Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, has recently reopened its doors to travellers after two years. This has given me the incentive to write about our amazing pre-COVID self-guided Japanese tour.
It’s November 2019, and there are four of us (me, my wife Jenny, and long-time good friends Jennifer and Jimmy) eager to explore the autumn beauty of Japan. We are about to experience a journey that will put our senses into overload – the masses of bustling and regimented people, the dazzling colours of the autumn forests, the bullet trains, the food, the fashions, the shopping, and the country’s fascinating vibe.
In 2019, Japan was Australia’s seventh most-visited destination in the world, with more than 520,000 Aussies travelling there. The Aussie dollar was buying only about 74 Yen then, but now (at the time of writing) it’s around 94, which equates to much cheaper touring in Japan.
Why does Japan have such a strong appeal? Hopefully my story will give you the answer.
The preparation
We sit with staff at Japan Package Tours (JPT) in Melbourne, a small travel business that specialises in Japan-only tours. Our tailored itinerary (costing $5560 pp twin share excluding flights) is based on JPT’s standard 21-day grand autumn leaf tour. It is a superb self-guided, detailed and comprehensive itinerary.
We are provided with full itineraries, maps, brochures, Pasmo card, Japan Rail green pass and various vouchers. As well, some local tours are included. All prebooked hotels, including a traditional ryokan stay, are mostly 3 to 4 star and located within easy walking distance of railway stations.
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Preliminaries are done, and now all we need to do is follow the suggested itinerary – laid out for us with precise times and details of where we must be and at what time. Some days will be long and exhausting, but if we want to experience what makes Japan a highly desirable destination, we must fully immerse ourselves into this journey. Let’s do this!
An auto toilet experience
After a 10-hour+ flight from Melbourne, we arrive at Narita airport and board the Narita Express to Tokyo. About an hour later, we are in our small hotel room in Shinagawa, one train station past Tokyo Central. This will be our home for five nights. It’s in a great location right next to the station, which is what we will need for our busy schedule.
The room has an item foreign to us and worthy of note – an ‘automatic’ toilet. The seat has adjustable heating and there are two adjustable water jets (volume and flow intensity) aimed accurately at the human undercarriage – toilet paper may be the better option unless you have an engineering degree to navigate the alternative. Perhaps this is Japan’s version of toilet training? You don’t even have to press a button when you’ve finished. Of course, not – there’s an auto flusher. These toilet types are common throughout Japan.
For ease of getting around, we recommend taking only one case (smaller rather than larger) and one backpack each. You will be in small rooms, and will lug your stuff all over the country, sometimes in crowded trains.
Convenient Japan
Breakfast at the hotel is expensive, so we opt for a coffee and pastry at the 7-Eleven next door for just a few dollars. These convenience stores are everywhere in Japan and are our go-to places for inexpensive ready-made food and quick service, with microwave ovens to heat up your food after purchase.
An alternative is bento boxes – compartmentalised containers filled with rice, vegetables, seafood, meat, sushi and more. They are extremely popular with workers and tourists alike and can be found everywhere, including most railway stations. Get this – there are five billion of these boxes made annually in Japan. This highlights a feature of Japan that is not so great – an obsession with plastic packaging. Everything is plastic wrapped or hard plastic packaged, including single pieces of fruit.
Japan produces about nine million tonnes of plastic waste a year and is supposedly working towards reducing this. An absolute must in my book!
Tokyo and environs
Tokyo’s greater metropolitan area, on the island of Honshu, houses some 37 million people, about a quarter of Japan’s population. Tokyo is overwhelming, but exciting. We start our first touring day at the Shinagawa train station at morning peak hour. Standing on the steps above the masses of commuters is mindboggling – a sea of black suits and black hair! We observe that men do not wear shorts in Japan, unlike me and Jimmy, in this warm weather. We would catch older women looking at our legs and trying to hide a smile or giggle.
A few train stops away is Takeshita Street, a very popular mall. It’s Culture Day and a public holiday. The crowds, mostly teenagers, are out in force on this warm sunny day. There is a real buzz here – funky clothes, and lots of crepe stalls and fairy floss outlets.
At the other extreme is the nearby tree-lined Omotesando Hill, Tokyo’s 5th Avenue, where we catch our breath window shopping along this peaceful strip.
The next eye-popping moment occurs at Shinbuya Crossing, reportedly the world’s busiest intersection, with up to 2500 people crossing at any one time. We people watch and sip coffee at Starbucks, on the first floor of a building that overlooks the scene. It’s hard not to be impressed by this spectacle.
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When in Japan, do as the locals do and head to an izakaya. Wikipedia defines an izakaya as “a type of informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks”. These bars are prolific in Japan and mostly frequented by men after work.
A ‘must-do’ activity is to stroll around the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku and duck into one of the 200 tiny bars for a cocktail and snack. Back in the 1950s, this area was a sleazy red-light district, but now the establishments have been converted to bars, adorned with decorative posters, photos, and knick-knacks. Most have cover charges, which may include a cocktail, and some seat fewer than six people. What a buzz this area is – a great place to meet locals and other travellers.
There are some fabulous places to visit in Tokyo, including Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, and the Imperial Palace. You can shop ad infinitum for big-name products in the many super shopping hubs scattered all over Tokyo.
Taxis are mostly old-style Toyota Crowns with automatic closing doors – be careful not to jam your fingers! For something different, stroll along Kappabashi-dori, the ‘kitchenware street’ – rows of shops displaying a vast selection of knives, some very expensive. There is no need to tip in Japan and no-one expects it. In fact, in some situations it is rude and insulting to tip. It is perfectly safe to wander around town day or night.
There is no graffiti anywhere and certainly no road rage. It’s considered offensive to smoke or eat in streets and markets, especially when walking. The people are ordered, respectful, polite, and helpful. Bowing will become a habit!
There are ATMs in Japan mostly in convenience stores. Be aware that not many places accept credit cards. In Japan “cash is king”, says Jimmy! It’s best to take Japanese yen with you – about Y3500 a day each (A$50). On our tour, most things were already paid for, so all we needed was enough for daily living costs.
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At Nikko, a UNESCO World Heritage site 140km north of Tokyo, there are 400-year-old Edo period shrines and temples in a beautiful national park setting. It’s obviously a very popular place, filled with Japanese tourists. Nearby, we visit Lake Chuzenji, created after an eruption of nearby Mount Nantai 20,000 years ago, and Kegon Falls, one of the three great waterfalls in Japan at 97 metres.
Tokyo is fascinating. Our five days there just touched the surface. But now we’re on a bullet train south-west for more Japanese adventures.
Don’t miss part two next week. We experience Okoyama, Hiroshima and Kyoto, and view Mount Fuji, as well as Japan’s legendary giant O-torii Gate. We stay at a ryokan in Takayama, visit shrines, gardens, temples, castles, and walk under the 1000 torii gates. Sayonara!
Have you visited Japan in the autumn? Is it on your bucket list? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
