Japan Travel Tips – Pokémon’s Kanto Region in Real Life December 31, 2024

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Happy New Year’s Eve! It’s Tuesday and that means it is a new time for Japan Travel Tips! The Pokemon games have endured nearly thirty years of popularity. Later games in the series had their regions clearly inspired by real-life locations such as New York City, France, and Hawaii, but most people outside of Japan don’t know that the very first game’s region of Kanto actually exists in Japan and you can visit them while staying in the country!

I’m going to draw your attention to this brand new video by the YouTube Channel Megan and Ben. In it, they visit all the real world locations that they believe served as the inspiration of the first game’s region. I’m not kidding, you can actually visit places like Pallet Town, Cerulean City and the Viridian Forest! This is without a doubt one of the most comprehensive videos I’ve seen on the subject and it’s absolutely incredible! Give it a watch below.

Japan Travel Tips – 21 Days in Japan December 17, 2024

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It’s time for another look at Japan Travel Tips, where we highlight some of our favorite independently produced videos with a focus to help people interested in visiting the country of Japan!

There is so much to do in Japan and staying for just a brief time just may not be enough! Today, Chris of Abroad in Japan highlights what he believes to be the DEFINITIVE itinerary for a twenty-one day trip through the country. Will we agree with all of his tips? Well, watch and then post a comment below with your thoughts!

Japan Travel Tips – Tokyo’s Bookstore Suburb May 7, 2024

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It’s Tuesday, and I’ve got a great Are you a heavy reader or a collector of paperbacks? I’ve got the town for you! Welcome back to Japan Travel Tips, where we highlight some of the biggest independently produced videos on the nation of Japan!

Today we’re going to be highlighting the work of seerasen, an adorable YouTube creator who visited the town of Jimbocho, which isn’t far from Tokyo. It’s a college town known for its bookstores and coffee shops. Using the word “quaint” to describe it seems insufficient. Honestly, it reminded me of the bookstore in one of my favorite films, “Fine, Totally Fine”. Let’s take a closer look:

Now that international travel has opened up we’ve cut back on featuring our travel tips as a major staple of the website, but we will likely continue to highlight unique or insightful videos about the country as time goes on. Please post a comment below if you have any thoughts about future videos we should be highlighting!

Japan Travel Tips – New Years in Japan January 10, 2023

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Happy New Years! It’s Tuesday! Hope you all have enjoyed some of the time for this holiday. Personally I’ve been spending a lot of my time exploring VR in whole new ways. Since we started posting Japan Travel Tips, we’ve highlighted some of the best independently produced content about the country in order to help people interested in visiting. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at how the people of Japan celebrate their holiday season.

This fantastic video, produced by Life Where I’m From, is a perfect display on how people in Japan celebrate the holiday season ranging from Christmas to New Years. Enjoy!

Japan Travel Tips – A Closer Look at Love Hotels August 16, 2022

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It’s Tuesday and we haven’t done one of these in a while, but with international travel continuing to open back up, let’s bring back Japan Travel Tips, where we highlight some of the best independently produced documentaries about visiting Japan.

When traveling, knowledge of local hotels and places to stay is essential. Japan itself is known for its VERY unique hotels, and has offerings you can’t find anywhere else in the world. In fact, we highlighted many of the different kinds of Japanese hotels in a previous article. Today we’re going to be expanding our discussion on hotels and talk specifically about Japan’s Love Hotels.

Love Hotels are exactly that, described by the locals as a private place adults can go to to do *ahem* adult things. If you’re unfamiliar with Love Hotels, I want to highlight some themed rooms that impressed me so much I had to show my wife.

First off, we’d like to highlight the work of YouTube Channel Tokidoki Traveller. She’s an Australian who’s been doing videos in Japan for a while. In this video she and a friend visit a hotel room with its own built-in water slide. Let’s dive in!

Next, we’re going to be re-highlighting the legendary akidearest, who found one of the coolest hotel rooms I’ve ever seen, one with its own private pool. You may need to be 18 to watch this one, but for the life of me I can’t comprehend why.

Are you a fan of animatronic dinosaurs? Maybe this hotel would work better for you.

One last thing. Love hotels can be for more than just adult fun. Girls can even have private parties in their themed rooms! The team over at Tokyo Creative produced this video of them visiting a Love Hotel just to hang out.

If you’re planning on staying at a Love Hotel here’s some important things to remember:

• This is a great option for couples (married or not married) who need a place to stay for a night. Single travelers are also fine, but this is not a good option for families.
• This is also NOT a good idea for people who plan to leave their room during their stay.
• Most check in and room amenities are automated.
• Love hotels do not require reservation and because of that room availability cannot be guaranteed.
• Price could be cheaper than traditional business hotels.
• Hotel doors will lock and you may need to call for assistance at the main desk to exit your room.

Japan Travel Tips – Pokemon Manhole Cover Search March 1, 2022

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Time for a new Japan Travel Tips, where we highlight some of the best independently produced videos about the country to help English-speaking tourists interested in visiting. There’s no question of the undeniable influence Pokémon games have had on the entire world. Their franchise is now in its twenty-sixth year and new Pokémon games have constantly been major system sellers. In their home country, Pokémon is a cultural phenomenon, reaching heights we’re going to showcase today!

The Pokémon Company has created exclusive manhole covers with unique original art and distributed them throughout Japan. Tourists who find the manholes can keep track of each landmark they’ve visited by stamping their a collector’s passport at an accompanying stamp station nearby.

The adorable Sharmeleon has been doing incredible Japan Vlogs for years. I had no idea this event is happening in Japan, and I appreciate her producing these videos to show the rest of the world just how awesome the country is to do this. The best part about these videos is Sharla likes to highlight the best features of every area she visits in her search for the manholes! If you’re a Pokémon fan or have any interest in seeing how diverse and beautiful Japan is, you need to give these videos a watch!

Pokémon Go is out now for Android and iOS devices.

Japan Travel Tips – A Closer Look at Capsule Hotels November 23, 2021

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Happy Tuesday! Welcome back to Japan Travel Tips, where we have highlighted some of the best independently produced travelogs about Japan in the hope to assist anyone interested in traveling to the country. One of the first articles we posted highlighted some of the various options travelers have for finding a hotel throughout the country. My intention with that article was to show a smattering of different hotel options in that first article, and then expand on each option in later articles. Today, we’re going to talk about one of the most unique options to stay while traveling in Japan, and possibly the best option tourists who plan to travel light and see as much of the country as they can might have, the Capsule Hotel.

Japan’s Capsule Hotels are world-famous. Instead of providing a guest an individual room with a bed, Capsule hotels are communal hotels where rows of beds are provided throughout the floors. However, each capsule is self contained with its own bed, power outlets, and a small television. For a cheaper fee per night than any hotel I could find, guests are provided their very own capsule to sleep in, and also provided lockers for their belongings, robes, pajamas and travel toiletries. There’s even communal areas for social exchange with the other guests. It is very popular among locals who stayed out too late and happen to miss a train home.

I wanted to start this article by re-featuring the best overview video I could find on the internet about the subject. Only in Japan produced this video about the Capsule Hotel, and I thought it would be the best way to outline what the experience is like to people who may not be from Japan.

So now that you have a better idea of what a capsule hotel is, you probably want to know what the experience of spending a night there was like. Well, I wanted to feature the great work of Tyler Williams, who traveled with his wife Safiya Nygaard to Japan and documented their experience staying at a capsule hotel. The video is incredibly in-depth with them talking about every aspect of their stay.

Next up, I would not be able to continue this article without providing another fantastic video by Abroad in Japan. In this video he does a great job showing the common areas available to guests.

I must stress some major takeaways from these videos. There are positives and negatives to staying at a Capsule Hotel.

• Capsule Hotels are among the cheapest accommodations for spending a night in Japan. They are a perfect option for people traveling on a budget.
• Capsule Hotels are a good option for travelers who are traveling alone or traveling with a companion of the same gender. In some cases, Capsule Hotels could be marked “Men Only” or “Women Only”. In the case of a hotel that accommodates men and women, they will usually assign separate floors for men and women that cannot be crossed. Married couples would likely be happier staying at an alternate accommodation such as a Love Hotel or Onsen.
• Guests are provided access to a personal locker while staying at the capsule hotel. Pack light if you plan to stay overnight at one as you’re going to want all your belongings to fit in your locker.
• I wouldn’t recommend staying at the same capsule hotel for their entire stay in Japan. Your best option is to stay at one while visiting an area for one or two nights, then taking a train, boat or plane to your next destination and stay at a different accommodation.

Hope you’ve all been enjoying Japan Travel Tips. We are going to take a break on this series for the time being. At the time of this writing there are still travel restrictions on visiting the country, and I felt that while this information is fascinating and has been useful to me in the event I could ever take a vacation there, I will probably not be able to visit for some time. Until next time!

Japan Travel Tips – Vending Machines October 19, 2021

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Welcome back to Japan Travel Tips, where we highlight some of the best independently produced videos about the beautiful country of Japan. We’ve touched upon Vending Machines in one of our earliest articles, but I felt we barely skimmed the surface of just how cool and unique Japan’s vending machines are. So sit back and relax because we have found so many great videos about vending machines that we had to devote an entire article to all of them.

First off, I want to re-highlight a video we featured in the previously mentioned article. Produced by the reference-quality channel Only In Japan, this is a great video to provide an introduction to Japan’s vending machines, how they work, and just what makes them so great and unique. Check it out.

Next, I would be remiss to neglect the legendary YouTuber Safiya Nygaard, who spent some time in 2019 traveling through the country. Here’s a video of her trying to find some of the country’s most famous vending machines and giving her thoughts about them.

I know what you’re thinking, “That sounds kinda cool, but just what can these machines do that machines in other countries don’t?” Glad you asked. The YouTube channel DancingBacons does a great no commentary video series where they highlighted some of Japan’s more unique vending machines. Did you know you can order a frozen Coke or Sprite right out of one of a vending machine? Watch and see for yourself.

And to follow up, here’s their look at a pizza vending machine.

Finally I want to highlight the spot that is probably the most famous row of vending machines in the entire world and highlight the original YouTube video that put it on the map. YouTuber Ericsurf6 highlighted this row of vending machines for his series Eric Meal Time. The food options of these machines have to be seen to be believed.

This video was so popular when it was posted it was actually highlighted on a Japanese late night tv show. Apparently I’m not the only person who thinks this is really cool. Here’s the clip.

Hope you enjoyed this week’s look at Japan Travel Tips. Did you like this expanded article on a dedicated subject? Post a comment below with your thoughts. I’ve gone through my archives and looked up several videos that I think could be part of further expanded articles. I don’t know if there will be a new article next week, but stay tuned because Japan Travel Tips will return!

Japan Travel Tips – Where To Learn How to Stay Safe During Natural Disasters October 12, 2021

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Welcome back on this Tuesday for a brand new Japan Travel Tips, where we highlight some of the best independently produced travelogs from across the internet intended to help those interested in visiting Japan. Today, we’re going to get a bit serious, but I can assure you it’s for a safe and practical way. It is a well-known concern that Japan experiences seismic and volcanic activity on a more frequent basis than other regions of the world. Because of that Japanese citizens are instructed by their government in how to best deal with dangerous natural events if it happens to occur by offering access to a fully immersive interactive practice disaster venue. I’m not kidding.

Free safety training is a valuable service made available by the Japanese government and typically can be visited by anyone ranging from tourists to schoolchildren on field trips. YouTuber Akidearest, who we’ve highlighted previously in this series, recently posted this video about her experience. It is something you absolutely should watch if you plan to visit Japan, enjoy.

Hope you liked this video! Stay tuned for next week where we will follow up with something we teased back when this series began. That’s right, we’re finally going to go all out on highlighting how cool Japanese vending machines are!