Getting Around Japan

Visit Japan Web

Japan’s pre-arrival portal. You fill in immigration and customs before you fly and it issues a single QR code that a Joint Kiosk reads for both — available at Narita Terminal 3, Haneda, Kansai and Fukuoka. It is optional: paper arrival and customs cards are still handed out on the plane and accepted everywhere. It just saves standing in two lines with a pen.

• Register about a week out — it takes 15–20 minutes and needs your passport and flight numbers.
• Screenshot the QR code. Airport wifi is fine but you do not want to be loading a web page at the kiosk.
• One account can hold family members, but each traveller scans their own code.

Data and connectivity

Buy a Japan eSIM before you fly and install it at home — it activates on landing and you walk straight out of the terminal. Pocket wifi rental still exists and makes sense only if several people share one device and nobody has an eSIM-capable phone; it means an airport counter on arrival and a return drop on departure.

• Check eSIM support before buying, especially on Android — many models sold in Asia are dual-SIM physical rather than eSIM.
• Free wifi is common (konbini, stations, cafés) but usually needs a sign-in per network. Not something to rely on for navigation.
• Download Google Maps offline data for Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo as a fallback.

How much cash to carry

Japan is far more cashless than its reputation — cards and QR payments cover most of the city — but the gaps are exactly the places on this itinerary: shrine offering boxes, omikuji, market stalls, small izakaya, and the ticket vending machines outside older ramen shops. Carry ¥20,000–30,000 ≈RM514–771 per person and top up as you go.

The Seven Bank ATM inside any 7-Eleven is the reliable one: open 24/7, English menu, and it accepts foreign Visa/Mastercard/UnionPay where bank ATMs often refuse them. Japan Post ATMs are the backup. Withdraw ¥30,000–50,000 ≈RM771–1285 at a time so you pay one fixed fee rather than five.

• Tell your bank you are travelling, or it will decline the first withdrawal.
• Always choose to be charged in yen, not your home currency — "dynamic currency conversion" is a bad rate.
• There is no tipping in Japan, anywhere. Do not leave change on the table.

Packing for a Japanese winter

Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo sit around 3–10 °C in the daytime with dry, bright weather and biting wind between buildings. It is a cold that layers beat and a single thick coat does not.

• Base layer does the work — Uniqlo Heattech (the Extra Warm line) top and leggings. Buy more in Japan; it is cheaper there.
• Gloves, a neck warmer and a beanie matter more than a heavier coat. Fingers are what actually stop you enjoying a viewpoint.
• Kawaguchiko is a different climate — it drops below freezing at dawn, which is exactly when you want to be out for Fuji.
• Disposable heat pads (kairo) from any konbini, ¥100–200 ≈RM3–5 each. Stick-on ones go on your lower back, not your skin.
• Indoors is heated hard. Whatever you wear has to come off easily on a train.
• Walkable, already-broken-in shoes. This itinerary is 15,000–20,000 steps on the heavy days.

Which card, and why it does not matter

Suica (JR East), PASMO (Tokyo private railways and subways) and ICOCA (JR West) are the three you will see. They are mutually interoperable across the whole country — a Suica bought in Tokyo works on the Osaka Metro, a Kyoto bus and a Kawaguchiko shuttle. Pick whichever you can get first and stop thinking about it.

If you have an iPhone, add Suica to Apple Wallet before you leave home. You top it up with your credit card, you never queue at a machine, and there is no deposit or leftover balance to deal with. On Android it depends on the handset — Google Wallet supports Suica and PASMO on many models, but check yours rather than assume.

Using it

• Trains: tap the reader on the gate going in and going out. The fare comes off on the way out — no need to know the price in advance.
• Buses: in most cities you tap when boarding and again when leaving. Kyoto city buses are flat-fare; you tap once.
• Everything else: konbini, vending machines, coin lockers, station bakeries, many taxis. Faster than cash and it stops the coin pile-up.
• Top up at any station machine or konbini counter, in ¥1,000 ≈RM26 steps. Machine top-ups are cash only — another reason the mobile card wins.
• Maximum stored balance is ¥20,000 ≈RM514. You cannot load a whole trip onto it.

The one real gotcha: an IC card pays the base fare only. Anything with a surcharge — a limited express, an airport express with reserved seats, the shinkansen — needs a separate ticket on top. Tapping in and hoping does not work, and you get sorted out at the fare adjustment window on arrival.

How a fare is built

Every JR journey starts with a base fare (乗車券) for the distance. On top of that you may pay a limited express surcharge (特急券) for a fast train, and a reserved seat fee within that. Green Car is the first-class tier above. A shinkansen ticket is literally two cards because it is two charges — feed both into the gate together.

• Local and rapid trains: base fare only. Your IC card handles it.
• Limited express (Haruka, Skyliner, Fuji Excursion): base fare plus surcharge, so a paper or app ticket.
• Shinkansen: base fare plus limited express, plus a small extra for a reserved seat. Non-reserved is cheaper but is a gamble at New Year.

Booking the shinkansen

For the Tokaido line (Osaka–Tokyo), the cleanest route is SmartEX — register online, pick your seat from a map, and either link an IC card to tap straight through the gate or collect a paper ticket from a machine. The alternative is a midori no madoguchi ticket office, which on this trip means a queue at the worst possible time of year.

• Reservations open one month before departure at 10:00 JST, to the minute. For New Year travel that is when the good seats go.
• Sit on the right-hand side heading east (seat E) for the Mt. Fuji window, roughly 40 minutes before Tokyo.
• Buy an ekiben on the platform. Eating on the shinkansen is normal; eating on a commuter train is not.

The JR Pass — and why not to buy one

The nationwide Japan Rail Pass is ¥50,000 ≈RM1285 for 7 days in ordinary class, with a rise to ¥53,000 ≈RM1362 announced for 1 October 2026. Since the 2023 overhaul it does cover Nozomi and Mizuho, but only with a per-ride supplement (around ¥4,960 ≈RM127 Tokyo–Kyoto); the slightly slower Hikari and Sakura are included outright.

For this itinerary it is a clear no. Run the numbers:

One JR long-haul at ¥14,720 ≈RM378 against a ¥50,000 ≈RM1285 pass. The pass only pays off if you are crossing the country repeatedly — this trip has two bases and one transfer between them. Buy point-to-point and put the difference into the trip.

Regional passes that do pay off

• The Tokyo Subway Ticket runs on hours from first use, not calendar days — a 72 h started at 10:00 Monday dies at 10:00 Thursday. It does not cover the JR Yamanote line, which is the catch.
• The Osaka Amazing Pass includes admission to Umeda Sky Building and Osaka Castle museum, so a single sightseeing day in Osaka can clear its cost on entry fees alone.
• The Kansai Thru Pass days do not have to be consecutive, which suits a trip that dips out to Kyoto, Nara and Kobe on separate days.
• Passport required at purchase for the tourist-only passes.

JR, private, subway

JR is the former national network — the shinkansen, the Yamanote loop, the Osaka Loop. Private railways run their own lines and often their own department stores at the terminus: Nankai and Kintetsu and Hankyu and Hanshin in Kansai, Keisei and Fujikyu around Tokyo. Subways are municipal — Osaka Metro, Tokyo Metro and Toei.

They charge separately. Transferring between two of them usually means tapping out of one and into the other, sometimes walking through a shared concourse to do it. This is normal and not a wrong turn. It is also why a "Tokyo subway" pass does not cover the Yamanote line.

Navigating

• Google Maps is genuinely accurate here — platform numbers, which car to board, which exit to take. Trust it.
• Big stations are navigated by exit number, not by compass. Note the exit before you surface; Shinjuku has over 200 and getting the wrong one costs 15 minutes.
• Platform floor markings show where each car door will open. Queue on them, stand aside, let people off first.
• Rush hour is roughly 07:30–09:00 and 17:30–19:30. Avoid it entirely if you have luggage.
• Some lines run women-only cars at peak times — marked in pink on the platform.
• Last trains are around midnight to 00:30 and there is no night service. Missing one means an expensive taxi.
• Phones on silent, no calls. The quiet on a packed Tokyo train is real and visitors are the ones who break it.

The escalator convention flips between cities: stand left in Tokyo, stand right in Osaka. Nobody minds if you get it wrong, but it is a quick way to stop being in the way.

Luggage

On the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu shinkansen there is a size rule. Add height + width + depth: up to 160 cm rides free in the overhead rack. 160–250 cm needs an oversized-baggage seat, which is a normal reserved seat next to a luggage space and costs nothing extra — but you must book it. Turning up without one is a ¥1,000 ≈RM26 fee and your bag gets moved to a distant compartment.

• A typical 28-inch check-in case is around 160–170 cm total. Measure yours before you book rather than after.
• Coin lockers are ¥400–800 ≈RM10–21 by size and take IC cards. Large ones near major sights are gone by mid-morning.
• Most big stations have a staffed luggage storage counter as a backup when the lockers are full.
• Takkyubin (Yamato, "black cat") forwards a bag hotel-to-hotel overnight for roughly ¥2,000–2,500 ≈RM51–64. Hotel front desks arrange it. This is the single best trick for a two-base trip.

Big suitcases on subways and buses

Trains and subways: allowed, and normal. JR’s rule for ordinary trains is up to two pieces per person, each under 30 kg and under 250 cm total, with no length over 2 m — far more than a check-in case. The 160 cm reservation rule is shinkansen-only and does not apply here. Nobody will stop you.

What bites is not the rule, it is the crowd and the stairs. Commuter trains and subways have no luggage racks, so you stand holding the case by the doors, and big interchanges mean long transfers where the lift is at one far end of the platform. It is fine off-peak and genuinely miserable at 08:30.

• Avoid 07:30–09:00 and 17:30–19:30 with a case. This is the whole trick.
• Stand in the space beside the doors or behind the end seat, case in front of you, one hand on it. Never leave it in the aisle or standing free — trains brake harder than you expect.
• Take your backpack off and hold it low. Wearing it in a crowded car is the thing locals actually mind.
• Use the wide gate at the ticket barrier — every station has one, usually at the staffed end.
• Lifts exist but are often at one end of a long platform. Look for the lift symbol on the platform map before you board so you get off at the right door.
• Airport trains are the exception and have real luggage racks — Haruka, Rapi:t, Skyliner and N’EX all do. That is a good reason to pay for them on transfer days rather than saving ¥500 ≈RM13 on a commuter train.

City buses are the real problem. There is no luggage space, you board and pay at a narrow front door, and Kyoto’s transport bureau states plainly that if a driver or station attendant judges your baggage too large, it may be refused. Many bus operators ask for small or medium bags only, around 10 kg. Kyoto city buses in particular are crowded enough without a case; take the subway or a taxi instead.

Highway and limousine buses are the opposite — they have an underfloor hold, you hand the case to the driver and get a tag. Big bags are expected there, so the Shinjuku–Kawaguchiko highway bus is a comfortable option precisely when a train is not.

Kansai (KIX) into Osaka

The station sits on the second floor of Terminal 1, connected by a walkway — no bus. For a Shinsaibashi or Namba hotel the Nankai Airport Express is the sensible default: cheapest, IC card, and only ten minutes slower than the reserved Rapi:t. Take the Rapi:t if you land tired and want a guaranteed seat.

Narita out

• The Skyliner is the fastest and cheapest of the reserved options, and discounted advance e-tickets are sold online.
• The Access Express uses the same tracks without the surcharge — slower, no reserved seat, fine with light bags.
• Allow three hours at Narita in the New Year period. It is one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Tax-free shopping now works backwards

Japan used to take the 10% consumption tax off at the till. From 1 November 2026 that ended. You now pay the full tax-inclusive price in the shop and claim the refund at the airport before departure. There was no transition period — it flipped overnight.

• Minimum ¥5,000 ≈RM129 per shop per day still applies.
• Show your passport at purchase so the sale is recorded, and again at the departure counter.
• Keep the receipts and the goods available — customs can ask to see what you bought.
• You must leave Japan within 90 days of the purchase for it to qualify.
• Refunds come back by card in roughly 1–2 weeks, or by bank transfer in 2–4.
• The old annoyances are gone: no more sealed bags for consumables, no separate consumable/non-consumable thresholds, no ¥500,000 ≈RM12850 daily cap.

Cards, cash and konbini

• Cards work in department stores, chains, hotels and most restaurants in the big cities.
• Cash still rules at shrines, market stalls, small izakaya and older ramen shops — many of which use a ticket vending machine at the door that takes cash or IC only.
• The konbini is a genuine amenity, not a last resort: ATMs, event tickets, printing, parcel drop-off, hot food, umbrellas, and clean toilets.
• Prices are shown tax-inclusive. What is on the shelf is what you pay.
• No tipping, ever. Service charge is built in at the few places that levy one.

Day to day

• Bins are rare. Carry a small bag for rubbish and empty it at a konbini or your hotel. This is the single most common visitor complaint and the fix is a plastic bag.
• Do not eat while walking, especially at Kuromon and Nishiki. Stalls expect you to eat at the stall — there is usually a counter or a spot to stand.
• Shoes off wherever there is a raised step or a rack at the entrance: ryokan, temple interiors, some restaurants, fitting rooms.
• Queue where the markings tell you to, on platforms and at shop doors.
• Slurping noodles is fine and even complimentary. Sticking chopsticks upright in rice is not — it is a funeral image.
• Pouring for others rather than yourself is the norm at an izakaya table.

Baths and tattoos

• Wash and rinse completely at the seated showers before getting in. The bath is for soaking, not cleaning.
• No swimsuits. The small towel stays out of the water — on your head or the side.
• Tattoos are still restricted at many public baths. Some allow cover patches, some are relaxed, and a private kashikiri bath or an in-room tub sidesteps the question entirely. Check the specific place rather than assuming.

What closes

From roughly 29 December to 3 January, a large share of ordinary business stops. Independent restaurants, small shops, traditional markets and many museums simply close, often for the full stretch. This is a genuine planning constraint, not an occasional inconvenience.

• Open throughout: konbini, chain restaurants, hotel restaurants, anything inside a major station, and transport.
• Department stores typically close 1 January and reopen on the 2nd with fukubukuro lucky bags and serious crowds.
• Shrines and temples are the exception — they are at their busiest all year.
• Attractions and museums often close 29 Dec – 1 Jan. Check each one individually; there is no common rule.

Travelling through it

The whole country moves twice: outbound 28–31 December as people go home, and back 2–4 January. Shinkansen and limited expresses run full. Non-reserved cars mean standing for hours, and on some peak dates operators drop non-reserved seating on Nozomi entirely.

• Reserve the Osaka → Tokyo leg the day the window opens, one month ahead at 10:00 JST.
• Hatsumode, the first shrine visit, packs the major shrines 1–3 January. Go at opening or late at night, not late morning.
• On 31 December, toshikoshi soba is eaten before midnight and temples ring joya no kane — 108 bell strikes — from around 23:45.
• Expect airports and stations to be at their annual peak. Everything takes longer.

Before you leave

• Google Maps — transit directions, platform and exit numbers. Download offline areas for Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
• Visit Japan Web (browser, not an app) — your arrival QR code.
• Apple Wallet Suica or Google Wallet — the transport card, topped up by credit card.
• SmartEX — Tokaido shinkansen seats, bookable from abroad.
• Google Translate — download Japanese for offline use; the camera mode reads menus and signs.
• Japan Transit Planner (Jorudan) or NAVITIME — better than Maps for last-train times and fare breakdowns.
• A weather app with hourly cloud cover for Kawaguchiko — Fuji visibility is a dawn lottery and worth checking the night before.