Japan Travel Guide: Every Rule That Matters, Sorted by Topic

Most Japan travel guides tell you where to go. This one covers the part that goes wrong after you land: the arrival forms, the ATM that refuses your card, the suitcase that won’t fit on the Shinkansen, the onsen that turns you away at the door. We’ve sorted every Japan guide on the site into six lines, the same six we use for every country, so you can find the rule you need without scrolling a blog feed.

Japan is the country we mapped first, and the one we re-check most often. Each guide lists its official sources at the bottom. Short on time? Read the five guides in the first section. Already packing? Skip to entry and documents, then the checklist.

Start here: five guides for a first trip to Japan

If you only read five pages before booking, make it these. They answer the questions that change what you pay or where you sleep.

• Best time to visit Japan, with every month scored on weather, crowds and price.
• Is the JR Pass worth it? Since the 2023 price rise, usually not. The calculator gives you your own break-even in a minute.
• Money in Japan: what to carry, what pays where, and where a foreign card gets refused.
• eSIM, pocket Wi-Fi or local SIM, priced per day and per gigabyte.
• Do you need a visa for Japan? The 90-day rule, and what it does and doesn’t let you do.

A · When to go: seasons, holidays and forecasts

Japan’s calendar decides your hotel bill more than your itinerary does. Three holiday periods fill every train in the country, and the two seasons people fly in for, cherry blossom and autumn colour, are forecasts rather than fixed dates.

• Best time to visit Japan, month by month, plus the holiday weeks to avoid at any price.
• Japan cherry blossom forecast: who issues it, how accurate it is, and how to book around a date nobody knows yet.
• Japan fall foliage forecast. A three-week window instead of a ten-day gamble, moving south from Hokkaido.
• Golden Week in Japan: four public holidays in seven days and the worst prices of the year.
• Obon and New Year, the two weeks the country shuts, and what stays open.
• Rainy season and typhoon season, with the dates region by region.

B · Money and payments

Japan is no longer cash-only, but it’s still cash-first in exactly the places visitors like most. What trips people up is rarely the cost. It’s the ATM that says no, or the ramen counter with a ticket machine that only takes notes.

• Money in Japan: cash, cards, IC cards and ATMs, the whole line in one guide.
• How much cash to bring to Japan, with worked figures by trip length and travel style.
• Which ATMs in Japan accept foreign cards: the four networks that reliably work, and their fees.
• Suica, Pasmo and ICOCA. How IC cards work, the ¥20,000 ceiling and the refund rules.
• Tipping in Japan: why you shouldn’t, and how to say thank you instead.
• Japan tax-free shopping, the ¥5,000 threshold and the switch to a refund at departure.
• Is Japan expensive? Daily budgets in yen and dollars, and what two weeks really cost.

C · Transport and luggage

Japan moves people brilliantly and suitcases badly. Most of the rules in this line exist because of the second half of that sentence.

• Luggage and transport rules in Japan: size limits, reservations and what each option costs.
• JR Pass calculator. Enter your actual train legs and see whether the pass pays for itself.
• Shinkansen luggage rules: the 160 cm line and the oversized baggage seat you have to book.
• Luggage forwarding (takkyubin), sending the suitcase ahead for the price of a lunch.
• Coin lockers in Japan: sizes, prices, and what to do when every one is taken.
• Narita to Tokyo, every route compared by price, time and stairs.
• Haneda to Tokyo: Keikyu, the monorail, the limousine bus and flat-rate taxis, priced by where you’re staying.
• Tokyo Subway Ticket: the 2026 prices, the lines it leaves out, and how many rides a day it takes to pay off.
• Tokyo to Kyoto Shinkansen, Nozomi or Hikari, fares by season and the seat that faces Mount Fuji.
• Kansai Airport to Kyoto, and the ¥2,200 Haruka ticket that makes the train the obvious choice.
• Osaka Amazing Pass: the price, the 40 attractions and the math on whether it pays off.
• Renting a car in Japan as a foreigner: the permit, the cost and the rules that catch people out.

D · Staying connected

Sort your data out before you fly. The one thing a data-only eSIM can’t do is call 110 or 119, and hardly anyone notices until the day they need to.

• Does your phone work in Japan? Four checks, ten minutes, done at home.
• eSIM, pocket Wi-Fi or local SIM: the arbitration table.
• Installing a Japan eSIM, in the order that actually works.
• Does Verizon work in Japan? Roaming costs for US carriers, and where an eSIM wins.
• Free Wi-Fi in Japan: where it works, how to register, and why it can’t be your only plan.
• Phone calls and emergency numbers in Japan, plus the English helplines worth saving.
• Japan plug type and voltage: Type A outlets, 100 volts, and when you need more than an adapter.

E · Local rules and etiquette

Nobody expects a visitor to know every custom, and most Japanese people will politely ignore your mistakes. A few rules are enforced, though: smoking on the street, drones over cities, tattoos in some hot springs.

• Shoes off in Japan: the genkan, the slipper hierarchy and the tatami rule.
• How to use a Japanese toilet, every button on the panel explained.
• Japan garbage sorting rules, and why there are almost no public bins.
• Onsen tattoo rules: where you can bathe, cover stickers and private baths.
• Can you smoke in Japan? Indoor bans, street fines and the vaping trap.
• Drone laws in Japan: registration, no-fly zones and the rules tourists miss.

F · Entry and documents: Japan travel requirements

Read this line last, a week or two before you fly. It’s the one where a mistake costs you at the airport rather than at dinner.

• Do you need a visa for Japan? The 90-day rule, and the nationalities that can extend to six months.
• Visit Japan Web: what it does, whether it’s compulsory, and the paper fallback.
• Landing in Japan, the four checkpoints between the aircraft door and the train.
• Japan customs and duty-free allowances: alcohol, tobacco, cash and food.
• Disembarkation and customs declaration card, field by field.
• Bringing medication into Japan: the one-month limit, the import certificate and the banned list.
• Japan’s digital nomad visa, who qualifies and what it costs.
• Japan tourist tax: the ¥3,000 departure tax and every city’s hotel tax.

Japan travel checklist: what to do, and when

Sorted by lead time, because the medication certificate and the cherry blossom hotels won’t wait for the week before departure.

Other countries on the network

We’ve started measuring South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam with the same rules. Each has five guides so far. Getting in: the Vietnam e-visa, the Thailand Digital Arrival Card and South Korea’s K-ETA. When to go: best time to visit Vietnam, best time to visit Thailand and best time to visit South Korea. How tipping works: tipping in Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea. Cash, cards and ATMs: Vietnam currency, Thailand currency and money in Korea. Getting around and getting online: the T-money card in Korea, and eSIM guides for Vietnam and Thailand. Each now has its own page built like this one: the Vietnam travel guide, the Thailand travel guide and the South Korea travel guide. For everything we’ve published so far, newest first, see all guides.

Data checked: 2026-09-29