I know it's been so long since I've uploaded a video on this channel um basically I kind of disappeared to my gaming channel because well we were in lockdown for the last 3.5 months.

It's been a while since I've done a Japan travel video for obvious reasons because for the last year and a half, No one has been able to travel and I didn't want to encourage it, but we may be able to travel very soon, so kind of some news, but Australia has said that maybe at the end of the year we can finally travel to certain countries and Japan is included.

So I know there's a flight scheduled for like the 19th of december from Sydney to Tokyo, but I don't know if I'm going to book yet because at the moment the quarantine rules are like, I'm really clear and set in stone yet, but once everything is clear, I think I will travel back as soon as possible.

So you know what guys, maybe in a few months You guys may finally see some new Japan travel content.

So during those days when we could travel, I obviously uploaded a lot of Japan travel tips and I got a lot of questions on what you should or shouldn't do in Japan and I realized that I never made a video on this.

So in today's video, I am going to be telling you guys 10 mistakes you should avoid if you are traveling to Japan as a tourist but before we start, I want to introduce you guys to today's sponsor, soccer Rocco Rocco is a monthly subscription box that provides traditional snacks, sweets and teas to subscribers all around the world every month and every month there is a theme so you can experience all different sides of japan, Morocco is obviously based in japan and they source their products from local makers.

So there's high quality japanese snacks, which you won't find easily in japanese convenience stores.

So right here I have the november box and if you want to get the november box you need to subscribe before the end of october.

If you subscribe in november, you'll be getting a different box with a different thing.

So this is the november box and the theme is autumn in Kyushu First we have a booklet that describes what exactly is inside this box.

So obviously there's a lot of snacks that I have never seen myself but fear not because they do explain everything and also includes ingredients and you know, common allergies just in case.

So I'm going to show you guys what is inside the november box.

So I'm very excited because I haven't even gone through the box myself.

So we have more bread, which is sweet potato Yeah, um, and it's pink and this looks like sweet potato fries or young kumamoto castle Monju, soft milk cookie and this is actually from the site of my prefecture.

I'm actually reading everything in the booklet because all these snacks I actually have not seen before.

So it's really cool to learn which prefecture they come from brown sugar cake.

And this is from the Saga Prefecture sweet potato Monica, which fits with the theme because it's autumn.

So sweet potatoes, chestnut bomb condition, I think this is called um this is from the Tokyo Prefecture black beans.

Sunday, I love sunday.

It was like one of my favorites next to it when I was living in Japan.

This is interesting new style doughnut sticks and this is from the kumamoto Prefecture honey Castella.

This is from Osaka, my favorite prefecture in Japan.

We have a diamond december from saitama chestnuts and from Fukuoka kumamoto castle Mitchell pie.

I'm very curious to see what this one tastes like.

Then we got some chest nut jelly and the final one is some citrus jelly from book walker.

I'm so excited to try this, I love jelly.

Those are all the snacks.

And then we also got some green tea.

So we got some green tea from the, she's a walker Prefecture which, and then we also got this beautiful spring autumn rabbit bowl.

So the plans start at $32.50 per box and it's also a limited promotion this month if you use the code socket 2021 where you will get free japanese soccer glassware according to which plan you choose.

So if you want more information on the soccer court box, make sure you check out my description box down below.

So 10 mistakes you should avoid when you are traveling to Japan.

So I've been traveling to Japan for about 10 years now and I've made my fair share of mistakes.

So a lot of these tips are from my own personal experiences as well as you know tips that I think that you should know when you are traveling because hopefully we can travel very very soon.

I have hope number one not bringing your passport with you.

Now I understand your passport is your most important travel document which you have to keep safe.

So I've done this a few times where like I would leave my passport at my friend's house where I'm staying or like you know locked up in my suitcase to keep it safe.

There's also bonuses for bringing your passport with you.

So When you bring your passport with you, you can get tax free at most places in Japan.

When you go shopping, tax is usually already included in the price.

So you get 10% off now to get this, you need to show a foreign passport and you also need to bring the items you're buying back home.

So for me I bought like so many things tax free, like you know when you go shopping for japanese skincare and makeup, you get tax free of that if you buy expensive stuff like I bought, you know gadgets, I bought cameras, I bought a bunch of stuff and you know when it's like thousands of dollars getting 10% is quite a lot.

I've been to like some attractions before like aquariums and stuff where if you show your foreign passport, You get like a small discount or sometimes you get, you know something extra.

So that's kind of cool.

The state number two not carrying cash.

So in Australia, I never carry cash with me.

I have everything in my wallet on my phone in Japan.

It works differently.

So of course the bigger department stores or accept credit cards now and a lot of the smaller stores do.

But some of the local shops that you would go to won't accept cards.

So carrying cash with you is a must.

Now I remember when I traveled to Japan 10 years ago I did have cash with me but there were times where I ran out and I did have a card where I wanted to withdraw money from which back then it was really difficult because I remembered ATMs they would close at a certain time these days it's a lot easier where you can get a car to go to a convenience store and easily withdraw money and like I mentioned most doors do accept card now but just to be safe, I would really recommend you just deal with cash in Japan because it's just so much easier.

Number three not getting an IC card.

So an IC card is like a sweet car or pass more now it's weaker.

You can use this to pay for your train rise, you can use it to pay for stuff at convenience stores at vending machines.

So it's very useful to have, it's very easy to get one.

You can just get one at the airport when you land in Japan and I really recommend you do because you save a lot of time.

My first couple of years actually in Japan I didn't have an IC card because I guess back 10 years ago there wasn't that much information about traveling to Japan so I didn't really know what I was doing.

So I remember every single time I went to a train station I would go to the map, look at the map, try and find a station I'm going to and then once I find it then it will have the price on how much it will cost to get there and then you have to buy the ticket, get your coins, put it in the machine and all that stuff it just takes a lot of time.

Whereas if you have the card you just go tap and go board the train it's so much quicker and these days it's even more convenient because you can put your sweet on your phone and use your phone to tap When you bought the train number four JR pass.

Now, I don't always recommend you get a JR pass whenever you travel to Japan in the past.

I've done like travel tip videos and I avoid saying JR pass because I don't think it's worth it every time and when I don't mention it people are like why didn't you say JR pass?

It's so useful.

Yeah Okay sometimes it is but sometimes you're better off without it.

So a jail pass usually it's around like $320 for the past.

So you've got the past and you can board as many bullet trains as you want within the one week.

You can also board as many JR trains and you know that is inclusive with your JR pass.

Now it is worth it if you plan to take a bullet train every single day because a bullet train is expensive.

So for example if you're going from Tokyo or sucker it's around $140.01 way.

So let's just say you go from Tokyo or sucker and back to Tokyo that is $280 so you've got $40 left and if you go to another city in Japan.

Yeah it's probably worth it.

So before you travel you really need to research plan, see how much it's going to cost you to travel to places and see if it's worth getting a JR pass.

Like obviously if it's going to cost you like $500 in JR trains and get the JR pass because it'll be cheaper but if it's not then you know it's really not worth getting it for me.

I traveled to Japan so many times over 20 times and I've only gotten to JR passed twice.

I think number five trains don't run 24 7.

So I've made this mistake a couple of times where you know I forgot to check what time is my last train and I have missed it.

So okay if you are in the city and if your hotel is nearby you can take a taxi one with that much if it's close by but if you live far away It could get very expensive.

Most trains in Tokyo, they finish their services around 12 1 am so what do you do if you missed the train?

So okay you've got a few options first of all, you can take a taxi and go back home that way number two you can choose to stay at the whole night and in Japan there's a lot of options that you can go to like a karaoke place and most places actually have like an all night package where you can just go in there.

You know there's like usually all you can drink package and you can sleep there if you want.

I don't know just sing the night away.

I've done that a couple of times before but honestly if you don't plan to stay at the whole entire night because trust me you'll be really tight if you didn't plan to do this.

Yeah, it's best to check for the last train times number six not getting a sim card.

So when I first traveled to Japan smartphones weren't a thing, but then when smartphones came a thing a couple of years ago I just found it so much easier just to get a sim card for your phone and use your phone you know to travel.

So google maps.

I stopped using any train apps in Japan because I found that if I wanted to go anywhere I just had to open up google maps, type in the place I want to go and click on directions it would tell you which train to take like that's all you need to know, it's so easy and these days almost everyone has a smartphone.

So when you land in Japan just go to one of the booths, they even have vending machines now for sim cards or you can even go to like one of the big electronic stores, you can buy a data only sandwiches, all you need really and put in your phone.

There you go.

You have data everywhere you go in Japan if you get lost, open up google maps if you want to, you know talk to someone and you can't speak japanese just open up google translate like things are just so much easier now.

Number seven travel insurance.

Okay so I know a lot of people don't get travel insurance when they travel and really it's up to you but I recommend you really get it just in case.

So okay, a story that happened to me, this is maybe seven years ago, I was at the Hokkaido snow festival and it was minus 14 degrees, it was snowing, there was a snowstorm, it was so cold, but I, for some reason I don't know why I insisted on wearing a skirt because I wanted to take some cute photos which was not worth it by the way.

Um I caught the flu and yeah, I had to go to the doctors had to go to hospital because I was really, really sick now at the time I wasn't worried because I had travel insurance so I knew that let's just say if it was going to cost me thousands of dollars that was going to be okay because my travel insurance would be able to cover that for me.

Now, another story, this happened to one of my friends, She was traveling to Japan and what happened was I met up with her in Japan and she had a broken arm.

So you know, I asked her what happened, she said she was snowboarding and yeah she broke her arm and she had to go to hospital and it cost her like $10,000 but she had travel insurance so she got most of the money back.

So definitely like just to be safe get travel insurance.

Number eight don't tip.

Now this depends on where you live.

But for me in Australia we don't really have a tipping culture.

Like I would typify get exceptionally good service, but generally we don't tip in Australia because people get paid proper wages.

So yeah, in Japan tipping is actually considered rude in Japan, people take pride in their jobs no matter what they do.

So if you have seen this happen before, when you try and tip someone, they get very confused, they don't know what to do because it's not in the culture number nine don't close taxi doors.

So if you've been to Japan you may have seen taxi doors that open up by themselves, which is pretty cool.

So when you want to catch a taxi just flag one down it will stop and then doors will open up by itself.

You go in, don't touch the door closed by itself as well.

Once you arrive at your destination, don't touch the door, the taxi driver will open it up once you pay and then you just get up, don't touch it will close by itself.

I didn't really know this and okay, it didn't happen to me.

There's been times where I have shut the door without thinking because you know in Australia we have to shut the doors ourselves like we don't have this technology heard from other tourists and friends where they did accidentally just shut the door and a taxi driver got really annoyed at the for touching their doors, which I completely understand.

So don't touch The taxi driver's doors if it opens up by itself and number 10 not learning the basic japanese phrases.

So this is not just japan, but anyway, you travel, I feel like you should learn just a few basic phrases like hello, goodbye and thank you.

That's a really useful one.

Now, of course if you're traveling to japan, no one expects you to speak fluent japanese, but when you just, you know, say thank you in japanese to people, like they just really appreciate it and it just shows that you put in some effort to learn, you know, just a little bit of japanese.

So I have been asked many times do you have to speak japanese to travel to japan and no, you don't have to at all because well these days all the signs are in english now when you go to the train station signs are in english like everywhere, so you can't miss it.

Also you've got google maps if you got a sim card, you can just google something if you need help.

So no, you don't need to know japanese at all.

But it'll be nice just to like, you know, learn some basic phrases for when you go and that is the end of today's video, Thank you so much guys for watching.

Really hope that we can travel again soon.

Like this lockdown has been so tough like 3.5 months.

I've just been stuck in my house just playing games.

So yeah, I really hope that we can travel again maybe next year I've got hope.

So when we can travel, I definitely will be going straight back to Japan and we'll be doing the travel videos once again.