I'm in Japan right now. I've heard this advice almost word for word from other people and the best advice I can give is don't take anyone's advice.
Japanophiles, shockingly, have different interests than a casual tourist which are dramatically different yet again than someone who is, say, a vegan coffee connoisseur or a car fan who probably wants to drive on the roads and not take transit or say a typography nerd who would be attending printing and stationary museums. Want to get sloshed and spend the night with hookers? Lots of that as well. Have fine tea on a windy road overlooking Mt fuji? Fuck it, go ahead.
Here's an example. I went to a sword museum. I overheard someone leaving saying how incredible and wonderful the place was. All I saw were nearly identical looking swords that had won awards. It was dull and repetitive for me, just metal chunks behind glass but that sword dude was doing backflips over it. Whatever. Maybe that was like famous celebrity swords, I've got no idea.
The point is, don't listen to anybody. Theme it though to narrow your scope. Whatever your interest is let it guide you. Maybe you're a fan of shopping mall architecture, there's plenty of that here. Maybe you like say, umbrellas, there's umbrella stores, people making them by hand, umbrella technology displays, it's very Japanese.
You don't need to know Japanese, sure, just like you don't need to know English in the US. But being able to read and talk to people is surprisingly helpful. Important things are English-enough but don't be scared of Japanese, children master it fine, you can do it if you put in the hours. There's plenty of half-assed guides for busy people. Functional Japanese isn't insane. Receipt is reshīto, elevator is erebētā, they know the words toilet, taxi and metro...you'd be surprised how quickly you can get to non-clueless.
If you can set aside at least 2 weeks and you don't mind spending say $300/day or so you'll likely fill that time pretty easily. It's vacation, take it easy. Next time you get laid off, don't rush to the next job. Do stuff like this instead.
Also don't worry, you can always come back later.
Oh wait, one thing. This is the only real advice. There's travel SIMs at convenience stores. You'll probably be throttled at 256K with your foreign carrier, it's painful. The modern web is bulky and unforgiving. But maybe that's fine for you.
You can download Google maps for offline use and take photos of things with Google translate - it's not terrible for descriptive things and menus.
Hotel room sizes are fine. The crazy small ones are super cheap. Pay normal hotel prices and you'll be ok. The toilets are indeed high tech and weird and trash cans and napkins are mysteriously absent most places. Go to Starbucks if you need that, they're identical to the US ones
I agree with you about not listening to anybody. Even here on HN. I mean, people saying "stay out of the cities" -- nope! Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, they are all beautiful and interesting and worth spending time in, if that's your "theme" as you called it.
"Stay out of tourist traps" -- nope! Takayama is amazing. And there was a Wasabi farm (I forget where) to which we went biking which was one of my favorite experiences in Japan. I'm sure it was a tourist trap and there's much to be derided by HN connoisseurs -- to hell with them.
Osaka at night, just looking at its tall and futuristic-looking buildings, is amazing.
So don't skip the cities. Or do. Don't pay attention to me, just theme your visit according to your interests and screw everyone else's advice.
As if everyone liked the same things and there was a single way to enjoy your vacations.
> Oh wait, one thing. This is the only real advice. There's travel SIMs at convenience stores
These days, I'd recommend getting a travel eSIM so you set it up in advance and hit the ground running (what with the entry vaccine check being a web site QR code you need to load on flakey airport wifi)
Japanophiles, shockingly, have different interests than a casual tourist which are dramatically different yet again than someone who is, say, a vegan coffee connoisseur or a car fan who probably wants to drive on the roads and not take transit or say a typography nerd who would be attending printing and stationary museums. Want to get sloshed and spend the night with hookers? Lots of that as well. Have fine tea on a windy road overlooking Mt fuji? Fuck it, go ahead.
Here's an example. I went to a sword museum. I overheard someone leaving saying how incredible and wonderful the place was. All I saw were nearly identical looking swords that had won awards. It was dull and repetitive for me, just metal chunks behind glass but that sword dude was doing backflips over it. Whatever. Maybe that was like famous celebrity swords, I've got no idea.
The point is, don't listen to anybody. Theme it though to narrow your scope. Whatever your interest is let it guide you. Maybe you're a fan of shopping mall architecture, there's plenty of that here. Maybe you like say, umbrellas, there's umbrella stores, people making them by hand, umbrella technology displays, it's very Japanese.
You don't need to know Japanese, sure, just like you don't need to know English in the US. But being able to read and talk to people is surprisingly helpful. Important things are English-enough but don't be scared of Japanese, children master it fine, you can do it if you put in the hours. There's plenty of half-assed guides for busy people. Functional Japanese isn't insane. Receipt is reshīto, elevator is erebētā, they know the words toilet, taxi and metro...you'd be surprised how quickly you can get to non-clueless.
If you can set aside at least 2 weeks and you don't mind spending say $300/day or so you'll likely fill that time pretty easily. It's vacation, take it easy. Next time you get laid off, don't rush to the next job. Do stuff like this instead.
Also don't worry, you can always come back later.
Oh wait, one thing. This is the only real advice. There's travel SIMs at convenience stores. You'll probably be throttled at 256K with your foreign carrier, it's painful. The modern web is bulky and unforgiving. But maybe that's fine for you.
You can download Google maps for offline use and take photos of things with Google translate - it's not terrible for descriptive things and menus.
Hotel room sizes are fine. The crazy small ones are super cheap. Pay normal hotel prices and you'll be ok. The toilets are indeed high tech and weird and trash cans and napkins are mysteriously absent most places. Go to Starbucks if you need that, they're identical to the US ones