SOME HELPFUL STUFF

*Travel light - Japanese people rarely travel with large cases - they use luggage forwarding services, takkyubin http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2278.html . Apart from special airport services, few trains have luggage areas. If you can’t hoist your bag up onto the over head luggage shelf, you need to try to beat others to the area behind the first row of seating on express trains, (which will accommodate a maximum of 5 bags per carriage), or travel with your case at your feet.
Most smaller stations don’t have lifts or escalators either, and you may find yourself having to use an overhead walkway or underground crossing on the street, both with flights of stairs. Most taxis also have limited space in the boot - a group of three people with a decent sized case each will have a problem here.

*You can keep the weight down by doing some laundry along the way. Many hotels and inns have coin operated washers and dryers for guests’ use, or you can ask for directions to the nearest “coin laundry”, or you can do some washing in your room. If you plan to spend more than one night somewhere, wash a few thing in the bathroom. I take some pegs and spare coat hangers, a lot of modular bathrooms have a retractable line over the bath, and most accommodation has air conditioning which dehumidifies the air and helps dry things.

*Look for tourist information offices - usually in the stations, these offices will give free maps, brochures and directions. If you can’t speak Japanese, just speak slowly, they are used to foreign tourists.

*Free tissues - if you are offered a free pack of tissues on the street (very common), take them. Lots of public toilets, while clean, don’t provide paper.

*Drink vending machines -These machines are everywhere and there are rows of drinks to chose from; if the light beneath the drink is blue, it’s cold, red, it’s hot. Some things are obvious, but the same can of milk coffee or tea will be available as both.

*Buses and trams- copy the locals. Usually you enter by the rear/middle door, you may need to take a ticket which has the section you boarded printed on it, and you exit via the front door, where you pay, by dropping your coins and section ticket into a box near the driver.
Generally, you have to work out the fare yourself and pay with the exact money. There are machines near the driver which give change, people access them any time during the journey. If the fare is not a flat fare, there will be an electronic board at the front of the bus/tram which regularly increases the fare as the journey progresses. You calculate from the section you boarded, it will have the minimum fare up for a while, and may not change if your journey is short.
If you can get an all day pass (available in lots of cities), it saves worry, and can be excellent value. Ask at your hotel or the tourist info office. In Kyoto the Y500 all day bus pass comes with a bus/transport route map, absolutely invaluable. (Individual journeys are a flat Y220 for the area most tourists will visit, so 3 trips and you’re in front. You feed your pass through a card slot near the driver, where it just checks the date.)

*Seat reservations on trains. If you have a JR pass, reserving a seat is free. You can do this days before, or up until a few minutes before departure.
Make sure you get a timetable booklet when you get your pass, and you will notice the train services all have a number up the top of the column. If you aren’t wanting the next train to depart, print clearly on a piece of paper the city where you will board the train, the destination, and the number and time of the train you want. Plus the date of travel.
Remember you generally can’t catch Nozomi Bullets, the number for these trains is preceded by the letter N. Choose a Hikari (H) or slower Kodama (K) service.

A remote control to operate the toilet.