21 Things to do When You Arrive in Japan

Passed a takoyaki restaurant on the way to my AirBnB. Dropped my bags off, rushed back and ordered what I assumed was a meal for one but was actually a family box (16 pieces of takoyaki) The staff looked on in amazement as 6'3' 89kg me devoured the lot, even going so far as to applaud me and give me a free beer after setting my chopsticks down.
That was my first hour in Tokyo.

As someone living in the UK and drives, I have to agree. There is a sense of accomplishment in running over a cyclist.

I went to Japan in 1986. My high school choir performed on Disney's Small World Stage. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I still have a shirt I was given that day. This shirt is only given to people who perform there. I have actually had people try to buy it from me. This shirt is not available any more and is quite rare.

The one time I went to Tokyo Disneyland with a friend and his family it was pouring rain! Park was almost empty and we got on every ride right away, 10/10. :D

#17 was exactly what I did. We got there late at night, took the train out of the airport, thought we went past our station and went back, realized the prior stop was actually correct, went back again, walked to the hotel, and my then boyfriend crashed, I stayed awake almost all night. Woke up fairly early, and he was still asleep, so I got dressed and just went for a walk where I could soak it all in alone without his sarcastic comments. It. Was. The. Most. Beautiful and serene moment. Of my ENTIRE life. I've wanted to set foot in Japan since I was 12. And that experience did not disappoint.

I have been binge watching this channel for a week, I never thought I'll set foot on Japan but somehow I got a free ticket last Nov and I visited Kyoto and Osaka, I definitely love the atmosphere and the friendly people I met and now I'm dreaming I can visit this country and live some part of my life in this beautiful country

On my first day in Japan, I got told off by the visa officer in Narita Airpot for filling in my forms in green fountain pen, got stopped and searched by airport security after that, failed to notice the taxi had dropped me off next to my hotel and wandered down the street only to ask directions from a kind old lady walking past - who lead me right back to where I had come from, found a place called "The British Pub" near the Tokyo Dome, then got shipped off by my Sensei (I was there for a Karate course at the JKA headquarters) - alone - to find the Tokyo Dome Hotel, got distracted a few times along the way by a Power Rangers Museum... thingy and an Anime mural. Later after some beer and a Chinese, back to the hotel for some vending machine beer and sleep.
All in all, it was a good day.
...on the second day, we found a bar called Mushroom that was packed to the rafters with Vynl records and who's clientele were all smoking weed. This too was a good day (or at least a good evening at any rate).

What I've always wanted to do on my first day in Japan is go to the Cherry Blossom festival in the Spring, enjoy the food and being among the locals.

My first hour for every time I go to Japan always involves going to the nearest convenience store to buy supplies and perhaps refresh my train card.
After all the formalities (including checking in my AirBnB), I always make it a point to go out and shop at the nearest supermarket or convenience store for eggs (a whole tray for six days or more), a liter of tea, and of course my breakfast for tomorrow as well as two rice balls.

nobody: ...
British people: "if you hit the cyclist up ahead you'll get 20 points!"

Going to Japan for my birthday in November for my first time. It's been my life goal to go there. Grabbing beer and wandering the streets is exactly what I planned to do. Also going to grab some street food.

I was in Shinjuku my first night. Everything was so welcoming and organized. The locals were polite and helpful. Even though Tokyo is a very busy city, it was kinda relaxing in a way.

The first thing I do in Japan is propose to my girlfriend! ❤️ She’s the best thing that’s happened to me and when I see her I’ll be almost 6 years of us being together!

If I can visit Japan one day, I would go to Tokyo and explore the city. After a while I would just sit down, look at all those people and buildings, slowly realising that I'm finally in this country.

Believe it or not, the first thing I did when I arrived in Japan was sleep. I just had a flight of 12 hours behind me without much sleep and of course, the jetlag was killing. After a few hours of good rest from 15:00 to 18:00, my family and I went out for a walk through Tokyo Station, then past the Imperial Palace and then we took the train to Shibuya crossing, which was, as you mentioned, an absolute culture shock.
One of the greatest trips I've made so far in my life.

The first things my friend and I did was visit Tokyo Tower (Sky Tree wasn’t finished being built yet) and preceded to be stunned by the vast city we were about to try and explore. 11 days later and we barely scratched the surface.
I’m returning in September to try again.

My first day in Japan, I rested for 5 hours in the hotel with a wonderful bath in the hot tub (I stayed at a hotel which provided special spa treatments, it was amazing) then in the evening headed to Shibuya and had a buffet Shabu shabu dinner, it was delicious and quite affordable for the quality! Took a stroll around the city and went to see Tokyo tower.
Also just wanted to add my unfortunate experience on my first day.. It was almost 1am and I was on the subway back to my hotel and well yeah I forgot to keep track of the time and the subway lines shut down. Me and my friend had to get down at Ikebukuro station with so many other passengers (majority of them were all drunk!!) We had to stand in a huge line for a taxi at ungodly hours, good times. I had a weirdo breathing heavily behind me pacing up and down (I think he was about to throw up or something) after all that we finally got our taxi and paid a whooping 8000 yen for the ride!
We wanted to save money so we asked the driver to just drop us at the station closest to our hotel. He brought us to said station and as we paid the fare he said he would drop us to our hotel for no extra charge and said this was his "service" boy do I love the Japanese culture for service 😍 I learnt my lesson though and since I'm trying to visit as many places as I can within a day I make detailed plans for my day before hand and keep track of how much time it will take me to go from point A to B. I'm still here in Japan currently in Kyoto and watching your videos for ideas 😚

My wife and i wondered around Ginza before randomly ending up in a restaurant called Zenigata (respect to the inspector) and eating an enormous sahshimi plate. Super friendly staff, most delicious sashimi ive ever eaten. Could have flown home then and had an awesome memory and the trip would have been worth it.

going to a baseball game in japan was one of the highlights of my trip to japan. the crowd was incredible; there were these great chants complete with coordinated arm waving, a section for the away team with their own chants, girls in short skirts with kegs of beer on their backs running up and down the stairs, and the best concession stands of any baseball game ever. If anyone's in Tokyo, try and go to a Yomiuri Giants game.

There’s actually one of those table flipping games in one of the local malls by me, and I can vouch that it is indeed, very ridiculous and fun

The cities are pretty cool, but all my favorite trips have consisted of snowboarding, canyoning, and hiking and Japan has some world class places to do that. The ski resorts in Hakuba, Nagano are absolutely incredible, the canyoning in Gunma Prefecture with the accompanying party was a fantastic experience, and I left with a lot of new friends.

I finally was able to go to Japan! One academic year ago I studied abroad there. Going back to this video I have done 12 things that were on this list. Can't wait to go back someday.

I recently went to Japan with a bunch of friends who were anime nerds (like me) so the first thing we did was go to Akihabara and visit a bookstore.
My friend literally bought 16kg of hentai home

I got off the plane at Haneda and went straight to the toilet, impeccably clean. Which is adtounding since it was the men's. Cleared immigration and customs so easily I wondered if I'd missed something. Then on to the Tokyo Monorail which hawisked me into central Tokyo in minutes. If geting there is half the fun, then I knew that the next month would be great. Since I arrived in late March, I joined the massive crowds for Sakura viewing. And the amazing rail transport. And the food that I stuffed into my face. It was a good first day.

Was in Japan some years ago. Started of in Shinjuku about 3 minutes walk from the station. Arrived about 8pm local time so after a quick look around the local area I popped into a small bar ( had to suck my bely in to get past the other customer's at the bar it was that small) next to my hotel. The jetlag was catching up with me so intended to have one bear. Left several hours later completely drunk as the two young barmen at the bar found out I was from Scotland and then made me try nearly every brand of Japanese Whisky they had. Why not a Scotsman must be an expert on Whisky. Good night only paid for the first drink and some food.

'Unlike in the UK where they run over cyclists for fun'
It's funny because it's true... I've been tempted several times...
This video is super helpful =D

I’ve been dying to go to Japan, and this video just makes me want to go so much more.

After sleeping I would definitely walk around the city I would be staying. I love walking around and exploring cities and places and I believe that if you do not walk around the city (and you use transport for example) you do not actually see the city. Beautiful ideas ❤

Dude, I wasn't prepared to laugh so much while planning my trip. Thank you for your videos, they are the best!

Japan was an amazing trip for me. The convenience stores sold the best Egg Salad Sandwiches I ever ate and I thoroughly enjoyed everything I did:
Tokyo National Museum
Akihabara
Kinkakuji Temple
Nijo Castle
Fushimi Inari Shrine
Osaka Castle
Among many other smaller experiences such as restaurants, arcades, and shops. I'll never forget it.

Yep, 'strolling without a plan' is an absolute winner. First thing I did on my holiday to Japan, and it's still stuck with me as one of the most incredible moments. I'd checked into my hotel around 7PM and was dead tired from lack of sleep on the plane, but man. Just experiencing the sights and sounds of completely random shops nearby was amazing, followed by stopping at a joint to eat based on the plastic food samples out front.
Probably also helped that stores in Australia tend to close at like 5PM, so it was kinda unreal seeing *everything* still open at that point.

Japan is a quiet, reserved, peaceful, ordinary society...
8:26

hey man this is a little far removed from your actually upload but I've been reminiscing and really enjoying your videos. I stayed in Shinjuku the first time and I still remember getting to that train station at the beginning of september, in about 33 degrees 100% humidity weather.....what a crazy, but utterly amazing, experience. :)

I so wish I'd tried onsen when I was in Japan, but I was traveling with guys. I was too nervous to go by myself. When we went to Tokyo we got in in the evening and were staying in Roppongi. We dropped our bags and wandered. We ended up eating at Hard Rock Cafe randomly but had a seriously delicious burger. On our trip to Kyoto I totally can't remember what we did first!

Im getting the chance to go through a company called labo in 9 months. Ive never felt so excited and nervous at the same time. So in preparation of the chance of going I'm gonna binge watch all your vids about going to Japan so I'm not completely lost.

went to this Izakaya named Osamu, near Musashi-Koyama Station. my first time there, my 2nd experience going to izakaya, the shop owner is really friendly and we received lots of service because my friend's mum and the owner's mum are ex-co-workers.
he knows all his customers and treats them like family. when one of them are going back home they're like "take care of yourself. good night" and he personally went outside and talk to them for a bit before bid them farewell.

Walking around with no goals in Tokyo is one of my single favorite things to do. But also because I am a mad man I can't overstate how much fun riding a motorcycle is in Japan (Tokyo is not easy rising and requires very good slow speed skill to make it fun, also comfort with going between cars)

me sitting here watching knowing damn well i have 42¢ in my bank account: 🙂

After arriving in Japan, I dropped off my bags at the hotel and then walked around Ginza for a bit, trying to get a pit of a feel for the city. I was so jet lagged and overwhelmed after a couple of hours that I went back to the hotel and just spent the rest of my evening in my room. It was actually really nice though as I stayed in one of the Artist Rooms at Park Hotel Tokyo. Gave me something nice to look at inside the building while also having a great view of Tokyo outside my window.

I am hopefully going soon, (within the next year if things work out) with my spouse, and the two of us are massive history nerds, so we're visiting several historical locations and smaller towns and such to stare at old buildings.
have to say, likely first thing we're doing will be to get some food before crashing and then heading off to our first location. That way we can enjoy a lovely few weeks of Ryokan and old temples.
I plan is to travel in cooler seasons. Since we plan to be outside most the time. So not the height of summer!

When I went to Thailand, I was amazed at all the western fast food places and stores. In a 100 yard circle of my hotel, I found 4 seven elevens, 2 Starbucks, 3 McDonald's and a Burger King attached to my hotel. While I hit 7-11 fairly often, I didn't eat at the fast food places. You can eat like a king for dirt cheap from the street vendors. Someday maybe I will go to Japan.I'd like to.

Wasn’t my first day in Japan, but my first night in Tokyo I jumped in a taxi and said “TAKE ME TO DISNEYLAND”
Night time Disneyland is pretty great, managed to do 5 rides in 3 hours

A walk from Shibuya station to Shinjuku is one of my favorite routes, especially in the night or better; early morning

I'm going to be going to Japan soon! This will be my third trip. The plan is to go to Nagoya, Ise, Nara, Kyoto, Niigata, and then Tokyo. I can't wait to experience my first matsuri in Niigata! Thanks for the information about the Tsukiji Fishmarket. Despite travelling to Tokyo before I haven't experienced the fishmarket. I need to get my butt over there!
Can't wait for Summer Comiket!!! :D

I played Cho Chabudai Gaeshi in an arcade called Round One at Great Lakes Crossing in Michigan, it is surprisingly entertaining flipping the small table as hard as you can and watching the people react. I didn't realize it was a sought after game lol

Love your channel. I'm off to japan today for a few weeks. Been a lifelong dream to visit. Thanks for all the advice. I'll be in Akibahara first couple of nights. Stoked.
🥂 Cheers.

Abroad in Japan is one of the BEST shows for Westerners looking to live, work, or travel in and around Japan! I always look for his updates!

You have literally become my favorite youtuber in a week or so, I have been binge watching your videos like every day. Much love

I want to travel with my best friend and once we arrive we'd like to explore tokyo since it is our dream to visit japan for two weeks. The first goal however is to go to the red light district and get drunk.
Of course culture would be nice, too. So a trip to Kyoto or Osaka would be nice as well. In general seeing all the different aspects would be fun.

When I go to Japan, I usually schedule a bike tour on my first day. It gets me up on that first day and into my new awake/sleep schedule while possibly showing you a new part of the city that you might not know about.

My brother and I arrived at Haneda airport at 2am, after finally finding a ATM that took international cards and picking up our wifi hotspot we caught a cab to our hotel only to find that we had booked for the night after, tried unsuccessfully to get a room so we went to a local karaoke bar and drank beers until the early morning, got our jr pass in Tokyo station and walked to akihabara and spent the morning watching the stores open and city come to life. Still on our trip and having an amazing time. Truly a wonderful country to get terribly lost and confused in

Thanks for making these videos! They have eased a lot of my nerves about my upcoming trip in April. I feel confident in my ability to get around and have fun. You da bes.

Food is always the right answer. =)
I've been to Tokyo a few times and stayed in different districts each time. Finding the local ramen shops is my preference.

In March 2017, my buddy and I spent our Spring Break in Japan. We arrived in Shinjuku at ~4pm. Despite check-in being at 3pm, our AirBnB host wasn't finished cleaning the apartment so he pushed our check-in to 6pm. This was a good opportunity for us to just aimlessly walk around Shinjuku while waiting. We checked out the 711 and Book-Off nearby before returning back to the apartment to clean ourselves up from that dreaded 18 hour trip. We explored some more afterwards and then my friend's brother, who is stationed in Atsugi, met us in Shinjuku and we ate at a Cajun style restaurant. Very chill first day in Japan.

My first day in Japan was also randomly walking around Tokyo with a jet lag and getting hopelessly lost. Best way of seeing stuff you wouldn't consciously head for.

wow my experience with Tokyo Disneyland was quiet different as I went on many rides but that is annoying for you having to wait a long time for a short ride

If any of you are from California, and can't visit Japan to experience the glory of the table flipping game-- you're in luck! In Japantown in San Francisco, that very game is located in the arcade there. Needless to say, 'twas a flipping good time.

When i went to tokyo disneyland with my cousin (she lives in Japan and goes to Disney twice a year), she set up a plan that allowed us to go to most of the attactions. :)
It was a sunday during the summer. So it was packed! And still, we had an amazing time there. I think if u want to go there, you should try to find someone who is used to go there.

We went to Disneyland on my birthday, which was also their 30th anniversary day. We hadn’t realised when we booked so then expected it to be really busy. We got there early and stayed for the entire day. We went on all the big rides at least twice, made use of the fast passes, wondered happily around Tom Sawyer Island in the morning, went on the more chilled out rides a few times. The last hour of so of the day is the best time because loads of people have gone home by then.
I think you just have to get a map straight away, plan your day, and start at the furthest point and work back, everyone starts by the entrance. I was disappointed not to see many Disney characters though, I always just thought they were wondering around but they are corralled in certain areas and only a handful of people in the queue get a photo before they go again, we chose not to spend our time waiting for one of these.

I would love to travel to Japan. Three things I would like to try are Japanese ramen, green tea based desserts and drinks, and one of their famous convenience store meals. I hear they have great egg salad sandwiches, of all things. Probably have some 7-11 ramen to compare to restaurant ramen. Oh yeah, it's all about the noodles to me.

I never knew that table game was so rare in japan since the round 1’s around where I live have them
They’re very fun for anyone who hasn’t tried it, I recommend it if u have the chance

wow never thought of these things, I feel like I would be overwhelmed because I really wanna go to japan, Im for sure going

The more I watch these videos, the better Japan seems, I think I'm gonna go live there

When my family arrived in Jspan in 2004 our first trip was taking the train to Tokyo and then repeatedly getting lost trying to find Kogenei Park. We had a lot of fun asking for directions.

I'd love to try foods that are rare in other places, or that originate from there.
However I'd love to bike around but looking at how big it is and the price of taxi's I'd have to plan to use the train or subway as much as possible.

Unlike the UK where drivers actively run over cyclists for fun.
LOST IT!

I'm planning to go next year and I'm planning to visiting the temples in Kyoto just experiencing the history is why I am planning a 2 week long trip

First of your videos I watched on the start of my prep for a planned Japan trip. Only a few days left and I've rewatched it to refresh my memory. That and see it with a different perspective now I know of Natsuki and Ryotaro :D

"of catching a digital bass"
animal crossing fans: *NO*

Grabbing a beer and walking around drinking in any beautiful city sounds like a blast in itself

Just curious. I just saw your video about the 12 things not to do in Japan. One of those things was not to eat or drink while walking. I know that during Sakura season, it's okay to drink in the parks. In this video you mention how one of the things you and your friends like to do is go to the store and buy a couple of drinks and just walk around the city while drinking. Does drinking alcoholic beverages and exception to this "Not To Do" guideline?

When I first arrived to Tokyo, my uncle took me to a Doutor caffee at the back of Senzoku station (he lives a walking distance from there) we ordered coffee ( he made me order it myself with my poor knowledge of Japanese language) and then he took me to the 7eleven and Lawson to show me all I could buy there (and to take out money from my account so I didn't need my credit card) then he took me to Senzoku station to get my pasmo card and then I went with my aunt to buy groceries next to the station in a local supermarket (Tokyu Store Senzoku) I miss my days in Japan! I want to go back soon and hopefully I can find a job there :(
That's pretty much the first I did my first day in Japan 2 years ago

I climbed Mt. Fuji back in 2006 and it was amazing.

14:15 Same goes for Disneyland in America, me, my mom, and my sister waited in line for almost 4 hours just to go on space mountain (a 2 in a half minute ride)...it was also pretty dang hot out so that day was pretty traumatizing. (Luckily we were staying there for 4 days)

I’d love to go to Japan at some point but I’m a little scared to go because I would be outside of my own country and comfort zone. I also would want to go with my family but that can be expensive even for a few days.

Going to Japan for the first time in October - can't wait! 😁

I arrived in Japan from FL at 3pm Friday and was in line for Tokyo DL by 6am Sat morning. It was late Jan so off season and the best way to beat jet lag and get adjusted to the time zone after a full day of fun. I was the only one in my tour group I met up with Sunday who flew in Friday & wasnt in bed immediately after dinner.

Oh, to be young again. I would want to experience some of the beautiful countryside.

Went there during summer last year. We had to wait a bit for the hotel room to get ready, so we wandered around Shinjuku a bit, making plans for the upcoming days. The jetlag on the way there wasn't so bad, though, compared to the flight back, after which i woke up at 3am for the next 3-4 days.

I learned about table-flipping when training for immigrant claims related to the Violence Against Women Act. Apparently someone in my immigration job previously had not understood the seriousness of a Japanese immigrant's explanation that her husband had been flipping the table and did not think there was any evidence of domestic discord. Now I know just how weirdly dark comedy in tone that arcade game is.

Mine would be similar to "Lost in Translation", visit the parks and temples, go to Tokyo Tower and see the view, try the Ichiran Ramen and local Sushi, see Shibuya crossing, and like u said experience the lights of Shinjuku and Shibuya, and of course go to Akihabara, and buy figurines 😆🥰 and try the arcades and Gacha machines.

Don't need to go to Japan to play Chabudai Gaeshi, easy enough to play at home! Though I've quickly ran out of relatives who will come around for dinner now...

Hey man, I like watching your videos. It's interesting and entertaining. Keep up the good work! Wish you the best of luck.

I remember living in Japan and going to Niko Japan and going to an onsen. It was one of the best thing we ever did. It was in the winter.

1. DON'T BE LOGAN PAUL
Well now thinking about it, this applies everywhere.

congratulations on the 1M subscribers, you deserve it!!!!!

I feel like I am one of the rare westerners who LOVES umeboshi. I hadn’t tried it until about a month ago, but it is absolutely delicious. I even had umeboshi onigiri made by a friend recently and it was great, so I don’t know why you dislike it so much.

Things I want to do if I go to Japan
-Naruto land kind of thing(idk what it’s called)
-Mt. Fuji
-Bookstore(First time I would actually want to get books)
-Art store(Copics are a lot cheaper there than in the U.S)
-All the Japanese food I can get my hands on because it’s amazing.
-Climb a mountain very early in the morning to get a bowl of ramen(If you watch Akidearest you probably know what I mean)
-Cosplay store
-Ramen museum
-Arcade
-Kyoto
-Tokyo
-Ghibli Museum and cafe
-Ride in the bullet train to a random place
And much more!

You should do custom tours of Japan. I’d totally sign up for that.

GOSH I want to visit japan so freaking bad. Like, litterally, its my dream vacation. I just love the aesthetic of it all and all the cities, and everything there just looks so FUN! America is so boring :/

Also, I loved Tokyo Disney, but that was in the early 2000s and on an overcast, drizzly day in summer, so it was mostly empty because people were worried about it becoming a typhoon. That said, Sanrio Pluro Land is infinitely better IMO.

I make Onigiri at home. I make the Tuna and Miracle whip because it's easy. It's very filling and if the seaweed wrap is fresh, it ads adds a nice crunch.

i would go in a temple on a mountain with a beautiful forest around, i would do meditation and just relax. i wouldnt visit tokyo but propably a smaller village or a small town.

For such a simple topic, it’s a very skilfully made video. Well done!

I came to Japan in August. So the first thing I did was survive a shockwave of hot air, when the doors of the airport opened to the open station. Unforgettable experience, especially coming from North Europe with cold rainy summers and then a 7h ride in a rather cold airplane.

Oh my gosh, I absolutely adore your humour!! I'm going to Japan in spring, 2020. Looking forward to it!

OMG! Filling out the passport paperwork now! Love this one you hit all the great ideas:) Top notch wok on this video..

I went to a local arcade with some friends last month and found this table flipping game, one of my friends got the high score so of course we all tried to beat it and get out names at the top of the leader board.... That is until one of my more athletically inclined friends broke the table to the point where it wouldn't even go back down again... I hope it's been repaired by the time we go back.... So I can BREAK that high score.

Me and my mom are planning to move to japan and this video really helped!

Man, I love the tune that plays at 11:03, when Chris starts talking about Tsukiji Fish Market. Also the one that starts playing at 12:33 is great! Does anyone know their names, please?