Some thoughts from Japan.

late night noodle huts on the street are the tits

I’m here right now and I love it. Have had no trouble using the excellent metro and Shinkansen system. It has also been much easier to order and communicate with staff at restaurants than I anticipated. Everywhere I’ve gone has an English menu and a waitress that speaks enough English to get by, I just learned to use the magical “Sumi-masen” word when needing to get a waiter’s attention.

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AirBnB works but you feel sketchy using it. All the host say to deny being AirBnB if questioned by anyone.

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Our entire building was condos converted to Airbnbs. I don't think there was a single Japanese person in our building.

More thoughts:

It's 60° outside and it feels great. Everyone is in full winter gear likes it's freezing though. I swear I was the only guy in Tokyo wearing shorts.

I wore short sleeves every day except for a couple days when I was up in the mountains around Hakone I wore a light jacket. Everybody else has heavy coats everywhere, which seemed crazy to me because it’s still hot as shite at times when you’re on the metro or some of the busses.

good to know. planning a trip there for first time. considering land vs cruise options now. anyone on here take Japan cruise? recommendations?

Is the overall politeness and generosity that their culture is known for everything it's built up to be?

Everyone was very polite in most cases. However, I agree there were times where the person I was talking to was being polite, but you could tell it was just a habitual thing and they weren't too concerned with me.

However, I had others who you could tell genuinely wanted to help me when I had a problem or were thankful for my business.

The culture is to be polite, but they are all still humans. The guy at the burger king counter might not give a crap, but he still acts like he does. And I'd rather be treated nicely by someone in customer service who may not internally care, than get the old 'what you want?', à la US customer service.


One other note is to be mindful of where you are walking during busy times, especially in the train stations. People are very good there about maneuvering through crowds to get through, but that means no staring at your phone while walking. You will get run over and not given a second thought.

Look up some review and guides before you go too. You can learn at lot of little tips that you wouldn't think of. Like you keep to the left side while walking or going up stairs, unless otherwise noted. There are certain train cars that are for women only during peak times, so don't get on them. Don't tip at restaurants or bars or anywhere. Etc

More tips:

Most toilets are western-style, but you will encounter the occasional "squatty potty", which is literally just a hole in the floor with a rim. Not as big a deal if you are a male, but a little harder for females.

Also in regards to the bathrooms, almost all of them have water only...so no soap, no hand dryers, no paper towels. Everyone carries around a micro fiber cloth so they can dry their hands after they use the bathroom.

Unless you are at a train station or in front of a 7/11, there are no public trash cans. People just carry their trash around with them until they get home or find a rare public receptacle. We tried to keep plastic bags on hand for this purpose.