10 Things You Must Do In Japan
September 21st, 2005 by quaisiIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Whether you are here in Japan on holiday or you are working, there are some things you should definitely experience. I`ve tried to make these 10 points irrelevent of location so these can all be enjoyed whether you are amongst the bright lights of Tokyo or in the middle of nowhere.
1: Visit an onsen or sento. Face it. Your bath at home is four feet long and has a tap poking in your back preventing you from truly enjoying your bathing experience. GO TO AN ONSEN! A public bath house with baths of every shape, size and style - hot baths, cold baths, herbal baths and scented baths. There are also saunas, steam saunas and herbal saunas. Yes these are public baths and someone might see your little pecker but get over that hurdle and prepare for the best bathing experience of your life.
2: Dabble in pachinko AKA the pinball/fruit machine gambling experience. But dabble only. It`s an expensive pastime.
3: Ride the Shinkansen. A no brainer really.
4: Watch a Kabuki play. This is traditional Japanese theatre. These can go on for three or more hours but there are less bladder-straining plays to see which only last half an hour.
5: Eat sushi/sashimi or any and as much Japanese food as you can. Not all of it will be delicious to your Western palate but it`s incredibly healthy and it`s one of the reasons you came to Japan - because it`s so different to your own country. TRY OUT NEW THINGS!
6: Have a go at Karaoke. Don`t fancy singing in front of a crowd of strangers? There are special karaoke halls with private rooms fitting any size from 1 to 50 of your closest friends and family. The price can be as little as 140 yen (70p/ $1.40) for half an hour. They have almost every famous Western song ever recorded and hi-tech equipment to make you sound even better than you really are. Don`t feel like singing? May I recommend The Beatles Her Majesty at a measly 23 seconds long.
7. Visit a temple or shrine. Another self evident suggestion but important. I sometimes think that just as New Zealand has more sheep than people, Japan has more shrines than people. Maybe not. Try out your fortune in the corner and get a native to translate the slip of paper you get back. If it`s a bad one, tie it to a part of the shrine to ward the bad luck away.
8: Try out the Japanese beverages. Similar to No. 5 yet whilst green tea may not have sugar and milk in like your beloved brown tea back home, it`s exceptionally healthy. Japanese babies live on it, it posesses cancer warding properties and is can be caffeine-free. If you`re not worried about all that health malarkey, try out sake which is rice wine or sample perhaps the best beer in the world, Kirin Ichiban.
9: Learn (a bit of) Japanese. It`s easy to learn to say hello, please and thank you and will help change the Japanese`s perception of you from an ignorant foreign intruder to a curious and open minded guest. Maybe.
10. Try to take in as much of the culture as you can. Unless you live in Korea, China or Russia, Japan is far from and very different to your own country. Enter it with an open mind and see how they deal with different settings and challenges not in stupid or wrong way but in a contrasting and fascinating way.
If you have any suggestions for things you should do in Japan, things you shouldn`t do in Japan or things you`d like to do in Japan if you came here, please leave something in the comments. Cheers.
As Haloscan will eventually hide these comments, I want to keep them in the post:
Well. You shouldn’t go on a train during rush hour with suitcases and a backpack. It’s suicidal.
You should eat yakitori at Iseya in Kichijoji, go to a matsuri and eat yakisoba, takoyaki, kakigori and all other scrumptious things, eat oden when it’s so cold outside your fingers are numb, chat with random homeless middle-aged men/ojisan at shinjuku park, try riding a bike with an umbrella from the 99yen store in one hand and the other on the handle. before a typhoon hits, of course.
pretend you’re japanese.
there you go. phew.
Leah
Finland is right next to Russia, yet Japan is still halfway around the world 
Btw, any idea why Firefox prevented a popup window here..?
Jacke
Hi,
Found your site via Tony Pierce’s blogroll.
Just wanted to say that green tea does have caffeine in it.
Shannon
Technorati Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, Onsen, Pachinko, Kabuki, Green Tea, Karaoke, Food, Japanese, Shinkansen How To List, Top Ten
April 11th, 2006 at 4:59 am
I’d love to visit Japan… but it’s too expensive for the portuguese.
July 22nd, 2006 at 1:14 am
Book flight tickets early, then they are cheaper!
Try booking through internet travel agents. http://www.travelocity.com, http://www.expedia.com, etc.
Go to Japan-guide.com or such like websites and get a feel of Japan.
Go to a tea ceremony!! Amazing!
When using the underground, find your destination, look at the price in the list, then add coins/notes (of equal or more value) into the ticket-machine, then click the button with the amount on, then collect change and ticket. Or go for the economy all day ticket (I forget it’s cost.. I think it’s either 500 yen or 1000?!?), I think that’s usually a blue button! Correct me if I’m wrong.
Noodle bars are cheapest for food.. even though unhealty!
Go to the 100 Yen shops for food, sovenuirs etc.
Try tempora, even though expensive!
Go to Shinto and Buddist Shrines.
Book hostel rooms e.g. http://www.hostelbookers.com. But make sure you get prepared with maps to locate them and contact numbers if things go wrong.
Plan your trip.
Get a Japanese Rail Pass (early, before you go!) http://www.japanrailpass.net/
Maybe try and live with a family for a few days (who can talk your native language) and then they can introduce you steadily to Japan, the language and it’s culture.
May 6th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Hi! I am from Vancouver and I am heading over to Tokyo Japan in just a couple of days! I am staying with my best friend and her university room mate, who happens to live in Tokyo! I was what i should bring as a gift! Also, is it easy to organize going to a tea cerimony? Expensive?
May 17th, 2007 at 9:57 am
With the exception of 6 (I can’t sing) I have done all the others and thoroughly enjoyed them all!
I discovered also that it is very enjoyable to burp in public after a bowl of noodles. (Please don’t try this in London)
June 6th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
i lived near isaya in kichijoji it is the best but you should really try the mind bending chemicals the guy sells round the corner from the big starbucks on shinjuku crossing 2 c t 7 was an amazing lost couple of days and 5 meo dmt was even more amazing couple of minuets intense!
July 15th, 2007 at 7:24 am
try yakiniku.
July 28th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
But don’t make your first Shinkansen ride the bottom of a two storey train like I did, e.g. half the trains from Tokyo to Niigata. Could see nothing but concrete barriers and the occasional mountain top. Managed not to cry though
TEFLtastic with Alex Case from Japan- http://www.tefl.net/alexcase
July 30th, 2007 at 4:40 am
One thing that I really want to do next time I go to Japan is to meet a friend at the statue of Hachiko: http://www.nylana.org/RRACI/hachiko.htm
That and I want to visit Harajuku on Sunday Morning: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3006.html
August 8th, 2007 at 5:00 am
Glad you’ve got pachinko on the list - and you’re quite right, don’t get carried away. Those balls disappear way too quickly!
There’s some cool videos of pachinko parlours here: http://www.the-pachinko-guide.com/pachinko/articles/pachinko-parlours/
August 30th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Japan — The best!!
August 30th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
EYE LOVE LUKE
September 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
if in osaka, don’t forget to try “takoyaki” or “okonomiyaki”
the onsen is also a great experience, but people with tatoo can’t enter
October 1st, 2007 at 8:40 pm
[...] 10 things you must do in Japan [...]
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:25 pm
i am a japanese american female from Hawaii. I went to Hokkaido in 2003…loved the onsens! visited about 5 of them. I have tattoos and no one said anything to me. I didn’t even receive funny looks from the other females. (bad thing about onsens, they are not co-ed)
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:25 pm
i am a japanese american female from Hawaii. I went to Hokkaido in 2003…loved the onsens! visited about 5 of them. I have tattoos and no one said anything to me. I didn’t even receive funny looks from the other females. bad thing about onsens, they are not co-ed.
October 27th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Ana- From the number of Spanish tourists I see in Shibuya nowadays, I think the level of the Euro might have made Japan reasonable. For my friends coming from the UK it is now cheap here!
March 21st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Thanks for this post.
It’s interesting that you believe that Japanese culture is kind of similar to Russian. :)))
I live in Russia, Japan is indeed halfway around the world, but I don’t really find any cultural similarities, :))) except for the preference for group interests over individuals, changing street shoes for slippers at home, Asian-style toilets that still exist even in Moscow, and strict hierarchy in some institutions.
What similarities between Russia and Japan do you see as an outside observer of both cultures? Thanks
April 27th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Eat sushi breakfast in Tsukiji market. There are several great places (judging by the lines) in a public area of the market in the rows of barrack-style buildings. I tried a small place called Sushi Dai - only about 12 seats. Get there early (at 5:30 AM I had no wait, at 7:30 it was over one hour) and shop after the meal.