So a lot of you might think that the only way to get around Japan is at taking trains or cars

But there's just so many different options and there's so many different tips and hacks

But I definitely needed to share with all of you

So many things I've learned along the way living here in Japan

but before I start if you guys want to help support the channel then check out the Japan merch and if you want to see

What I'm doing on the daily check out my Instagram account

And if you have any questions about Japan or your Japan travels then check out my discord community

The links will be in the description finally before I start I got to pay for my clothes new shoes

I wanted to say thank you to our sponsor luggage at free travel which brings me to our first tip of the video

So one of the biggest issues I have especially when traveling is carrying around a lot of luggage

especially in Japan when you take a lot of trains to get where you're going you have to haul all that luggage with you and

if you have a big family or if you just have a lot of baggage you have a lot of souvenirs you bought along the

Way, it just makes this super difficult to travel with all of that luggage

so a service like luggage free travel is the perfect solution you can use it right when you arrive in Japan from the airport and

Ship your stuff directly to your hotel and you can use it from hotel to hotel

So if you're traveling in Tokyo or outside of Tokyo

If this luggage and free travel is just a super convenient sending luggage is super easy

all you need to do is go to the luggage free travel website and schedule a drop-off from an airport or hotel in Japan you'll

Receive a QR code and then simply show the QR code at the luggage center of your specified drop-off spot if you don't speak Japanese

No worries. They have a multiple language support and then a few quick taps and your luggage free

When you pick up your luggage, say at the next hotel

Simply show you receipt or confirmation number at the luggage counter

The counter will get your luggage and then you're good to go easy like miso soup in the morning

So what's also convenient is if you're in the Kanto area you can get the same day delivery

So for example if you ship out your luggage before 10:00 a.m

In the morning, you'll get it the same day between a 6 and 9 p.m

And if you ship out your luggage from your hotel before 4 p.m. It'll arrive the next day from 2 to 6 p.m

so if you guys are interested in this luggage for me travel then check out the link in the description and if you guys use

The coupon code paulo you get an extra 20% off that all said that let's move on to my next tip now

Let's talk about trains now

If you've seen my other videos, you know

I've already done a video on Shinkansen trains and just writing a trains in general here in Japan

but in this video I wanted to talk about the jr pass which probably a lot of you will be considering so if you're coming

To japan and you're just staying in tokyo, then you don't really need a junior pass

In fact, all you really need is an IC card like a Sukkah or a paas

No, but I've covered in some previous videos

So I'll definitely leave links to that if you're interested, but if you're planning to travel throughout, Japan

Then junior pass is probably most convenient and cost-effective

method of traveling

So for those of you who are not familiar and junior pass is a pass that allows you to ride all the trains all

Throughout Japan it comes in several different packages

You can get a 7-day a 14-day and a 21-day and also it comes in two different levels

You can get an ordinary pass or you can get a green pass which allows you to have the nicer seats in the Shinkansen trains

And if you look at the chart, you can see there's quite a difference in prices. So be very selective when choosing

Especially considering how long you're gonna be in Japan and what type of seats you want when riding the train and here's how the green

Seats looks like and you can tell there's a little bit of the difference. The green seats are a little nicer

They're kind of more like a business or a first-class seat

There's a lot more space

But something to consider is that the ordinary seats actually get booked up a lot quicker than the green seats

So you might want to consider that when planning a lot of your travel

But you don't really need to worry because if you get the ordinary seats

Then you can always upgrade later at the ticket counter if you need to so in general if you're gonna be traveling all throughout

Japan and you're gonna be making multiple stops, then definitely in junior pass is something to consider

But if you're only gonna take one trip from Tokyo to Osaka and back then may and jr

Pass is not the way to go. So let me show you the cost from Tokyo - in Osaka

So if you're taking the Hikari Shinkansen, it's gonna take about 14 or 400 yen to get there one way

That's twenty thousand eight hundred yen

Roundtrip while using jr past seven day ordinary ticket costs just under thirty thousand yen. So the costs are very similar

So if you take multiple trips within those seven days then jr pass is definitely worth it

So for example if you're going from Tokyo to Osaka

- then Kyoto you've already paid for your 7-day ordinary pass

In fact, there's several websites out there where you can actually calculate whether or not jr

Pass is gonna be worth it. Depending on where you're going. I'll leave a link in the description

So you guys can check that out

But there is something to consider when taking the jr pass you don't have access to the fastest Shinkansen trains

But that's not that big of a deal

So for example, if you're going from Tokyo - in Osaka, there's a three different types of speeds. You have Nozomi Hikari and Kodama

I was only being the fastest but you don't have access to that. So here's a time from Tokyo to shin-osaka

You can see that there's a little bit of a difference in time

But you be the judge to see whether or not it's worth it for you

So finally a lot of people that get the TAS asked me can I use this in Tokyo quick and short answer is yes

But you can use it only on junior lines

So a lot of the junior lines run throughout Tokyo, but it doesn't work on the Metro

You can actually use it for the nutty to Express because it's run by j.r

So if you're arriving at Narita Airport, and you're going into Tokyo, then definitely you can use the jr. Pass

Oh and one final note you can use the junior pass on buses and ferries

But you're definitely gonna need to look on the website to see if it's available

For the location that you're traveling to but personally for the junior pass for me

I would definitely get it because it's rates that you would never get as a local. I can't even get the junior pass

So if I was a traveler, I would get it

I would probably stick to the ordinary pass because I don't really need to use the green seats

The seats are nicer, but I don't think it's worth paying the premium for it

and

If I do want to upgrade and I want to get a nicer seat so that I can just pay for it at that time

So we're back in the airport and now it's time to talk about

LCC flights also known as low-cost carrier flights if you're trying to save money on your travel in Japan then this is

Actually a very very valid way to travel. So in fact that Japan has a lot of different LCC flights available

They have Sky mark solo seed air Jets RPG aviation vanilla air AirAsia and spring Japan. There's so many carriers

So basically if you're trying to just go to one spot like if you're going from Tokyo to Osaka

It probably makes sense in terms of cost wise to take LCC flight, but if you're going to multiple locations

Then the j.r pass and may be a better choice. It really depends on your travel plans

So I recommend to do a bit of research to save yourself some time and money

So let me quickly compare the cost from Tokyo to Osaka

one-way so taking in the Shinkansen at Nozomi is about fourteen thousand yen while if you take an

LCC like jet star and you go by their lowest rates on Monday?

You can actually get a ticket for five thousand eight hundred thirty yen

That's eight thousand eight hundred and ninety yen cheaper even if you include a transportation from Tokyo to not eat the airport

That's about 15 to three thousand yen. So it's still cheaper

So if you are looking to travel and want to save some money, then definitely look into the different LCCs

So let me show you how easy it is to get on and LCC

So if you're flying from Narita, most of the LCC is fly out of Terminal three

There are exceptions to check beforehand. You'll need to walk or get on a bus at Terminal two

I usually walk as it only takes about 10 to 12 minutes

Terminal 3 is small but it does have convenience or drugstore and a food court just before the security gates

There are a few shops and kiosks after the gates

But if you're gonna eat I recommend eating at the food cart as it has the most options LCCs are cheap

So expect the minimum service no full meals and standard seating the flights though

Do have some limited snacks on board but since the flights are short

I recommend saving your money and eating before or after the flight

So a lot of Japanese actually prefer to take LCC flights because it is cheaper

But personally for me I kind of like riding the Shinkansen

So I prefer paying a little bit more to ride the Shinkansen and I don't actually like all of the travel from tray

Getting on a flight and then back on a train to go wherever I'm going

I'd rather just be on the train the entire time but it's usually personal preference and some people want to fly

So definitely consider LCC flights if you want to save some money and you would just want to go a different route

Let's move on to the next tip. Let's talk about

overnight buses now to be honest with you

I don't take overnight buses so much these days and just because I prefer taking the Shinkansen

It's a lot faster

But for those of you who have actually a lot more time than money

Then this is a very viable way to travel one being it's a lot cheaper

And two you actually save on hotel costs because the time you're traveling at night. You don't have to pay for a hotel night

So first of all when taking an overnight bus, there's several different levels

You can take you can take the really really inexpensive route. The buses are not as nice

You can probably get from Tokyo Dutch in Osaka for several thousand yen

But there are some luxury style buses that I'm going to show you right now

So we're about to board the night bus right now, and this is actually kind of a little waiting room

You can see they have an information desk. They have some vending machines. You can buy some souvenirs

They even have some computers over there where you can get on internet and it's just kind of like a lounge area

Before you get on it's actually quite a comfortable process to get on the bus

So I traveled on the Willard reborn overnight bus from Osaka to Tokyo it costs eleven thousand five hundred yen per person

It is pricey for a night bus, but it's super clean and it's still cheaper than a shrink onsen train ticket

You get your own pod with all the lux features

Folding table electric outlet reading light and amenities like blanket and high masks and best of all it has an almost flat reclining seat

almost

So I'm fully reclined all the way down and I'm pretty straight

So it's quite comfortable on this bus

So for those of you that are looking for a decent night's sleep

Then this might not be that bad of a solution

I mean you have the shake me of the bus but aside from that you can lay straight

But you can't get in a lot of other buses

So all I have to do is just take a nap and see how the morning goes

That was probably the most comfortable bus ride I've ever had but being me I still a bit tired

But then you get the best sleep in the world and also you don't need to go overnight

You can actually travel on a bus during the day

There's different types of buses you can get and depending on your price range. You can get different classes

So for me, I think overnight buses are great

If you really want to save that money

But I think at my age I prefer to just travel a little bit nicer and just like sleep at a real hotel

But it really depends on you

if you're trying to save money on hotels and

You want to like get from city to city then overnight buses are a really good way to do it now

Let's talk about car rentals

So the first thing I should mention

Especially because a lot of people ask me about car rentals if you're going to a big city like Tokyo

Then you definitely don't need to rent a car train access is pretty much everywhere and you can get to wherever you need to go

Via train and then walking to that location

So I think cars make the most sense if you're traveling outside of Tokyo and you want to explore some places that trains and buses

can't normally get to

also some really nice feel cons are really difficult to get to so taking a car makes a lot of sense another way cars make

Sense is if you're with a large family or a large

And car transit allows the entire group to stay together and go to these remote spots

But before you drive you need to make sure that you meet the requirements to be able to drive in Japan

So generally either need a Japanese driver's license or you need to get an international driver's license

There are a few countries where you can get your license translated, but that's only a few countries

So more than likely you're gonna need to get an international driver's license