Name: You're Traveling Japan WRONG - I Can Fix That
Uploaded: 2025-07-23T18:41:22.000Z
Duration: 11 min 32 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

You might be traveling Japan wrong, wasting money, time, and maybe even your trip.

Present continuous

Since we're traveling all day today, I'm going to try to help avoid some of the increasingly common Japan travel pitfalls and I'm not just going to show you as we go.

We're heading somewhere hard to reach today.

It's 4am right now and since there are so many people, it reminds me that they're afraid to use taxis in Japan.

And this isn't even one of my tips, by the way.

Does anybody remember my English only day in Tokyo?

And even if you're not that lucky, English taxi apps exist.

More often than not, it'll just send you a taxi driver who then magically speaks English.

If your car does not have a green license plate, it is not an official car for hire, do not get in.

It's not a super common problem, but it exists.

That entire thing cost me 2,000 yen for about a 15 to 20 minute trip.

You split that between one or two other people and you could save yourself dragging luggage through far more stairs than you're probably anticipating when you arrive in Tokyo.

There's a whole hangout and rest area up there, but I didn't realize at night they actually close it off.

From this side, you wouldn't even notice.

Japanese summer isn't a lot of fun, but the sun comes up at like 4, 4 30 in the morning, and I like that.

Since we're going to Narita Airport first today, do me a personal favor.

If you're going to Narita, do not use the Narita Express.

I guess it's pretty, but if tourist traps were a train, they would be the Narita Express.

And unless you have the Japan Rail Pass, and I will deal with you in a moment, it is massively overpriced.

This bus to the airport is going to cost me about 1,000 yen in comparison to the 3,000 plus that the Narita Express would cost me.

I can use my Suica card, and I still get a private seat without having to stand on one of those crowded discount train lines like the Keisei line.

Now, buses can run into traffic as well, so I don't recommend taking them when time is tight, but still a great option.

There are a ton of these buses between the airports and the cities.

They're just very often overlooked, but there's also one thing I don't recommend.

I could do an entire video on why you shouldn't get one of these, but so many people line up for them, mostly because sales are suspended at almost every purchase location right now for some reason.

You're going to have plenty of souvenirs in Japan, though, if you can get Suica on your phone, and that could be a big if.

I recommend just doing that, or buy the cheapest ticket every time, and then use the fare adjustment machine right behind the exit gate.

It'll probably still cost you a lot less time than just waiting in line for the Welcome Suica.

I used to use bullet trains to go everywhere in Japan, but as soon as I got out of that Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto travel loop, which is a terrible way to travel Japan, by the way, I found something interesting.

Traveling in Japan by airplane, especially low-cost domestic carrier, can be really cheap.

To do this same trip by train would have cost me over 20,000 yen and taken seven to nine hours with three trains and something like two buses, and if I missed a single transfer, it would have added two plus hours to it.

I also just realized that this down jacket has absolutely covered me in feathers.

So the discount airlines are the way to go.

I need to find a small gift for the flight attendants of this flight, something I always do.

I'll often do this for domestic flights, always do it for international flights.

Obviously, bigger crew need a bigger gift.

You make some friends along the way, and if you've never been to Terminal 3 of Narita Airport, it is a journey to get anywhere in this terminal.

Also, how sad is it that this is actually a sign that was required?

Like, Japan's always had a problem with that on trains, but it is now officially an issue on airplanes as well.

I always actually get just a little bit nervous before giving this to the flight attendants.

One of the first ones on the plane today.

It's just something that I like to do while flying.

I came over and gave me some coffees, some snacks, some stickers, and a little message card to add to my collection.

It's a really nice flight crew this time, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like we have the best weather right now.

Also, while landing, I saw the most fun-looking park I have ever seen in my entire life.

I looked it up, and unfortunately, it's just for kids.

I've always been a huge fan of Japan Rail Pass, but seeing as they massively hiked the price lately, unless you are traveling almost every day of your trip using the bullet train, I can't really recommend it.

Mind you, my first trip to Japan, that is exactly what I did.

I was in a new city almost every day or every two days for the entire duration of the pass, but not everybody travels like that.

And now I need to find my car somewhere in this parking lot, but oh my, gotta show you these mountain views.

There's something about the fog over the mountains that just screams Japan, and I'm pretty sure this is my car.

I was kind of hoping for better weather for the project I'm here to shoot, but we worked with what we got.

As for the Japan Rail Pass, if you've used it recently, by the way, and you have a completely different take than I do, please let me know down below.

It's been over a decade since I've used it, and I would love to hear from you.

As for driving in Japan, it's something I highly recommend, and it's not as difficult as you might think.

The other thing that makes driving in Japan so great, though, is how cheap it is to rent cars.

When you pull out the parking ticket, it plays a song.

I really, really want to try and drive one of those.

I mean, Shikoku, by the way, don't think I mentioned that.

Also, weather looks like it's picking up.