So it's being a very long time since I've done a Japan Travel Tips video, and I know a lot of you guys actually subscribe to my channel for them.

But don't worry.

I got a lot of Japan videos coming up in the next few months.

In today's video, I'm going to be giving you guys 10 tips that you must think about and do before you go on your trip to Japan.

I've lost count on how many times I've been to Japan, but whenever I go now, I have a checklist on what I must pack in what I must do before I go.

Of course, all these things are personal preference, but I found that over time these other things that are most important for me to have a stress free trip to Japan.

Okay, so let's just get straight onto the video.

Number one cash.

Japan is through a cash society, even though Carter being more set of these days, there are still a lot of places that only a set cash, especially if you're going outside of Tokyo eating street food, going to some tourist attractions for me.

Personally, I prefer using cards, but whenever I go to Japan, I make sure I have a couple of $100 in cash, just in case I run into these situations.

Before going to Japan, I would recommend we check out exchange rates in your area, compare them and see where is the best place to exchange.

I prefer to exchange my money in Australia because I find that the rates are better here compared to Japan.

But that might be different for your country.

So definitely you have to do some research around there to find where you can get the best deal up.

Number two Credit cards Even though Japan is a cash society, having a credit card with you can be very handy.

Like I said before these days, a lot off stores are starting to accept foreign credit cards or debit cards.

But one of the main reasons why I recommend you bring a credit card is that most of the time when you will withdrawing money from your car, you get a better exchange rate than exchanging cash.

Of course, a difference for on bank to bank, so check with your bank to see what exchange rates are for May.

I prefer going with global banks like Citibank because I find that the exchange rate they give me is pretty close to the actual rates I usually use a.

T.

M's in 7 11 FamilyMart because they are first of all everywhere in Japan, very easy to find.

But second of all, most of those 80 m zehr set mastercards.

And if you can't speak Japanese, that's okay because most of these machines have multiple languages in bil in them.

So yeah, you would have a problem during money number three, Power board or data.

This is what a Japan PowerPoint all plug looks like is the same as the U.

S.

In Australia, we use different ones, which is why I have to carry an adapter every time I go to Japan wanted.

I always tell people when they travel is always bring a power board.

That way you only need one adapter and you can charge all of your electronic in one go there.

These days, I find that most people charge there things using USB.

So I like to carry around this travel adaptor.

It's great because it has power points for all of these different countries really handy, since there are four USB ports as well, so I can charge all my cameras in one go Number four sim card.

Really consider getting a SIM card When you go to Japan, seriously, it makes your life so much easier.

Back in the day.

When I first started traveling to Japan, smartphones weren't a thing, so it made traveling around Japan very difficult.

These days, it's so much easier thanks to smartphones, but without connection, it's kind of useless.

That is why I recommend you get a SIM card when you travel to Japan.

Now getting a doctor only Sim card in Japan is very easy.

But if you want a working phone number, that's another story.

However, there is a SIM card that you can use that does off phone number and data, and that's mobile.

The great thing about this Sim card is that you can actually get it delivered to you before you go to Japan, or you can pick it up Once you arrived.

I took the option for it to be delivered to me before I arrived in Japan, so once I land.

I can use it straight away.

You can just activate your SIM card any time I chose tomorrow morning because I land in Tokyo at 5 a.m. So once I learned I could use my SIM cards straight away.

The benefits of SIM card I get unlimited daughter, so you actually get seven gigabytes, our fast for G Internet.

If you go over that, then it slows down.

But you can still use as much data as you want, depending on which package you choose.

You get given a real working Japanese phone number, which is really handy if you need it, because getting a Japanese phone number like I said, it's very difficult.

Even when I was living in Japan, if you wanted a phone number, you had to sign all of these contracts, and usually they run for at least a year.

If you break the contract earlier, you have to pay a lot of fees.

The SIM card has no contract, no activation for, you know, termination fee or Texas.

So you save money with this question.

A lot of you guys might be asking is when would you need a Japanese number and a Japanese number does come in handy, especially if you are trying to book things.

For example, if you're trying to make a reservation at a cafe or at some tourist attraction, sometimes they may need a phone number to confirm your booking form.

A.

Because I don't live in Japan anymore.

Obviously, I don't have a Japanese phone number.

Whenever I came across their situations, I would always message my friends and ask if I could borrow their phone number.

But if you are traveling to Japan and you don't have any friends there, then having your own phone number would say a lot of hassle.

Also, if you want to order stuff online in Japan, you usually need a working phone number, just in case.

If something comes up and they need to call you, the coverage is great, is what they use a Softbank network, and you get free incoming texts and phone calls.

You can actually call other Softbank users for free 20 hours a day from 1 a.m. To 9 p.m. Softbank is one off the major networks in Japan, and yeah, if you have friends in Japan, a lot of them will probably be on that network is really easy to order on the website Our Lincoln Down below.

They have different types off Sim Card Plaza.

You can choose from the have one to just data ones with data and phone number.

So it's really up to you what you want.

And also they have English support if you have any issues.

And another thing I want to say about Mobile is that they give the majority off their profits to charity.

Number five Phone APP sees in Japan Now that you have a SIM card and working Internet data, here are some absolute I think you should down the 1st 1 is Google Maps.

Seriously, guys, there is no need to download any up in Japan.

Train APS If you're going to Japan anymore, Google maps have improved so much that I've totally dished the Japan trey naps.

If you are taking public transport, Google Maps told you exactly which train you have to take.

What last year to take if you have to make any transfers and how long they would take is really straightforward and easy, and because you have Internet data, then you definitely use Google maps.

The 2nd 1 is Google.

Translate.

If you need to ask a question and you can't speak Japanese, just use Google.

Translate.

Of course, it's not the most accurate translation, but people get the general gist off what you're trying to say, and if they can't speak English or whatever language that you speak, then give them your phone.

Let them type in the answer and translate to any language you want.

For many Google, translate has saved me many times not in Japan but in countries where I can't speak the language.

Third at that I think you should download Is Japan Taxi.

I used uber's order time when I traveled, but unfortunately, uber isn't very widely used in Japan.

They do have over, but they have only uber blacks, which is a lot more expensive than just normal taxis.

Texas are relatively easy to get in Japan if you can go to a busy road.

But if you are in a situation where you can't get to a taxi, then you can use Japan taxi.

So it works like boo boo.

You just pretty much put in your location and a taxi will come and pick you up now I do recommend you get this before you go to Japan, because to set up your cat, you need to have a working phone number.

If you choose the mobile SIM card that gives you a Japanese phone number, then you can download it up whenever you want.

At number six J R.

Past something you should look into and research about before you go to Japan is whether or not you should get a J R pass.

I get asked this question all the time.

Is a jail past were for Should I get a J A pass on?

My answer is always I don't know.

It really depends on where you plan to go when you are in Japan and whether or not you're going to be taking a lot off bullet trains.

So say you're doing a one week trip to Japan, for example, and you are planning to take the bullet train only once from Tokyo Osaka.

So okay, a one way to go from Tokyo or soccer by bullet train is around $150.

Now J R Pass is $300 for one week.

Now just think about it.

Do you want to pay $150 or $300 obviously $150 so J R Pass is not worth it.

In that case, if you are planning to take a bullet train every day and let's just say, for example, the costs were like $800 for the week, then would you rather pay $100 or $300?

Obviously, you want to get the past because it's cheaper now that J R Pass is only available for those on a foreign passport these days, you can actually get the Jr passed in Japan, but I high recommend you do it before you go, because it's actually a lot cheaper to do so in your own country.

Number seven Sweet Jamaica is a card that you used for transportation in Tokyo.

There are two major cards.

It's weaker or possible.

I guess this is not something that you would have to consider before you go to Japan, because you can only get it in Japan.

But it's something that you should think about because it makes your life so much easier.

Having one of these cars is convenient because you just tap off and on at trades.

You can use it to pay at convenience stores, or you can use it to pay a vending machines to now, as you can see in those clips, I wasn't using a physical car.

I was using my phone to pay for those things.

I get us all the time how I'm able to get this week on my phone, and it's very simple.

You can do it to.

All you need is an iPhone.

Just open up your wallet.

App put in yours.

Weaken details and then you're done.

Now you do need to actually have the physic horse.

We could card itself, but once it's on your phone, you can just chuck it away.

I find it a lot easier to use my phone as my sweetheart because, well, first of all, I have one less car to bring around with me whenever I need to tag on and off, I don't have to be fumbling around in my bag trying to find my card.

My phone is always in my hand, so it's just much more convenient to use that you can also charge your sweet girl on the go using a debit or credit card, which you can add on to your wallet on the iPhone as well.

All if you want.

You can actually charge using cash as well, but you can only do it at some major train stations.

Number eight Travel Insurance Travel insurance is something that you really need to look at whenever you travel.

Teoh, Any country, really.

Sometimes if you book a flight using a credit card, you do get free travel insurance.

But in the case where you don't have it, I still highly recommend together.

I'm gonna tell you got some real life stories.

So a friend of mine, she was on like a one month trip to Japan.

And on her first week, she broke her arm snowboarding.

So she had to go to hospital, obviously on her bills racked up to around $8000.

Now because she had insurance, she only had to pay the excess off $500 that's it.

So she was very lucky.

A few years ago in, my sister actually broke her camera in Japan, and she was able to get reimbursed for the whole camera.

Of course, he had to paid excess off around $200 but the camera was like $1000 she was able to get the majority off that money back.

So it's definitely worth it if something goes wrong when you travel Number nine tickets to Attractions, the worst thing that can happen is that when you plan out your whole trip, you decide.

Teoh arrive at a restaurant or tourist attraction, and you find out when you are there, you actually can't get in because tickets have been booked out months in advance.

So when you're planning your itinerary to Japan, make sure you research and check to see if you need to actually book tickets in advance or not.

An example is a Studio Ghibli Museum.

You have to book the tickets weeks an event, and they get booked out very quickly.

If you don't have a pre booked ticket, and even if you turn up to the location, they will not let you win.

Even for places like the Pokemon Cafe, you have to book weeks in advance as I don't allow walk ins.

The team tennis exhibition is the same.

You have to book in advance over 10 passport.

Now this is obvious whenever you are traveling overseas.

Off course, you need to bring a passport with you now, depending on your past.

But you may or may not need to apply for a visa before you go into Japan as I hold an Australian passport whenever I go to Japan, I don't need to apply for a visa because I get given a 90 day tourist visa as soon as I land in Japan.

Now, I don't know much about visas for other countries, so I highly recommend you research this on your own immigration website before you go.

But besides visas, I always told people to bring their passport around everywhere.

When they are walking around in Japan.

Why is that?

You should get a lot of benefits if you are holding a foreign possible.

In Japan, for example, some tourist attractions actually give you a discount if you flash your foreign passport.

If you're shopping and spending a lot of money in one store in Japan, bring your possible because he could get tax free and can save 8% off your whole purchase.

The great thing about tax free in Japan is that you get a under spot.

There's no need to go to the airport line up to get your refund.