Our time in Japan was spent across two different cities, Tokyo and Osaka. During that time I was keeping notes on things I liked, didn’t like, or that I just observed and didn’t judge. In this post I’ll be formalizing those notes to cover the good and the bad that we experienced in Japan.

Positives

People

The people really make the place anywhere you go, and the people of Japan are a cut above. I’m mostly talking about the Japanese citizens, but the other long term immigrants we encountered (mostly in a service capacity) were similarly great.

One specific set of encounters was on our way into Japan when we got lost and messed things up. We didn’t properly scan to get out of the Shinkansen (bullet train) area, and two Japanese workers escorted us and got it all straightened out. Immediately after that we were lost walking in circles looking for the next train station and a nice lady from information who spoke great English got us redirected.

There are many more examples such as the great service we received at so many places, and the particularly friendly encounter we had more than once from the cook at our favorite pizza place.

Safety

The safety of Japan can’t be overstated. Japan was the safest I have ever felt anywhere period. In the US I’m always in some state of observing who is around me, what they might be up to, and depending on that I’m taking steps to ensure the safety of our things and/or our physical safety. In Japan I happily got to the point where I wasn’t thinking of any of that. If JC, AC, or BC wanted to take a dark walk alone in the most populous city in the world, safety would not be an issue. This level of safety is also a reflection of the people.

Fun On Demand

I have never had the sort of access to fun things that we did in Japan, and particularly Tokyo. These were really fun things too, and on top of that it was very affordable. For example we could walk to Akiba (electric town) anytime we felt like it to people watch, play games, or eat great food. A relatively short train ride away was the craziness of Shibuya. Various shopping streets, interactive museums, and probably many undiscovered sources of fun were all right there as well.

Affordability

Japan was projected to be, and was in reality one of the most expensive places on our gap year agenda. However, the cost of daily life once in Japan was very affordable. Every single thing we did or purchased there was affordable or even flat out cheap. We racked up crazy amounts of sushi plates for $27 total at belt sushi. A trip to a world class aquarium cost us $54.28 total. We could get two meals worth of food at Lawson for $30, and we ate out entirely between Lawson and restaurants for under $2,000 per month. The trains were also very affordable, particularly in Tokyo but less so in Osaka. We spent a month riding trains in Tokyo to hell and back for only $42.50.

Public Transportation

If you tasked me with fixing something with Japan’s rail system I would be at a loss. Through our sleep deprived jet lagged brains we were still able to navigate the train system to our Airbnb on the first try. Google maps lays out the route accurately including train switches and total cost. It’s mostly easy to identify the correct train even the first time you do it. The trains are frequent enough that they are rarely crowded, and you don’t have to worry about missing the train. If you do, another one is coming along shortly after. The Japanese should be very proud of this system they built.

Traffic

I’m not sure what would compel you to want to own a car in Tokyo, but if you do want to, you’re in luck. The traffic in Tokyo is incredibly light. The same seemed to be true of Osaka but I didn’t get as good of a widespread look there to know for sure. My guess is that this is a product of a top tier public transportation system making car transportation uncecessary. While driving you will probably not encounter any traffic jams and it will feel like driving in a small city in the US.

Toilets

This competes near the top for my favorite thing about Japan. In Tokyo after the jet lag wore off I got brave and decided to try out the full Japanese toilet experience. After the first time I tried it, I didn’t stop using it the rest of the trip. I now want one of these in our house. Wiping with toilet paper just feels barbaric now in Guam.

Food

The food quality and safety had a similar feeling to physical safety in Japan. In the US I’m on guard about what I eat, such as avoiding fresh things from gas stations. In Japan though I stopped worrying about anything I ate. Everything from convenience stores or street food was a go. We never got sick in our two months here. We never got sick in Costa Rica either, but we took extreme precautions there such as not eating any lettuce or other fresh things that weren’t peeled or cooked.

Cleanliness

Everything in Japan is super clean. This includes public spaces, public bathrooms, stores, restaurants, etc. There was no trash to be found anywhere. It reflects a commitment from every person to clean up after themselves. It’s just a cultural expectation that most places in the world fall short of.

Vending Machines

The first few times we left our Airbnb we took water with us. We stopped that pretty quickly once we realized there are vending machines everywhere, and all of them have cheap cold water. We still took a backpack with us to put our empty bottles in, but it was very freeing to not haul large water bottles with us everywhere.

There are also food options in some vending machines, but they are not as prevalent as the liquid vending machines.

Street Crossings

In the US we have buttons that we push to cross the street, and without pushing the button the walking signal doesn’t come on. The problem with that is that the buttons are often broken. In Japan, they don’t even have the stupid buttons. The walking signal is just part of the traffic signal cycle.

Lawson

Our go-to convenience store was Lawson, and holy shit was it the best. The food is fresh, delicious, and affordable. The employees are hard working, kind, and helpful. We ate about 70% of our meals from Lawson and it was a real life saver. We found healthy options in there that helped us avoid eating the wrong balance of diet. It also kept us sane because it was relatively easy compared to navigating restaurants.

Negatives

I don’t want to dwell on these negatives, and as you read them keep in mind the bigger picture that Japan was overwhelmingly a positive experience. Having said that, there are certain things that bothered me.

Bikes

The bikes in Japan are a little out of control. They ride on sidewalks instead of the street, even though I don’t believe the law allows for that. They are supposed to watch out for pedestrians but they don’t, and they act like they always have the right of way. Really the Japanese people whether walking or biking act like they have the right of way. A bike could be popping out of a little alley-way, clearly without the right of way, and won’t even slow down turning onto the sidewalk. They act annoyed if you are ever in their way. I don’t get it at all because in the US pedestrians always have the right of way and I’m super careful around them when riding my bike.

Lack of Trash Cans

If the lack of trash cans is somehow what leads to the cleanliness in Japan, then I stand corrected and take this one back. I don’t see why they don’t put trash cans out. We often had to carry around trash to throw away at home.

Walking Lanes

Everything I read before going to Japan said that the Japanese have strict procedures for how foot traffic moves. You are supposed to walk on the left rather than the right like we’re used to. We followed this rule, but observed that there really is no walking system. Very regularly we would have to move to the right because some of the Japanese choose for whatever reason to walk on the right. There was no consistency.

Antiperspirant

It was very difficult to find antiperspirant in Japan. I think the Japanese people just don’t sweat as much so it doesn’t sell. We Americans do sweat though, and it’s hot, so we need to find it.

Decks

The Japanese people are missing the point of decks and patios. They are for enjoying an outdoor space that is an extension of your house. That’s not how they see it though. Decks are pure utility, used for drying clothes, and you had better not put chairs out there.

Not Futuristic

We were sold by youtubers and bloggers that Japan is the future. They cite specific things like a fancy vending machine or other gadget and make it seem like those things are widespread. We were so sold on this that when we first made coffee at Lawson we just pushed the button thinking the cup would magically appear in the machine. It didn’t, and coffee just poured down the drain.

Japan is not living in the future. They have bad internet speeds in spots you wouldn’t expect, such as our Airbnb very much in the middle of Tokyo. The vending machines are just normal, and we only encountered a few that offered something fancy like hot food. The elevators are like any other US elevator, and no you can’t unpush the buttons everywhere. Really we weren’t blown away by anything feeling futuristic.

Napkins / Paper Towels

When eating you won’t encounter napkins which still puzzles me. You will get a little hand cleaning wipe, but that is completely insufficient for wiping your mouth. I guess the Japanese are just cleaner eaters than the rest of the world? In our Airbnb a generic brand Kleenex was always positioned such that it was obviously to be used in place of napkins, but that isn’t great either. I was really missing paper towels and napkins during our stay.

Dress Code

Half of our wardrobe felt like it was unusable in Japan. We felt out of place wearing tank tops and even shorts much of the time. The people look nice, but I wish it were ok to dress down more.

Other Observations

Language

Another surprise to us was the scarcity of English. We obviously know we’re in Japan, but were again sold by others that English is widely spoken in metro areas. It is not widely spoken, it is almost not spoken at all outside of the high density tourist areas (Akiba, Shibuya). In fact we could probably count on one hand the number of times we encountered someone who could speak full sentences of English. Even the service industry workers spoke effectively zero English. If I had to put this in a category, I would put it in the positive category because good for them, they don’t need to learn the language of visitors.

Being Unclear Is Being Unkind

The people are so nice that in certain situations I wished they were more forward. An example of this is that we went to a happy hour place and didn’t realize we were supposed to order from a QR code app. I just started asking the guy for stuff and he did bring it, but he seemed less friendly like something was up. Something was up, we were being dum dums not ordering correctly. This is a situation where he could have just pointed to the QR code and redirected us, but in an attempt to not be forward it created more confusion and we felt even dumber after we discovered our mistake on our own.

Final Thoughts

Time will tell how Japan sits in our memory and ranks against the rest of our gap year locations. It’s easy to see though that it will be at or near the top of our favorite locations. If I could speak Japanese I would be very happy living in Japan full time. When you look at the list of negatives listed here, you realize that if those are your problems, you have no problems.