Japan makes the process of exploring its country as effortless as possible for travelers. After traveling for over half a decade, I’ve found that only a handful of countries are this mindful of ensuring convenience for visitors.
The thing is — you can’t take advantage of Japan’s practical travel touches if you don’t know about them ahead of time.
During my time in Japan, I discovered incredibly handy travel hacks that helped me with public transportation, translation, and even carrying my baggage.
These are the five most important travel hacks that made my trip to Japan 10x easier.
Table of Contents
Download Ubigi for a Simple, Effective Esim in Japan
My first activity in a new country is always setting off to find a SIM card, but when I got my new iPhone I was horrified to find that there was no SIM slot. Little did I know that this would be a blessing in disguise because it led me to discover the Ubigi app for my Japan trip.
Ubigi is an app that allows you to conveniently buy an eSIM card for over 200 destinations [ source]. I can’t attest to the service quality everywhere, but Ubigi was flawless in Japan. I even had service on the underground metro and through the middle of nowhere on a bus.
I could conveniently purchase more data on the app and it’s pretty budget-friendly with prices starting at $4 per GB. Gone are my days of struggling to communicate at an electronics store, only to end up purchasing a SIM card that barely works.
Get Breakfast From 7/11
I grew up going to New York City restaurants, so I’m accustomed to long lines at worthwhile establishments. Yet, nothing could have prepared me for the wait times at Japanese restaurants. Waiting at popular Japanese food spots can eat away at your day.
That’s why I opted to stop at one of the thousands of 7-Eleven stores around the country for breakfast every day. In America, I’d rather starve than eat a convenience store meal, but it’s a completely different story in Japan.
The food, snacks, and drinks at Japanese 7-Eleven stores are elite. It’s a fun little game every morning to pick your own breakfast spread and it’s quick, so you can get on with your day discovering Japan.
Check out my full article on my favorite Japanese 7-Eleven snacks for more.
Purchase the Luggage Shipment Service From Hotels and Convenience Stores to Get Your Things Between Cities
The most dreaded part of traveling for me is lugging around all my bags between cities on hectic public transportation. Thankfully, Japan is a very tourism-friendly country and has posed a solution to this common travel hassle. Enter, luggage shipment.
Most Japanese hotels and major convenience stores like 7-Eleven provide luggage shipment services. Your bags go directly to your next accommodation for a small fee.
My fee was around ¥2,000 or $13 per big bag, but it differs depending on the destination and baggage sizes.
Sending my bags off without me in a foreign country did turn up my nerves, but my luggage always made it to my hotel without an issue. It was incredibly easy to travel from place to place this way. Just make sure you keep all your valuables with you.
Use a Virtual Public Transportation Card Instead of a Physical One
I never realized the annoyance of replenishing a physical metro card in person until I could do the whole process from my phone in Japan.
Before I arrived in Tokyo I downloaded a virtual Suica card by going to my Apple Wallet, clicking the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner, and hitting the ‘transit card’ option. Then, I simply searched for the Suica card, added it to my wallet, and put in money via Apple Pay.
I recommend pre-downloading the card, so you can hop on the train from Haneda airport and get directly into Tokyo’s city center for less than $5. It also works on buses. The virtual card makes it easier to add funds and gets you through busy stations faster.
Rely on Google Translate’s Lens Translation Feature
From family-run restaurant menus to package labels and signs, translations are needed for English speakers in Japan. However, you can’t just plug the words you see into a translator because it’s a totally different style of alphabet.
That’s why the Google Translate Lens feature was so necessary for me in Japan. All I had to do was point the camera at the Japanese words and it would spit out a rough English translation directly into the photo.
I tried out several other photo translation apps while I was in Japan, such as DeepL. The Google Translate Lens was by far the easiest to use and understand. The translations aren’t 100% perfect, but it’s good enough to get the gist.
Keep a Small Coin Purse to Hold the Multitudes of Change You’ll Get in Japan
A separate coin purse is completely necessary on a trip to Japan. Everything under ¥1,000 comes in coin form and it can quickly turn into a very bulky situation that few wallets can handle.
By the end of my first day in Japan, I was already hauling around about a pound of change . Putting coins in a designated pouch makes it less challenging to count change when paying. It also helps you keep things organized.
***
Being a foreigner in a country thousands of miles away from home can feel intense. Especially when you don’t speak the language. However, it’s probably way less difficult to travel in Japan than you think.
Japan can be one of the easiest countries in the world to visit if you have the right tools. These travel hacks will make your trip through the country way easier and save you tons of time and stress.
Next up, read my article on cultural taboos in Japan to avoid. Japan is extremely tourist-friendly, but they take their taboos very seriously.
