Japan Travel : Before the flight, Checklist

Japan Travel : Before the flight, Checklist

You have to prepare before you visit other countries. You have to research and make your itinerary. Many things should be done before your flight. Here, I summarise the basic things you should do before you flight.

1. Passport
2. Flight Ticket
3. Accommodation Reservation (Hotel, hostel, Guesthouse, etc…)
4. Exchange currency to JPY.
5. Roaming or Purchasing Japanese Prepaid SIM card or Wi-Fi.
6. Adaptor Plug (110 V in Japan)
7. Travel Insurance
8. Make an itinerary
9. Make reservations and buy tickets to go.
10. Cell phone, camera
11. Clothes for the local weather
12. Coin Purse
13. Emergency Medicine
14. Umbrella

“Passport”

You have to check your passport, before you go abroad, without your passport you cannot go anywhere. Plus you also have to check the validity of your passport. Normally, you need a passport valid for more than six months.

“A Flight Ticket”

You have to buy a ticket in advance before you go on a travel. Generally, people buy a flight ticket, however, you can buy a ship or a bus ticket as well.

“Accommodation Reservation”

You have to choose where to stay before you go on a travel. Specially, in Japan, it is difficult to find a place to stay on a day immediately. For your safe travel, you have to book hotels in advance.

You can stay different types of hotels in Japan. In Japan, unlike the other countries, they have their own and unique hotels like capsule hotel, or Ryokan.

Here are the types of the accommodation in Japan.

1. Capsule hotel
2. Hostel
3. Hotel
4. Ryokan

Capsule hotel is very cheap hotel, you can just sleep in your capsule-shaped room with a mattress.

A ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically feature tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner.

These special hotels you can find in Japan might give you exotic experience in Japan.

“Exchange currency to JPY”

In Japan, they use “Yen” for currency. It is a bit hard to imagine that the shops in Japan does not have a system to pay in card, while they became the most developed country in Asia. But, when you visit local shops, almost all of them does not accept card. Thus, you have to pay cash almost all the time.

Exchanging currency before you go to Japan, would be better. Thus, you don’t have to waste your time while you are travelling.

“Use Cell Phone in Japan”

It is very hard to imagine that trailing without smart phone. We need smart phone to search information, find a direction, and so on. Without your smart phone, your travel might be messy.

Here are three different ways to use a cell phone in Japan.

1. Roaming Service provided by the Carrier in your country.
2. Purchase a local SIM card in Japan. (Preorder online)
3. Rental a pocket Wi-fi

Mainly, we can list up three different ways to use a smart phone in Japan like above. Among them, I recommend the No.3 option, a pocket Wi-fi rental. You only spend around 3 USD a day to rental Wi-fi full day.

It would be cheap and cheerful option for the travellers. You can find the picket wi-fi services online in advance.

“Adaptor Plug 110V in Japan”

Japan uses 110V outlet. The shape is like 11. It is the same design as the USA, however, if your country uses different volt or different shape of the outlet.

If you want to charge up your devices like cameras, laptops, and smartphones, it would be safe to check the adapter plug before you travel.

“Travel Insurance”

It is not necessary to purchase travel insurance in case of any unpleasant accidents that may occur during your trip. Travel Insurance is not that expensive. It only costs around 5 USD for 5 Days coverage date. Just in case, it would be a good option to buy insurance.

“Make an itinerary”

It would be good to make a plan and organise the travel destinations you want to go and see in advance.

However, I am not that meticulously organising my itinerary. I’d rather mark on a map the places I can visit in the travel. And then, I choose and make a decision where to go during travel with the pre-made map.

In this case, I use Google Maps. I already made a map for me before I go on a travel, but you also can use my map as well. You can check my map below:

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“Make reservations and buy tickets to go”

Is there a show or place you cannot miss to visit? You have to make a reservation in advance. Like Ghibli Museum, you cannot visit there without reservation. You have to make a reservation in advance online.

If you find places you do not want to miss, you can check the places and make a reservation in advance.

“Cell Phones and Cameras”

You will need a cell phone and a camera to take pictures. You can check the battery health all the time. Using a portable external battery pack is useful to use.

“Clothes for the local weather”

Before you visit to other country, it is good to check the weather and prepare proper clothes for the local weather. You can check the weather in Tokyo before you go on a travel online.

“Coin Purse”

You can get a lot of coins while you are travelling in Japan. In Japan, most stores still accept “Cash” only. Thus, you will get a lot of coins. It would be nice to have a coin purse to carry coins.

“Emergency Medicine & Umbrella”

Just in case, it is nice to have your own medicine and umbrella. If you have health problem, you need to communicate with people there, however, there could be language problem.

And also, you can prepare umbrella just for the rainy day.

So far, I checked the checklist before you visit Japan. However, this information is general checklist you need to check before you go abroad.