After nine days in Japan, my timetable was finally changed to Tokyo timetable. This meant that, instead of remembering 5 days in a row to keep my travel diary, I remembered the time to go for a walk.

Our last two days in Tóquio passed like a blur, while we made the most of our Japan Rail passes and cheap metro passages. Instead of going up Tokyo Tower or Skytree, we went to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Center, a free observatory where you can see them. We ate crepes in Shibuya, we saw the peak of cherry blossoms between the temples of Asakusa and, in Harajuku, I bought a wardrobe with a penny.

Now that I am at home and have some time to reflect, not so much, I prefer to spend my last post not recounting, but sharing the most valuable things that I learned while traveling to Japan. If you plan to make your first visit there, here are some of the main suggestions:

When traveling to Japan, we take a United Airlines flight, just like any other domestic flight, except that it lasts 13 hours. I didn't walk home, right now, we flew on All Nippon Airways and it was better than the leagues – more spacious seats, support for the feet, personal televisions in the back of each seat. What was especially cool was that, in addition to two champion films, I also watched dozens of documentaries about Japan on TV. The items have been optimal to assist on the way there.

Much fanfare was made by the Japan Rail (JR) Pass for foreigners. Along US $ 250, you will receive a pass that will allow you to access any JR line in the country for seven days, including several different shinkansen (high-speed) trains.

I was in Japan for 10 days and couldn't earn $ 500 on the 14-day JR pass, so John and we used the Tokyo metro the first few days we were there, activating our JR passes on the day it was time to visit Kyoto. This is what ended up being a great idea! Not only are Tóquio metro fares extremely cheap (on the US $ 2 line), but they are also very easy to obtain from electronic ticket machines, all with English menu options. With low prices, it would have been very difficult to justify a JR pass just traveling through Tóquio. However, a 7-day JR Pass costs conveniently the same as a one-way ticket to Kyoto. In conclusion: the last thing you plan to travel outside of Tóquio and not too long ago, is not summer.

Japan is a company based on money and many places that you might expect to collect your credit card normally – like McDonald's – but not face it. Many stores are simply not equipped to receive cards and usually have a plaque in front of them in the rarest of times. We ended up lifting money out of electronic boxes twice on our trip, at 7-11 at the postal agency, we both recommend them. I also recommend pasting a card without any foreign transactions or money withdrawal taxes, such as Capital One.

Also, like all coins, from 1 iene to 500 ien (about US $ 5) only coins, it is highly recommended to create a bag for yourself, you will need it. After realizing how many times you have thrown something away, it was not a surprise for me that the bags of money are one of the most common items in tourist shops.

If a Japanese thing could be drawn up again for the USA, it would not be the same for the legal banheiros as the seats aquecidos – they would be their convenience stores. Where else can you get a semi-nutritive meal for about US $ 5? From ambient music (generally an instrumental version of a Beatles music) to your electronic boxes that are easy to use, to your friendly equipment, which will be very easy to understand your equipment with the food that is on fire for you at that moment. e lá, eu gostaria de ter um. If you try it instead of my local Rite Aid, I probably would never cook again again.

Quase all as men, now I admit, we drank coffee in the mornings from 7-11, hitting melão twelve or a piece of feijão geléia and café quente (or, on one occasion, cocoa milk that was certainly darker and more bitter than any children's chocolate milk), and we are filling up money and time as soon as possible. we are going nisso.

Embora eu strongly recommend that you learn Japanese before visiting Japan, you should at least know just a phrase. Don't be fooled by Japanese modesty – as long as someone doesn't say “iie” AKA “não”, that's enough. Some two more articulate English speakers told us that they falavam English “só um pouquinho” or “não bem”.

There are also places where people tend to be English-speaking – train stations, airports and main tourist attractions, especially. Try to save your questions for those places.

In the end, there were only two things that he did not enjoy in Japan. First of all, there was a lack of sabão dispensers in many public bathrooms. As people sit on the bench, pour a little water on their hands and hands. At first I thought that maybe the sabão estivesse mixed in the water – the bathrooms are high-tech, maybe as you also see them? More sem sorte. To avoid finding yourself without knowing after using the toilet, always use the disinfectant for yourself.

The second difficult thing to live with was the lack of cans of liquid in public spaces. Apparently, it came as an anti-terrorism measure in 1995, after a cult attacked the Tokyo metro, leaving explosives in public places. Now, the only cans of liquor that you can find in Tóquio are privately managed, in convenience stores and the like. I got used to carrying a 7-11 plastic bag in my bag and just placing it in it, clearing it at the end of the day.

When we arrive at the airport, we paste our eConnect hotspot into our airport emails and we will instantly have data on our phones. At any time, we can make calls to the US, check Google maps to ensure Wi-Fi connectivity, even in remote locations (like our mountain pousada).

Since I use my phone in Japan more frequently than I usually do, it always opens for some specific programs. First, a dollar to dollar conversion, so that you can instantly tell how expensive something was. Secondly, a translation tool from Japanese to English on Google. Third, jisho.org, a fantastic kanji dictionary, so that you can read more easily if you want.

Do you want to surf the net like an American? You need a VPN.

Like many Japanese, there is a great anime character. In fact, I review anime professionally for the Anime News Network, a North American anime resource. The end of the anime season was while it was at the fairs, so I needed to attend these final episodes and reveal them for my work.

But when I tried to access US streaming sites, such as Crunchyroll, Funimation, Daisuki and even Hulu, I couldn't watch anything. None of these sites have permission to stream programs online for Japanese users. So that I know that I am, in truth, an American, first I have to connect to my virtual private network (VPN) that I use my Raspberry Pi mini-computer in my apartment in Virginia. If you are curious to set up a cheap VPN before your trip, once I wrote a tutorial on how to transform a Raspberry Pi into a VPN.

O Japão seems to reward an adventurer. In general, the longer you go from the train station, the cheaper everything becomes. Amulets from the tree shrine at the entrance to the Fushimi Inari Sanctuary cost 800 euros; Amulets on the top of the mountain cost 500. As women's shirts at the entrance to the worst street in Harajuku, Takeshita dori, they cost from US $ 15 to US $ 30. But when you stumble upon the porão store, at Smile Market, you will find clothes that are comparable ​​for about US $ 2.50.

This may be obvious advice, but I just want to encourage you to continue walking before making any purchase. You can have more at the same time, later and for less.