Travel Resources
Hey there! Now that I've booked a ton of trips to Japan, I have a good idea of the resources needed to have a seamless trip. Here's the stuff I use all the time.
Pre-trip Resources
Here's exactly what I use when planning my trip to Japan up until the day I arrive.
🏠 Japan Accommodations: Booking and Agoda
I book almost exclusively through Booking, and occasionally will use Agoda if the deal is better. I prefer Booking over other sites because they usually offer free cancellation for most properties and I find better deals on here. Occasionally I may use Expedia as well.
Whatever you do, I HIGHLY recommend booking all your hotels on only ONE platform. That way you don't double book and accidentally get charged. This has happened to me before!! Don't do it!
✈️ Japan Flights: Google Flights or CheapOAir
I book most of my flights through Google Flights. It's usually the best price and easiest to use. You can also use CheapOAir or Trip.com to look for occasional deals. My first flight ever to Japan was by CheapOAir and I got a great deal with Singapore Airlines.
⚡ Travel Hack: I have a $40 yearly subscription to Pomelo Travel where they send an email whenever a flight is heavily discounted.
That's how I was able to get incredible tickets to Japan for $500 while my friends paid over $1,000! $40 to save $500? Girl. This isn't even a plug, I don't get anything by promoting them, I just believe in them.
🏔️ Activities and Tours: Klook and Get Your Guide
In Japan, Klook is the goat. You can find anything for Japan on Klook: hotels, tours, and even bullet train tickets. I book 95% of my tours and activities in Japan on Klook, and maybe 5% on GetYourGuide or Viator.
👩🏽💻Travel Insurance: Chase Sapphire or VisitorsCoverage
Okay, I'm going to be realll honest here. I used to never get trip insurance. What can I say, I thought I was young and invincible. Now my back hurts when I wake up in the morning.
Anyway, Japan is a very far trip from California, and my trips usually end up being 2 weeks to almost a month sometimes. And when it's a long flight and vacation like that, it just makes sense to get some form of protection. I'm lucky enough that my travel credit card gives free insurance.
⚡ Travel Hack: If you have the Chase Sapphire card, you automatically get trip and car rental insurance! So make sure to check your credit card benefits before booking any insurance.
If you don't have a travel credit card, no worries. You can also book decent and affordable travel insurance with VisitorsCoverage.
💆 Airport Lounge Access: Priority Pass
I've used Priority Pass to visit lounges all over the world. Trust me, once you get lounge access, all those layovers at the airport don't feel so bad when you have free food and drinks to keep you company. Yes, that includes alcohol too!
⚡ Travel Hack: If you have the Chase Sapphire card, you get free Priority Pass lounge access. I know I'm really plugging the Chase Sapphire right now, but I'm a ride or die fan. It's worth it, even with the recent price increase this year.
If you don't have the Chase Sapphire, you can still get Priority Pass here.
Getting Around Japan
The public transportation system in Japan is awesome, and you'll probably be using everyday. Now, there are a couple things to know about the train system.
First, there's the regular commuter trains, like the ones you'll take to get from Shinjuku to Shibuya in Tokyo. For these you'll need an IC Transit Card like Suica.
Then there are the Shinkansen bullet trains, with subcategories such as the limited express. These are long distance trains that you will take from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka. Make sense?
Now, let's get into the train passes you need and what you may not need.
🚌 IC Transit Card: SUICA
The IC transit card is a definite must by. This eliminates the need for you to navigate the language barrier to buy physical train tickets.
All you need to do is load money on your IC Card and you can tap it on the ticket machine and it will automatically deduct money. You can also use it for vending machines, convenience stores, and even some restaurants. I love technology!!!
There are many different IC cards in Japan, and they all do the same thing. The most popular ones are SUICA and PASMO. I personally used SUICA.
⚡ Travel Hack: The best thing is that you don't even need to buy the physical IC card at the train station.
You can buy SUICA on your Apple/Google wallet before you even land in Japan. Then just tap your phone on the ticket machine whenever you walk through. You don't even need to open your e-wallet or open your phone in any way!
🚆 Japan Rail Pass and JR Hokkaido Pass: JR Pass
Now if you're planning on visiting a lot of cities or doing a lot of long distance traveling, you may want to get the Japan Rail Pass.
For example, I opted to buy the JR Pass when I was planning to visit Sapporo, Hakodate, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima Island, and Nara all in one trip. That's a lot of individual Shinkansen bullet train tickets. However, even with all of those cities, I just barely broke even on my JR Pass.
It's very expensive now, so I highly recommend calculating all your trips to see if it's worth purchasing. Keep in mind that the passes are available in a 7-day or 14-day format.
JR Hokkaido Pass
If you're going to Hokkaido, you can only pick up the JR Hokkaido Pass in Hokkaido. So we couldn't even activate the pass in time to cover our trip to Sapporo because the Hokkaido JR Office was going to be closed by the time we arrived in Hokkaido. So be aware of these small technicalities.
🚄 Individual Shinkansen Tickets: Klook
I've used Klook to book individual Shinkansen tickets before, and it works pretty well. It's quite easy to request seats next to each other, extra luggage space, or seats on the Mount Fuji side if you want to try to get a glimpse of Fuji-San.
Keep in mind that these selections are not a for sure thing, though. If the seats with extra luggage space are sold out then you'll be refunded for the difference.
When you get to the ticket gate, you get a QR code that you should be able to scan easily. For some reason I've had instances before where the QR code didn't work, but the gate attendants were able to help us very quickly. Just make sure to always allow extra time for traveling.
🚘Car Rentals: Booking or Klook
I had so much fun when we rented a car and drove around the Izu Peninsula, so I highly recommend renting a car in Japan if you want to explore off the beaten path.
It's a totally different experience, and it's pretty easy to adjust to driving on the other side. The only thing we kept messing up were turning on the windshield wipers on accident, but that didn't cause too much harm!
We booked with Orix via Booking, but Klook and Toyota may also have good deals.
Resources to use in Japan
You've made it to Japan! But now what?
💳 Travel Credit Card: Chase Sapphire
I got a Chase Sapphire when I joined the ol' workforce in 2019, and it's been my #1 travel buddy.
You get a ton of perks like $300 of travel credit, free airport lounge access, and no travel fees when you buy things abroad. You'll get free car and trip insurance like I mentioned earlier.
Everything you spend earns you points that you can then redeem on flights and hotels so you can fly and stay for free. You also get 2x points on travel, 3x points on dining, and 5x if you book travel through the Chase Portal.
I can go on for longer, but it's best to read the fine details yourself if you want to get into the nitty gritty.
📱 Cellular Data: Airalo
If you have an international data plan, your phone should work in Japan. The country also offers free wifi in certain parts of the city, but it can be slow.
If you need a faster data plan, I recommend Airalo. It's the world's largest eSIM brand and super easy to buy. You purchase a data amount for fairly cheap (I think it starts at $4) and it lasts forever! My boyfriend and I started using it when we went to Canada last year and love it.
Travel Freebies
