsafe wallet was jammed full with his wallet, envelope with cash and coins, my spare phone, his phone and the USB power bank. He could have easily put my phone and power bank in the drawstring bag. IMO, drawstring bags are useless for travel because you can’t lock them and are uncomfortable to wear because there’s no padding.

Our hotels helped us ship our main luggage from Tokyo to Osaka, but he did not use it effectively. For some reason, he chose not to put his extra stuff in his main luggage before shipping it to Osaka. So his carry on gym bag still weighed more than my piece of wheeled luggage. If you must carry so much stuff to Japan, at least ship it between cities so you don’t have to carry it all day long. I brought a 12 oz stainless steel water bottle with me, but got tired of the extra weight of the bottle plus water. So I just left it in my wheeled luggage after the first few days and shipped it to Osaka. I then bought a drink from a vending machine and re-filled it with water along the way or from a big jug of juice that I bought from 7-11 for 120 JPY.

Since his shoulder bag was so heavy, we had to seek out lockers. By the time we got to Kyoto station, all lockers were full. So we had to wait until we got to the Kyoto Railway Museum, which had plenty of lockers.

Cash - There’s no need to carry large amounts of cash around since ATM’s are plentiful and credit cards are accepted fairly widely. I know that IC cards can only be topped up with cash though. My friend actually carried his cash and coins around in a bank envelope. That envelope was almost ready to tear open by the end of the trip. I’m shocked that he didn’t drop anything.

I know there are currency converter kiosks and counters around Japan, but I advised him not to use them as the rates would be terrible. He almost made the stupid mistake of using his credit card and paying in CAD while at Donki. The number one rule of getting cash or using credit cards while travelling is always pay in the local currency. Luckily, I stopped him before he made a that mistake. He also seemed dead set on converting the Canadian cash he had on hand to JPY. I told him to keep his CAD cash and withdraw JPY only when he needed it or use credit cards. Converting back and forth is another way to get hit with fees especailly when dealing with CAD.

Train Tickets - I know that many people prefer to buy tickets at the machine on the days before or day of travel because their card doesn’t work on Smart EX. I prefer the peace of mind of having the tickets on me and not having to deal with lines. Besides, I had a good idea of my itinerary so buying in advance made sense to me and I splurged a bit on green car seats. My TD Visa card worked without issues on Smart EX from Canada. When we got to Kyoto station, I saw that the lines for the ticket machines were insanely long. This was before Golden Week so I’m sure it would be even worse during that time.

Itinerary

Apr 5 - Departed Toronto on Korean Air 74 to Incheon. I splurged on a business class seat and the service was excellent. This was my first time flying business, but it was easy to justify for a 15 hour flight. The flight was on a Boeing 777 and had the new Korean Air (and IMO boring) livery. The plane was in the Apex suite 2-2-2 config. I had a window seat, which has a lot more privacy than the aisle seat.

Korean uses the KLM Lounge at Pearson terminal 3, which was mediocre at best. At least, it was quiet in there. Security at Pearson was a breeze to get through.

The meals and flat bed were a highlight of the flight as was the service. I basically had instantaneous service as soon as I pushed the call button. The lavs were seldom occupied during my flight. The one time the lav was occupied, the FA let me uses the first class one.

Apr 6 - Arrived in Incheon. Customs was busy, but moved through smoothly. I had about 4 hours until my connection to Haneda. Korean Air’s Presige lounge was really busy when I arrived. I didn’t have any food as I was still full from the in-flight food. I wanted to take a shower, but had to wait over an hour.

Departed Incheon at 2030 for a 2.5 hour flight to Haneda. The flight was on an A330, but did not have the Apex suite configuratiion. The seats were in a 2-2-2 config and had a small partition between them. The seats had an insane amount of leg room, but I did not need to recline to a flat bed for such a short flight. I thought the service and food was not as good as the long haul flight. Then again, it makes sense as the FA’s don’t have nearly enough time to setup the tray table, table cloths, serve multiple wine options, etc.

Arrived at Haneda at 2300. The customs area was really busy. I think it took me over an hour to get through the line. I got twice unlucky because the…

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