We're finally back from our trip and I wanted to post a guide for anyone who wants some advice if they're interested in going to Tokyo at all. We were in Tokyo for one week, but it felt like a month! We had so much good food and saw some amazing things. Tokyo was more of a vacation for me as well because whenever I visit Korea, a big portion of it is spent hanging out with my family and doing more familiar things. I've never been to Japan before and I don't know any Japanese so it was just as much of a new and exciting trip for me as it was for Daniel.
HOW TO NAVIGATE THE SUBWAY
The subway system was what I was most worried about for this trip. In most countries, the subway is not too bad to navigate. It's usually operated by one organization (the government) and the lines are either numbered or colored. In Tokyo, there are a LOT of lines and they're operated by different organizations. They are usually colored, but they have long Japanese names and the stations are ENORMOUS. Tokyo's equivalent to a metrocard is called a Suica card, it's green and has a little penguin on it. You can reload it and use it on every subway line and even some vending machines.
The most important thing to know is what line you are taking, what direction you are going in, and what exit you are getting out at. The stations are so big that getting out at the wrong exit can add 10 minutes to your travel time. As you can see above, you might see this sign at some stations that tell you what exit to take for certain destinations.
Another thing: there are different trains on the same platform: there's local ones (that stop at every stop), semi-express (only stop at certain ones), express (doesn't stop at any except the last station), and there are even more that I haven't named. Like look at this:
When I saw this, I was like, are you serious? Is this a joke? In the beginning, we just got on whatever train and hoped for the best. But once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad. All of the signs have English on them, and Google maps is pretty helpful with navigating the subway. The stations I had the most trouble with were Tokyo station and Shinjuku station because they are the biggest and they are always jam packed with people speed walking to their destination. So I will repeat: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT EXIT YOU'RE GOING OUT OF!! You can find that by using Google maps to find the station and zoom in all the way to find the exit number that is closest to your destination.
HOW TO NAVIGATE THE SUBWAY
The subway system was what I was most worried about for this trip. In most countries, the subway is not too bad to navigate. It's usually operated by one organization (the government) and the lines are either numbered or colored. In Tokyo, there are a LOT of lines and they're operated by different organizations. They are usually colored, but they have long Japanese names and the stations are ENORMOUS. Tokyo's equivalent to a metrocard is called a Suica card, it's green and has a little penguin on it. You can reload it and use it on every subway line and even some vending machines.
Another thing: there are different trains on the same platform: there's local ones (that stop at every stop), semi-express (only stop at certain ones), express (doesn't stop at any except the last station), and there are even more that I haven't named. Like look at this:
When I saw this, I was like, are you serious? Is this a joke? In the beginning, we just got on whatever train and hoped for the best. But once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad. All of the signs have English on them, and Google maps is pretty helpful with navigating the subway. The stations I had the most trouble with were Tokyo station and Shinjuku station because they are the biggest and they are always jam packed with people speed walking to their destination. So I will repeat: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT EXIT YOU'RE GOING OUT OF!! You can find that by using Google maps to find the station and zoom in all the way to find the exit number that is closest to your destination.
If I lived in Tokyo, I would love to have a bike! A lot of them have motors installed so that you can get up hills (not that there are many hills to deal with), and they are registered with the government similar to cars so if it gets stolen, it's easier to find. It would be impossible and/or really dangerous to have bikes in Seoul because the traffic is awful and people drive like crazy. Apparently, it is also illegal to ride your bike home while you are drunk...
GHIBLI MUSEUM IN KICHIJOJI, TOKYO
This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Let me tell you, I don't really like museums. I get bored easily and I don't like being on my feet all day. I'm always the one bothering Daniel to hurry up and leave so we can go get food. But this was AWESOME. Everything (including the building itself) was specially designed by Studio Ghibli, which is known for their amazing films and artwork. You're not allowed to take photos of the inside of the museum, but I took some of the outside. I honestly liked the fact that we weren't allowed to take photos inside because it was really crowded and people lining up to take photos of everything would have ruined the experience.
The museum is 3 or 4 floors (I don't remember), and you can wander around for as long as you like. They have a few ticketed entrance times throughout the day so you just have to enter at your specific time but there is no required exit time. The ticket allows you to enter the museum and watch a short Studio Ghibli film (like 10 minutes long) in a small theater that they show pretty often. I LOVED the exhibits. I have always been a huge fan of the studio's artwork and skills, and there was a particular room that I really loved that had tons and tons of initial sketches done by the artists posted on the walls. I've always loved drawing and painting and these sketches were just amazing; I've never seen anything like them before in my life.
The exhibits explain just how much dedication and detail goes into creating a film. They also had rooms containing either the original or a really good replica of the desks that Hayao Miyazaki and other studio artists worked at while creating the films. The desks were kept in their original state, with pieces of sketchbook paper and paint brushes and even cigarette butts lying around. One thing I noticed was that there was no barrier between the exhibits and the tourists. If you wanted, you could reach out and touch everything (obviously you're not supposed to but that's how close we were to everything), but no one did. Daniel and I agreed that this would never work out in the US because there would probably always be that one person to ruin it for everyone else. It made for a nicer and more immersive experience.
HOW TO GET TICKETS TO THE GHIBLI MUSEUM (if you're interested)
The museum sells tickets on the 10th of every month at 9 PM EST for all of the tickets for the next month. We went in June, so we had to buy our tickets on 5/10 at 9 PM. We were READY with both of our laptops because we knew it would be really difficult, and we were right. The website is not built for that many people and there were probably thousands and thousands trying to get tickets all at once. The museum sells tickets separately for foreign tourists (online) and Japanese people (they can just go to a convenience store called Lawson's and pick some up). You can also pay a tourism agency to buy you some tickets online but it's really expensive, and the actual tickets themselves only cost around $12.
If you are even somewhat interested in the Ghibli Museum or have watched and enjoyed any of their films, I highly recommend you check it out. The tickets are affordable and the museum is easy to get to via subway. It was a beautiful museum and I'm really glad I went.
The museum is 3 or 4 floors (I don't remember), and you can wander around for as long as you like. They have a few ticketed entrance times throughout the day so you just have to enter at your specific time but there is no required exit time. The ticket allows you to enter the museum and watch a short Studio Ghibli film (like 10 minutes long) in a small theater that they show pretty often. I LOVED the exhibits. I have always been a huge fan of the studio's artwork and skills, and there was a particular room that I really loved that had tons and tons of initial sketches done by the artists posted on the walls. I've always loved drawing and painting and these sketches were just amazing; I've never seen anything like them before in my life.
The exhibits explain just how much dedication and detail goes into creating a film. They also had rooms containing either the original or a really good replica of the desks that Hayao Miyazaki and other studio artists worked at while creating the films. The desks were kept in their original state, with pieces of sketchbook paper and paint brushes and even cigarette butts lying around. One thing I noticed was that there was no barrier between the exhibits and the tourists. If you wanted, you could reach out and touch everything (obviously you're not supposed to but that's how close we were to everything), but no one did. Daniel and I agreed that this would never work out in the US because there would probably always be that one person to ruin it for everyone else. It made for a nicer and more immersive experience.
HOW TO GET TICKETS TO THE GHIBLI MUSEUM (if you're interested)
The museum sells tickets on the 10th of every month at 9 PM EST for all of the tickets for the next month. We went in June, so we had to buy our tickets on 5/10 at 9 PM. We were READY with both of our laptops because we knew it would be really difficult, and we were right. The website is not built for that many people and there were probably thousands and thousands trying to get tickets all at once. The museum sells tickets separately for foreign tourists (online) and Japanese people (they can just go to a convenience store called Lawson's and pick some up). You can also pay a tourism agency to buy you some tickets online but it's really expensive, and the actual tickets themselves only cost around $12.
If you are even somewhat interested in the Ghibli Museum or have watched and enjoyed any of their films, I highly recommend you check it out. The tickets are affordable and the museum is easy to get to via subway. It was a beautiful museum and I'm really glad I went.
THE AMAZING FOOD OF TOKYO (and my recommendations for affordable restaurants)
Thankfully, a lot of restaurants had menus in English for tourists, but don't count on it. A lot of the time I just pointed at what I wanted on the menu even though I didn't really know what it was, and it was always really good (and I can be a picky eater...). The places that have English menus are typically chains with multiple locations. Our favorite chains were Coco Ichibanya (awesome Japanese curry), Sukiya, and Hanamaru Udon. Don't turn your nose up at chains, because they are AWESOME! It's cheap and the quality really is still better than many sit-down restaurants in the U.S. The standard of food quality here is just much higher and you get a lot of good food for the low price you're paying.
When you eat at a restaurant, they will usually bring you your receipt while you are eating, and you just pay at the register and leave (no tips). Another method we ran into was paying before sitting down to eat, by either ordering and paying at the register or using a vending machine in the store to select what you would like and giving the receipt to the employee. If you run into this method, I recommend taking a picture of the receipt (like I did below) because once, the employees messed up an order and we were unable to tell them what we ordered because of the language barrier. If you have a picture of what you got, you can just show it to them. Or maybe I'm just being too paranoid...
SUKIYA
A HAPPY PANCAKE
There are these things called Souffle pancakes all over Tokyo. They're exactly what they sound like, light, airy pancakes that come with or without toppings. They're really popular and a lot of places have a decent wait time, but we got lucky and only had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table here. We went to A Happy Pancake in the Ginza area, and they were pretty good. If I had more of a sweet tooth, I think I would have enjoyed them more. I still recommend you check it out, though!
Hanamaru Udon is another chain that serves udon noodles and various tempura-fried foods. The tempura works like a buffet, you choose which items you want and then you tell the cook at the end of the line what kind of noodles and broth you want. It's super cheap and the tempura is still better than any restaurant in the U.S. can make.
Thankfully, a lot of restaurants had menus in English for tourists, but don't count on it. A lot of the time I just pointed at what I wanted on the menu even though I didn't really know what it was, and it was always really good (and I can be a picky eater...). The places that have English menus are typically chains with multiple locations. Our favorite chains were Coco Ichibanya (awesome Japanese curry), Sukiya, and Hanamaru Udon. Don't turn your nose up at chains, because they are AWESOME! It's cheap and the quality really is still better than many sit-down restaurants in the U.S. The standard of food quality here is just much higher and you get a lot of good food for the low price you're paying.
When you eat at a restaurant, they will usually bring you your receipt while you are eating, and you just pay at the register and leave (no tips). Another method we ran into was paying before sitting down to eat, by either ordering and paying at the register or using a vending machine in the store to select what you would like and giving the receipt to the employee. If you run into this method, I recommend taking a picture of the receipt (like I did below) because once, the employees messed up an order and we were unable to tell them what we ordered because of the language barrier. If you have a picture of what you got, you can just show it to them. Or maybe I'm just being too paranoid...
This was the ramen we ordered from the vending machine. We went to a place that specializes in Yuzu ramen. I think this bowl cost like $11, which is amazing considering how good it was. I hate that there are almost no good, AUTHENTIC ramen places in the DMV, and when there are, a bowl costs like $17-$18... even a random neighborhood ramen shop we went to near our hotel tasted amazing and it only cost $8.00.
COCO ICHIBANYA... I miss it so much already. This is the most delicious curry chain restaurant in Tokyo (in my opinion)... the day they bring one to Washington DC will be the happiest day of my life. You can order a regular menu item or you can build your own curry. I will not disclose how many times we ate at this place (mainly because I wanted to go) during our trip... they also had them in Seoul and I definitely took advantage of that. I always got pork curry sauce with Level 2 Spiciness, fried pork cutlet, cheese, and onsen tamago (soft boiled egg). The picture below doesn't have the egg because they bring it to you in a small bowl and you pour it into your curry sauce and I just hadn't done it yet. If you like Japanese curry, you will LOVE this place!
Sukiya is a Gyudon chain restaurant (Gyudon is meat and other toppings like cheese and sauteed onions on a bowl of rice and you crack an egg into it and mix it around. Eggs in Japan are safe to eat raw or barely soft boiled). We went to Sukiya and Yoshinoya (another chain) and Daniel liked Yoshinoya more, but I liked Sukiya. Gyudon is even cheaper than curry, I think a bowl costs around $5.00?
There are these things called Souffle pancakes all over Tokyo. They're exactly what they sound like, light, airy pancakes that come with or without toppings. They're really popular and a lot of places have a decent wait time, but we got lucky and only had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table here. We went to A Happy Pancake in the Ginza area, and they were pretty good. If I had more of a sweet tooth, I think I would have enjoyed them more. I still recommend you check it out, though!
Hanamaru Udon is another chain that serves udon noodles and various tempura-fried foods. The tempura works like a buffet, you choose which items you want and then you tell the cook at the end of the line what kind of noodles and broth you want. It's super cheap and the tempura is still better than any restaurant in the U.S. can make.
RANDOM HELPFUL TIPS
- 7/11 is your friend! I did not know this either, but you have to pay with cash for EVERYTHING. 99% of restaurants and stores do not take credit cards (only one restaurant we ate at took them, and it was probably because it was an expensive omakase place), so you will inevitably have to take out cash from an ATM. It seemed like most Japanese people used 7/11 ATMs. It sounds sketchy, I know, but they're always located inside the store and it is super safe, and you can switch the machine to English. Tokyo is a very safe city in general and I never felt unsafe even when I was walking down dark streets at night. And don't forget 7/11 is also a convenience store! We got lots of snacks to try from there and they also have some breakfast items. I'm definitely a breakfast person but Daniel is not, so a lot of the time we just popped into a 7/11 and I got some onigiri (they tasted pretty good, too). They also sell very good quality umbrellas for 500 yen ($5.00) and it seems like everyone in Tokyo just uses those. It rained twice while we were there so those came in handy.
-NOBODY SPEAKS ENGLISH!
This is one of the many things that are different between Seoul and Tokyo, and I know it probably stems from political and economic reasons, but literally no Japanese people in Tokyo (at least anyone we approached) spoke English. Even the employees at tourist destinations and the airport didn't know English, which I honestly thought was a little weird. I know that Japan does not rely as heavily on tourists to support their economy as other countries, but it was definitely inconvenient because no one could help us with any questions we had. You would think people working at the airport would at least know English... anyways, if you're going to Tokyo, just don't be surprised if that happens. Google translate and pointing at things will help.
-NOBODY SPEAKS ENGLISH!
This is one of the many things that are different between Seoul and Tokyo, and I know it probably stems from political and economic reasons, but literally no Japanese people in Tokyo (at least anyone we approached) spoke English. Even the employees at tourist destinations and the airport didn't know English, which I honestly thought was a little weird. I know that Japan does not rely as heavily on tourists to support their economy as other countries, but it was definitely inconvenient because no one could help us with any questions we had. You would think people working at the airport would at least know English... anyways, if you're going to Tokyo, just don't be surprised if that happens. Google translate and pointing at things will help.
Shibuya crossing - It was kind of cool to watch while it was raining because all of the different umbrellas were bumping into each other and it looked even more crowded. There is a Starbucks at the intersection and you can go upstairs and fight for a spot at the window!
- Just a reminder that they drive on the left there, so don't look the wrong way before crossing a street. Speaking of crossing streets, always use crosswalks and never jaywalk. Japanese people are total rule followers, which I love (because I am too)! You've also probably seen the images of commuters on the subway waiting in completely straight lines on the platform. It is real! People really do that. The subway is also really quiet on some lines, even if there's 100 people on the train.
-Currency exchange (just think of 1 yen = 1 cent. So 100 yen = $1.00 more or less, 1000 yen = $10.00, and so on)
-Pack light, hotel rooms are TINY for the price you pay. We only took one big backpack and one carry-on luggage and it was still cramped in some of the rooms we stayed in. The bed size names are weird, too. We stayed in mostly what was listed as "double deluxe" rooms and it basically just means a full size bed and a bathroom.
-Google maps is pretty good for navigating around Tokyo, but just keep in mind that it was really inaccurate with calculating walking time. You're probably like "well you probably just walk really slow"... but we definitely walked at either an average or fast pace and it was still taking us probably double the time that Google Maps calculated. So just assume that you will take 1.5x-2x longer to get to a destination.
-We flew into Tokyo Narita airport (I'm pretty sure that is the best one to fly into, Daniel planned pretty much all of this trip so I just went with it) and took the Narita Express Train into Shinjuku station and walked to our hotel. I highly recommend staying at a hotel that is close to a major station like Shinjuku, Tokyo, or Shibuya so it's easy to walk to with all of your luggage.
-There are absolutely no trash cans anywhere. Somehow it still prevents people from littering, which is awesome. Tokyo in general is a very clean city! I recommend bringing an empty plastic bag with you every day to put your trash (tissues, empty water bottles, etc) and you just gotta leave it in your room for the hotel staff to get rid of. Sometimes we very nicely asked people at food counters to take our trash for us and they were ok with it (not completely sure if that is socially acceptable but we had too much trash in our backpack...)
-Bathrooms are super clean even in subway stations and convenience stores, use the bidet! Bidets are awesome and I will be installing one in my bathroom when I get home. And make sure to bring hand sanitizer because lots of bathrooms do not have soap (ew...). I kind of knew this already but thought it was just a joke, but toilets really do have that button where it can make a loud noise (just sounds like flushing) so people don't hear you doing your business. I think Japanese people don't even want others to hear them while they're peeing, which I thought was kind of funny.
-You will DEFINITELY need a SIM card or a portable wifi router. I think the main reason we didn't each get a SIM card is because we already bought Korean ones, since we're here for a month. We didn't want to get another one and increase the possibility of misplacing any of them, so we just kept our Korean cards in our phones and used wifi. The one negative aspect of doing this is that you have to stay together the entire time to get any wifi since the egg only goes so far. It's fine for couples, but if you are just going with a friend and wanna do your own thing for a couple hours, you have to figure that out. Unlike Korea, there is NO free wifi anywhere besides at the airport (in Seoul you can pretty much get wifi anywhere, but I still recommend a SIM card). I highly recommend you always have an internet connection because it is very easy to get lost in Tokyo.
-There is a LOT of walking so you have to wear your most comfortable shoes. Tokyo is the biggest city in the world, and had we not used the subway most of the time, I wouldn't have made it through this trip. I have a pair of blue Saucony running shoes that are honestly hideous but they saved me from destroying my feet and I have no regrets about wearing them around! I still wear them around Korea on days when we're walking around Seoul even though Korea is much more... concerned with appearance (for lack of a better way of putting it ;) )
-Skype is helpful for emergency phone calls. Daniel and I only had a wifi egg so I was unable to actually call anyone, which would have been fine had I not run into problems at the airport ATM. I forgot that I had set my withdrawal limit to a certain amount and I wanted to take out more than that, so I thought the ATM was just flat out rejecting my card even though I had set an international travel notice. If you put like $5.00 of credit on your Skype account, you can call any number you want no matter where you are as long as you have wifi, so I was able to call my bank and get it figured out.
-Skype is helpful for emergency phone calls. Daniel and I only had a wifi egg so I was unable to actually call anyone, which would have been fine had I not run into problems at the airport ATM. I forgot that I had set my withdrawal limit to a certain amount and I wanted to take out more than that, so I thought the ATM was just flat out rejecting my card even though I had set an international travel notice. If you put like $5.00 of credit on your Skype account, you can call any number you want no matter where you are as long as you have wifi, so I was able to call my bank and get it figured out.
SAVING MONEY
- Don't turn your nose up at cheap chain restaurants when you're trying to save some money on meals, they'll most likely still be really good
-Take some time to figure out subway because taxis are ridiculously expensive, allow yourself extra time for getting to places
- There is a Japanese store called Daiso that is basically a dollar store but their products are actually pretty good quality and they have pretty much everything you could need on a trip. Daniel loved it and was so happy when we found out there were Daisos in Korea, as well.
This was a pretty basic list of tips so if anyone has any questions, just ask me on Facebook/Instagram/etc and I would be more than happy to help! I feel guilty for saying this, but I honestly had more fun in Tokyo than I did in Korea... please don't tell my family haha. I never thought we would be going until we were older, so I am really grateful to have had the opportunity and can't wait to go back.
- There is a Japanese store called Daiso that is basically a dollar store but their products are actually pretty good quality and they have pretty much everything you could need on a trip. Daniel loved it and was so happy when we found out there were Daisos in Korea, as well.
This was a pretty basic list of tips so if anyone has any questions, just ask me on Facebook/Instagram/etc and I would be more than happy to help! I feel guilty for saying this, but I honestly had more fun in Tokyo than I did in Korea... please don't tell my family haha. I never thought we would be going until we were older, so I am really grateful to have had the opportunity and can't wait to go back.
