What to Bring Summer Japan

WHAT to TAKE/BRING to JAPAN

PASSPORT
PLANE TICKETS
(e-ticket flight itinerary copy)
RAIL PASS VOUCHER
(instructor often hands out in Japan)
STUDENT ID
YOUTH HOSTEL CARD
(when hostels are on the itinerary)

Travel Tips from Roger and Marilyn
What to Bring (courtesy of ELT News)
Randy's List for "What to Take" When Traveling [anywhere]
"What to Take to Japan" from Tanuki.uk

Click here for travel tips from those who went over before you.
What one Instructor Brings (may or may not be useful)

Background Knowledge:

A bit of reading preparation that you do before you depart will enhance any travel experience, even if it's something like "Dave Barry Does Japan.".

Luggage:

Probably the most important decision you'll make is your piece of luggage. It affects your comfort, mobility, and mood. Even though you see Japanese tourists in the US with hard shell luggage that could hold your grandmother, or float across the Atlantic fully outfitted, the Japanese DON'T travel like this in Japan. There's a reason: that huge luggage doesn't fit on trains, buses, or in cars. They travel domestically with the equivalent of a briefcase and a shopping bag. Most lockers in Japanese train stations are only about a foot square and 2 feet deep.

Try adjusting and carrying your FULLY Packed luggage up and down some stairs BEFORE you leave. If it's a little difficult in your house, imagine 60 steps up and then down on a train station overpass, or trying to handle your over-sized and over-weight baggage and possessions on a crowded, hot and humid subway, commuter train, or street car. The less you have, the less you have to carry, worry about, and for your travel companions, complain about.

Reflect on the Tokyo observations of Marc Hernandez & Kelly Bickford: "Japanese Cats Like Squid"

Quotes from the JNTO Railway Timetable Pamplet, page 4:

"HINTS FOR PLEASANT RAIL TRAVELING:

2. Hold on to your tickets after they have been punched. Your tickets will be collected at the exit wicket. Most stations have had automatic ticket gates installed for passengers. These gates are used by inserting a ticket only with brown or black back to be punched or collected.	6. Smoking is not permitted on commuter trains. Most long-distance trains allow smoking only on a few designated coaches. Both smoking and non-smoking coaches have reserved and non-reserved seats."
4. Travel light. Baggage racks on trains are only for light weight hand baggage, and porters are not always available. Cloakroom service is only at big stations; coin lockers at stations are usually not large enough to accommodate suitcases.

Suitcase - A rolling suitcase that is no larger than

25" tall, 18" wide, and 9" deep

works well. You can place a day pack or small sports duffel on top while wheeling it, but you have to carry ALL of it up a staircase using your hands and arms if an escalator isn't available..

DO NOT BRING ANY LUGGAGE THAT IS LARGER THAN THE ABOVE!!

This size fits in the largest Japanese locker.
(Found only in the larger stations.)

Station lockers in Yatsushiro

[DO NOT bring a non-wheeled suitcase. Even the lightest bag gets heavier until you can't carry it and everyone suffers.]

The duffel bag - A rolling duffel works well if it isn't too tall. It has the flexibility of expanding as you add things to it. Rolling ones are easy to carry and even non-rolling ones have straps that can go over your shoulders making a kind of backpack. You have to keep them a bit thin to squeeze into lockers. Get one that has cinch straps to tighten things down, otherwise it can get uncontrollable (Instructor's choice).

The Travel Backpack is a versatile and easy way to handle your stuff. You carry it, yes, but it's all on your back and not in your hands. Many have a detachable daypack for use after you drop off the big one at the hotel or stuff it into a locker. (The choice of every student one summer.)

Courier Bag
Sports Duffel
Day Pack
A second bag to carry your camera, notebook, maps, pens, dictionaries, etc. is also vital. You aren't going to remember all the names of places and landscapes in Japan carrying only an iPod.
If you don't use one, you will be asking others to carry your stuff and you may or may not wear out your welcome.

Clothes -

Bring 1 set of clothes that look OK; i.e., they won't embarrass you if you have to meet a lot of people wearing suits and ties.
Bring clothes that dry quickly. Japanese driers are either solar or none-too-efficient (the new ones at the Nikko Youth Hostel actually had outside vents and did work). If you bring jeans and cotton, consider this: one year's students came up with this formula: 1 load = 30 minutes in the washer + 2 days to dry. The cheap stuff at K-Mart that's 55% cotton and 45% nylon dries pretty well and doesn't wrinkle. 100% synthetic clothes work but can be uncomfortable unless you get TravelSmith, Sportif, ExOfficio, or other big $ items. However, 100% nylon sports pants are fashionable in Japan (along with 12" high platform shoes and hair dyed red or blond).
Bring a good pair of walking shoes. You will be walking a lot. Don't think a test walk around the shoe store is going to give you any information about shoes. If you get a new pair, wear them constantly for 3 or 4 days to see if they will work. "Roger and Marilyn" (below), thought they walked 12 miles per day in Tokyo alone. We'll be getting into the multiple miles in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara with no trouble. It's a long way between places, and even subway transfers can be a long walk underground. Be aware that sandals are considered to be bare feet, and therefore your feet are as dirty as shoes (which must always be removed). Some hotels don't allow guests who wear sandals. However, as a foreign barbarian, you can get away with a lot.
Bring a hat of some sort. It gets hot in the summer sun in Japan, and a hat keeps you from getting heat exhaustion (tired, nauseous, no appetite) or at the extreme end of it, heat stroke. Braised brains and sunburn aren't fun. Sunscreen also helps.
Laundry - Coin laundries can be found around Japan. They are usually between Y400 and Y700 for a wash, and Y100/ten minutes to dry. Some have automatic soap dispensers, but most you have to add your own. Even though many machines give the option of warm or hot wash, most only wash cold on every setting.

Toiletries -

Bring SMALL bottles of stuff. Japan is a modern nation. They have shampoo, shaving cream, contact lens solutions, and toothpaste. You don't need to bring the supersized 1 quart shampoo and 1 quart conditioner bottle with 1 quart of body soap. Buy refills when you need them. In Japan.
On the other hand, makeup is a lot more expensive in Japan. So bring what you need with you.
One student thought that Japanese deodorant didn't, and suggested bringing enough to last you through the trip.
Your electric razor should work in Japan. It's 100V AC, 50 cycle in the east and 60 cycle in the west (US is 120V @ 60 Hz). It may run a bit slow depending on its design.
A small lightweight fast-drying towel for youth hostels and hot springs is a good idea. (You can buy one at the hostels or onsen if you wish - Y200.)

Prescription items -

If you have any of these, bring enough for the entire trip. If you wear contacts, bring spares. You don't want to have to go through the procedure and cost of getting them in Japan. You can't just show your prescription and get some; you have to have a Japanese doctor examine you and write his own prescription. He will then order them and with "just-in-time" production, you should have your replacement in 1 to 2 weeks.

Camera -

I prefer a good camera but they're a pain to carry with extra lenses, etc. A good point and shoot camera works well.
A digital camera works the best for adding photos to essays and papers as you don't have to scan anything.
You can bring disposable cameras if you want. You can get them in Japan also.

Pentax Optio M20 - 7 megapixel digital camera.

Other -

BRING An Umbrella or some rain gear! A country that grows rice needs and has lots of rain (160" per year). Some students prefer to buy the inexpensive Y300 umbrella available at most Japanese convenience stores. They are lightweight, and if you forget it and leave it behind somewhere, another Y300 is not too bad. They also come in clear, orange, purple, and blue translucent colors for the fashion-minded (lower right of the below photo).

Electronics - If you bring a notebook or electric item that has 3 prongs (2 and the ground in the US), you need a 3-to-2 prong adapter. Japanese sockets only have 2 small slots.

Japanese plug and outlet

Adapter needed for US equipment.

Radios/TVs in Japan: Be aware that the Japanese use different broadcast frequencies (purposeful trade barrier?) so that your SONY made-for-the-US-market FM radio for instance will NOT work in Japan (it will work but will not pick up any stations), and a TV or radio purchased in Japan will NOT work in the US. Check out the SONY tips link for details.
Cell Phones in Japan: Forget it. Below was a notice from the 2002 World Cup Japan Page:

Please note that mobile phones made for the overseas market (GSM and various US standard transmission formats) cannot be used in Japan. This is due to a difference in mobile phone formats and not because of any technical problem with the mobile phone hand set.

Again the Japanese want to be sure to have a domestic system incompatible with anything in the rest of the world. For the World Cup, Korea was able to tie in users' home country phone numbers while in Korea for $1/day. Japan asked Korea to help out. Korea's quote - "Japan will have to significantly upgrade all their equipment before this is possible." In other words, if you bring your US cell phone, as soon as you enter Japanese air space, you'll just be carrying a calculator.

If you must have a cell phone:

The best phone rental place in Japan is RentaFoneJapan. The price is approximately Y4000 for the first week and Y300 per day afterwards, with discounts for periods longer than 3 weeks. Incoming calls are free. They deliver the phone to your first hotel. Just give them the name of the hotel and the phone will be waiting for you at check-in. When you depart, you just place the phone into its padded bag, put it into an already addressed and stamped envelope, and drop it in any mail box.

A notebook that will fit easily into your daypack. Large unwieldy-sized notebooks tend to be left in the hotels.
It's not as quite as bad as pre-Euro Italy, but you're going to need a coin purse. The smallest bill is Y1000, or roughly a US $10 bill. You'll get used to stuffing these in all sorts of vending machines, but you'll also get change, lots of it. Coin purses are MUCH cheaper in the US than in Japan. In the US, they're a functional item; in Japan they're a fashion statement. Pick one up before you leave, otherwise you'll be using the "baggie" method and at some point, crawling along the shinkansen floor picking up your change.

Coin purses that will put you right in style in Japan!