ruclips.net/user/TokyoZebra - See what's going on in my life behind the scenes on Tokyo Zebra www.tokyozebra.com/merch - Get the Toe-kyo and Ja-Pan Merch paolofrom.tokyo/discord Get answers about Japan and Japan Travel from my Discord community
Great video brother! I was digging the graffiti street art, is there much street art in Shibuya or Shinjuku? The legal drinking age in Australia is actually 18! :D (younger than the U.S) The legal driving age in Australia is 18 though (so a little older than the U.S) I'm moving to Shinjuku for a semester of studying abroad and one of the things I want to try is go-karting the streets of Tokyo. Have you tried it and if not, do you want to come to give it a try with us and you could make a video of it? I'd like to see that brother haha Keep up the good work bro, cheers :D P.S. I also, wanted to say thank you very much to Maiko for the tattoo friendly onsen list. :D I really appreciate it. I was just wondering, if possible would you be able to make a list for Osaka (near Namba) and Kyoto please Maiko???? >.
Hey buddy I love your videos and I am planning to come to Japan next month...may be we will meet.....by the way what is the music names you use from epicdemic site... specially the theme song.
@Josiah White It's a manual when they stop foreigners to ask some questions... It's written in practical technical books for Japanese police officer. These kind of books are sold at big bookstore in Japan.
I think some important ones you missed are: - always clean up after yourself, even at fast food restaurants, and definitely don't litter - don't blow your nose in public and especially at the dinner table
Yeah best thing to do is if you have a cold then always wear a mask in public and if you need to blow your nose in public you can’t but you can sneeze with your mask on and get snot all over your face just don’t take the mask off and blow your nose
Yeah I suppose that’s a bit of an odd one! Personally, in pubs and casual restaurants, it wouldn’t really bother me. However, in a fine dining establishment, I wouldn’t be too happy.
I liked pretty much all the etiquette when I was there recently. Being quiet on trains in Tokyo, walking on the left whenever possible, just the all around polite, respectfully mindful and considerate behavior is something that suits me. And the etiquette does loosen or relax in other cities away from Tokyo like say, Osaka which seems to have a kind of "vacation" vibe to some parts of it (away from the residential areas). I think overall it's best to say formality and etiquette varies, best to see what the overall vibe of a place is, and note that the vibe can change as you move from something like a tourist area into a more residential area. Of note for those staying in Airbnb homes for example. There is a lot of great peace and quiet throughout Japan that I really appreciated. Even when most crowded ~ and it was surprising how quickly you could go from a crowded area to someplace almost empty of people. Like a park or small residential street. Wonderful, really. Stay mindful and you'll have a great time.
omg I just noticed that lol. Ya only time I ever got yelled at was by an older Japanese guy. Younger Japanese guy tells me what the older guy was yelling at me for in English. Me: I know what he's saying, but thank you. Continues to calmly move my purse so older guy shuts up xD. I had my purse sitting next to me on the train. I hadn't put it on my lap or on the top shelf because it was soaking wet. Oh well live and learn.
I’m Japanese and I can say what Paolo mentioned in this video are 100% accurate. I’m impressed how well you covered all the exemptions and helpful side notes. Well done!!!
@ Beer has more vitamins than you know. Alcohol of different kinds is in small doses a cure and alcohol is present in all kinds of traditional cures. So just because you don´t get it slavs are weird?
My Japanese police story: I took a train to Sakuradamon station on November 10, 2019. Little did I realize they were having a major parade celebrating the enthronement of the new Emperor that day. A whole bunch of exits are blocked by numerous police, and when I finally make it above ground, I see a big security checkpoint. At the time I'm carrying a roller suitcase as well as a backpack because I stayed in a different hotel each night I was in Tokyo. I decide "What the heck?" and get in line to get into the parade. A few officers are walking back and forth in this super long line carrying signs showing what not to have - including suitcases. I start freaking out, but then someone assures me that they'll just be checking my suitcase, so I stick it out. I get to the checkpoint and am searched head to foot, with them checking every pocket and every area of both my suitcase and backpack. It was the nicest total search I've ever had. I'm totally cooperative because at this point I just want to get to see the Emperor, so they were very polite with me. As I'm about to leave, one of the officers (who spoke very good English) tells me: "When the cars pass, you can have your smartphone out as well as the Japanese flag. If you put your hands in your pockets, someone will escort you out." I took this threat very seriously and got to see the Emperor, which was awesome. Moral of the story: just do what you're told if you're not doing anything suspicious, and all will work out!
I am Japanese. Thank you for making this video to introduce Japan. It is a very detailed and nice video. The depreciation of the yen has made travelling to Japan easier. I hope many people who see this video will come to Japan.
We have our trip booked for March this year (2023) to April. My son is paying for us to come over as he loves everything about Japan. I’m researching so much on where to go, as we have all accommodation booked. 74 days and counting down.
@@thegraemekell I am glad to hear its news. You can't wait for your trip to Japan. I am also introducing Japan. if you like, refer to me. I wish you a pleasant trip.😀
Japan: It's not ok to eat and walk because it bothers other people around you. Also Japan: It's perfectly fine to smoke inside restaurants, other people who don't smoke will just have to deal with it!!!
@@Hellmiauz I know I know. Japan, basically Asia is totally different than rest of the world and I try to explain it to myself. Maybe the way I think is wrong.
In return their social culture dissuades smoking while walking which is much nicer. I really hate smoking pedestrian in my home town because it is harder to avoid on a narrow street.
I was hanging out with my Japanese friend in Tokyo and we were having a walk in Odaiba. I followed your advice and stood near the roadside and started eating sandwich and he was like why are u standing like that? are u tired??.......me: well its considered rude to eat while walking right?............ him: uh really?? i hv never heard about this............ me: well it is, i watched it in a youtube video.........him: uh maybe. prolly only older ppl pay attention to this, we youngsters dont care!......... and we gobbled up 5 sandwiches on our way to tokyo teleport station
I'm Japanese I think many Japanese(including elderly people) don't care about eating while walking. But it is usually prohibited to eat and drink in shrines or temples. Have a nice trip!
Bro, I’m actually gonna live in Japan because I found a job as an animator for Madhouse, I learned a lot of Japanese so I can communicate with them but also took some of your tips as well, moving here wasn’t easy but it is a dream come true and getting this job wasn’t easy either, 3 other studios turned me down and I was waiting weeks for each studio, I was lucky that I got this job, this is a dream come true
@@bayzicorporation6557 I just got here and got residency, once I got that I had to get my previous work on a type of animation I worked on and I showed it to them in my interview, but it took a long time to get the interview scheduled because they were really busy, all I needed was my Job Application, my resume and I had to add something in my resume to get the job and show them my previous work to see if I should get hired or not, you could get residency easily, but it depends on your background that comes from your country, I didn’t know that they could do that but after that I got my residency and after that I got the job but it was very close to not getting it, you don’t have to be Japanese to work on Anime or Manga in Japan.
Funny cause I feel awkward eating in public ..I know it was considered bad manners here at one point..japanese are so mannerly...somthin special about them
Im from greece driving age is 18 here we drive from 13 drinking age is 18 we drink from early age with our grandfathers casino age is 21 we can't go cause they check id but we can play from the internet with fake ids if you are over 13, you can do technically do enything an adult can this is greece and we love it! come visit us cause we litteraly dont give a fuck about anything we also have cool islands.
in Portugal you are only allowed to Drink when you're 16.. but that doesn't matter much, because, in most places, no one will ask you for your age when you order a Drink.. (Ok, maybe unless you look really young, like a Child, they might not sell you a Drink, but otherwise, you just need to be a Teenager, and you're fine)
I have been to Japan 7 times so far. I have been stopped only twice by the Police. The first and second trips. The first time when I first arrived in Japan. While still in Narita Airport!! Yes I must of looked rough!! The second time in Ueno when I was walking past a Police station. But it’s no big deal it literally only takes a minute as long as you cooperate. But you must legally always carry your passport around with you. The fine for not doing so can very very high.
Jimmy D it’s a bit of a pain to do but unfortunately yes. I usually go to Japan during Halloween so each year I have special pocket sewn into my costume to safely store my passport!
When I was a kid my dad was stationed in Spain with the USAF. If my parents were having a party and ran out of something, they would send me to the bodega down the block to buy the booze. I was 9...
Yeah I was scanning the comments for this lol I overheard him say "10-20k dollars" and I stopped what I was doing and was like "hold up, I gotta have that much for Japan?"
I have really been enjoying your videos that I stumbled onto a few months ago. My wife is a Canadian who’s father immigrated from Japan prior to WW2. He spent his youth in a Japanese internment camp and I had great respect for him as a loving and devoted father to his five children. He passed away last year form Parkinson’s, having lived life to the fullest. Now I am highly entertained with your content as I sit home quarantined from the Coronavirus. I hope all is well over in Tokyo. Keep up the good work. Love to keep learning more about the Japanese people whom I have so much respect for!
Having been to Japan in February, I was surprised by how well the trains worked. I didn't ever really encounter a sardine crunch moment but that's mainly because I took the trains at the right time. Generally you only want to take the train at like, 9:30am since a lot of places only actually OPEN at 10am so generally if you're not working then you'll be dodging the rush hour
I think Japanese police are quite chill. I had two encounters with police while in Tokyo and they were very friendly. One was that I was walking around and drinking in public. As you mentioned in the video it's common courtesy to stay in one place and drink and eat. The cop looked at my ID said "Ah, America!" and proceeded to tell me to just stay and one place to finish my beer and went on his way. The other time was because my girlfriend and I were sprinting drunkenly through Arakawa-ku around 11pm at night. She was ahead of me and I guess someone found that suspicious. A police car scoured the area and stopped us because we were the only gaijins in the area. They checked our ID's, asked us where we were staying, checked my back pack and wished us a goodnight and just told us to be a little more courteous. No biggie and they were super polite.
I love the part of her being in front of you ... being suspicious, was quite funny 😆, but it’s very good that they did check - you never know here in South Africa I don’t think that would happen.
I've been studying Japanese for quite some time... But, man... The subtle facial expressions you guys make when I try to speak your own language makes me drop it right on.
Being from the UK I was amazed when a guy lit a cigar when I was at the Tokyo Whiskey Library. Your not really allowed to smoke anywhere indoors in the UK.
I went to Japan with my family for the first time this summer. I was in a group that included 5 adults and 3 children. It was a rainy evening. We exited the subway station and started to walk to the bus stop when we were stopped by the police on their bicycles. They asked my brother in law for his id and they were asking where we were going. The police men all passed his passport around to look at. I was quite nervous because of the communication barrier. The police had us follow them and we complied even when we didn't really know what was going on. I thought they were going to take us to the station, but they ended up just walking us to the bus stop we needed to be at lol. I believe it's because my brother in law looked suspicious. He's a Japanese-American who is buff and has tattoos and he can't speak any Japanese. So I wouldn't be surprised if he was the reason we were stopped hehe :)
*Also anime looking like some of the American giros I know but can never be as pretty as* Me: I.. I don't even look like I'm from America- yet you are not and you look like it- h-how?!
Ja D 10 dollars an hour is fairly high for waiter.....I worked as a retail worker part time and I saw full time co workers that lived off similar wages. Here in united States, most waiters survive on 7.50 an hour and hope to get tips. Tbh American system is backward, why won’t they make food more expensive so waiters can have a stable income? Rather than paying them shit and hope that customers are generous enough to give waiters some spare change.
Ja D most waitress/waiter are students in japan. High school or college students. No one think server jobs as a “permanent” work. No one expect to make a life out of these jobs. I don’t know anyone around me still working at restaurants after college, and I never met anyone who were not attending colleges/any other schools when I was a waitress.
Depends on what you consider top notch service. Polite and smiley? Absolutely. Ability to deal with any situation or request not on their strict procedures? Look elsewhere.
Ja D in Japan like many countries that don’t tip, they make a reasonable amount of money. In Australia I was 16 working in a restaurant I was making over $15 an hour
Japan was racially homogeneous nation for such a long time & we rarely saw foreigners, even in Tokyo, until around 20 years ago. The situation has been changing since then, & especially in the past 10 years time, number of foreign residents & tourists increased a lot! So, apologies if we aren’t coping well enough. We are slowly changing, though the systems are changing even slower💦 And please try and speak to us, even though you don’t speak Japanese & the person you’re speaking to doesn’t seem quite understand you. Encounters of both individuals may help changing the systems & clearing misunderstandings.
Coming from New Zealand to Japan, I felt that the people of Tokyo compared to the people of Auckland (in NZ) was more or less the same. Everyone was very friendly, helpful, wanted to help and generally understood that I didn't get what was going on a lot of the time because of language barrier. Especially in conbinis. I think as long as we can continue to want to respect and learn other cultures we will be easily be able to share them together :)
@@JennhasADHD it would be very good but currently crime rate is kinda high and could cause catastrophes.Positively speaking that would be amazing though
Tattoos: This was a bigger problem for me last time I visited Japan. It was only an issue before at the Nagashima Resort, as I couldn't use the onsen because of my tattoos. It was a "family" place so it really didn't take me by surprise. My first trip to Japan I went to an onsen at Hamanako Lake. A very nice Onsen and it wasn't a problem. I heard from a friend that lived in Japan for a while that tattoo policies seem to go away the further from the city you go out. It seemed that way at an onsen near Kobayashi in Miyazaki two visits prior. No signs and the staff didn't bat an eye at my covered forearm. We did end up renting a private bungalow with a gorgeous outside private path in the secluded garden. For our last trip we stayed at 2 onsens. Atami: This was a bit of headache, almost all of the onsens had a no tattoo policy, and almost all of them didn't have that on their English pages, only their Japanese pages. My wife is Japanese, and that helped with avoiding a situation. We tried playing the foreigner card when asking about the policy via e-mail and they said it was 'no tattoos' across the board. We ended up at a "no tattoo" onsen that charged extra for their private bath. Nishio: This last time we stayed at a mom & pop onsen, and Obachan had no problems with my tattoos. While in Enoshima, I was shocked at the high number of Japanese people with tattoos and having them on full display. Nothing like that states, but relative to Tokyo, it was very noticeable. Our next trip is in 2021 and we will be going to Okinawa, which I heard is a much more tattoo friendly place.
You might be right! I stayed at a ryokan in Hakone and they had no issue with me using the public and outdoor baths. I did call ahead and make sure though.
Thank you. We are an older couple and will travel thru Japan in Nov and Dec, 2019. We are terrified about the train stations and the challenge about money (cash vs cards), but we are very excited. Thank you for demystifying Japan.
@@shreky1355 it was very smooth! What we needed to remember is how punctual train arrivals and departures are across Japan. Several times we either got lost or weren’t sure and kind Japanese strangers just took charge, helped us with our small luggages (hand carried bags and small backpacks each) and led us to the correct platforms. We have never encountered such kindness before. It was heartwarming and we were (still are) grateful. Arigato.
I had lived in Japan as a very small child. Then finally in my 50's my dream came true and a friend treated me to a trip to Okinawa. I know I did some things wrong after watching your videos, but I actually did spend quite a bit of time learning about the culture and what to do and not do. Several people asked me if I had lived in Japan before? I realize now what a compliment that was. Really I think all I did different than my friends was my body language , and keeping my voice low ( not in my nature as I am from a big family in the states); and also I tried not to look people directly in the eye for very long. Sort of a deferential body language, which surprisingly came very naturally to me while I was there. Here in the states , my body language is the complete opposite, shoulders back, head high and always look people in the eye . As a small woman that works for me here in the US. lol
These tips are super useful! My family and I are planning to go to Japan for a couple days for my graduation gift so I have a little more than a year to get more educated and even learn some of the basics. Thank you! There's also an unexpected but pleasant surprise when I saw Seventeen on the screen! 4:54
Paolo, all I got to say is that you da man! My wife and I will be in Japan the 2nd half of January and you videos have been a HUGE help. I definitely feel more informed and better prepared. Maybe be we'll see you on the streets...
Credit card processing companies charge vendors a fee for the transaction. Smaller vendors resist adopting card transactions because they'll either need to raise their prices to cover the transaction fee or accept a cut in profits; the transaction fee can be as much as 3% of the amount of the transaction, depending upon the network. Also the 7-Bank ATM will accept any international chip card with a 4-digit PIN (as long as the card is on one of the following networks: PLUS, Visa, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, AMEX, Discover, JCP, or Diner's Club). Portable wifi hotspots are cheap to rent, around $50 for the first week and $20 for subsequent weeks. Just don't lose them. If you travel in a group, you can all use it. Also, if you rent an apartment rather than a hotel, the apartment often comes with a portable wifi hotspot. Again, just don't lose it. The replacement fee can be steep. And speaking of renting an apartment, it's almost always cheaper than a hotel, but it'll be smaller with fewer amenities. The last time I went to Japan, the total cost for the apartment was $810 USD, and it was split between two people; that was for 13 nights. Also, there are a few cell service companies that operate in Japan who will, for a nominal fee, allow you phone to work in Japan. My last trip to Japan cost $5/month from Sprint to have unlimited service in Japan. If you're going to travel the country, rather than just spend your whole trip in one city, I cannot emphasize enough how economical the Japan Rail Pass is. A one-week pass costs about as much as a round trip from Tokyo to Osaka on the shinkansen. The pass gives you unlimited use of the shinkansen (though not the fastest train, and there are a small number of route exceptions) as well as unlimited access to all the Japan Rail operated commuter trains. Japan Rail operates over the entire country. When we went last year, we bought a two-week Green Car pass (bigger seats) for a bit less than $600 USD, and the shinkansen trips we took would have cost well over $1100 if we had booked them separately. This doesn't even address the savings we had from not having to buy a ticket every time we got on the trains in Tokyo, Osaka, etc. Oh, and the pass makes using the commuter train system easier. Without the pass, you have to find how much your destination costs from your starting station and buy a ticket for that amount; there's usually a price map at each entrance, but it's almost always in Japanese. If you buy the wrong ticket, getting out of the station at your destination can be problematic. With the JR Pass, you just show the pass to the attendant and walk right in. At your destination, show your pass and walk right out. That being said, if you're not going to be using the shinkansent, the pass is almost certainly more expensive than what you'd pay just using the commuter trains every day. About the police, in my limited experience, they're usually pretty chill. If you're going around looking like a tourist, they're likely going to just ignore you. But, being a douche-nozzle will attract their attention; don't be a loud, obnoxious drunk in public, for example. They're pretty conscientious for the most part, and a kouban (police box) is a good place to start if you've lost a wallet, laptop, passport, or something similar. Japanese people will often turn such things found on the street to the nearest police box, so if the police know you're is missing and you can identify it, there's a greater chance you'll get it back than most other parts of the world. All that being said, I have heard of foreigners being harassed by Japanese police, but I've only ever heard the side of the foreigner (and of course, they're always going to say they weren't doing anything wrong), so I don't really have any way of knowing whether or not the officers were being reasonable or not.
Also, with regards to number 10: People in Japan will go and fetch the police for what folks in other countries would consider to be non-issues. As an example, people will just ignore two men getting into a loud _verbal_ argument in the middle of the sidewalk here in New York City. Seeing something like that is more common than dirt. A police officer walking by will also ignore it. If he sees it's getting intense, he MIGHT tell the men to move along. But that's the extent of it. In Japan, if two men are raising their voices against each other in public, you will have citizens run and fetch a police officer. If they find one, they'll return with him. And he will put in real effort to immediately put an end to it. Try doing that in any major (or even small) city in America, and the officer will not-so-politely tell the person trying to fetch him, to screw off and not bother them with something so ridiculously trivial as two guys simply shouting insults at each other on the street.
Also I think Japanese police officers are quite bored. They deal with things like helping people find stuff, looking for missing cats, and help people who are lost.
I'm not sure of your point? In Japan (or Korea or China or Singapore, HongKong, Taiwan) two men wouldn't have an argument out in the open unless it was extremely serious. In the East men and women refrain from showing negative emotion in the public as it is shameful to them, their friends, coworkers, and family. It doesn't mean you don't see it, but usually, it's something that may require the police to deal with. For example: If I saw two men yelling at one another or speaking in a raised voice, I'd think perhaps one was attempted to rob the other. As this is highly disrespectful, shameful and not common. Thus, the police are warranted.
@@mweibleii I'm pretty sure people argue a lot on the streets of China and HK, we see videos, and sometimes irl such acts very often and often nobody calls the police. (I live in hk
@@mweibleii My first time in Kyoto I definitely saw a random guy (possibly drunk) in the middle of the day start yelling at everybody at an intersection waiting to cross. An older guy started yelling at the first guy. So yeah, it can happen.
When I first heard him I had to rewind it cause I thought I heard it wrong. Considering that most people carry like maybe $100 in cash if that. Anything bigger and people are like "what are you doing?' XD
When I first arrived in Japan I was late for work and ended up in the woman only car. It didn't take long until I noticed I was the only guy there. I changed cars in the next station. No one said anything as I was there clearly by mistake with my big gaijin face, but it was very embarrassing.
I tend to forget about it because when I worked there I didn't have to be there until 10 AM so as far as I was concerned there were no women only cars. Of course sometimes I had to go a bit earlier for whatever reason and then they'd still be in effect. Somehow I avoided it so far but I'm so used to not thinking about them it's just a matter of time. I'm already embarrassed for my future self.
I worry about things like that. When my parents and sister heard that I was going to the rugby world cup they decided that they wanted to go too. Family being what it is, I will be shepparding two grand parents and my sister through a country I have never been to... And don't speak the language... Mistakes will be made.
@@Necyn the last few days of September and most of October 2019... I am trying to learn spoken Japanese, but I find it hard to learn, especially with no one to practice with. I should be at about toddler level which should help.
I was in Japan this april. But i had it easy. My brothers ex is Japanese and we still have contact, she was my guide. Onsen is a must! Buy Passmo cards _Very useful_. Bring cash. I had 2 different visa neither would work. Portable wifi is a must too. Specially if you wanna keep connected. So renting one portable internet is great (my phone didnt wanna connect to anything more or less in Japan). :D
Im planning a trip to Japan with my my friend, who immigrated to America when she was young. We're gonna go find her roots and imma enjoy myself, being a Japanese culture lover
Kinda surprised there's no stalking discussion, I've only been in Japan for 3 - 4 times, but I got stalked at least 2 times (that I'm aware of). Once was so scary the stalker followed me all the way after I finished my hiking to riding the empty train to sit next to me! I was so scared when he opened his bag, but then he politely asked me where I was from. I was lucky, he seems to just wanted to talk to someone (maybe) and leave me after 5 stations. The other stalker followed me to my hotel in Osaka and even to my room, knocking and tried to open my locked door in the midnight that I had to call the reception to help me :(
ugh. are you blond? sorry for the too direct question. just thinking as they might be fascinated with blonde hair. but anyway, this was a creepy experience for sure. especially that with the door 😰
Yea, Japan does seem to have a big problem with stalking, spy cameras etc. Next time you go, I would buy one of those tools to detect spy cameras and give your rooms and any public toilets you use a clean sweep.
@@sybotrybo1609 Hey, sorry for late reply but no, I'm Asian too. But my blonde friend did get stalked too and even got marriage proposal out of the blue in Japan so I understand what you mean. This stalking issues need to be made aware of more to female travelers coming to Japan by influencers. The experiences were pretty traumatic to me to be honest.
You're going to love Japan! If you need more tips and guides then have a look at our videos about Japan, we were there for 3 months so explored quite a bit👌
@@MillennialTravelConfessions will do anything to make the trip easier and more enjoyable is always a good thing. All I keep seeing is use common sense and good manners and everything will be fine lol.
Oh lol, I thought it was a thumb and today. Not like there aren't very random shirts out there so I didn't understand it but I didn't question it either.
As a Norwegian, I LOVE how he stopped at a Norwegian-Japanese bar at the drinking part. Not only do you se it in the big wors ØL, which is beer in Norwegian, but under you can even see it saying that the bar from, or at least getting bewrages from Oslo, the norwegian capital.
So helpful thank you bro don't stop what you're doing a lot of melanated people that I know of would like to visit Japan that are scared and I think your videos are very insightful so I appreciate what you doing and I hope the channel gets bigger
Great video. Looking forward to travel to Japan and this helps a lot with the planning. So in Germany we are allowed to buy and consume beer from an early age of 16. But honestly, we start around 14 or even earlier. Other liquors like whisky, cognac etc is available from an age of 18 though. You can even sit in the subway in the evening, having a beer to go.... It wouldn't be considered to be rude. I would say, from my own perspective, that the high school years and maybe the first 2 or 3 semester at uni are quite boozy in Germany.
"Walking and eating won't get you in trouble..." HA! I was hungry and in a hurry to get back to the train station in Tachikawa. I completely forgot about the "no eating and walking" rule and a man shouted "MESSY EATING!" at me in Japanese from across the street. I'll NEVER do it again.
The only thing that surprised me in this vid was that JP hotels charging per person rather than per night. This is probably becuase I always booked via Agoda.
I was stopped and checked by the authorities twice in two different trips to Japan in my younger days, once in Akihabara and another one in Kabukicho JR station. No big deal. Once they found out I'm a tourist they apologized and sent me on my way. Bring your passport and just be cooperative. I found that I had not gotten stopped and checked at all recently. I think they target younger demographics. Maybe they are more concerned of illegal workers/immigrants.
Man thank u for this video me and my girlfriend and our friends our planning a trip to Tokyo Japan I've always wanted to visit the country since I was a child. We might need a guide when we visit. 😊
Thanks for the tip about hotels charging per person. That is so surprising to me as I’ve never come across that anywhere in the world. I love countries that don’t require tipping, it makes eating out so much more enjoyable. Thanks for your video.
During my stay in Tokyo, with my co-English language teacher, we would agree that we never approach or ask a policeman for direction.Much better to ask local even in broken Japanese. It'll leads to asking your ID first and ask you many questions before giving you directions. TROUBLESOME.
It’s been 5 nights in a row where I dreamt that my family and I moved to Japan. Aside from the culture of this country, I also admire its cuisine as I wish to pursue a culinary career. I really want to come here!
Excellent job! Great info! Keep these coming for us! Especially like the part about unusual fees, I can imagine some tourists think they’re being scammed when they see them and don’t understand. I would!
Being Canadian, I legitimately thought he was going to say how high the drinking age was rather than how low it was. (19 in seven provinces including mine, 18 in the other three)
Great video. As for police questioning you at will, I was questioned by FOUR different teams-of-two while waiting for my delayed flight at Narita. I am white and tall, so my guess is they were just curious, although the fourth time I just said "are you kidding me, this is the fourth time!" and they left me in peace. They were all quite respectful, so no complaints. Just odd. They actually had a phrase book in English as theirs was limited (and my Japanese limited to hello, thank you, and goodbye). Funny thing, after the third time a black couple from the States waiting for a flight to Atlanta who had also been hanging around in the area told me "we have never seen someone getting questioned for 'waiting while tall' ". They said it made an interesting change from back home! Hahaha...
Great video Paola. Wish I had this info before I left for Tokyo in April. I have to say I absolutely loved the city and the country of Japan. Cleanest, safest, politest, and quietest city I ever visited. I definitely plan on returning and exploring more, this time outside of the Tokyo area. #3 - Japan has a great craft beer and whiskey scene as well as the finest sake of course. Many other Asian countries I’ve visited don’t even come close to the beverage culture in Japan. #5 - when wandering the streets you may have no Wi-Fi but you can pop into any store or shop and connect rather easily. I thought I would need a portable Wi-Fi device but was OK without one for the duration of my trip. Also, the hotel I stayed at had extremely fast Wi-Fi. #7 - tried to board a “woman only” car and was stopped by the subway usher. They were very polite and explained what the pink signage meant on the floor. I did not know what was going on at first and then looked into the car and noticed it was only woman. Also, the PASMO metro pass is a must have when touring Tokyo. #8 - also love the “non tipping culture”. Was so nice to receive the check and only have to worry about paying the total while not have to do any additional calculations. One question, what’s up with all the ravens flying around? Specifically in the Shinjuku area in which I stayed? I thought it was so cool to see all these ravens flying around a big metropolis. Totally unexpected.
You missed the most important tip of all when visiting japan!!! PURCHASE YOUR GHIBLI STUDIO TICKETS!!!!! You can't buy them on site and you need to buy the tickets a month in advance which no travelers would stay for that duration. My biggest regret.
I live in Norway and the legal drinking age here is 18 so I was shocked when I learned that you can't drink until 21 in America. Also in Denmark the legal drinking age is 16.
In portugal we don't care about eating while walking but we are very close to food. So it's very very normal to have lunch with family that extends to the dinner ,always on the table with food and drinks. It's normal to have business meeting while eating.
Oh man, just wanted to drop some THUMB UP for all the incredible work and time you took making this video!! Wow it definitely look like it took a LOT of time and I want you to know that its very much appreciated.
Wow, I'm travelling to Japan next week and feeling so excited! Thank you for all these valuable information. Your videos are awesome, very informative and I love your energy. Love from Vietnam :)
I never knew they didn't like when you walk and eat in Japan, you see it all the time in anime I'm happy for ur tips thank you! I never knew about the alcohol or tattoos because you see people with tattoos in japan I talk with japanese people before too/cosplayers but they never mention these facts, I thought it was normal anywhere I'm really thankful for these tips!!
Got a parking ticket in Tachikawa when I went to a movie. Had to go to the police station where I was lectured by the sergeant in perfect English. I was very respectful and left with only the lecture. For the most part the police are very helpful especially if you are lost and need directions.
Actually the use of cash increases the chance of tax evasion... probably in Japan it’s not a serious issue, but here in Italy a lot of activities still accept only cash and evade taxes
Like I care if someone sees what i spend my money on. You think i want a wallet in my pocket at all times? Ofcourse not that just doesnt fit especially of you are on a bike
Hi Paolo, can you do a safety video on how to survive if a natural disaster strikes, such as earthquakes, typhoon and tsunamis? That would be very helpful to know , love your youtube channel and keep up the Amazing work!
ruclips.net/user/TokyoZebra - See what's going on in my life behind the scenes on Tokyo Zebra
www.tokyozebra.com/merch - Get the Toe-kyo and Ja-Pan Merch
paolofrom.tokyo/discord Get answers about Japan and Japan Travel from my Discord community
Great video brother!
I was digging the graffiti street art, is there much street art in Shibuya or Shinjuku?
The legal drinking age in Australia is actually 18! :D (younger than the U.S)
The legal driving age in Australia is 18 though (so a little older than the U.S)
I'm moving to Shinjuku for a semester of studying abroad and one of the things I want to try is go-karting the streets of Tokyo.
Have you tried it and if not, do you want to come to give it a try with us and you could make a video of it?
I'd like to see that brother haha
Keep up the good work bro, cheers :D
P.S. I also, wanted to say thank you very much to Maiko for the tattoo friendly onsen list. :D
I really appreciate it. I was just wondering, if possible would you be able to make a list for Osaka (near Namba) and Kyoto please Maiko???? >.
please make a video on foods of japan
Are clothes sizes different in Japan compared to the US, and if so what sizing does your site follow?
Hey buddy I love your videos and I am planning to come to Japan next month...may be we will meet.....by the way what is the music names you use from epicdemic site... specially the theme song.
Where are you from?
I was stopped by the police simply because they wanted to practice their english
xDDD That's sweet!
how long did the police end up talking to you?...........that's quite funny actually!
Is it cos you're.... White?
@Josiah White It's a manual when they stop foreigners to ask some questions... It's written in practical technical books for Japanese police officer. These kind of books are sold at big bookstore in Japan.
n2b8r pun intended??
"Always be respectful to the culture."
Amen, brother
yeah, unlike logan paul
Logan paul hold my camera
Logan Paul has left the chat
Doesn't apply when u go to the middle east
What if the culture is evil
That old guy actually looked at him when he was walking and eating omg
he did seemingly have a slight wtf face too
Lol
@@tauceti8341 LOL he did
Yea
What Minute?
japanese screen in convenience store: are you 20?
me, 24 and sweating: y-yes
Luna mood
Lol
LMAO FR
"I think so 😳😬"
Lmao 🤣
I think some important ones you missed are:
- always clean up after yourself, even at fast food restaurants, and definitely don't litter
- don't blow your nose in public and especially at the dinner table
but what if you have the sniffles and you're outside? D:
Yeah best thing to do is if you have a cold then always wear a mask in public and if you need to blow your nose in public you can’t but you can sneeze with your mask on and get snot all over your face just don’t take the mask off and blow your nose
Isn't that pretty much the rule everywhere?
He's done all of these in his countless other videos about such topics
RIP Hay Fever patients
I tend to agree with a lot of Japanese etiquette. It’s just common decency and respect for others in public.
But smoking while others are drinking and eatinf is fine
Yeah I suppose that’s a bit of an odd one! Personally, in pubs and casual restaurants, it wouldn’t really bother me. However, in a fine dining establishment, I wouldn’t be too happy.
I liked pretty much all the etiquette when I was there recently. Being quiet on trains in Tokyo, walking on the left whenever possible, just the all around polite, respectfully mindful and considerate behavior is something that suits me. And the etiquette does loosen or relax in other cities away from Tokyo like say, Osaka which seems to have a kind of "vacation" vibe to some parts of it (away from the residential areas).
I think overall it's best to say formality and etiquette varies, best to see what the overall vibe of a place is, and note that the vibe can change as you move from something like a tourist area into a more residential area. Of note for those staying in Airbnb homes for example.
There is a lot of great peace and quiet throughout Japan that I really appreciated. Even when most crowded ~ and it was surprising how quickly you could go from a crowded area to someplace almost empty of people. Like a park or small residential street. Wonderful, really. Stay mindful and you'll have a great time.
Absolutely
@@Blasphemiss we do it here in parts of Florida lol
3:07 "Maybe the older generation will come up and say something to you"
old man in background furiously looking over constantly
omg I just noticed that lol. Ya only time I ever got yelled at was by an older Japanese guy. Younger Japanese guy tells me what the older guy was yelling at me for in English. Me: I know what he's saying, but thank you. Continues to calmly move my purse so older guy shuts up xD. I had my purse sitting next to me on the train. I hadn't put it on my lap or on the top shelf because it was soaking wet. Oh well live and learn.
They are just looking for something to bitch about. They are racist against foreigners.
lol
vegnewb A lot of old people are like that dude, chill
Irish Panda Thanks kid, old people don’t stare like that in my country, but they do in Japan.
I’m Japanese and I can say what Paolo mentioned in this video are 100% accurate. I’m impressed how well you covered all the exemptions and helpful side notes. Well done!!!
In Russia beer was considered "soft drink" until recently....
You slavs are weird.
Lol
It is soft compared to vodka.
Yesss
@ Beer has more vitamins than you know. Alcohol of different kinds is in small doses a cure and alcohol is present in all kinds of traditional cures. So just because you don´t get it slavs are weird?
My Japanese police story:
I took a train to Sakuradamon station on November 10, 2019. Little did I realize they were having a major parade celebrating the enthronement of the new Emperor that day. A whole bunch of exits are blocked by numerous police, and when I finally make it above ground, I see a big security checkpoint. At the time I'm carrying a roller suitcase as well as a backpack because I stayed in a different hotel each night I was in Tokyo. I decide "What the heck?" and get in line to get into the parade. A few officers are walking back and forth in this super long line carrying signs showing what not to have - including suitcases. I start freaking out, but then someone assures me that they'll just be checking my suitcase, so I stick it out.
I get to the checkpoint and am searched head to foot, with them checking every pocket and every area of both my suitcase and backpack. It was the nicest total search I've ever had. I'm totally cooperative because at this point I just want to get to see the Emperor, so they were very polite with me. As I'm about to leave, one of the officers (who spoke very good English) tells me: "When the cars pass, you can have your smartphone out as well as the Japanese flag. If you put your hands in your pockets, someone will escort you out." I took this threat very seriously and got to see the Emperor, which was awesome.
Moral of the story: just do what you're told if you're not doing anything suspicious, and all will work out!
Can't take a selfie with the Emperor? What a bummer dude. XDDD Jk.
interesting story but also. im crying at your icon i love funky student so much
@@kiayaoi thats wiggity wack yo
Well that was a boring tale
kia Interesting you say ...boring I say
I am Japanese. Thank you for making this video to introduce Japan. It is a very detailed and nice video. The depreciation of the yen has made travelling to Japan easier. I hope many people who see this video will come to Japan.
We have our trip booked for March this year (2023) to April. My son is paying for us to come over as he loves everything about Japan. I’m researching so much on where to go, as we have all accommodation booked. 74 days and counting down.
@@thegraemekell I am glad to hear its news. You can't wait for your trip to Japan. I am also introducing Japan. if you like, refer to me. I wish you a pleasant trip.😀
I'm watching a lot of these types of videos before going to Japan when I'm older. I don't want to look like a rude foreigner in Japan
ok weeb
I rely want to visit there.
Same here. And I'm not even religious but I paid my respects to the gods at Shinjuku temple when I was in Japan. Damn near cried, too.
@@based9 Imagine spending time looking for strangers to belittle, lol.
Mhm I’m saving my money with friends to head there.
Also Levi is my favorite!
Japan: It's not ok to eat and walk because it bothers other people around you.
Also Japan: It's perfectly fine to smoke inside restaurants, other people who don't smoke will just have to deal with it!!!
If you go outside youre clothes are not smells cigarette anymore but if you spil some food on someone suit...well thats another story.
@@CastielMichael88 second hand smoking. nuff said
@@Hellmiauz I know I know. Japan, basically Asia is totally different than rest of the world and I try to explain it to myself. Maybe the way I think is wrong.
Many restaurants there already adopted a designated smoking area.
In return their social culture dissuades smoking while walking which is much nicer. I really hate smoking pedestrian in my home town because it is harder to avoid on a narrow street.
How to blend in while living in Japan: wear a t-shirt that says "Tokyo".
Toe*
💀kyo
Or you could be like an anime character named Izuku Midoriya and wear a shirt that says 'T-shirt' in Japanese...
Toke yo*
Tokuyu
I was hanging out with my Japanese friend in Tokyo and we were having a walk in Odaiba. I followed your advice and stood near the roadside and started eating sandwich and he was like why are u standing like that? are u tired??.......me: well its considered rude to eat while walking right?............ him: uh really?? i hv never heard about this............ me: well it is, i watched it in a youtube video.........him: uh maybe. prolly only older ppl pay attention to this, we youngsters dont care!......... and we gobbled up 5 sandwiches on our way to tokyo teleport station
Oh
ToKyO tElEpOrT sYsTeM
"...tokyo teleport station". I think Japan gives off a high-tech vibe, but I'd never imagine it to be on that level.
LMAO your friend's rude...I'm a young Japanese person saying this.
I'm Japanese
I think many Japanese(including elderly people) don't care about eating while walking.
But it is usually prohibited to eat and drink in shrines or temples.
Have a nice trip!
Bro, I’m actually gonna live in Japan because I found a job as an animator for Madhouse, I learned a lot of Japanese so I can communicate with them but also took some of your tips as well, moving here wasn’t easy but it is a dream come true and getting this job wasn’t easy either, 3 other studios turned me down and I was waiting weeks for each studio, I was lucky that I got this job, this is a dream come true
How did you get that job? Did you just apply online? How do you get to work in Japan legally?
@@bayzicorporation6557 I just got here and got residency, once I got that I had to get my previous work on a type of animation I worked on and I showed it to them in my interview, but it took a long time to get the interview scheduled because they were really busy, all I needed was my Job Application, my resume and I had to add something in my resume to get the job and show them my previous work to see if I should get hired or not, you could get residency easily, but it depends on your background that comes from your country, I didn’t know that they could do that but after that I got my residency and after that I got the job but it was very close to not getting it, you don’t have to be Japanese to work on Anime or Manga in Japan.
@@ericgutierrez4289 pls tell them to make No game no life season 2, thanks ;)
How did the move go?
@@kingmp1227 don’t worry bro I’ll tell em 😂
“It’s extremely rude to eat while walking in public so let me do it on camera for your enjoyment!!”
its wprse whem thdy walk and text
It made me feel so uncomfortable -.-
@greg wilson I think I'm capable of comprehending through words alone.
@greg wilson you're confused then
Funny cause I feel awkward eating in public ..I know it was considered bad manners here at one point..japanese are so mannerly...somthin special about them
Drink age in Mexico: 18 years old
Underage kids strategy: Send the guy with the longest beard or mustache to buy the beer.
HAHAHA, SÍ 😂
lmao 😂
in PHILIPPINES 10 hahaha
Im from greece
driving age is 18 here
we drive from 13
drinking age is 18
we drink from early age with our grandfathers
casino age is 21
we can't go cause they check id
but we can play from the internet with fake ids
if you are over 13, you can do technically do enything an adult can
this is greece and we love it!
come visit us cause we litteraly dont give a fuck about anything
we also have cool islands.
eliasefr that’s truly a Spartan way to live...cool
Americans: "When I came to japan I was shocked I could drink alcohol with 20. Wow!!!"
Germans: *laugh*
Us Australians also laugh.
in Portugal you are only allowed to Drink when you're 16.. but that doesn't matter much, because, in most places, no one will ask you for your age when you order a Drink.. (Ok, maybe unless you look really young, like a Child, they might not sell you a Drink, but otherwise, you just need to be a Teenager, and you're fine)
In America we take liver and kidney disease seriously
And im still laughing my ass of... Dutch.. :)
China : lmao
I'm Japanese.
Everything is fine if you are honest and humble.
I have been to Japan 7 times so far. I have been stopped only twice by the Police. The first and second trips. The first time when I first arrived in Japan. While still in Narita Airport!! Yes I must of looked rough!! The second time in Ueno when I was walking past a Police station. But it’s no big deal it literally only takes a minute as long as you cooperate. But you must legally always carry your passport around with you. The fine for not doing so can very very high.
how high are we talking?? lol I had no idea I was supposed to carry it around until after I spent 3 weeks there! and I missed out on some tax refunds
MrJuicemunkey I did see a sum a few years ago as high as ¥290,000!
OMG< I had no idea I was suppose to carry around my passport! I've been there so many time. I'm lucky I was never stopped and questioned
Jimmy D it’s a bit of a pain to do but unfortunately yes. I usually go to Japan during Halloween so each year I have special pocket sewn into my costume to safely store my passport!
i never carried my passport. i asked them all the time where something was and took pictures of them. they never asked to see any ID or search me.
日本語字幕が“オラ”なの面白いww
日本に住んでると当たり前のことが海外の方だと違うんだなって客観的に見れて良かった！
字幕の喋り方完全に悟空ですよね笑
Very informative. That old guy was looking at you while you were demonstrating about eating and walking. That made me laugh. Thank you for the video.
That guy was paid by Paolo to make his point. :)
ほんと
Ikr
the same thing happened to me and it was the most awkward situation ever lol
When I was a kid my dad was stationed in Spain with the USAF. If my parents were having a party and ran out of something, they would send me to the bodega down the block to buy the booze. I was 9...
Is the same in Latin America
Same in philippines
"10, 20 thousand dollars in my pocket..."
Me: *feels broke*
...
"*yen"
OH OKAY.. ° u °;;
lol-
Yeah I was scanning the comments for this lol
I overheard him say "10-20k dollars" and I stopped what I was doing and was like "hold up, I gotta have that much for Japan?"
Thats still like 200 dollars hes walking around with at all times, lol
Paolo was editing and was like “Don’t rob me bro”
USA: No alcohol till 21
Japan: No alcohol till 20 😃
UK: No alcohol till 18 😁
16 year olds in Germany 😜🍺
What about Smoking? it was 16 in UK but now 18
In Vietnam and the Philippines, as soon as you youth arm can hold a glass full of alcohol, you can drink!
Please watch and subscribe my channel
16 years old ? The times are long gone ! FUCK THE EU !
@@REALSlutHunter No, it's still 16 in Germany for most drinks. I honestly wish I didn't have to read your username, it clearly reflects your IQ.
I have really been enjoying your videos that I stumbled onto a few months ago. My wife is a Canadian who’s father immigrated from Japan prior to WW2. He spent his youth in a Japanese internment camp and I had great respect for him as a loving and devoted father to his five children. He passed away last year form Parkinson’s, having lived life to the fullest. Now I am highly entertained with your content as I sit home quarantined from the Coronavirus. I hope all is well over in Tokyo. Keep up the good work. Love to keep learning more about the Japanese people whom I have so much respect for!
Having been to Japan in February, I was surprised by how well the trains worked. I didn't ever really encounter a sardine crunch moment but that's mainly because I took the trains at the right time.
Generally you only want to take the train at like, 9:30am since a lot of places only actually OPEN at 10am so generally if you're not working then you'll be dodging the rush hour
I think Japanese police are quite chill. I had two encounters with police while in Tokyo and they were very friendly. One was that I was walking around and drinking in public. As you mentioned in the video it's common courtesy to stay in one place and drink and eat. The cop looked at my ID said "Ah, America!" and proceeded to tell me to just stay and one place to finish my beer and went on his way.
The other time was because my girlfriend and I were sprinting drunkenly through Arakawa-ku around 11pm at night. She was ahead of me and I guess someone found that suspicious.
A police car scoured the area and stopped us because we were the only gaijins in the area. They checked our ID's, asked us where we were staying, checked my back pack and wished us a goodnight and just told us to be a little more courteous. No biggie and they were super polite.
Stop going to Japan if you're going to be a drunk degenerate, dumb bitch.
Poli Wrath Your momma.
I love the part of her being in front of you ... being suspicious, was quite funny 😆, but it’s very good that they did check - you never know here in South Africa I don’t think that would happen.
@@ok5618 someone apparently does not know the fun of getting drunk in foreign places
Isn't it illegal to drink (beer) on the street in the US?
When he said he had $10,000 in his pockets-
Then immediately correct it to yen.
I thought this guy ws on bill gates's level
What are you doing here fbi. You go fight some crimes or something.
bill gates make 100k a minute
Yeah, in Yen its about $75/£65
@@mariam-eq2fy *Thought crimes
You were really wearing a shirt that sad "Toe"- kyo
I thaught it was a door ⊙_⊙
I thought it was a grave
That's his merch :3
Thankyou for clarifying. I thought it was an old cellphone. I was staring at the shirt the whole time, trying to decipher. lol
@@sagevalentina1026 I thought it was among us xD
Also my wife and I have a good bit of tattoos and plan on visiting in the future. You’re the man for those onsen links. Not all hero’s wear capes.
I've been studying Japanese for quite some time... But, man... The subtle facial expressions you guys make when I try to speak your own language makes me drop it right on.
I think that’s really just a part of learning a language. You shouldn’t let that get in your way
Being from the UK I was amazed when a guy lit a cigar when I was at the Tokyo Whiskey Library. Your not really allowed to smoke anywhere indoors in the UK.
Outland in Chile too!
thats like $1000 fine in Singapore. hahahahaha
@@KhidAndFamily Bruh and if you eat or drink in MRT or LRT it is a 5000 dollar fine.
@@RKS-wd2qx up to $1000 fine in Singapore. My cousin got a fine of $300 just for drinking coke right beside me.
@@KhidAndFamily Big rip mate.Usually my friends and I will sneak soft drinks by transferring it to a oblique water bottle.
I went to Japan with my family for the first time this summer. I was in a group that included 5 adults and 3 children. It was a rainy evening. We exited the subway station and started to walk to the bus stop when we were stopped by the police on their bicycles. They asked my brother in law for his id and they were asking where we were going. The police men all passed his passport around to look at. I was quite nervous because of the communication barrier. The police had us follow them and we complied even when we didn't really know what was going on. I thought they were going to take us to the station, but they ended up just walking us to the bus stop we needed to be at lol. I believe it's because my brother in law looked suspicious. He's a Japanese-American who is buff and has tattoos and he can't speak any Japanese. So I wouldn't be surprised if he was the reason we were stopped hehe :)
its definitely ur brothers fault!!! 🤣 disown him next time
Don't know, he got you a free guide to the bus stop....
They probably thought he was trying to scam yall lol
That's mainly because tattoos are a yakuza thing. Especially if he had tattoos on places that are revealing.
No one:
also anime: running with a slice of bread
IKR I was thinking that 😂
In Nisekoi
.......
*Also anime looking like some of the American giros I know but can never be as pretty as*
Me: I.. I don't even look like I'm from America- yet you are not and you look like it- h-how?!
I have seen this IRL, actually. I also live in Japan. haha.
I have tattoos at my legs
That's one of the great thing in Japan, they don't accept tips but service is still top notch. W
Ja D It’s not a living wage. Most waitresses/waiters work other jobs. Getting tips isn’t part of the culture so they don’t expect it.
Ja D 10 dollars an hour is fairly high for waiter.....I worked as a retail worker part time and I saw full time co workers that lived off similar wages. Here in united States, most waiters survive on 7.50 an hour and hope to get tips. Tbh American system is backward, why won’t they make food more expensive so waiters can have a stable income? Rather than paying them shit and hope that customers are generous enough to give waiters some spare change.
Ja D most waitress/waiter are students in japan. High school or college students. No one think server jobs as a “permanent” work. No one expect to make a life out of these jobs. I don’t know anyone around me still working at restaurants after college, and I never met anyone who were not attending colleges/any other schools when I was a waitress.
Depends on what you consider top notch service. Polite and smiley? Absolutely. Ability to deal with any situation or request not on their strict procedures? Look elsewhere.
Ja D in Japan like many countries that don’t tip, they make a reasonable amount of money. In Australia I was 16 working in a restaurant I was making over $15 an hour
Japan was racially homogeneous nation for such a long time & we rarely saw foreigners, even in Tokyo, until around 20 years ago. The situation has been changing since then, & especially in the past 10 years time, number of foreign residents & tourists increased a lot! So, apologies if we aren’t coping well enough. We are slowly changing, though the systems are changing even slower💦
And please try and speak to us, even though you don’t speak Japanese & the person you’re speaking to doesn’t seem quite understand you. Encounters of both individuals may help changing the systems & clearing misunderstandings.
Coming from New Zealand to Japan, I felt that the people of Tokyo compared to the people of Auckland (in NZ) was more or less the same. Everyone was very friendly, helpful, wanted to help and generally understood that I didn't get what was going on a lot of the time because of language barrier. Especially in conbinis. I think as long as we can continue to want to respect and learn other cultures we will be easily be able to share them together :)
@@JennhasADHD sounds good,I live in new zealand aswell and would love to vist japan.I love the japanese culture.
It's an eye opening place man, honestly if we could blend our 2 countries we would have such an amazing society :p
@@JennhasADHD it would be very good but currently crime rate is kinda high and could cause catastrophes.Positively speaking that would be amazing though
I hope im not being too selfish but I dont want it to change! I love the people and the culture the way it is. I love Japan
I like how Japan is able to make things work together. The people there are civil to the rules, it’ll be nice to live there for a change.
They've been trained since young to follow societal rules and what's expected
As a first time visitor to Japan, I found the police in the streets very approachable and helpful with directions to get me back on track.
Tattoos: This was a bigger problem for me last time I visited Japan. It was only an issue before at the Nagashima Resort, as I couldn't use the onsen because of my tattoos. It was a "family" place so it really didn't take me by surprise. My first trip to Japan I went to an onsen at Hamanako Lake. A very nice Onsen and it wasn't a problem. I heard from a friend that lived in Japan for a while that tattoo policies seem to go away the further from the city you go out. It seemed that way at an onsen near Kobayashi in Miyazaki two visits prior. No signs and the staff didn't bat an eye at my covered forearm. We did end up renting a private bungalow with a gorgeous outside private path in the secluded garden.
For our last trip we stayed at 2 onsens.
Atami: This was a bit of headache, almost all of the onsens had a no tattoo policy, and almost all of them didn't have that on their English pages, only their Japanese pages. My wife is Japanese, and that helped with avoiding a situation. We tried playing the foreigner card when asking about the policy via e-mail and they said it was 'no tattoos' across the board. We ended up at a "no tattoo" onsen that charged extra for their private bath.
Nishio: This last time we stayed at a mom & pop onsen, and Obachan had no problems with my tattoos.
While in Enoshima, I was shocked at the high number of Japanese people with tattoos and having them on full display. Nothing like that states, but relative to Tokyo, it was very noticeable.
Our next trip is in 2021 and we will be going to Okinawa, which I heard is a much more tattoo friendly place.
You might be right! I stayed at a ryokan in Hakone and they had no issue with me using the public and outdoor baths. I did call ahead and make sure though.
タトゥーしている人には未だにビビっちゃうなぁ…
でも最近は外国人観光客が増えてきたから、100均とかに一時的にタトゥーを隠すシールとかファンデーションも売ってるみたいですよ
Thank you. We are an older couple and will travel thru Japan in Nov and Dec, 2019. We are terrified about the train stations and the challenge about money (cash vs cards), but we are very excited. Thank you for demystifying Japan.
how was your non mystical experience?
How was it?
@@shreky1355 it was very smooth! What we needed to remember is how punctual train arrivals and departures are across Japan. Several times we either got lost or weren’t sure and kind Japanese strangers just took charge, helped us with our small luggages (hand carried bags and small backpacks each) and led us to the correct platforms. We have never encountered such kindness before. It was heartwarming and we were (still are) grateful. Arigato.
Oh, and your tips definitely helped! 🙏
I really love how neutral your explanation is. It's cool that you didn't judge any culture with your own lens.
I had lived in Japan as a very small child. Then finally in my 50's my dream came true and a friend treated me to a trip to Okinawa. I know I did some things wrong after watching your videos, but I actually did spend quite a bit of time learning about the culture and what to do and not do. Several people asked me if I had lived in Japan before? I realize now what a compliment that was. Really I think all I did different than my friends was my body language , and keeping my voice low ( not in my nature as I am from a big family in the states); and also I tried not to look people directly in the eye for very long. Sort of a deferential body language, which surprisingly came very naturally to me while I was there. Here in the states , my body language is the complete opposite, shoulders back, head high and always look people in the eye . As a small woman that works for me here in the US. lol
That's a really good thing to know about Japan using cash rather than card
EXACTLY!!!! We'll be there in April 2019. Any specific suggestions for family friendly stays vs. Hotels? 🀄✔💯❣🍶
I went to Japan 3 years ago, was the best trip of my life. I'm trying to save up, go back and see some different cities.
These tips are super useful! My family and I are planning to go to Japan for a couple days for my graduation gift so I have a little more than a year to get more educated and even learn some of the basics. Thank you!
There's also an unexpected but pleasant surprise when I saw Seventeen on the screen! 4:54
I LOVE THE RULE THAT YOU PAY PER PERSON NOT THE ROOM SO MUCH!!! I am usually a solo travel and it is not very financial-friendly to pay by room.
Paolo, all I got to say is that you da man! My wife and I will be in Japan the 2nd half of January and you videos have been a HUGE help. I definitely feel more informed and better prepared. Maybe be we'll see you on the streets...
Have fun!
@@Gerarudo Thanks, we will definitely try.
Credit card processing companies charge vendors a fee for the transaction. Smaller vendors resist adopting card transactions because they'll either need to raise their prices to cover the transaction fee or accept a cut in profits; the transaction fee can be as much as 3% of the amount of the transaction, depending upon the network. Also the 7-Bank ATM will accept any international chip card with a 4-digit PIN (as long as the card is on one of the following networks: PLUS, Visa, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, AMEX, Discover, JCP, or Diner's Club).
Portable wifi hotspots are cheap to rent, around $50 for the first week and $20 for subsequent weeks. Just don't lose them. If you travel in a group, you can all use it. Also, if you rent an apartment rather than a hotel, the apartment often comes with a portable wifi hotspot. Again, just don't lose it. The replacement fee can be steep. And speaking of renting an apartment, it's almost always cheaper than a hotel, but it'll be smaller with fewer amenities. The last time I went to Japan, the total cost for the apartment was $810 USD, and it was split between two people; that was for 13 nights. Also, there are a few cell service companies that operate in Japan who will, for a nominal fee, allow you phone to work in Japan. My last trip to Japan cost $5/month from Sprint to have unlimited service in Japan.
If you're going to travel the country, rather than just spend your whole trip in one city, I cannot emphasize enough how economical the Japan Rail Pass is. A one-week pass costs about as much as a round trip from Tokyo to Osaka on the shinkansen. The pass gives you unlimited use of the shinkansen (though not the fastest train, and there are a small number of route exceptions) as well as unlimited access to all the Japan Rail operated commuter trains. Japan Rail operates over the entire country. When we went last year, we bought a two-week Green Car pass (bigger seats) for a bit less than $600 USD, and the shinkansen trips we took would have cost well over $1100 if we had booked them separately. This doesn't even address the savings we had from not having to buy a ticket every time we got on the trains in Tokyo, Osaka, etc. Oh, and the pass makes using the commuter train system easier. Without the pass, you have to find how much your destination costs from your starting station and buy a ticket for that amount; there's usually a price map at each entrance, but it's almost always in Japanese. If you buy the wrong ticket, getting out of the station at your destination can be problematic. With the JR Pass, you just show the pass to the attendant and walk right in. At your destination, show your pass and walk right out. That being said, if you're not going to be using the shinkansent, the pass is almost certainly more expensive than what you'd pay just using the commuter trains every day.
About the police, in my limited experience, they're usually pretty chill. If you're going around looking like a tourist, they're likely going to just ignore you. But, being a douche-nozzle will attract their attention; don't be a loud, obnoxious drunk in public, for example. They're pretty conscientious for the most part, and a kouban (police box) is a good place to start if you've lost a wallet, laptop, passport, or something similar. Japanese people will often turn such things found on the street to the nearest police box, so if the police know you're is missing and you can identify it, there's a greater chance you'll get it back than most other parts of the world. All that being said, I have heard of foreigners being harassed by Japanese police, but I've only ever heard the side of the foreigner (and of course, they're always going to say they weren't doing anything wrong), so I don't really have any way of knowing whether or not the officers were being reasonable or not.
Also, with regards to number 10:
People in Japan will go and fetch the police for what folks in other countries would consider to be non-issues. As an example, people will just ignore two men getting into a loud _verbal_ argument in the middle of the sidewalk here in New York City. Seeing something like that is more common than dirt. A police officer walking by will also ignore it. If he sees it's getting intense, he MIGHT tell the men to move along. But that's the extent of it.
In Japan, if two men are raising their voices against each other in public, you will have citizens run and fetch a police officer. If they find one, they'll return with him. And he will put in real effort to immediately put an end to it. Try doing that in any major (or even small) city in America, and the officer will not-so-politely tell the person trying to fetch him, to screw off and not bother them with something so ridiculously trivial as two guys simply shouting insults at each other on the street.
Also I think Japanese police officers are quite bored. They deal with things like helping people find stuff, looking for missing cats, and help people who are lost.
I'm not sure of your point? In Japan (or Korea or China or Singapore, HongKong, Taiwan) two men wouldn't have an argument out in the open unless it was extremely serious. In the East men and women refrain from showing negative emotion in the public as it is shameful to them, their friends, coworkers, and family. It doesn't mean you don't see it, but usually, it's something that may require the police to deal with. For example: If I saw two men yelling at one another or speaking in a raised voice, I'd think perhaps one was attempted to rob the other. As this is highly disrespectful, shameful and not common. Thus, the police are warranted.
@@mweibleii I'm pretty sure people argue a lot on the streets of China and HK, we see videos, and sometimes irl such acts very often and often nobody calls the police. (I live in hk
@@mweibleii So this basically means all western women should never go east lol.
We need this respect in the states for sure.
@@mweibleii My first time in Kyoto I definitely saw a random guy (possibly drunk) in the middle of the day start yelling at everybody at an intersection waiting to cross. An older guy started yelling at the first guy. So yeah, it can happen.
Wonderful. This helps. Now that Japan is open we plan to travel to Japan.
I'm coming to Japan this week and wanted to say thank you for all the videos! they have been helping me prepare for my trip.
I bring with me 10.000 or 20.000$ everyday
I'm dead
Bro is ballin! 🤣
probably meant Yen
When I first heard him I had to rewind it cause I thought I heard it wrong. Considering that most people carry like maybe $100 in cash if that. Anything bigger and people are like "what are you doing?' XD
Paolo be hard flexin
flexing
When I first arrived in Japan I was late for work and ended up in the woman only car. It didn't take long until I noticed I was the only guy there. I changed cars in the next station. No one said anything as I was there clearly by mistake with my big gaijin face, but it was very embarrassing.
I tend to forget about it because when I worked there I didn't have to be there until 10 AM so as far as I was concerned there were no women only cars. Of course sometimes I had to go a bit earlier for whatever reason and then they'd still be in effect. Somehow I avoided it so far but I'm so used to not thinking about them it's just a matter of time. I'm already embarrassed for my future self.
I worry about things like that. When my parents and sister heard that I was going to the rugby world cup they decided that they wanted to go too. Family being what it is, I will be shepparding two grand parents and my sister through a country I have never been to... And don't speak the language... Mistakes will be made.
Vidar D - When are you going to Japan?
@@Necyn the last few days of September and most of October 2019... I am trying to learn spoken Japanese, but I find it hard to learn, especially with no one to practice with. I should be at about toddler level which should help.
I was in Japan this april. But i had it easy. My brothers ex is Japanese and we still have contact, she was my guide. Onsen is a must! Buy Passmo cards _Very useful_. Bring cash. I had 2 different visa neither would work. Portable wifi is a must too. Specially if you wanna keep connected. So renting one portable internet is great (my phone didnt wanna connect to anything more or less in Japan). :D
Im planning a trip to Japan with my my friend, who immigrated to America when she was young. We're gonna go find her roots and imma enjoy myself, being a Japanese culture lover
Hope u enjoy it
I tried once going before 9am on the train and it was quite a sight, sea of people but somehow organized, still an experience :) loved it lol idk why
Kinda surprised there's no stalking discussion, I've only been in Japan for 3 - 4 times, but I got stalked at least 2 times (that I'm aware of). Once was so scary the stalker followed me all the way after I finished my hiking to riding the empty train to sit next to me! I was so scared when he opened his bag, but then he politely asked me where I was from. I was lucky, he seems to just wanted to talk to someone (maybe) and leave me after 5 stations.
The other stalker followed me to my hotel in Osaka and even to my room, knocking and tried to open my locked door in the midnight that I had to call the reception to help me :(
im sorry to hear that. hope it doesnt traumatised u as much :(
@@yeenahaw7010 were you her stalker?
ugh. are you blond? sorry for the too direct question. just thinking as they might be fascinated with blonde hair. but anyway, this was a creepy experience for sure. especially that with the door 😰
Yea, Japan does seem to have a big problem with stalking, spy cameras etc. Next time you go, I would buy one of those tools to detect spy cameras and give your rooms and any public toilets you use a clean sweep.
@@sybotrybo1609 Hey, sorry for late reply but no, I'm Asian too. But my blonde friend did get stalked too and even got marriage proposal out of the blue in Japan so I understand what you mean. This stalking issues need to be made aware of more to female travelers coming to Japan by influencers. The experiences were pretty traumatic to me to be honest.
heading to Japan in just over a week this video is super super helpful.
You're going to love Japan! If you need more tips and guides then have a look at our videos about Japan, we were there for 3 months so explored quite a bit👌
@@MillennialTravelConfessions will do anything to make the trip easier and more enjoyable is always a good thing. All I keep seeing is use common sense and good manners and everything will be fine lol.
morgan squire all the best on your travels!
seeing other pedestrians walk by and look at him is making me anxious
😅
I LOVE your “toe-kyo” shirt!! 🤣🤣
Its hideous. Wtf wears toes on clothes...
I legit thought that it was kanji lol...
@@eclipse369. its creative! don't be such a killjoy you boring old chap
Oh lol, I thought it was a thumb and today. Not like there aren't very random shirts out there so I didn't understand it but I didn't question it either.
I misread it as fingerkyo at first... embarassing, haha
Dude your smile has power! I love your channel.
Thank you for posting about tattoo friendly onsen. This will make research much easier, as well as planning.
@Green Giant Not as far as I knoe. Unless they let white German housewives in.
As a Norwegian, I LOVE how he stopped at a Norwegian-Japanese bar at the drinking part. Not only do you se it in the big wors ØL, which is beer in Norwegian, but under you can even see it saying that the bar from, or at least getting bewrages from Oslo, the norwegian capital.
I will be visiting Japan at the end of March 2019 and these tips are very useful. Thank you! Much love from Canada.
Hey me too! Twinsies! Lol
Same! My trip is booked for March as well...LOL
ill see you all there lol
I’m thinking of going in March also
Cookie Cooly im going in 4 days !!
“Toe kyo” they can make some as well in Kyoto, they just need to switch em’.
So helpful thank you bro don't stop what you're doing a lot of melanated people that I know of would like to visit Japan that are scared and I think your videos are very insightful so I appreciate what you doing and I hope the channel gets bigger
Great video. Looking forward to travel to Japan and this helps a lot with the planning.
So in Germany we are allowed to buy and consume beer from an early age of 16. But honestly, we start around 14 or even earlier. Other liquors like whisky, cognac etc is available from an age of 18 though. You can even sit in the subway in the evening, having a beer to go.... It wouldn't be considered to be rude. I would say, from my own perspective, that the high school years and maybe the first 2 or 3 semester at uni are quite boozy in Germany.
"Walking and eating won't get you in trouble..." HA! I was hungry and in a hurry to get back to the train station in Tachikawa. I completely forgot about the "no eating and walking" rule and a man shouted "MESSY EATING!" at me in Japanese from across the street. I'll NEVER do it again.
There are also designated smoking areas but people dont give a shit and smoke next to you...
So I mostly shrug off random shit like that off.
Well in the video he said maybe some of the older generations will say something about it
I really appreciate you've added the facts in desc.
The only thing that surprised me in this vid was that JP hotels charging per person rather than per night. This is probably becuase I always booked via Agoda.
オラとか 〜すっぞ とか字幕で出てて絶対この人ドラゴンボール好きなんだな😊ってなった
I was stopped and checked by the authorities twice in two different trips to Japan in my younger days, once in Akihabara and another one in Kabukicho JR station. No big deal. Once they found out I'm a tourist they apologized and sent me on my way.
Bring your passport and just be cooperative. I found that I had not gotten stopped and checked at all recently. I think they target younger demographics. Maybe they are more concerned of illegal workers/immigrants.
Man thank u for this video me and my girlfriend and our friends our planning a trip to Tokyo Japan I've always wanted to visit the country since I was a child. We might need a guide when we visit. 😊
Thanks for the tip about hotels charging per person. That is so surprising to me as I’ve never come across that anywhere in the world. I love countries that don’t require tipping, it makes eating out so much more enjoyable. Thanks for your video.
During my stay in Tokyo, with my co-English language teacher, we would agree that we never approach or ask a policeman for direction.Much better to ask local even in broken Japanese. It'll leads to asking your ID first and ask you many questions before giving you directions. TROUBLESOME.
It’s been 5 nights in a row where I dreamt that my family and I moved to Japan. Aside from the culture of this country, I also admire its cuisine as I wish to pursue a culinary career. I really want to come here!
Excellent job! Great info! Keep these coming for us! Especially like the part about unusual fees, I can imagine some tourists think they’re being scammed when they see them and don’t understand. I would!
"Wow you can drink from 20 years old"
Me as a brit; "..."
Being Canadian, I legitimately thought he was going to say how high the drinking age was rather than how low it was. (19 in seven provinces including mine, 18 in the other three)
16 in Germany for Beer and wine
@@johnnymcjohnson1373 If you are accompanied by your legal guardian its even 14
In HK we can drink from 18 years old onwards.
We be suffering in sweden... you have to be 21 years old to buy alcohol, but you can drink in a bar at 18 years old
I think all of his descriptions are useful for people coming in Japan.
Great video. As for police questioning you at will, I was questioned by FOUR different teams-of-two while waiting for my delayed flight at Narita. I am white and tall, so my guess is they were just curious, although the fourth time I just said "are you kidding me, this is the fourth time!" and they left me in peace. They were all quite respectful, so no complaints. Just odd. They actually had a phrase book in English as theirs was limited (and my Japanese limited to hello, thank you, and goodbye). Funny thing, after the third time a black couple from the States waiting for a flight to Atlanta who had also been hanging around in the area told me "we have never seen someone getting questioned for 'waiting while tall' ". They said it made an interesting change from back home! Hahaha...
Great video Paola. Wish I had this info before I left for Tokyo in April. I have to say I absolutely loved the city and the country of Japan. Cleanest, safest, politest, and quietest city I ever visited. I definitely plan on returning and exploring more, this time outside of the Tokyo area.
#3 - Japan has a great craft beer and whiskey scene as well as the finest sake of course. Many other Asian countries I’ve visited don’t even come close to the beverage culture in Japan.
#5 - when wandering the streets you may have no Wi-Fi but you can pop into any store or shop and connect rather easily. I thought I would need a portable Wi-Fi device but was OK without one for the duration of my trip. Also, the hotel I stayed at had extremely fast Wi-Fi.
#7 - tried to board a “woman only” car and was stopped by the subway usher. They were very polite and explained what the pink signage meant on the floor. I did not know what was going on at first and then looked into the car and noticed it was only woman.
Also, the PASMO metro pass is a must have when touring Tokyo.
#8 - also love the “non tipping culture”. Was so nice to receive the check and only have to worry about paying the total while not have to do any additional calculations.
One question, what’s up with all the ravens flying around? Specifically in the Shinjuku area in which I stayed? I thought it was so cool to see all these ravens flying around a big metropolis. Totally unexpected.
You missed the most important tip of all when visiting japan!!! PURCHASE YOUR GHIBLI STUDIO TICKETS!!!!! You can't buy them on site and you need to buy the tickets a month in advance which no travelers would stay for that duration. My biggest regret.
I got mine on the site.
Micheal Fergerson you can get tickets on site if you aren’t going during peak seasons, but during peak seasons you need to get it in advance.
I don’t even know what you’re talking about.
welcome to the well-loved world of legendary Hayao Miyazaki and his beautiful hand-drawn animation films. Studio Ghibli. Spirited Away...luv!
Ponyo and Totoro, I like the most!
I live in Norway and the legal drinking age here is 18 so I was shocked when I learned that you can't drink until 21 in America. Also in Denmark the legal drinking age is 16.
I think its awesome how in everyone of his videos there's a forginer in the background.
How can you tell a foringer just by looking at them 😂
Thanks a lot. Loving your videos. It will help me a lot in my trip.
the "tipping obligation" is jsut an USA crazyness.... in europe we don't have it!
Well, the UK kind of expects a tip but it's not compulsory...
As an American, the tipping shit needs to die.
We have it in Latin America ... it sucks
In South Africa we also tip
we have it in Lebanon, and yeah it sucks.
In portugal we don't care about eating while walking but we are very close to food. So it's very very normal to have lunch with family that extends to the dinner ,always on the table with food and drinks. It's normal to have business meeting while eating.
Oh man, just wanted to drop some THUMB UP for all the incredible work and time you took making this video!! Wow it definitely look like it took a LOT of time and I want you to know that its very much appreciated.
Lame comment.
Wow, I'm travelling to Japan next week and feeling so excited! Thank you for all these valuable information. Your videos are awesome, very informative and I love your energy.
Love from Vietnam :)
You sound so good i dont even feel slightly bored.
I never knew they didn't like when you walk and eat in Japan, you see it all the time in anime
I'm happy for ur tips thank you! I never knew about the alcohol or tattoos because you see people with tattoos in japan I talk with japanese people before too/cosplayers but they never mention these facts,
I thought it was normal anywhere
I'm really thankful for these tips!!
Got a parking ticket in Tachikawa when I went to a movie. Had to go to the police station where I was lectured by the sergeant in perfect English. I was very respectful and left with only the lecture. For the most part the police are very helpful especially if you are lost and need directions.
That's exactly how advanced Japan is they use cash instead of credit cards. Cash cannot be used to Trace your purchases or your movement
That's not why they do it, but it is a benefit!
Actually the use of cash increases the chance of tax evasion... probably in Japan it’s not a serious issue, but here in Italy a lot of activities still accept only cash and evade taxes
@@hopelessfool6722 you say tax evasion like it's a bad thing.
Like I care if someone sees what i spend my money on. You think i want a wallet in my pocket at all times? Ofcourse not that just doesnt fit especially of you are on a bike
@@barnvandiebos9070 ummm . yeah actually it does fit. and if your pedalling to get somewere fast you arent't sitting down.
Beautiful country with awesome people. I love Japan, can't wait to go back there👍😊
Love your today's video, Paolo! 😊
Hi Paolo, can you do a safety video on how to survive if a natural disaster strikes, such as earthquakes, typhoon and tsunamis? That would be very helpful to know , love your youtube channel and keep up the Amazing work!
7:59 that guy in the background’s face lmao
Iam planing to go there next year for at least a month. Thank you so much for your advices. Best regards from Germany.