★THE TRIP HYPE✦Japan’s now, delivered pop★MODERN VOYAGE & TECH✦Food · Shopping · Places · Know-How · Culture★THE TRIP HYPE✦Japan’s now, delivered pop★MODERN VOYAGE & TECH✦Food · Shopping · Places · Know-How · Culture

★THE TRIP HYPE✦Japan’s now, delivered pop★MODERN VOYAGE & TECH✦Food · Shopping · Places · Know-How · Culture★THE TRIP HYPE✦Japan’s now, delivered pop★MODERN VOYAGE & TECH✦Food · Shopping · Places · Know-How · Culture

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#First Time in Japan

Essential basics for first-time visitors—transportation, etiquette, currency exchange, SIM cards, and more.

101 articles

A traveler paying the accommodation tax in cash at a hotel front desk in Japan

Japan Accommodation Tax 2026: What You Pay by City, and When

A traveler on an airport observation deck at dusk, looking out at a parked passenger jet

Cheap Domestic Flights in Japan: How ANA's Time Sale Works

A whale shark gliding through the huge Kuroshio Sea tank at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium: Tickets, Discounts, and Getting There from Naha

Former sumo wrestlers performing a live bout in the ring at HIRAKUZA Osaka in Namba

Sumo Show & Workshop in Osaka: HIRAKUZA Namba Prices & Booking

Inside a Japanese capsule hotel: stacked pod-style sleeping berths and a locker area along the corridor.

Capsule Hotels in Japan: Women-Only Floors, Luggage, and What to Check Before You Book

Former sumo wrestlers performing a live bout in the ring at HIRAKUZA Ginza

Sumo Dinner Show Tokyo: HIRAKUZA Ginza Prices, Times & Booking

The grounds of JUNGLIA Okinawa in the jungle of northern Okinawa

JUNGLIA Okinawa Tickets: Which Pass to Buy, and Why Tourists Pay ¥8,800

A convenience store lit up and open at night in Tokyo during the New Year holiday, when konbini keep running

Is Japan Open at New Year? Shops, Banks, Trains & Shrines (Dec 31–Jan 3, 2026–27)

The Ja Odori dragon dance moving along the Nagasaka steps at Suwa Shrine during Nagasaki Kunchi (to be shot)

Nagasaki Kunchi 2026: Box Seats Are Sold Out — How to Still See It on Oct 7–9

A Jusanya display of moon-viewing dumplings, chestnuts, edamame, and pampas grass beneath the slightly imperfect thirteenth-night moon

Jusanya 2026: Japan's Second Moon-Viewing Night Is Oct 23

Inside a Japanese karaoke box with a tablet remote, microphones, and sofa seating

Karaoke in Japan for First-Timers: Free Time vs Per-30-Min, Going Solo, and the One-Drink Rule

Shoppers picking up colorful sealed fukubukuro lucky bags at a Japanese department store's New Year first sale

Fukubukuro 2027: When Japan's Lucky Bags Drop, How to Enter the Lotteries, and the New Tax-Free Rule

The giant shimenawa rope at the Kagura-den hall of Izumo Taisha, with worshippers during the Kamiarisai

Kamiarizuki 2026 at Izumo Taisha: Dates & How to Attend

Exterior and entrance sign of the Mellojoy Pop-Up Shop in Harajuku, Tokyo

Mellojoy Harajuku Pop-Up 2026: How to Book Your Entry Ticket

Rows of colorful gachapon (capsule-toy) machines lining a specialty store in Tokyo

Gachapon in Japan: Where to Play and Do You Need Coins?

Illuminated autumn maples reflected in the pond at Rikugien Gardens during the nighttime viewing in Tokyo

Rikugien Autumn Illumination 2026: November 25-December 6, Tickets from ¥1,000

The MUJI Ginza world flagship storefront, with traveler-favorite items like the toner, ready-to-eat curry and gel-ink ballpoint pens

What to Buy at MUJI in Japan — Tax-Free Guide & the 2026 Refund Change

A hand-brushed goshuin with red seals written into a goshuincho book

Goshuin in Japan: How to Get a Shrine Seal (Cost, Etiquette & the Goshuincho Book)

A traveler in a sweater, light jacket and scarf walking through a Kyoto temple garden of autumn foliage in November

What to Wear in Japan in Autumn 2026: A Region-by-Region Packing Guide

A visitor checking Universal Studios Japan tickets and Express Pass options on a phone before entering the park

USJ Express Pass & Tickets 2026: Which to Buy + Super Nintendo World Entry

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