With Tokyo variously voted the best city in the world, the best big city to visit and one of the world’s most liveable cities, among other deserving titles over the years, it often earns itself a spot on the average traveller’s bucket list. So if it’s on yours too, here’s a brief heads-up so you can hit the ground running.
1. Haneda is handier
If you have a choice of airport when flying in and out of Tokyo and you’re doing most of your sightseeing in the city centre, choose Haneda over its big brother, Narita. Haneda is more central, so you’ll save travel time and money using that one.
2. Cop a card
If you’re going to be relying on Tokyo’s public transport system to get around the city, consider getting a Pasmo or Suica. These handy top-up cards are available from station ticket machines and will not only save you the hassle of buying individual tickets for each trip but can be used for storage lockers and even vending machines.
3. Beware the check-out twilight zone
Check-out times in Japan tend to be earlier than you might be used to – between 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning. Unfortunately, check-in times haven’t been moved forward to compensate for this (they’re usually the standard 15:00), which creates something of a double whammy if you’ve booked more than one hotel for your stay as you could be stuck with your luggage for a big chunk of the day. Fortunately, most hotels provide luggage storage, which means you can check out of your hotel but leave your luggage there until you’re ready to go back and collect it, or you can go on to your next hotel and deposit your luggage there first, returning to check in later. If that doesn’t fit in with your plans, there are also luggage lockers at most train stations in Tokyo.
4. Think small
Like a lot of places in Japan, Tokyo’s hotel rooms err on the side of cosiness, so you need to adapt to a smaller world. If you’ve got enough space in your hotel room for a morning workout without your bed having to double up as a gym mat, then you’ve hit the hotel-room jackpot.
5. Things could get even cosier…
Unless you want to leave Japan with a greater sympathy for canned sardines, avoid using the trains during the working week between seven and nine in the morning and five in the afternoon.
6. Google is your saviour
English is not widely spoken in Japan, so just making yourself understood at a 7-Eleven might turn you and the cashier into an impromptu mime double act. To add to your linguistic challenges, signs and maps in Japan might be displayed only in the local language, even at major city stations. That’s where your smartphone comes in handy, so make sure you’ve got Google Translate installed so you can scan any alien text with your phone’s camera.
7. Expect the unexpected
Drivers in Tokyo are generally careful and courteous, and crossing streets is usually a breeze. This could lead you into a false sense of security, leaving you unprepared for the speeding cyclists that suddenly appear before you on the pavement. It happens only occasionally, but that’s what makes them so dangerous as you’re caught unawares.
8. When soaking up the culture…
Onsen (hot springs) and bath houses really deserve a section of their own, but as a rule of thumb, if it’s a mixed-gender bath, swimwear is required; if it’s a single-gender one, nudity is expected. Always do your research, though, and check with the individual establishment. Onsen and bath houses also forbid bathers from bathing with tattoos. This is a rule that’s strictly enforced, so if you were hoping to slip past unnoticed with that faded Popeye anchor on your arm, it’s best to save yourself the embarrassment and knock public bathing off your to-do list.
9. You say it best when you say… as little as possible
The Japanese are a quiet, reserved race, and it may be one of the first things you notice when you’re there, especially on public transport. You might get away with a few whispered exchanges on trains, but you should keep your phone on silent and avoid taking or making calls during the journey.
10. Prepare to take the trash out… for the day
If you’re eating on the hoof, it won’t take you long to realise that bins are a rare sight in the city. Although it’s for the public’s safety (an anti-terror measure to avoid a repeat of the ’90s gas attack), the inconvenience of this may still get to you. So that you don’t give a used paper cup a tour of the city that neither you nor the cup had planned, remember to include a rubbish bag in your day pack before setting out for the day.
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