Japan Travelog. Part 1
My wife is from Japan, two of our four children were born there, and I have spent about 10 years there in total. That makes it an important country for us to visit, which we are doing again for the first time since COVID came on the scene. I hope to share some information about visiting Japan with these next few blog posts, including a few comments that relate to financial matters.
Departure
An original departure from Pearson (YYZ) at 1:25 pm became 1:40 pm on the day I arrived at the airport. No big deal, I thought. But those 15 minutes meant more than that, especially as we left a few minutes late. Upon arrival at Tokyo’s Haneda (HND) Airport, although I made it through Immigration very quickly, the usual delay in waiting for my luggage meant that I was even more delayed in getting to the next leg of my flight to Osaka using All Nippon Airways (ANA). This was even so despite my being allowed to deplane first from my Air Canada flight and that my luggage was the first to arrive on the carousel. In retrospect, I should have made my connecting flight a bit later.
I missed my flight by about 5 minutes and instead of a 5 pm departure, I left at 7:15 pm. That flight, too, was delayed and so, when I got my luggage in Osaka (Itami Airport – ITM), I was too late for my low-cost “limousine bus” that would have cost only 650 yen, I spent 9,200 yen on a taxi. Oh well. I made it, joining my wife who had arrived in Japan last month with our eldest daughter and grandson (Toronto residents), and our two other daughters who had arrived more recently, one of whom lives in Toronto and the other in San Francisco. We also have a son who lives in Osaka.
Clearing Immigration and Customs
A great tool to speed your path through Immigration and Customs in Japan is available at the Visit Japan Web site. You can fill out your details in advance on your smartphone, create QR codes for both Immigration and Customs, and then take screenshots to store among your photos. That way, you don’t need to bother with Wi-Fi.
An interesting discovery this time was that for Immigration, many of the staff who helped guide people along the way to the appropriate queue were foreigners, south Asian, as far as I could tell. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that level of employment of foreigners in government-related jobs in my previous experiences in Japan. I’ll say “good for Japan” to this as Japan is generally not very keen to welcome permanent residents or immigrants.
Service Orientation
The immediate impression I got when I was going through my connection travails in Tokyo is that Japanese culture is very much service-oriented. Politeness is fundamental. No excuses are made. And it’s efficient, too. When I mentioned being late to make my connecting flight, my flight was scheduled for 5 pm. If I’d made it at 4:40, I would have been okay. I can’t imagine a Canadian airport allowing that little time. As it was, I arrived at the ANA check-in at 4:45, so I missed my window.
Airplane “Comfort”
Air Canada seats, and the seats of North American airline companies in general, I believe, are softer. Seats on Japanese airlines are firmer. This is not to say that one way is better than the other.
Costs: Japan’s Reputation for Being Expensive is Overblown
My son lives in a partially furnished “studio” or “bachelor” unit in downtown Osaka. He pays 70,000 yen per month, which at current exchange rates, works out to about $640.
You can buy cans of pop, other Japanese soft drinks, or various forms of tea, for about 130 yen or about $1.20. Not bad at all.
A fairly standard lunchtime “set meal” (teishoku) can be had for about 1,000 yen +/-, or about $10. With that, you’ll get a bowl of miso soup, a bowl of rice, some pickles, a salad, and a main course that will more than satisfy your needs. That’s what I had for lunch today and for an extra 150 yen I also had a nice tall glass of ice coffee.
A set meal or teishoku. This was at a yakiniku restaurant where you can cook the meat on a grill set in the middle of the table. These types of restaurants are often associated with the Korean community in Japan, so you can see some kimchi in the middle of the set. The whole meal cost 1,280 yen.
Where are costs a bit on the high side? In general, I would say fruit can be quite expensive. The problem is that retail stores, or the wholesalers who supply them, demand a perfect appearance, which means that a lot of fruit never makes it to the general public, raising the cost for the smaller portion that does make it through. I will add that almost five years ago, my wife and I spent a half-year in Akita prefecture in the northern Tohoku region. We were fortunate to find a farmer’s market where some of the not-fit-for-retail fruit was sold at a lower price. We bought a good-sized box of apples for a price that was cheap even by Canadian standards even though the fruit was just as good in quality as anything we feel we’ve ever bought in Japan at a retail store.
Tourism in Japan is Thriving
To our surprise, Japan seems to have a lot of tourists visiting even in mid-September, when I would tend to think that the numbers should be falling off. It’s probably the “shoulder” season for tourism. The peak summer travel season is not ideal for Japan, given the temperatures. In Osaka, where I am writing this blog, temperatures today reached a peak of 33 C, but with the high humidity, it would be experienced as equivalent to 37 or so.
Screenshot of the exchange rate taken at 6:37 pm JST, 2023-09-17
These are personal impressions rather than being grounded in any data, although I do recall reading that Japan was high on the list of countries to visit for many. The combination of affordability, safety, and a distinct culture all available in a highly developed country, make this country attractive.
Transportation
Japan is renowned for its rail system, the Shinkansen, or “bullet train,” in particular. Equally as renowned is that the trains – all of them – run on time. For daily commuters who need to use two or more trains to get to or from work, this accuracy of scheduling is crucial because even a one-minute delay can mean missing connecting trains and a meaningful delay in the travel from home to work or vice versa.
This can be a double-edged sword for tourists, I suppose. On the one hand, you can “set your clock” by the train schedule. On the other hand, you can’t be late.
The Japan Rail Pass has been a mainstay of tourists for decades. However, they haven’t raised prices in years… until now. Effective October 1, prices will virtually double. Unless you are doing a lot of travel on the Japan Railways system, it’s going to be more cost-effective to pay per use, rather than spending money on the pass.
Internet Access
Japan has a well-developed cellular network. Visitors can access it by 1. Renting a portable or “pocket” Wi-Fi device that is economical when travelling in a group, 2. Buying a SIM card, or 3. Buying an eSIM, which is my preference. These allow you to buy service for a set period and a set amount of GB of data. For this trip, I used an eSIM provided by Mobal, and so far, it is working well. This is a data-only arrangement, but if your main concern is access to the internet and maps, it’s very useful. Since we are travelling as a fairly large family, it’s convenient that we can text each other wherever or whenever.
Credit Card Usage
A final note on paying for things. Although Japan is in some ways hyper-modern, there is an element of financial transactions that remains that is very much cash-based. However, credit cards are almost universally accepted, especially for places frequented by tourists. We have been using the Home Trust Preferred Visa, which does not have foreign transaction fees. It is otherwise a very basic card and it’s best to alert the credit card company to your travels in Japan in advance if you want to use it.
This is the 215th blog post for Russ Writes, first published on 2023-09-18
If you would like to discuss this or other posts, connect on Facebook, Twitter aka X, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
Click here to contact me for an appointment.
Click here for a 2-week free trial of the Money Architect Financial Planning platform.
Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for general information and discussion purposes only. It should not be relied upon for investment, insurance, tax, or legal decisions.
Photo: Shinsaibashi area, Osaka