*General Advices, Tokyo

Luggage and bags: Light carry on bags and/or roll away.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Good walking shoes. During the winter, bring heavy coats, long sleeve shirts and pants. Summer (August) you should bring shorts if you don't intend to do business.

Photo Equipment: Buy this in tokyo. Digital cameras are excellent.

Miscellaneous: A guidebook with some translation.

Luggage and bags: I don't usually come across elevators in train stations, so if you intend to travel a fair bit by train, you should bring portable luggage. I.e. you should be able to carry them by hand if you can't wheel them, esp up or down staircases.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Suits are a must for guys who have business meetings. Ladies travelling on business should also dress formally

Generally, the Tokyo crowd dresses well, where the salarymen are in their ubiquitous suits and ladies are always well-groomed.

You'll find yourself walking a lot, and usually on the concrete pavements or knobby floors. So if you're on a business trip, bring a trusty pair of shoes that can survive the road-pounding. Else, a neat, comfortable pair of sneakers will be your best bet.

Tokyo is generally very warm in summer, so bring clothing made of lighter fabric.

Autumn starts in Oct, so temperatures start going down. You can start bringing out the coats then, with the fabrics becoming progressively heavier as the seasons change. Temperatures reach single degrees (Celsius) towards the end of the year.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Try to bring sufficient supplies of your personal toiletries to last throughout your trip. There's a mindboggling range of toiletries in Tokyo pharmacies, but things could get tricky if you can't read the labels!

If you're desperate, you can get mini shampoos or toothpaste etc quite easily at any 24-hour convenience store.

But recently, a friend ran out of contact lens saline, and it took us about 10 trips to different convenience stores before we finally made out that this little orange box (with only a tiny picture of a contact lens at the back) actually contained our Holy Grail. So highly recommend that you bring sufficient supplies of your own eyecare solutions.

Miscellaneous: You probably need an adapter to use electrical appliances from your home country, due to the different pin layout. This is unless you're from US, where the sockets are the same as in JP.

Television entertainment in the hotel are usually limited to Japanese channels, CNN and BBC. You will find more English channels in hotels belonging to international chains, but I've yet to come across channels like HBO or Star. Unless you fancy watching breaking news all the time, bring along your own entertainment.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Gel soles would be a great idea when going to Japan, you will be doing A LOT of walking unless you rent a car. My feet hurt an insane amount after a few days of 8+ hours of walking and standing straight, if can't get any before you go you can pick them up in local stores. They helped save my trip!!!

Luggage and bags:
1. Expect to do a lot of walking. Wear comfortable shoes and socks. Tokyo has a fantastic transportation network consisting of subways, trains, monorails, buses and taxies, but once they get you to the general vicinity, the best way to see Tokyo is by foot.

2. Bring and carry individual packages of tissues. Many Japanese rest rooms do not have paper towels. A few did not have toilet paper. Japan's traditional (non-western) toilets are have hole you have to squat over to do your business. Fear not though as most bathrooms have at least one western toilet. On the positive side, Japan has the cleanest bathrooms you are ever going to find.

If you visit those new buildings/hotels, you may find the most advance toilet. There's lots of buttons to clean stuffs... You know;) So far, its the most advanced I've encountered in all my travels.

3. Bring a good camera. Tokyo is a wonderful place to take pictures.

4. Pack items that may leak or explode (toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, etc.) in resealable plastic bags.

5. Use the subways, trains and monorails to travel within the city. Taxies are very expensive and buses may require more Japanese language skills (both reading the Japanese characters and speaking).

6. Buy one or more easy to carry Tokyo guidebooks.

7. One of the best ways to get from Narita airport to Tokyo is the Airport Limousines. These are comfortable buses that take you from the airport directly to most major hotels. They are also one of the least expensive ways to get to the city.

8. Pack Umbrellas and/or raincoats during the rainy season (mid June to mid July).

9. Bring a light backpack for your daily travels. You do not want to be carrying heavy bags around the city as even the subways require much walking between terminals.

10. Pack one or two empty duffel bags in your suitcase for dirty clothes and to make room for souvenirs.

11. Purchase sodas and snacks for the evening at a convenience store to avoid the costly hotel prices. Convenience stores are located near the hotels and throughout the city.

12. Bring tea bags, instant coffee and sugar packets etc.. from home. The hotels provide hot water in your room for beverages, but the self serve honor bar tea and coffee packets are expensive (about $6.00 per tea bag).

13. Bring a travel iron or plan ahead. Many Japanese hotel rooms are not equipped with irons.

14. Post Offices (yubin kyoku) are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but most hotels can mail letters for you.

15. Banks are open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Most hotels also do currency exchanges at a fair rate.

16. We recommend you take American Express travelers checks. They can be cashed at most hotels and banks and replaced if lost.

17. Check the weather before leaving on your journey.
Check the dates of Japan's holidays and festivals and then learn more about festivals in Tokyo.

Luggage and bags:


Expect to do a lot of walking. Wear comfortable shoes and socks. Tokyo has a fantastic transportation network consisting of subways, trains, monorails, buses and taxies, but once they get you to the general vicinity, the best way to see Tokyo is by foot.
Bring and carry individual packages of tissues. Many Japanese rest rooms do not have paper towels. A few did not have toilet paper. Japan's traditional (non-western) toilets are have hole you have to squat over to do your business. Fear not though as most bathrooms have at least one western toilet. On the positive side, Japan has the cleanest bathrooms you are ever going to find.
If you visit those new buildings/hotels, you may find the most advance toilet. There's lots of buttons to clean stuffs... You know;) So far, its the most advanced I've encountered in all my travels.
Bring a good camera. Tokyo is a wonderful place to take pictures.
Pack items that may leak or explode (toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, etc.) in resealable plastic bags.
Use the subways, trains and monorails to travel within the city. Taxies are very expensive and buses may require more Japanese language skills (both reading the Japanese characters and speaking).
Buy one or more easy to carry Tokyo guidebooks.
One of the best ways to get from Narita airport to Tokyo is the Airport Limousines. These are comfortable buses that take you from the airport directly to most major hotels. They are also one of the least expensive ways to get to the city.
Pack Umbrellas and/or raincoats during the rainy season (mid June to mid July).
Bring a light backpack for your daily travels. You do not want to be carrying heavy bags around the city as even the subways require much walking between terminals.
Pack one or two empty duffel bags in your suitcase for dirty clothes and to make room for souvenirs.
Purchase sodas and snacks for the evening at a convenience store to avoid the costly hotel prices. Convenience stores are located near the hotels and throughout the city.
Bring tea bags, instant coffee and sugar packets etc.. from home. The hotels provide hot water in your room for beverages, but the self serve honor bar tea and coffee packets are expensive (about $6.00 per tea bag).
Bring a travel iron or plan ahead. Many Japanese hotel rooms are not equipped with irons.
Post Offices (yubin kyoku) are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but most hotels can mail letters for you.
Banks are open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Most hotels also do currency exchanges at a fair rate.
We recommend you take American Express travelers checks. They can be cashed at most hotels and banks and replaced if lost.
Check the weather before leaving on your journey. Check the dates of Japan's holidays and festivals and then learn more about festivals in Tokyo.

Luggage and bags: he first thing you want to avoid is a large suitcase or backpack. Trains to and from Haneda and Narita (if you land in Tokyo) are very crowded. A large suitcase will get you many nasty looks. It is, after all, my hostess told me, taking up space people can move in.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Women should bring their depilatories, cold wax strips, or other methods of hair removal from home. I could not find comparable products like this in Japan.

Women should also bring whatever works to alleviate PMS and bad headaches. I found that even the strongest of Japanese asprins and such had no affect on me. I was told by my hostess that she found American over-the-counter products like Tylenol too strong!

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: No extreme conditions, cool in winter hot in summer. My only tip is bring all the clothes you think you will need with you, do not assume you can buy it locally. They will either not fit properly or/and will be horribly expensive (compared to Europe/US).

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Japanese customs officers at the airport can be very tough. Many over the counter remedies such as cold cures, nasal inhalers and decongestants contain prohibited ingredients. Take small amounts of basic products, such as paracetemol and antacid – but don’t worry as with a little effort you can get these locally, though like most things they can be very expensive.

Photo Equipment: Videocamera is safe to use here, in that most japanese have them anyway so chances are it wont get stolen plus its a safe society leaving peace of mind at tourist sites

Miscellaneous: Insight Maps Tokyo Guide, i love using these maps, they are so useful