As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics draw closer, many people are probably planning a fun trip to Tokyo. However, Japan may be more difficult to travel than you might first think.
Even Japanese people like us have trouble getting around the crowded, complicated, and vast city of Tokyo!
According to research carried out by the Japan Tourism Agency, the top three issues encountered by overseas travelers in Japan are:
- Finding public Wi-Fi access (36.7%)
- Communication (24.0%)
- Accessing the information required to reach a destination on public transport (20.0%).
Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan Tourism Agency
There are so many routes to take throughout Tokyo and you may encounter confusing areas served by different routes and different stations.
Even if you were to try and ask someone for directions, everyone is walking by in a rush, so it’s difficult to flag someone down.
Couple that with the fact that most of us Japanese can’t speak English and the situation may feel hopeless.
That’s why we want to use this media to let all of our overseas visitors know about useful tips and tricks for getting around town!
We hope that our native knowledge of Japan will help you to understand the tools we use every day to navigate this city, get the most out of convenience stores, and provide useful information for families traveling with small children to give you the most fun and satisfying trip possible.
Here is a list of the 10 upcoming topics of our weekly posts.
- The Best tip when traveling Japan: make full use of the “konbini” convenience stores
- 4 Free tools to help you get around Tokyo more easily
- Useful knowledge: Avoiding the crowds on public transport
- Four types of stores you should know how to use in Japan
- Tips on how to protect yourself against disasters in Japan
- Traveling Tokyo with babies and small children
- How to combat Tokyo’s weather differences of the 4 seasons
- Best trips to take close to the city (Indoors)
- Best trips to take close to the city (Outdoors)
- Travel Japan in Tokyo! Our favorite spots!
- Written by Sumire Hayakawa
- Translated by Carley Radford