That’s a wrap! It’s been a fun excursion to another part of the world that I’ve never been to before, but I am ready to return home to eat some real food and adventure with RocketDog!

Today I share with you my revelations about Japan – completely my own opinion. Take what you’d like from this and leave what you’d like. Just sharing perspectives!

Top 5 things I liked about Japan:

⁃ Friendliness: Japanese citizens are very welcoming. From our very first midnight dinner with crazy locals to our last dinner, the Japanese people are very kind. Everyone will help you if you are lost or confused (e.g. outward bound bullet train shenanigans) and everyone wants to share their culture. It really is a night and day difference from the hustle/bustle in America.

⁃ Public toilets: I will never like another public bathroom in America. The bathrooms in Japan are so incredible – warm toilet seats, a bidet, automatic flushing, and very sanitary. It doesn’t matter if it’s park bathroom, a train station bathroom, or an airport bathroom. Japanese take bathroom cleanliness to a whole new level that is appreciated!

⁃ Uber rides: Who doesn’t love a well-kept Uber ride in a designated vehicle with leather seats, first-class service, and cleanliness? Every single Uber ride exceeded my expectations. Every driver was in a suit with white gloves and a mask. Plastic dividers separated the riders from the drivers. We always had plenty of space in an Uber ride to fully extend our legs. Uber in America has a LONG ways to go to catch-up to the quality of service in Japan.

⁃ City Cleanliness and Safety: It didn’t matter where we went – we always felt safe without bums stalking us for food or money. In fact, Tokyo is the largest city in the world, yet I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s also the cleanest big city. There were city workers cleaning the streets at 10pm on a Friday night. There were powerwashers cleaning train station stairs in the evening. I went around on my own a handful of times and never was concerned about what lurched behind the next corner.

⁃ Grocery stores: All around town there are countless mini-marts and grocery stores. There are 7-11’s on every block, but these aren’t your normal American 7-11’s. They have fresh food that is actually good. They have microwaves and smoothie makers after the purchase counter. I bought ice cream frequently and the cashier would give me a spoon and wet paper towel package. My husband bought fresh sushi many times and received chopsticks at the checkout. Every single store was clean and orderly. It was a challenge to know what exactly I was buying, but Google translator was awesome to scan the product and provide English translation. These convenience stores transcend any American experience.

Top 5 things I didn’t like about Japan:

⁃ Serving sizes: It didn’t matter if it was water or food, the serving sizes in Japan are TINY! At breakfast, I would often get up to 6 cups of liquids at a time, while the local hostess would just smile at me. A cup size in Japan was like 2 gulps for me. The only time I couldn’t finish my beverage was at the Fire Ramen restaurant, when my lemonade was “super large” but also super cold. I definitely think hydration played a factor somewhat in my marathon race – another lesson learned.

⁃ Food: I had my doubts about the Japanese cuisine, but I survived. I don’t like sushi or anything raw. Texture is a big problem for me too. I also like to know what I am eating and I don’t like a ton of sauces or spices. After working hard on fueling all season, the Japanese cuisine proved to be challenging during the trip. I did try Ramen and it was okay, but it just never filled me up. My favorite cuisine ended up being Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ steak) with a side a rice. Many places would bring the premium steak cuts to the table raw and I would grill them right at my table – including at the airport! The beef in Japan does NOT compare to beef in America. Food did take some creativity for me in finding places on Yelp so that I could look at the menu before ordering. I’m a pretty plain and picky eater, so every meal was stressful to find something that looked appealing. My husband on the other hand ate everything possible – and somethings grossed me out for sure (e.g. squid). As someone who has struggled historically with fueling enough, this trip was definitely difficult from a hunger perspective.

⁃ Lines: Because Tokyo is the largest city in the world, many places had lines for waiting – restaurants, train stations, Tokyo Tower, etc. I definitely had to plan for extra time in any excursion or meal. Every place always had a wait of some sort. This gets very old, but it is what it is.

⁃ No drinking/eating while walking: While this was a big metropolitan area, nobody (and I mean nobody) eats food while walking or drinks beverages of any kind while walking. Everybody is in a mask. This helps to limit litter amongst the streets. I often carried my water bottle, but had to step into a doorway or alley to take a sip. It’s just not something that is done on the streets. This could be why I was always thirsty no matter what.

⁃ Temperature: Japanese citizens like everything HOT, which was a rough transition for this midwesterner who appreciates winter. Taxi rides were about 23 C (77 F) which made for hot rides in long sleeves. Hotel rooms had thermostats locked to 22 C (71.6 F) which meant we were always calling the front desk to get a thermostat override to 17 C (62.6 F). One of our hotels, we were able to drop the temp to 15 C (59 F) and it was refreshing (haha). Train stations were hot as well as the trains themselves, packed full of people. The temps for the trip were usually in the 50s-60s, with some days reaching the 70s. I did not plan right for this, despite stalking my weather apps often. We took our winter coats with us – and never used them once on this entire trip.

Top 10 tips if you travel to Japan:

In no particular order, here are my tips if you find yourself exploring the world, landing in Japan:

1. Pasmo card is gold! This is your train pass, bus pass, and airport food pass. It buys everything! It works in all city metro lines in Tokyo and Kyoto. Get one at the first train station, load it up with how much Yen you’d like to store on it, then it’s like a preloaded credit card.

2. Stay in an English-speaking hotel. It makes everything easier and the front desk often is your link when you want some hidden insights into the area. Also, American-style hotels mean you are guaranteed a comfy large bed (have you seen the size of Japanese beds…oh my).

3. Public transportation is often flawless…once you learn to navigate it. The hardest part for us was a few clunky transportation junctures, but also getting our tickets in Japanese for the bullet train. We had no idea what platform to get to and needed some help from the info desk.

4. Take the bullet train to Kyoto! Kyoto was a highlight of this trip. We wished we had more time to explore, but really enjoyed seeing all the sights, shrines, temples, and bamboo. Kyoto was more laidback than Tokyo, but still a relatively large town with countless subways.

5. You do not need a SIM card or pocket WiFi. I had my questions about my phone carrier’s data plan working without crashing, but honestly I never had any issue. I connected to WiFi when I could and turned on my international roaming plan when needed. I’m sure I’ll appreciate the charges for this month’s usage.

6. Go to the “Visit Japan” website in advance of departure. You will need to fill out pages of information and have a few barcodes to save for immigration and customs. It makes arrival into Japan so smooth, though!

7. Japan customs and airport experience is so different than America. Leave on all of your shoes, jewelry, and do not take out any electronics from your bag. If you do take off your shoes, there are slippers you can use.

8. Pack light and leave all winter clothes at home – you won’t need it. There are laundry facilities every few blocks which made doing a midweek wash very simple.

9. Download a decent translator app or two to make communication easier if you are not familiar with the Japanese dialect. I liked using Translator because it allows you to download a decent library so you don’t always have to use WiFi. I also liked using Google Translate because I could scan pictures/words and it would translate for me. This was helpful at convenience stores.

10. Remember your “please” and “thank you.” Most people we encountered knew some basic English. In a very polite culture, this goes pretty far to just being nice to one another.

Japan was quite the adventure and I’m glad I had a chance to see another part of the world. Part of living life is seeing everything you can see and living every moment you can live. I live for adventure and memories over tangible items. This trip was overall remarkable. Where will your travels take you? The world is your oyster – get out and explore.