Get ready for Japan! Tips and advises
For me it was a huge deal to go to Japan ’cause I’ve been dreaming about this country since my teens and when we bought tickets, I literally couldn’t sleep due to my excitement. But the point is, we got tickets in August 2018 and was going to fly at the beginning of May, so my enthusiasm partially evaporated with time and I’ve got too relaxed about getting ready for Japan. This inspired me to write this little post-guidance in case you need some advises and get your thoughts together. Here we go 🙂

Kyoto, view at Kiyomiyu Temple, Japan
11 must and mustn’t from me
Living on the opposite side of the world (in comparison to our destination place), I found it quite challenging to get ready for Japan. So many things should be considered! What clothes would be the best? Another memory card for a camera? Oh yes, and a Japanese adapter plugs!… And so on, and so on. That was me during preparations ;D Ok, enough of these, let’s jump right to our list!

Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
- Japanese adapter plugs. It would be useful for you, if you’re not from the UK, Australia and all those countries with similar plugs. We’ve bought something like this one, but with two USB jacks.
- Take care of rental of a pocket WI-FI. It’s more convenient regarding a quantity of GB, then a sim card or anything else. A hint for you if you’re thinking how much GB do you need: in our case, we had 25 GB for 23 days and we didn’t use all of those 25 GB.
- Take some yens with you, but not too much. Here is why – 7 eleven have their own “Seven Bank” which offers the best exchange course you will ever find in Japan. Besides, Seven Bank accepts, I guess, everything, including Maestro.
- If you’re still thinking, whether to take dry shampoo with you or not – TAKE IT! As I noticed, that’s one of those things that is not so common in Japan (correct me if I’m wrong) and usually costs above 1100 ¥ in contrast to hairsprays.
- If you have some place in your luggage, take some hangers with you (like 2 or 3) ’cause 3 out 4 of our hotels didn’t have any wardrobes, even though they weren’t super budget as usually 😀
- Are you going to Japan during sunny months? Take a sun protection cream for body and face – the sun is there merciless! 😀
- Additionally to 6. – take with you also a hat/cap. You won’t regret it on a hot day.
- You may leave your umbrella at home – it’s probably better to buy one in Japan (they cost around 500 ¥ ~ 4 €). The point is – sometimes winds are strong in Japan during rainfalls, so your favorite umbrella is in jeopardy. Japanese umbrellas are much better at that – they are big, cheap and sometimes quite resistant to winds! 😀
- Don’t forget pills from allergy, even if you don’t tend to have allergies. Better have them with than to be sorry later. But if you had an allergy accident and you didn’t have the pills with you, it’s still possible to buy them in a pharmacy.
- Try not to pack up your luggage since you will need the place for your future purchases: Japan is a marvelous place for shopping, and I mean any goods, from clothes and stationery to tea and sweets.
- Last but not the least – a Japanese phrasebook. I don’t think you’ll use it often, but it may help you in an unforeseen turn of events 🙂

Ponto-cho alley, Kyoto, Japan
Some comments
All those advises are based on my experience and it’s up to you whether to take them into consideration or not, but if I knew some of those things what I wrote about I would probably not get an allergy reaction (’cause remember Murphy’s law :D) or wouldn’t lose some money on the exchange rate ;). Besides, another quite a nice thing about those 7 Bank ATMs – you don’t have to have big amounts of cash with you, so it feels safer (but you don’t have to worry about it, the crime rate is pretty low there).
Thanks to my husband, who already was in Japan several years ago, I was warned about not overfilling my luggage, so it was a torture to decide for me, what to take and what not to :D. In spite of my diligence, I ended up with 14 kg anyway, so I only had 9 spare kilos (ideally I’d have 10 kg at most when leaving Europe :D). So 9 free kg was ok, but it felt like I need another two or so.
I guess that’s all for now, wish you luck with your packing!

Tokyo, Japan