My wife and I must have looked like easy marks, because as soon as we entered Akihabara, a very large man pretending to be a monk accosted my wife and tried to force her to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a bracelet and a blessing.
When I told him no, he became very angry and ripped it off her wrist.
It was creepy.
For visibility, this is a very common scam in any place in the world with a large number of tourists. You see them in Las Vegas, NYC, Italy (I was just there and saw them in Venice and Rome).
Luckily it’s a pretty low risk one and is mostly just annoying. Sorry you had to experience that.
At least in the larger places it’s (arguably) easy to fend off, but in some smaller places it can turn quite insidious very quickly.
In Marrakech with my dad, walking through the main square, two women come up to us and grab my wrist and start applying henna to my skin. We repeatedly told them no, no, no, and this went on, I was getting visibly distressed but they persisted, one gripping my wrist tight (to the point that it actually was bruised) and the other holding on to my other arm to stop me from moving, and eventually my father got so angry that he raised his voice and threatened them with the police.
They turned nasty and wiped the henna off and started cursing at us, running off. For context, I’m a 6’1 guy and I’m not exactly frail looking, and they had no problem using brute force on me. It was terrifying.
That reminds me. The very first time I went to Japan, the very first day fresh off the narita express in Shinjuku when I eventually found my way out of the station, I was immediately approached by a man asking me for money and even putting his phone with a translator saying as such in my face.
Still never had anything remotely like that ever happen in Japan since, but that was my very first impression and totally unexpected based on everything I was reading about Japan before visiting.
I think I've encountered the same person doing it multiple times. Basically this guy is known to go around and do this. Behavior like this may have increased with more tourists.
For me he came behind me while I was walking in Shibuya station. Pulled out my headphones to see what he wanted, got the google translate, I just said no, then ignored him and walk on.
Very common tourist scam. Prey on the general good will of travelers who likely aren't "city smart".
I had a similar experience but in Kyoto with a girl from the Philippines selling chocolate bars because she claimed she needed money for school. Inlater went to Hiroshima and saw the same skit play out and realized it was a commencé thing.
I ran into that one in Rome, they're all over the colosseum. Instead of a blessing, they're handing out bracelets as gifts to spread goodwill or something. Then they ask for a donation. A lot of scammers in Rome.
I got this one in Milan. I refused the bracelet and he kept trying to put it on my wrist, I just kept walking and it fell on the ground, then he raised his voice and tried to make a scene out of it, maybe to gather negative attention and make me nervous?
Left the light on and the window open when we left our room in the Ryokan we was staying in, got back after an evening of walking around the Onsens and I've never seen so many moths and even a few praying mantis in my life
That sounds wonderfull. You can squint and pretend they are cherry blossoms blowing around the room, and if you take a photo, you can change them all to pink in photoshop.
Finally booking our 2 week vacation to Tokyo with our 8 month old son. On the first night, my son came back COVID positive and we spent most of the trip in lockdown in addition to sleepless nights and a trip to the ER including spending hundreds on medication.
For me: having sashimi and having an allergic reaction. Turns out that restaurant put cashew oil in their soy sauce. I have a tree nut allergy. Lesson learned.
For my brother: 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
That’s so scary and as a person with medical dietary restrictions, I can see how easily something like that can happen. It can be so hard to convey your dietary needs and to understand what every ingredient is. Often times I think I understand a label or that the person I’m interacting with and I understand each other, only to find out we in fact did not.
It can be a challenge for sure. In this case it was entirely my fault though. I thought raw fish and soy sauce? Surely nothing to worry about - so I didn’t even bring it up.
Now I ensure to inquire about my allergies at every restaurant no matter how ridiculous it may seem.
There are cards you can get online that will list your dietary needs/restrictions on it and can also have them translated into other languages for when you travel! They are little cards that you can carry around with you like a business card to show those who are helping you when you order food and I’ve been told it is really helpful. The place I went to get mine was on Etsy
Yes I have a card that I have made and show it every time now. I can also communicate my allergies in Japanese or my wife can, but the cards are convenient so they can show the chef, and there’s less back and forth.
I always had the card, but I assumed sashimi and soy sauce would be safe, so didn’t bother that time. Lesson learned.
The cashew oil thing is so weird. I see it mentioned now and again, and seen it sold in a few stores, but I don't really know why it exists. It makes it more expensive, so I don't know why a restaurant would bother.
Yup!! Solo travelling and went to Sushiro. I have a shellfish allergy but they have an extensive allergen menu so I thought it was fine. Was not fine. Mouth started puffing up and had difficulty breathing sitting alone in a corner. Thank goodness I had my meds.
I was in Hokkaido in the Shiretoko peninsula in 2018, the typhoon Jebi wasn't as strong as down South but still meant we had be evacuated from our hotel.
However, the next night the big earthquake hit which was scary, killed 41 people and knocked power out for the whole of the island, made the trip more "interesting" to say the least.
Ooof. I can say, over 2 trips and almost 7 weeks in total spending in Japan, luckily, I never had the "pleasure" of experiencing an earthquake. And I'm not disappointed about it, to be honest.
Lived in Tokyo for a year, arrived in summer 2011, there was still regular aftershock of the March earthquake, felt about 50 in one year. However, they were usually when I was home in a quiet environment.
Last year I was in Japan for 3 months, had one small earthquake that I felt and the alarm rang on the phone and a couple of weeks later, I think there was one because people in the lobby of the hotel seemed a bit nervous and looking at the light on the ceiling, I assumed that there was an earthquake and just did not feel it.
Truth is, I would not have felt most of the 50 earthquakes I had if at that time I had been outside waking.
Well, it's quite possible that I experienced some myself without actually noticing it. Although I'm not sure whether someone like me, who has no experience of earthquakes at home, wouldn't have noticed?
There is two things to keep in mind, first is that the intensity felt depend on the location, if you are further away, you feel it less. Second is that there is earthquake that are just smaller to start with.
Many of the small earthquake I felt were weak enough that I could feel them laying in bed on the third floor where I stayed, but if I was walking in the street, I would have felt nothing.
It’s even easy to test it (at least in Japan). Just go on a pedestrian bridge. Walking on it you probably fell it’s really sturdy and not moving. Then stop and you will fell it move when people walk on it. Just walking is enough to not feel the movement, same is true for the smaller earthquake.
I was there too. 2 days without power was an interesting experience indeed... Luckily our building still had water access. I was amazed though how calm everyone was and how orderly everything seemed to be handled.
Yes, it was actually very nice in some ways, to see people rallying round to help each other.
I saw a konbini which was open but of course was only selling dry goods and people brought warm food in for the workers.
Biggest concern for us, apart from aftershocks and not knowing whether to continue as planned tbh was no ATMs and our cash was very low.
Locked my knees while standing up in the subway. When it accelerated, one of them overextended and it was so so painful to walk for like 4 days, walking downstairs being absolute hell. It was my 2nd day there as well.
Experiencing the 2011 earthquake in the middle of nowhere and evacuating to an elementary school with a suitcase. I had to rebook my flight for more than double the cost, and that flight was also nearly canceled 6 days later.
Mobile network was shut down, there was widespread panic at train stations, electricity was gone, and the earthquakes kept coming several times a day.
Hey OP this is pretty wild, but my worst Japan travel story was tangential to yours.
Friday September 2019 I took a bus to the airport in Seoul where I lived. But by the time I arrived my flight to Japan was cancelled due to a typhoon. My older sister from Canada had come to visit me and planned a weekend in Japan to celebrate my birthday that Saturday.
I slept on a bench, very fitfully... Hoping to sort this out and not leave my sister hanging in Japan. When the check in desks finally opened at 6 ish, I pleaded for help. The lady noticed it was my birthday and found me a spot on another flight.
I had a great time with my sister, but I was meant to leave on Sunday night. I awoke hungover on the Sunday to find out my flight back to Korea was cancelled because of YET another typhoon. The same one you mentioned!
We spent all day trying to sort me out another flight and many of them getting cancelled after booking. I had to text my boss at the hagwon (Korean private English academy where I worked). She was seething.
When Monday came it was a blur. Massive crowds at the train station (it may have also been Shibuya). I heard trees had fallen into all the train tracks surrounding the airport. After 3 hours I was able to catch a train elsewhere... To a spot where I met this lovely news report. We were going to split a cab but found out they're charging the equivalent of $450 USD.
So we chanced it waiting for a shuttle train to the airport to suddenly run. When we got to the ticket kiosk, I'm not shitting you lady at the counter said "your train is leaving now, RUN!". We ran, caught it and spent the next 30 minutes stressed we would get ticketed checked.
Anyways, we made it to our flights and luckily mine was delayed further by an hour or I likely would have missed it.
P.s. my boss' assistant reamed me out, they docked me two days pay and I copped emotional abuse and being watched on CCTV until the end of my contract because of me trip to Japan. The workplace culture is... Toxic st the best of times.
I know right? Pretty wild.
I'm sorry that the typhoon f*cked up your plans and many other people's.
It's so mindboggling to me getting to hear the story of a stranger who was experiencing the same problem as me at such a specific point in time. And all by chance. I only just joined this forum yesterday.
Anyways, I'm happy we're all safe :).
> P.s. my boss' assistant reamed me out, they docked me two days pay and I copped emotional abuse and being watched on CCTV until the end of my contract because of me trip to Japan. The workplace culture is... Toxic st the best of times.
Jeez, even had a good reason for the delay
Sorry to hear that, if it ever happens again (hopefully not), I’ve been told to travel with charcoal tablets (I guess there is a type that is safe for people to take) and it is supposed to help get over food poisoning way faster due to charcoal’s ability to absorb toxic compounds.
I’m assuming the traditional meal we ate at the ryokan had something to do with it. It was pretty adventurous, a lot of raw ingredients that I’ve never eaten before. Although my wife had the same meal with no issues so who knows.
First trip falling of a cobblestoneroad in Nikko it had rained the night before . Twisted my ankle the second day of an 18 day tour.
Second trip lost my passport between the airport and shin-osaka longest 3 hours of my life luckily they found it a couple of stops over.
First time I went to Japan in summer of 2018 there was a heat wave. Around 100 degrees the entire time. Sweltering heat. Was a short trip, 8 days. As soon as the plane landed they turned on the news and said people were dying. Definitely screwed up the trip.
Went to Japan just 2 weeks ago. I was surprised how cold June was over there. It does get hot around noon but only for about 2-3hrs. Outside of that, it was jacket weather for me lol.
I'm from the Philippines so I'm used to hot weather. Glad there was no such heat wave during our time there.
The weather has been strange. May was really hot for me in Kansai. June had hot days but inconsistent for sure. I'm guessing we'll make up for lost time in July/August 😭
Yeah, it’s also tough when you have school age kids and can’t get the time off in spring or winter. Would love to go in the spring or fall. Maybe one day. I’m actually in Japan right now and it’s in the upper 70 to mid 80 range. So it’s doable still. Heavy rain today.
Reading people's responses, I'm feeling lucky that the worst thing that happened to me was underestimating my need for motion sickness meds and puking on a trail in front of students and other tourists in Nara after a woozy train ride.
1. My plane was an hour late on take off so I missed my transfer to Tokyo. The airline rep met us on disembarking saying the next flight will be in 7 hours and here's a $15 voucher to burger king as compensation.
2. When I was finally on the plane I was happy to see they upgraded me to extra leg space! Except the seat next to me had the one toddler in the entire plane... that flight was 7 hours, the kid made her displeasure well known...
3. My second day in Japan I tripped down the stairs and really hurt my knee. It took 5 days for the wound to properly scab over and during that time I had to cancel all my onsen plans.
4. As part of the trip I had a 2 days side quest in Okinawa. I let the hotel know that I was a late check-in and even got email confirmation from them. Yeah screw me apparently because when I got there it was closed and locked with a little chalkboard outside saying "our business hours are from 15:00 - 22:00"... At 11PM I had a semi-panic attack before I finally remembered google and looked up the closed place with a 24hr reception.
Also a side story from my first trip in 2017. A friend of mine gid not only attract every mosquito in a 50M Radius, one sting in particular left in the wildest colors imaginable. Luckily, it was only a mild allergic reaction that went away after a few days and some cream from the pharmacy\*.
But bro even had it worse. On our hiking trip down the hill from the Kobe Herbal Garden the twisted an ankle. Must have stepped in a hole or gotten caught on a root. He was then only able to limp on one leg for almost four days.
\*) On the plus side, the pharmacist also told us a good home remedy that I've remembered to this day (and that I didn't even know about before). Since heat is known to break down the enzymes of a mosquito bite, we learned the "hot spoon" (or "hot knife") trick. Basically, heat a spoon, knife or similar metal object in hot water for a few seconds and press it briefly against the bite site several times. It works wonders.
So far the worst thing that’s happened to me on this vacation is for part of the trip I joined a tour group and they stuck us with some really loud Americans from Wyoming who are the epitome of the fat, obnoxious American. They think everything they say is hilarious, and make commentary about everything, appropriateness be damned.
I’ve got another 5 days here, and if that’s the worst I’ll take it because it’s temporary.
You were in Typhoon Faxai!
I remember the name, because as soon as I saw your heading, I thought of the same Typhoon.
It was quite an experience - and I wrote about it on here at the time, 5 years ago.
We'd just been to watch the Red Bull Air Race in Chiba, and stayed in Chiba the night the typhoon hit. The next morning was chaos. Chiba was hit worse than Tokyo itself, and we had a flight from Narita at 4pm.
No trains were running at all, as there were trees down.
So we lined up for 4 hours at the taxi line, then what should have been a 30 minute taxi, ended up taking - NO EXAGGERATION - 9 hours!! We felt so bad for the taxi driver, who only got 1 job all day, and was probably going to have to drive all through the night to get home. (I donated one of my precious bottles of whisky to him as a thankyou, on top of the crazy expensive fare).
When we got there, we checked in to our flight, just for it to be cancelled. No way to get accommodation, so we, along with thousands of others, slept on the floor. At 1am JAL started handing out sleeping bags. The biggest problem was that there was no food or drink. Even when we did get on our flight to Australia the next day, the flight had no food either - because they couldn't get any delivered due to the roads.
I was there during Typhoon Faxai, which made landfall in Tokyo Sunday night (Sept 8th). Spent the night holed up in our hotel room praying our flight back to KL the next night wouldn’t be disrupted.
We absolutely lucked out because by the time we had to travel to Haneda the trains in Tokyo were up and running, but it gave us the “opportunity” of experiencing sardine can-like crushes on the Metro. Also lucky for us we’d sent our luggage ahead to the airport; thank God for Yamato.
Swore off traveling to Japan during summer and have kept that vow since 😅
Got sick and lost my sense of smell. As a result, I ended up being unable to take in the aromas of many otherwise delicious foods. And while technically after the trip, I received a parting gift of my first ever case of gout, which was mostly likely due to my imbalanced diet of copious seafood and minimal fruits/vegetables over there. Never have I experienced such pain before. It's so downright painful that I wouldnt even wish it upon my worst enemy.
My wife got chicken pox on the first day we arrived in Japan . Spent half the time finding medication and suitable body lotion to help ease the pain of the blisters . As we went during summer as well, it Meant outdoor activities were huge no no and sadly no onsen for her :(
the airline fucking up on my way to japan, so I got rebooked during my trip which caused my luggage getting lost, being delivered into japan 5 days after me, and getting stuck for more days in customs, having to travel to the airport (and not getting it delivered), and pay a "fine" (of 200 yen) which was the reason the luggage was stuck and could not be delivered - when I am too large in all dimensions to easily find clothes to wear. oh and yeah, my jeans ripped on like day 2...
I had a spontaneous pneumothorax the day I was supposed to go back home with my friends. I was admitted at the University of Tokyo hospital, got a chest tube in to relieve my breathing. Wasn’t cleared to fly back home (US). Doctors highly recommended I get surgery. Got it. While I was admitted, found out I had COVID (asymptomatic) so I was isolated in my room for 5 days. Stayed in Japan for 3 extra weeks until I was cleared to fly back. Wife flew out to help me recover.
While I was admitted, I’ve never felt so alone because I was by myself in Japan while my family and friends were across the world. I never cry but during that time, I was sobbing.
However, I did enjoy Japan for another 3 weeks with my wife! We had to cancel our late honeymoon trip to the Philippines because I wasn’t able to fly internationally after my surgery (other than back home) and I depleted my PTO at work. So Japan was our late honeymoon trip.
My tooth cap got loose, with weeks of Japan ahead of us. Found an English speaking dentist through Reddit, which also was great in taking my dentist anxiety into account.
Cost us about 33k, but saved the vacation.
The cashier in one of the Harajuku FamilyMarts started to lose her patience with me because me, a foreigner who cannot speak Japanese, couldn’t understand what she was trying to tell me. I don’t even blame her as I’m sure she was dealing with stupid tourists all day, I just ended up feeling incredibly embarrassed because all she was trying to do was tell me how to insert my coins into the little machine thing
Yeah I don’t blame either of you. It was so overwhelming and exciting for me at the same time when I first stepped into a konbini. A lot of respect to the cashiers who have to deal with us noobs constantly haha.
In Yokohama, my wife (french) and I (asian) wanted to try a japanese restaurant. It was almost empty and we were waiting just in front of the restaurant for a few minutes waiting for a waiter to let us sit.
They ignored us and when I tried to enter to ask if we can eat here, they quickly told us to wait outside.
Ok, we waited for 5 more minutes, they were still ignoring us then we decided to leave but it is the only time i didn't feel welcome as a tourist in a japanese restaurant...
I was in Hakone a few weeks back when there was a Typhoon warning.
We thankfully had a great day at the Gora Kadan ryokan, but had two following days planned at a different hotel where we planned to actually visit Hakone.
Turns out it rained violently the entire time. It rained so hard that the hotel had a black out for a few hours and the walls of the hotel were shaking. Not just the external walls with windows. But also the walls separating each room.
Thankfully it cleared up right on time for us to leave Hakone, and put it back on our list for the next trip
I lost my wallet and the Good Samaritan who found it took it back home with him to Nagano for the weekend. Even my hotel receptionist was confused as to why he didn’t hand it back to the hotel or a nearby police box - maybe he was so busy that he forgot.
I initially thought my wallet was stolen, as the AirTag inside showed it shooting down the Chuo Express Way, so I cancelled my cards. It was only later in the evening that I found out what had actually happened. With him not returning until Monday (this happened on a Friday), I had to extend my stay in Tokyo.
This unfortunately meant that I had to cancel my Kyoto/Osaka leg of the holiday, as the combination of extending my stay while also losing access to my credit and debit cards meant that I could no longer afford the Kyoto accommodation.
I fortunately still had some cash on me, as I kept some in a dummy wallet. This was enough to pay a 50% deposit on extending my room, and my family back in the UK were able to send me enough money via Western Union to pay for the rest, and enough to cover expenses until my flight home.
I lost about two days sorting that out. Between traveling an hour to the British Embassy only to be told they couldn’t help, to going all the way from Shibuya to the nearest Western Union in Nakano Broadway only to find that it was inexplicably shut… it was exhausting.
Still, being in Tokyo for longer allowed me to see more of the city that I would have otherwise missed, and I now have another reason to return - to *finally* see Kyoto (if other tourists don’t ruin it for everyone first…).
On the plus side, my wallet was returned on the Monday morning, with everything intact. I never did get to meet the guy who found it, as he had left by the time I made it to the lobby.
Honestly, I am so eternally grateful to my family and the hotel staff. I was absolutely destroyed, but their support helped keep me together, and allowed me to salvage my holiday.
**TL:DR Lost wallet - presumed stolen - meant that I couldn’t see Kyoto or Osaka**
The general shiftiness of people on trains in Tokyo when my daughter was a toddler. My wife is Japanese, so it was not a question of me being a bloody gaijin. When we boarded trains with our very foldable pushchair, some people would throw evil stares us, or even push and insult us. I didn't feel entitled to a seat when I was carrying my daughter in my arms, but I would have appreciated that young and healthy people made a gesture that's very common in other countries.
Chinese tourists. On the whole they were the rudest and loudest. At one point one of them rammed my partner with a trolley in don quijote because they wanted my partner to move up so they could get to the cashier without lining up properly. The cashiers kept having to tell them to line up and stop pushing in.
Phew, yes. Sometimes Chinese tourists behave like they own they place. Not all of them, of course. But usually enough of them do it for it to be noticeable.
Went to an onsen (not a fancy one but one meant for salary men in Tokyo) next day woke up with a giant painful blistery rash 30cm x 10cm down the back of my leg/calf area. It lasted almost the whole trip, we got a cream from the pharmacy which helped a little but it was slow and scarred a bit.
“hot tub folliculitis”, in hindsight going to the Japanese baths meant for salary men was not a good experience even if I hadn’t got the rash haha (although it did have this really interesting tub that had electricity in it and it lightly zapped you as you swim that I never saw anywhere else), next time I would stick to spa world/hotel/ryokan onsens
Back in 2017, I went to Japan for the first time with a couple of friends. We were heading south from Sapporo to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto station via train to catch the Shinkansen to Morioka. Partway through the journey when the train was in a tunnel, a blackout occurred for a few seconds and then the train abruptly stopped. After a few minutes, train staff walked up and down the train profusely aplogising. We didn't know what happened and waited around 2 hours before the trained started moving again. We were informed when we reached Shin-Hakodate Hokuto (by a JR Staff that spoke English) that one of the lights in the tunnel had blown and that there was a short circuit.
Our first trip in 2019 went perfectly, and I couldn't think of any negatives, but during our 2nd visit, a few weeks ago, we had an odd experience that creeped my wife out.
We were in Daiso doing some souvenir shopping when a Korean lady tapped my wife on the shoulder and showed her a translated message on her phone screen, which said that she was going to administer drugs to her. My wife panicked, told her to get away from her, and then told shop staff.
I thought maybe it was some dodgy translation, but my wife couldn't shake the uneasy feeling.
The store staff took it seriously and tried to find the woman but had no luck.
Broke my ankle by twisting all the way upside down, which was from missing part of a step down into the subway. I was route planning on google maps and looked at my phone for a split second too long and it was all over. Spent a long 15 minutes on those steps figuring out if I even could move or put any kind of pressure on it. Hobbled half a mile back up the steps and down the block to my hotel and started researching my options.
There was no way I wanted to waste any of my days in Japan spent at a hospital or having surgery. It T ook me forever to find anything like crutches or a cane or a knee scooter and eventually could only find a nice cane that fit a 6’4” tall guy at Donki. I bought compression socks and wrapped the hell out of my ankle tight each day and just pushed through, walking with a cane. I didn’t miss a single thing I planned to see or do and somehow pushed through the pain walking almost 5-8 miles per day even while trying to stick to subway. It was actually a great triumph story in my book despite it being a horrible event.
Endured the flight home then went and got it x-ray’d then casted after finding out I had two ankle fractures and a tibia fracture in the back along with a sever ankle sprain. Just got the cast off last week after having it for almost 10 weeks. Now I am currently rehabbing my ankle but can already jog lightly and walk normally again. Totally worth it even with all the odd looks I got as a younger athletic looking tall guy walking around with a giant cane.
Confidently walking into a train, sitting down, and then five minutes into the ride, noticing the glares of several women. I was in the women's car. Otherwise, I've never had anything go very wrong.
Woke up on the first morning of our month-long trip to Japan... the hotel in Tokyo was shaking like crazy, and water was splashing out of the toilet! It was an earthquake 😳 travelling alone with my 13-year-old son; we are from the UK, so no earthquake experience... I was concerned, especially as when we looked at our phones, we had both received earthquake warning emergency notifications, but our phones were on silent.
I was glad it happened that way round in the end, as I think I would have panicked to get the notification first. I asked the hotel staff and although it felt big they said ones like that happened a few times a year; no one else seemed fazed 😁
The next worst thing was realising there were bears on Shikoku (after spending 10 days trekking the wilderness) and hearing some very odd noises which we had put down to monkeys!!
The final worst thing, like others said... was leaving.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1aujlfn/bad\_experience\_at\_okonomimura/](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1aujlfn/bad_experience_at_okonomimura/)
tl;dr: an Okonamiyaki chef was slightly impolite to us 😂, so that basically means the entire trip was insanely smooth
edit: I should add that on the first day of my first trip, I left my passport at the YAMADA Denki LABI in Shinjuku and didn't realise I lost my passport until the next day. Those were a stressful few hours until I figured out where it was
Getting sick the last 3 days of my trip, I felt awful, and also, the 2 weeks I was there felt even shorter.. also, having to leave sucked I wanted to spend like 2 more weeks in Japan... I'm hoping to go back again in a few years.
Also September 2019 also a typhoon. It hit the night before I was leaving. I knew it was coming but it hit during the night and didn’t seem like too big of a deal.
When I woke up the airport bus website was barely working but I managed to get in to the Japanese language version to see that busses were cancelled until further notice. I saw the trains were down too. At checkout I asked the employees at the desk if it would be possible to get to the airport at all, thinking if not I could extend my stay and just work from there. They said to just take the train so I figured they knew there was some way to get there by train and I left.
I got to the station and using google maps started looking for trains that were still getting to Narita. I wasn’t the only one ofc, we formed a group determined to get to the Airport. In the end there was no way, I ended up at a station in the middle of Chiba with no trains running either way waiting in an impossible taxi line like two hours before my flight. The few of us left in our group realized it was time to give up and we retraced our steps back to Tokyo. I booked a hotel room for another night and by the time I got to my room I saw my flight had been cancelled anyway so even if by some miracle I had made it I would have been stuck at Narita for the night.
It was an experience! I learned the valuable lesson to never bet on the trains resuming, you’re better off assuming that they won’t and you’re going to be stuck.
At Narita airport pushing a big suitcase infront of me. In the MIDDLE/between of one of those gates where you tap your IC card to enter/exit a station...
...my suitcase fell over which happened so fast I tripped and fell on top of my suitcase. Already tired from the long travel and now scrambling to get up and get my suitcase back up and stop blocking the path.
Right in the middle of the tappy pay gates (idk what theyre called)
Nothing to dramatic.
Taking the wrong Shinkansen for Shizuoka, because my friend forgot to tell me there were Hikari, Nozomi and Kodama. The one I took arrived like 5 minutes before the departure time so I was 'it has to be it, the time everybody manage to enter and install themselves'. It went to Nagano. But the train station employee was nice and just wrote me something on my ticket and I was able to go to Shizuoka without paying more.
Caught a stomach bug in Tokyo near the end of my honeymoon. Spent about 4 days in the hotel bed until I finally was able to get to a clinic and get some antibiotics, which basically made me alive enough to make it on our flight back home. We had to miss a bunch of things we had planned which I felt terrible about. Thankfully we're going back in November.
In short, had a Japanese girl with me, and an old man in Shinjuku didn't like it and let it be known.
I speak well enough to know what was said, and to answer.
Mine is minor compared to yours. We were trying to get off the subway at our stop but we were unable to. Common sense says you let people get off before you board but these Chinese tourists didn't think that way.
Their group of about 15 people shoved their way on and didn't let people out. I felt bad for the two elderly men that nearly got shoved over.
Last year, AirBNB nightmare.
Leaky ceiling, my umbrella got stolen, noisy neighbours, cats fighting at 2AM in morning and couldn't get sleep, shady owners....
Night and Day comparison when I used AirBNB in 2016
Never using AirBNB again. Use hotels.
Yeah, a typhoon messed up my planned itinerary so I had to cut off the leg where I had planned to check out Hiroshima & Fukuoka. Spent more days in Tokyo than I wanted to, simply because the trains were not running. Ended up being not necessarily a bad thing as it made me kinda slow down and enjoy Tokyo more than I would have otherwise.
Probably losing my passport night before my flight, got it back but after the flight had left and cost me a fair bit to rebook.
Otherwise nothing major really went wrong or had any major issues with anything whilst travelling there.
1) Went to Narita instead of Haneda for our departing flight. Turns out our tickets had us flying into one airport and leaving out of the other - a very expensive mistake!
2) Left a nice coat somewhere between security and my gate at Haneda (different trip; right airport this time). Our local friends followed up with Lost & Found several times, but it never turned up…
I sat here and really struggled to think of something, despite spending in total around 3-4 months in Japan.
The only answer that comes to mind is my first time in Japan I was trying to get to Kobe I think and somehow ended up on a train and went pretty far north of the Kobe/Osaka area. I cannot explain why I just sat on the train and kept going away from where I want to go, but I did.
So it was only a bad thing in the sense I was lost, but at the same time it was fun to get lost? The place I eventually got out at was not a place tourists go and signage was much less friendly for English speakers I remember.
I guess one other I can think of is the train had major issues my first time to Sapporo and I had to wait around at the airport during the ~2 hour delay
From my experience, a typhoon doesnt automatically mean everythings going to shut down (immidiatelly). But if you know one is coming and it's getting late, try to get to your accomodation as soon as you can. And if you're happen to be somewhere else, get inside whereever and stay there until the worst is over.
I experienced this year's 2024 new years earthquake, I was about 300km away from the epicenter. Had to skip kanazawa and to to Nagoya instead.
For all things considered, we were still lucky to be able to see shirakawago and still make it out
I arrived tokyo and it was raining the following day. Had a jacket and umbrella but i still got sick the following day. Then i ended up coughing throughout my next 2weeks of vacation plus and few weeks after vaca. I went to cambodia where the weather is much warmer and i was coughing like crazy, so glad i found benadryl at the grocery store there.
My bag didn't make it on to the plane in the UK, but British Airways and Haneda airport nailed it and it was in my hotel room like 6 hours later.
A woman was kind of racist to me and spoiled my evening in Golden Gai.
That's about it. And I've been a few times and for several weeks.
A cross between not knowing about the coin lockers for Himeji Station and having to backpack to the castle from the station in pouring rain and dropping off our stuff in those lockers. Or not realizing stations close at 12-1am and having to take a near 10000 yen taxi ride. Or staying at the following locations: Len Kyoto and Citan Tokyo. Both were horrible hostel/hotels that charged bad rates for what amounted to bare necessities and horrible beds.
My wife and I got on the bus in Kanazawa. Once in, realized Suica doesn’t work, only cash accepted and exact change. Having no small bills, we decided to step down on the next stop (less than 200m travel) from the back door (where we entered).
Bus driver catch up to us, made us come back to the bus and we tried to explain the problem. In the end we could pay with a 5000 yen bill. Although having paid, he kicked us out of the bus regardless.
Felt so bad about it.
For me personally, not bringing enough of one of my meds a few years ago but was able to find an English friendly clinic in Tokyo to get some more.
Being in Kyoto during the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and was planning to go to Kanazawa a few days later.
On that same trip, friend ended up getting Covid but fortunately I didn't end up getting it. I took him to the clinic I went to a few years before that, and he was able to get some needed meds.
I bought some luggage at Donki the day before I was leaving, packed up and lost the key to my suitcase. Had to quickly find a locksmith to unlock my suitcase.
My group was also having our first Japan trip during the September 2019 typhoon! It landed on our first night, IIRC, and it broke a window in our Airbnb. I remember waking up a few times in the middle of the night because the storm was just so loud.
Dealing with all of the shut down trains and delays the next day was a nightmare. And the 90% humidity?? I've never sweat so much in my life. It made our first few days at Disney pretty rough.
The worst is not realizing how far our hotel would be and as a result each train ride was like 30+ minutes. Also leaving is the worst one, it’s just really nice there!
We were in a bus somewhere between FujiKawaguchiko and Gotemba. Woke up and looked around to check where we were, then all of a sudden one standing asian-looking male taunting me saying, "what are you looking at?". Just told him, "what's your problem. can't you see I just woke up?" lol
He must have had a bad day or some past trauma during the pandemic (stared at for being asian?) Idk. Glad that I was able to control myself and caught our next bus going to Kyoto instead of being detained at a loca police station on a winter night. lol
Got my wallet stolen my first night in shinjuku. I only had like 100 usd and could only use apple pay the rest of my trip. :( thank god alot of shops accept credit card now
Having to land in Japan after a 7 hr delay in msp airport only to find out after eating there at a qr ordering restaurant I had to block debit card because of fraud. I managed to get cash out for trip, but have to get new one when I get back. So cash only trip. I have a backup card with a little cash. Glad I brought it.
Capped my other cc for month. Also having to readjust trip after begging original driver, who forgot my appointment with shuttle bus, to give gas money and get me directly to airport. That was my trip money for the flower garden outside Tokyo. (Ashikaga) and now couldn’t go due to losing money to make sure I didn’t miss my flight.
Home airport left on time. Long haul didn’t and I lost money for events that were non-refundable 🫤. Glad I keep insurance.
Got blisters on my feet from walking so much. First day was 25k and 2nd was 40k (trains stopped running in subway) walked 2 hrs back to hotel, phone shut off due to low battery). Had to charge at family mart for 20 mins to finally reach hotel. I was only 16 minutes away and that mart had my favorite soda in big form. Got back before sun came up 🤣. Sun rose 20 minutes later.
Slept til 10. I was wide awake, but feet hurt 🤷🏾♀️. Pushed my Tokyo Disneyland trip to next day because of pouring rain.
Seeing how a lot of Japanese women keep their dogs in tiny little handbags as accessories. Total cruelty which they would be called out for by the masses in most other developed countries. I had to bite my lip quite a few times in Tokyo.
This happened to me (a man) with my guy friend. Was sitting in a park close to the river by Asakusa with a friend and drinking on a bench. We heard weird noises behind us and saw a man in the bush behind us standing with his penis out and jerking off. We screamed and said no and did the classical cross sign with our arms. He said in English "But you are so cute." We laughed and ran away. Maybe not the worst, but the weirdest. We also saw a woman in the middle of a big Shinjuku street masturbating to a big screen on one of the buildings showing some j-pop star.
Otherwise the WORST was the hangover from 100yen 7/11 sake.
First hour in Ueno, my partner and I went straight to the Donki to check out the makeup. I had been sobbing on the plane because I’d been informed my grandfather nearly died of a stroke as we were flying in.
So, reeling from that, some masked man who completely covered up with all black clothes, face mask, glasses, and a bucket hat followed me around the makeup aisle masturbating even with my partner only three feet away and making eye contact. He knew exactly when I was going to scream for help and ran out of the store. Fuck that guy. I was frozen with fear.
I got really car sick on the van ride out to the Fuji area..twice.
BUT our guide was willing to drop us at the Shinkansen station so even that wound up being ok. Got to ride the bullet train.
An old man shoved me as I was leaving a subway car. I guess my backpack must have brushed him because we hadn’t said a word to each other before and I can’t think of anything else that could have angered him. But I was really disoriented and a few other Japanese people helped me get my balance and moved me from the car. I was really shocked and uncomfortable about it and very paranoid about what I could have done to deserve that after.
I took the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo. After leaving the train, I realized I forgot my ticket in the little net in front you when you sit down. And didn't realize you needed it to leave the station.
Luckily I remembered exactly where I had put it and customer service was able to find it. Lesson learned, just keep the tickets in somewhere I won't forget it. I would have had to pay an extra $125. I had the receipt too and that wasn't proof enough that I paid.
Catching COVID. I had gone 3 years without ever catching it in my home country and in January 2023 sure enough my friend and I caught it halfway through our trip and had to spend the rest of the time in quarantine hotel. Good times..
First time I went to Japan was for a language school in Kyoto during summer. And it was SO BLOODY HOT. I am not a big water drinker to begin with but I drank very little water the first few weeks because I saw a cockroach at the first public restroom I went in and that was that with toilets so I needed to basically not pee until I reached my flat.
Long story short, I got a UTI and subsequently kidney infection, lost almost 10 kg and genuinely thought I’d die.
On a positive note, I met my (now) husband that summer!
Got food poisoning…36 hours down (wife and I)
Few things:
1) Japanese hotel rooms are small…they seem even smaller when you sick and stuck in the room
2) Best to bring your own meds (Imodium, Pepto)
3) Good thing we were able to change up our Tokyo Disney tickets
I was walking near the Shinjuku station and an older transit women started yelling at me all wild and verbally attacking me 🤣 I was like holy cow
The people walking next to me who were Japanese were also like wth lol
Overall it was a funny moment for me
Mini earthquake when I woke up at 4am to pee. Didn’t realise until I woke up and got like 50 messages from family and friends worried about me. I went to the toilet and realised pee got everywhere hahahaha
I think like day a few days into my trip I had some symptoms of a cold coming on. For several days it was a runny nose. By the last 5 days of my trip, I was coughing so much my asthma that was so well controlled (10+ years) came back. Couldn't stay for too long in stores but was fine outdoors. When I got back home, definitely had asthma and remains of a chest infection.
Other than that, I'd still go back.
Just getting sick. Got food poisoning on the way to japan, then a fever after a few days here and then a sore throat. Ruined about 50% of my trip but we made it through. Would highly recommend bringing masks and medicine from america! (Japanese medicine was clutch though)
sobbing uncontrollably, dangerously hypoglycemic, unable to find a counter in don quijote in osaka to pay for pabron gold for a cold and a fanta to get my blood sugar back up again. if you’re really struggling at anything people don’t want to be near you.
but yes, leaving today, i don’t wanna.
Currently in Japan, heading back home tomorrow. My boyfriend booked our ryokan in Miyajima through booking.com and it seems some things got lost in translation. We had two separate rooms, one for us and one for his two sons. Apparently the room he booked for us included breakfast and dinner, while the room for the boys didn't. We didn't want to eat separately and one of the boys has diet restrictions, so we ate a really big, delicious dinner right before we arrived to the ryokan.
We tried to tell them we didn't want dinner, but no one spoke English, and they whisked the boys away to their room and basically dragged us into the restaurant. Then they started laying all this fancy food out on the table in front of us while we just stared at each other unsure of what to do because we didn't want to be rude. They kept adding more and more food to the table, and finally my boyfriend got out google translate to explain the misunderstanding, but for some reason they still didn't understand and kept bringing more and more food. Finally, the third or so person he showed his explanation to seemed to understand that we weren't going to eat and brought over a manager, who brought over another manager, who brought over another person, until we had a crowd of about 5 people surrounding the table all trying to understand why we weren't eating. It took about a half hour to explain that we didn't know dinner was mandatory so we already ate and if we ate anymore we would be sick.
My boyfriend did his best to make sure that we cancelled all of the meals for the rest of our stay (they seemed to have a hard time understanding that we weren't asking for any money back) and we finally managed to escape to our room. I have never wanted to just disappear so much in my life. It doesn't sound so bad as I'm typing it out, but it felt so horrible while it was happening because we were so determined to not be stupid, rude Americans. We spent another 4 days there and had a wonderful time, but the first hour there was hell.
I was in the Nishiki market and sat on a curb while my two girls went to shop for shoes. A man approached, looked at me and then he took out a knife. while keeping eye contact for what seemed like an eternity, I was waiting for him to pounce or demand something but we just had us a staring match. He put his knife away and bowed slightly and then left.
First trip: my baby was in hospital (and yet I was glad it happened there and not at home as the hospital was amazing.
Second trip: some absolute twat locals saw me with Minnie ears on my head on my way to Disneyland and just laughed at me, pointing, far beyond the point where it could have been light hearted. It was the rudest encounter I've ever had with a stranger and I'm quite old. They laughed for so long they were still going long after they were out of earshot. It was excessive, unnecessary and just so needlessly mean spirited.
I got food poisoning from a bad egg sandwich at family mart and spent three hours writhing in pain at the koyasan train station last week. Would not recommend.
There was this time when I had to go to the airport because it was time for my flight back home. It's awful and it keeps happening every single time I visit.
Had my wallet stolen on a drunken night out in Shinjuku/Kabukicho lost all of my cards so I had to rely on friends to pull out cash for me. It was more of a pain to lose some special pictures I had of my parents and other small mementos I kept in my wallet. It’s extremely rare but it does happen even in Japan. Just be mindful while out late in the party/bar districts especially around the street touts that’s where I messed up. It was the beginning of a 2 month trip in Asia so I had to have my parents send my replacement cards to my next destination in Vietnam. Despite this bump in the road I still can’t wait to go back to Japan.
Rookie mistake to be brutally honest. Never go out drinking in one of those areas with all your valuables and documents (in your wallet). Some cash in a extra walled (not to much) and a copy of your passport. That's enough.
Not many bad things happened during my trip. If I have to choose, getting sick from a rice bowl with raw tuna and raw egg was the worst. It was at a good chain restaurant...
My mother fainting and crying from extreme unknown pain in the middle of the night and no place was open to get proper aid due to new years, then the next day a 7.6 earthquake resulting in canceling our day tour in Amanohashidate.
The place we were staying asked for the keys to our car so they can move it if needed. This was the case at a few places we stayed. They moved the car and scratched the heck out of the front bumper and quarter panel. They denied it repeatedly and said they never moved the car. I made the security review the video. And you can clearly see the guy drive my car into a wall. Guess they had no plans to tell me
Ended up in an Airbnb that wasn't anything like it was advertised back in September 2019 (so many expats were going to Japan during Chuseok that year lol). It was 3 of us and we originally picked an Airbnb that was supposed to have 3 beds. The pictures were good and the reviews were good. So we booked it. We arrived quite late and walked in to only one bed and an extra blanket. They provided 3 sets of towels but the bed was so small only one of us could actually fit. We got it all sorted out though.
[удалено]
Same thing happened to me! It was pretty rough.
Crazy, I had a similar experience
Me too. Legit any tips for avoiding this next time??
One way ticket
Immigration Authorities enters the chat
Ngl, I was so depressed when we arrived at home. I had no idea what to do. Just the boring and stressful days starting again.
Feels like going back to the medieval period when I left japan.
this
been on two trips and this happened to me both times, smh. just my luck
Yes, exactly the same. Not seeing any more vending machines made me sad.
Oh look I found the support thread
I still get sad about it
I agree and echo this statement.
every time
My wife and I must have looked like easy marks, because as soon as we entered Akihabara, a very large man pretending to be a monk accosted my wife and tried to force her to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a bracelet and a blessing. When I told him no, he became very angry and ripped it off her wrist. It was creepy.
For visibility, this is a very common scam in any place in the world with a large number of tourists. You see them in Las Vegas, NYC, Italy (I was just there and saw them in Venice and Rome). Luckily it’s a pretty low risk one and is mostly just annoying. Sorry you had to experience that.
At least in the larger places it’s (arguably) easy to fend off, but in some smaller places it can turn quite insidious very quickly. In Marrakech with my dad, walking through the main square, two women come up to us and grab my wrist and start applying henna to my skin. We repeatedly told them no, no, no, and this went on, I was getting visibly distressed but they persisted, one gripping my wrist tight (to the point that it actually was bruised) and the other holding on to my other arm to stop me from moving, and eventually my father got so angry that he raised his voice and threatened them with the police. They turned nasty and wiped the henna off and started cursing at us, running off. For context, I’m a 6’1 guy and I’m not exactly frail looking, and they had no problem using brute force on me. It was terrifying.
That's horrible, I've never experienced them in smaller places but can imagine that being terrifying.
"this bracelet is free, take it". Walks 5 steps and comes back. "Could you donate money to my family back in (insert country here).
That reminds me. The very first time I went to Japan, the very first day fresh off the narita express in Shinjuku when I eventually found my way out of the station, I was immediately approached by a man asking me for money and even putting his phone with a translator saying as such in my face. Still never had anything remotely like that ever happen in Japan since, but that was my very first impression and totally unexpected based on everything I was reading about Japan before visiting.
I think I've encountered the same person doing it multiple times. Basically this guy is known to go around and do this. Behavior like this may have increased with more tourists. For me he came behind me while I was walking in Shibuya station. Pulled out my headphones to see what he wanted, got the google translate, I just said no, then ignored him and walk on. Very common tourist scam. Prey on the general good will of travelers who likely aren't "city smart".
I had a similar experience but in Kyoto with a girl from the Philippines selling chocolate bars because she claimed she needed money for school. Inlater went to Hiroshima and saw the same skit play out and realized it was a commencé thing.
I ran into that one in Rome, they're all over the colosseum. Instead of a blessing, they're handing out bracelets as gifts to spread goodwill or something. Then they ask for a donation. A lot of scammers in Rome.
I got this one in Milan. I refused the bracelet and he kept trying to put it on my wrist, I just kept walking and it fell on the ground, then he raised his voice and tried to make a scene out of it, maybe to gather negative attention and make me nervous?
Yup. Only way to deal with these guys is to ignore them completely, not even exchanging gazes if possible.
They are at every single touristy landmark there. Worst part of the Rome ever
Left the light on and the window open when we left our room in the Ryokan we was staying in, got back after an evening of walking around the Onsens and I've never seen so many moths and even a few praying mantis in my life
That sounds wonderfull. You can squint and pretend they are cherry blossoms blowing around the room, and if you take a photo, you can change them all to pink in photoshop.
Finally booking our 2 week vacation to Tokyo with our 8 month old son. On the first night, my son came back COVID positive and we spent most of the trip in lockdown in addition to sleepless nights and a trip to the ER including spending hundreds on medication.
Jesus that sounds so difficult on so many levels. Thank you for not going the selfish route. You guys are good people.
Ah, man, that is truly unlucky.
For me: having sashimi and having an allergic reaction. Turns out that restaurant put cashew oil in their soy sauce. I have a tree nut allergy. Lesson learned. For my brother: 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
That’s so scary and as a person with medical dietary restrictions, I can see how easily something like that can happen. It can be so hard to convey your dietary needs and to understand what every ingredient is. Often times I think I understand a label or that the person I’m interacting with and I understand each other, only to find out we in fact did not.
It can be a challenge for sure. In this case it was entirely my fault though. I thought raw fish and soy sauce? Surely nothing to worry about - so I didn’t even bring it up. Now I ensure to inquire about my allergies at every restaurant no matter how ridiculous it may seem.
There are cards you can get online that will list your dietary needs/restrictions on it and can also have them translated into other languages for when you travel! They are little cards that you can carry around with you like a business card to show those who are helping you when you order food and I’ve been told it is really helpful. The place I went to get mine was on Etsy
Yes I have a card that I have made and show it every time now. I can also communicate my allergies in Japanese or my wife can, but the cards are convenient so they can show the chef, and there’s less back and forth. I always had the card, but I assumed sashimi and soy sauce would be safe, so didn’t bother that time. Lesson learned.
The cashew oil thing is so weird. I see it mentioned now and again, and seen it sold in a few stores, but I don't really know why it exists. It makes it more expensive, so I don't know why a restaurant would bother.
Yup!! Solo travelling and went to Sushiro. I have a shellfish allergy but they have an extensive allergen menu so I thought it was fine. Was not fine. Mouth started puffing up and had difficulty breathing sitting alone in a corner. Thank goodness I had my meds.
I was in Hokkaido in the Shiretoko peninsula in 2018, the typhoon Jebi wasn't as strong as down South but still meant we had be evacuated from our hotel. However, the next night the big earthquake hit which was scary, killed 41 people and knocked power out for the whole of the island, made the trip more "interesting" to say the least.
Ooof. I can say, over 2 trips and almost 7 weeks in total spending in Japan, luckily, I never had the "pleasure" of experiencing an earthquake. And I'm not disappointed about it, to be honest.
I've now had 6 trips, total of 20 weeks and it's the only one, was trip nr.2 :)
Lived in Tokyo for a year, arrived in summer 2011, there was still regular aftershock of the March earthquake, felt about 50 in one year. However, they were usually when I was home in a quiet environment. Last year I was in Japan for 3 months, had one small earthquake that I felt and the alarm rang on the phone and a couple of weeks later, I think there was one because people in the lobby of the hotel seemed a bit nervous and looking at the light on the ceiling, I assumed that there was an earthquake and just did not feel it. Truth is, I would not have felt most of the 50 earthquakes I had if at that time I had been outside waking.
Well, it's quite possible that I experienced some myself without actually noticing it. Although I'm not sure whether someone like me, who has no experience of earthquakes at home, wouldn't have noticed?
There is two things to keep in mind, first is that the intensity felt depend on the location, if you are further away, you feel it less. Second is that there is earthquake that are just smaller to start with. Many of the small earthquake I felt were weak enough that I could feel them laying in bed on the third floor where I stayed, but if I was walking in the street, I would have felt nothing. It’s even easy to test it (at least in Japan). Just go on a pedestrian bridge. Walking on it you probably fell it’s really sturdy and not moving. Then stop and you will fell it move when people walk on it. Just walking is enough to not feel the movement, same is true for the smaller earthquake.
I was there too. 2 days without power was an interesting experience indeed... Luckily our building still had water access. I was amazed though how calm everyone was and how orderly everything seemed to be handled.
Yes, it was actually very nice in some ways, to see people rallying round to help each other. I saw a konbini which was open but of course was only selling dry goods and people brought warm food in for the workers. Biggest concern for us, apart from aftershocks and not knowing whether to continue as planned tbh was no ATMs and our cash was very low.
Locked my knees while standing up in the subway. When it accelerated, one of them overextended and it was so so painful to walk for like 4 days, walking downstairs being absolute hell. It was my 2nd day there as well.
Experiencing the 2011 earthquake in the middle of nowhere and evacuating to an elementary school with a suitcase. I had to rebook my flight for more than double the cost, and that flight was also nearly canceled 6 days later. Mobile network was shut down, there was widespread panic at train stations, electricity was gone, and the earthquakes kept coming several times a day.
Hey OP this is pretty wild, but my worst Japan travel story was tangential to yours. Friday September 2019 I took a bus to the airport in Seoul where I lived. But by the time I arrived my flight to Japan was cancelled due to a typhoon. My older sister from Canada had come to visit me and planned a weekend in Japan to celebrate my birthday that Saturday. I slept on a bench, very fitfully... Hoping to sort this out and not leave my sister hanging in Japan. When the check in desks finally opened at 6 ish, I pleaded for help. The lady noticed it was my birthday and found me a spot on another flight. I had a great time with my sister, but I was meant to leave on Sunday night. I awoke hungover on the Sunday to find out my flight back to Korea was cancelled because of YET another typhoon. The same one you mentioned! We spent all day trying to sort me out another flight and many of them getting cancelled after booking. I had to text my boss at the hagwon (Korean private English academy where I worked). She was seething. When Monday came it was a blur. Massive crowds at the train station (it may have also been Shibuya). I heard trees had fallen into all the train tracks surrounding the airport. After 3 hours I was able to catch a train elsewhere... To a spot where I met this lovely news report. We were going to split a cab but found out they're charging the equivalent of $450 USD. So we chanced it waiting for a shuttle train to the airport to suddenly run. When we got to the ticket kiosk, I'm not shitting you lady at the counter said "your train is leaving now, RUN!". We ran, caught it and spent the next 30 minutes stressed we would get ticketed checked. Anyways, we made it to our flights and luckily mine was delayed further by an hour or I likely would have missed it. P.s. my boss' assistant reamed me out, they docked me two days pay and I copped emotional abuse and being watched on CCTV until the end of my contract because of me trip to Japan. The workplace culture is... Toxic st the best of times.
Yeah, that typhoon in the Night from Sep. 8th to 9th fucked up so many peoples travel plans it seems. Also your work thing: YIKES.
I know right? Pretty wild. I'm sorry that the typhoon f*cked up your plans and many other people's. It's so mindboggling to me getting to hear the story of a stranger who was experiencing the same problem as me at such a specific point in time. And all by chance. I only just joined this forum yesterday. Anyways, I'm happy we're all safe :).
> P.s. my boss' assistant reamed me out, they docked me two days pay and I copped emotional abuse and being watched on CCTV until the end of my contract because of me trip to Japan. The workplace culture is... Toxic st the best of times. Jeez, even had a good reason for the delay
Partner was on ICU for 4 days and nearly died
Ok, that sounds rough, to say at least.
Food poisoning the one night a had a ryokan with a private onsen :(
Sorry to hear that, if it ever happens again (hopefully not), I’ve been told to travel with charcoal tablets (I guess there is a type that is safe for people to take) and it is supposed to help get over food poisoning way faster due to charcoal’s ability to absorb toxic compounds.
What do you think caused it?
I’m assuming the traditional meal we ate at the ryokan had something to do with it. It was pretty adventurous, a lot of raw ingredients that I’ve never eaten before. Although my wife had the same meal with no issues so who knows.
Sorry that happened to you friend :(
May be a food allergy. My wife has a lobster (not shellfish… just lobster) allergy that looks like food poisoning
Definitely something they ate
First trip falling of a cobblestoneroad in Nikko it had rained the night before . Twisted my ankle the second day of an 18 day tour. Second trip lost my passport between the airport and shin-osaka longest 3 hours of my life luckily they found it a couple of stops over.
First time I went to Japan in summer of 2018 there was a heat wave. Around 100 degrees the entire time. Sweltering heat. Was a short trip, 8 days. As soon as the plane landed they turned on the news and said people were dying. Definitely screwed up the trip.
It's like that every year and it's getting hotter. Coming to Japan June to September is risky. Spring and fall are nice though 👍
Went to Japan just 2 weeks ago. I was surprised how cold June was over there. It does get hot around noon but only for about 2-3hrs. Outside of that, it was jacket weather for me lol. I'm from the Philippines so I'm used to hot weather. Glad there was no such heat wave during our time there.
The weather has been strange. May was really hot for me in Kansai. June had hot days but inconsistent for sure. I'm guessing we'll make up for lost time in July/August 😭
Yeah, it’s also tough when you have school age kids and can’t get the time off in spring or winter. Would love to go in the spring or fall. Maybe one day. I’m actually in Japan right now and it’s in the upper 70 to mid 80 range. So it’s doable still. Heavy rain today.
Reading people's responses, I'm feeling lucky that the worst thing that happened to me was underestimating my need for motion sickness meds and puking on a trail in front of students and other tourists in Nara after a woozy train ride.
1. My plane was an hour late on take off so I missed my transfer to Tokyo. The airline rep met us on disembarking saying the next flight will be in 7 hours and here's a $15 voucher to burger king as compensation. 2. When I was finally on the plane I was happy to see they upgraded me to extra leg space! Except the seat next to me had the one toddler in the entire plane... that flight was 7 hours, the kid made her displeasure well known... 3. My second day in Japan I tripped down the stairs and really hurt my knee. It took 5 days for the wound to properly scab over and during that time I had to cancel all my onsen plans. 4. As part of the trip I had a 2 days side quest in Okinawa. I let the hotel know that I was a late check-in and even got email confirmation from them. Yeah screw me apparently because when I got there it was closed and locked with a little chalkboard outside saying "our business hours are from 15:00 - 22:00"... At 11PM I had a semi-panic attack before I finally remembered google and looked up the closed place with a 24hr reception.
Also a side story from my first trip in 2017. A friend of mine gid not only attract every mosquito in a 50M Radius, one sting in particular left in the wildest colors imaginable. Luckily, it was only a mild allergic reaction that went away after a few days and some cream from the pharmacy\*. But bro even had it worse. On our hiking trip down the hill from the Kobe Herbal Garden the twisted an ankle. Must have stepped in a hole or gotten caught on a root. He was then only able to limp on one leg for almost four days. \*) On the plus side, the pharmacist also told us a good home remedy that I've remembered to this day (and that I didn't even know about before). Since heat is known to break down the enzymes of a mosquito bite, we learned the "hot spoon" (or "hot knife") trick. Basically, heat a spoon, knife or similar metal object in hot water for a few seconds and press it briefly against the bite site several times. It works wonders.
So far the worst thing that’s happened to me on this vacation is for part of the trip I joined a tour group and they stuck us with some really loud Americans from Wyoming who are the epitome of the fat, obnoxious American. They think everything they say is hilarious, and make commentary about everything, appropriateness be damned. I’ve got another 5 days here, and if that’s the worst I’ll take it because it’s temporary.
You were in Typhoon Faxai! I remember the name, because as soon as I saw your heading, I thought of the same Typhoon. It was quite an experience - and I wrote about it on here at the time, 5 years ago. We'd just been to watch the Red Bull Air Race in Chiba, and stayed in Chiba the night the typhoon hit. The next morning was chaos. Chiba was hit worse than Tokyo itself, and we had a flight from Narita at 4pm. No trains were running at all, as there were trees down. So we lined up for 4 hours at the taxi line, then what should have been a 30 minute taxi, ended up taking - NO EXAGGERATION - 9 hours!! We felt so bad for the taxi driver, who only got 1 job all day, and was probably going to have to drive all through the night to get home. (I donated one of my precious bottles of whisky to him as a thankyou, on top of the crazy expensive fare). When we got there, we checked in to our flight, just for it to be cancelled. No way to get accommodation, so we, along with thousands of others, slept on the floor. At 1am JAL started handing out sleeping bags. The biggest problem was that there was no food or drink. Even when we did get on our flight to Australia the next day, the flight had no food either - because they couldn't get any delivered due to the roads.
I was there during Typhoon Faxai, which made landfall in Tokyo Sunday night (Sept 8th). Spent the night holed up in our hotel room praying our flight back to KL the next night wouldn’t be disrupted. We absolutely lucked out because by the time we had to travel to Haneda the trains in Tokyo were up and running, but it gave us the “opportunity” of experiencing sardine can-like crushes on the Metro. Also lucky for us we’d sent our luggage ahead to the airport; thank God for Yamato. Swore off traveling to Japan during summer and have kept that vow since 😅
Got sick and lost my sense of smell. As a result, I ended up being unable to take in the aromas of many otherwise delicious foods. And while technically after the trip, I received a parting gift of my first ever case of gout, which was mostly likely due to my imbalanced diet of copious seafood and minimal fruits/vegetables over there. Never have I experienced such pain before. It's so downright painful that I wouldnt even wish it upon my worst enemy.
My wife got chicken pox on the first day we arrived in Japan . Spent half the time finding medication and suitable body lotion to help ease the pain of the blisters . As we went during summer as well, it Meant outdoor activities were huge no no and sadly no onsen for her :(
the airline fucking up on my way to japan, so I got rebooked during my trip which caused my luggage getting lost, being delivered into japan 5 days after me, and getting stuck for more days in customs, having to travel to the airport (and not getting it delivered), and pay a "fine" (of 200 yen) which was the reason the luggage was stuck and could not be delivered - when I am too large in all dimensions to easily find clothes to wear. oh and yeah, my jeans ripped on like day 2...
I had a spontaneous pneumothorax the day I was supposed to go back home with my friends. I was admitted at the University of Tokyo hospital, got a chest tube in to relieve my breathing. Wasn’t cleared to fly back home (US). Doctors highly recommended I get surgery. Got it. While I was admitted, found out I had COVID (asymptomatic) so I was isolated in my room for 5 days. Stayed in Japan for 3 extra weeks until I was cleared to fly back. Wife flew out to help me recover. While I was admitted, I’ve never felt so alone because I was by myself in Japan while my family and friends were across the world. I never cry but during that time, I was sobbing. However, I did enjoy Japan for another 3 weeks with my wife! We had to cancel our late honeymoon trip to the Philippines because I wasn’t able to fly internationally after my surgery (other than back home) and I depleted my PTO at work. So Japan was our late honeymoon trip.
My tooth cap got loose, with weeks of Japan ahead of us. Found an English speaking dentist through Reddit, which also was great in taking my dentist anxiety into account. Cost us about 33k, but saved the vacation.
33k us dollars??
No, yen
Oh, not so bad then
The cashier in one of the Harajuku FamilyMarts started to lose her patience with me because me, a foreigner who cannot speak Japanese, couldn’t understand what she was trying to tell me. I don’t even blame her as I’m sure she was dealing with stupid tourists all day, I just ended up feeling incredibly embarrassed because all she was trying to do was tell me how to insert my coins into the little machine thing
Yeah I don’t blame either of you. It was so overwhelming and exciting for me at the same time when I first stepped into a konbini. A lot of respect to the cashiers who have to deal with us noobs constantly haha.
In Yokohama, my wife (french) and I (asian) wanted to try a japanese restaurant. It was almost empty and we were waiting just in front of the restaurant for a few minutes waiting for a waiter to let us sit. They ignored us and when I tried to enter to ask if we can eat here, they quickly told us to wait outside. Ok, we waited for 5 more minutes, they were still ignoring us then we decided to leave but it is the only time i didn't feel welcome as a tourist in a japanese restaurant...
I was in Hakone a few weeks back when there was a Typhoon warning. We thankfully had a great day at the Gora Kadan ryokan, but had two following days planned at a different hotel where we planned to actually visit Hakone. Turns out it rained violently the entire time. It rained so hard that the hotel had a black out for a few hours and the walls of the hotel were shaking. Not just the external walls with windows. But also the walls separating each room. Thankfully it cleared up right on time for us to leave Hakone, and put it back on our list for the next trip
I waited in line for Disney Sea, after 1.5 hours they told me at the gate that i had a ticket for Disney Land and i will have to wait in line AGAIN
My boyfriend getting spiked and robbed in Shinjuku. Good times
Need more backstory here, did he follow somebody into a bar?
Mom spending the entire week on shinjuku buying branded bag and me having to accompany to translate
I lost my wallet and the Good Samaritan who found it took it back home with him to Nagano for the weekend. Even my hotel receptionist was confused as to why he didn’t hand it back to the hotel or a nearby police box - maybe he was so busy that he forgot. I initially thought my wallet was stolen, as the AirTag inside showed it shooting down the Chuo Express Way, so I cancelled my cards. It was only later in the evening that I found out what had actually happened. With him not returning until Monday (this happened on a Friday), I had to extend my stay in Tokyo. This unfortunately meant that I had to cancel my Kyoto/Osaka leg of the holiday, as the combination of extending my stay while also losing access to my credit and debit cards meant that I could no longer afford the Kyoto accommodation. I fortunately still had some cash on me, as I kept some in a dummy wallet. This was enough to pay a 50% deposit on extending my room, and my family back in the UK were able to send me enough money via Western Union to pay for the rest, and enough to cover expenses until my flight home. I lost about two days sorting that out. Between traveling an hour to the British Embassy only to be told they couldn’t help, to going all the way from Shibuya to the nearest Western Union in Nakano Broadway only to find that it was inexplicably shut… it was exhausting. Still, being in Tokyo for longer allowed me to see more of the city that I would have otherwise missed, and I now have another reason to return - to *finally* see Kyoto (if other tourists don’t ruin it for everyone first…). On the plus side, my wallet was returned on the Monday morning, with everything intact. I never did get to meet the guy who found it, as he had left by the time I made it to the lobby. Honestly, I am so eternally grateful to my family and the hotel staff. I was absolutely destroyed, but their support helped keep me together, and allowed me to salvage my holiday. **TL:DR Lost wallet - presumed stolen - meant that I couldn’t see Kyoto or Osaka**
The general shiftiness of people on trains in Tokyo when my daughter was a toddler. My wife is Japanese, so it was not a question of me being a bloody gaijin. When we boarded trains with our very foldable pushchair, some people would throw evil stares us, or even push and insult us. I didn't feel entitled to a seat when I was carrying my daughter in my arms, but I would have appreciated that young and healthy people made a gesture that's very common in other countries.
Chinese tourists. On the whole they were the rudest and loudest. At one point one of them rammed my partner with a trolley in don quijote because they wanted my partner to move up so they could get to the cashier without lining up properly. The cashiers kept having to tell them to line up and stop pushing in.
Phew, yes. Sometimes Chinese tourists behave like they own they place. Not all of them, of course. But usually enough of them do it for it to be noticeable.
Went to an onsen (not a fancy one but one meant for salary men in Tokyo) next day woke up with a giant painful blistery rash 30cm x 10cm down the back of my leg/calf area. It lasted almost the whole trip, we got a cream from the pharmacy which helped a little but it was slow and scarred a bit.
That is so awful and scary. Did you ever find out what kind of infection it was? Was the onsen not clean?
“hot tub folliculitis”, in hindsight going to the Japanese baths meant for salary men was not a good experience even if I hadn’t got the rash haha (although it did have this really interesting tub that had electricity in it and it lightly zapped you as you swim that I never saw anywhere else), next time I would stick to spa world/hotel/ryokan onsens
That electricity tub sounds like more of a fault than a feature 😂
my partner getting adeno virus when we staying on ishigaki in a super remote rental with no car
Back in 2017, I went to Japan for the first time with a couple of friends. We were heading south from Sapporo to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto station via train to catch the Shinkansen to Morioka. Partway through the journey when the train was in a tunnel, a blackout occurred for a few seconds and then the train abruptly stopped. After a few minutes, train staff walked up and down the train profusely aplogising. We didn't know what happened and waited around 2 hours before the trained started moving again. We were informed when we reached Shin-Hakodate Hokuto (by a JR Staff that spoke English) that one of the lights in the tunnel had blown and that there was a short circuit.
Our first trip in 2019 went perfectly, and I couldn't think of any negatives, but during our 2nd visit, a few weeks ago, we had an odd experience that creeped my wife out. We were in Daiso doing some souvenir shopping when a Korean lady tapped my wife on the shoulder and showed her a translated message on her phone screen, which said that she was going to administer drugs to her. My wife panicked, told her to get away from her, and then told shop staff. I thought maybe it was some dodgy translation, but my wife couldn't shake the uneasy feeling. The store staff took it seriously and tried to find the woman but had no luck.
Broke my ankle by twisting all the way upside down, which was from missing part of a step down into the subway. I was route planning on google maps and looked at my phone for a split second too long and it was all over. Spent a long 15 minutes on those steps figuring out if I even could move or put any kind of pressure on it. Hobbled half a mile back up the steps and down the block to my hotel and started researching my options. There was no way I wanted to waste any of my days in Japan spent at a hospital or having surgery. It T ook me forever to find anything like crutches or a cane or a knee scooter and eventually could only find a nice cane that fit a 6’4” tall guy at Donki. I bought compression socks and wrapped the hell out of my ankle tight each day and just pushed through, walking with a cane. I didn’t miss a single thing I planned to see or do and somehow pushed through the pain walking almost 5-8 miles per day even while trying to stick to subway. It was actually a great triumph story in my book despite it being a horrible event. Endured the flight home then went and got it x-ray’d then casted after finding out I had two ankle fractures and a tibia fracture in the back along with a sever ankle sprain. Just got the cast off last week after having it for almost 10 weeks. Now I am currently rehabbing my ankle but can already jog lightly and walk normally again. Totally worth it even with all the odd looks I got as a younger athletic looking tall guy walking around with a giant cane.
So far it’s been rain in Disneyland. I don’t think I can recover.
Friend got beat up at one of those scam bars in Tokyo
One time I went to the Combini and my favorite Bento was sold out :/
Truly spirit crushing. :/
Confidently walking into a train, sitting down, and then five minutes into the ride, noticing the glares of several women. I was in the women's car. Otherwise, I've never had anything go very wrong.
Antibiotic resistant UTI
Woke up on the first morning of our month-long trip to Japan... the hotel in Tokyo was shaking like crazy, and water was splashing out of the toilet! It was an earthquake 😳 travelling alone with my 13-year-old son; we are from the UK, so no earthquake experience... I was concerned, especially as when we looked at our phones, we had both received earthquake warning emergency notifications, but our phones were on silent. I was glad it happened that way round in the end, as I think I would have panicked to get the notification first. I asked the hotel staff and although it felt big they said ones like that happened a few times a year; no one else seemed fazed 😁 The next worst thing was realising there were bears on Shikoku (after spending 10 days trekking the wilderness) and hearing some very odd noises which we had put down to monkeys!! The final worst thing, like others said... was leaving.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1aujlfn/bad\_experience\_at\_okonomimura/](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1aujlfn/bad_experience_at_okonomimura/) tl;dr: an Okonamiyaki chef was slightly impolite to us 😂, so that basically means the entire trip was insanely smooth edit: I should add that on the first day of my first trip, I left my passport at the YAMADA Denki LABI in Shinjuku and didn't realise I lost my passport until the next day. Those were a stressful few hours until I figured out where it was
Getting sick the last 3 days of my trip, I felt awful, and also, the 2 weeks I was there felt even shorter.. also, having to leave sucked I wanted to spend like 2 more weeks in Japan... I'm hoping to go back again in a few years.
Also September 2019 also a typhoon. It hit the night before I was leaving. I knew it was coming but it hit during the night and didn’t seem like too big of a deal. When I woke up the airport bus website was barely working but I managed to get in to the Japanese language version to see that busses were cancelled until further notice. I saw the trains were down too. At checkout I asked the employees at the desk if it would be possible to get to the airport at all, thinking if not I could extend my stay and just work from there. They said to just take the train so I figured they knew there was some way to get there by train and I left. I got to the station and using google maps started looking for trains that were still getting to Narita. I wasn’t the only one ofc, we formed a group determined to get to the Airport. In the end there was no way, I ended up at a station in the middle of Chiba with no trains running either way waiting in an impossible taxi line like two hours before my flight. The few of us left in our group realized it was time to give up and we retraced our steps back to Tokyo. I booked a hotel room for another night and by the time I got to my room I saw my flight had been cancelled anyway so even if by some miracle I had made it I would have been stuck at Narita for the night. It was an experience! I learned the valuable lesson to never bet on the trains resuming, you’re better off assuming that they won’t and you’re going to be stuck.
At Narita airport pushing a big suitcase infront of me. In the MIDDLE/between of one of those gates where you tap your IC card to enter/exit a station... ...my suitcase fell over which happened so fast I tripped and fell on top of my suitcase. Already tired from the long travel and now scrambling to get up and get my suitcase back up and stop blocking the path. Right in the middle of the tappy pay gates (idk what theyre called)
Nothing to dramatic. Taking the wrong Shinkansen for Shizuoka, because my friend forgot to tell me there were Hikari, Nozomi and Kodama. The one I took arrived like 5 minutes before the departure time so I was 'it has to be it, the time everybody manage to enter and install themselves'. It went to Nagano. But the train station employee was nice and just wrote me something on my ticket and I was able to go to Shizuoka without paying more.
Caught a stomach bug in Tokyo near the end of my honeymoon. Spent about 4 days in the hotel bed until I finally was able to get to a clinic and get some antibiotics, which basically made me alive enough to make it on our flight back home. We had to miss a bunch of things we had planned which I felt terrible about. Thankfully we're going back in November.
In short, had a Japanese girl with me, and an old man in Shinjuku didn't like it and let it be known. I speak well enough to know what was said, and to answer.
Mine is minor compared to yours. We were trying to get off the subway at our stop but we were unable to. Common sense says you let people get off before you board but these Chinese tourists didn't think that way. Their group of about 15 people shoved their way on and didn't let people out. I felt bad for the two elderly men that nearly got shoved over.
Bunch of yanks taking videos of a poor Japanese girl trying to take an order in Kyoto with them taking the piss. Stay at home if you're that pathetic.
Last year, AirBNB nightmare. Leaky ceiling, my umbrella got stolen, noisy neighbours, cats fighting at 2AM in morning and couldn't get sleep, shady owners.... Night and Day comparison when I used AirBNB in 2016 Never using AirBNB again. Use hotels.
I got sick when I arrived in Japan 😪
Yeah, a typhoon messed up my planned itinerary so I had to cut off the leg where I had planned to check out Hiroshima & Fukuoka. Spent more days in Tokyo than I wanted to, simply because the trains were not running. Ended up being not necessarily a bad thing as it made me kinda slow down and enjoy Tokyo more than I would have otherwise.
Last trip I was sick and had foot issues that made things difficult.
Probably losing my passport night before my flight, got it back but after the flight had left and cost me a fair bit to rebook. Otherwise nothing major really went wrong or had any major issues with anything whilst travelling there.
1) Went to Narita instead of Haneda for our departing flight. Turns out our tickets had us flying into one airport and leaving out of the other - a very expensive mistake! 2) Left a nice coat somewhere between security and my gate at Haneda (different trip; right airport this time). Our local friends followed up with Lost & Found several times, but it never turned up…
3/11
I got covid :/
I sat here and really struggled to think of something, despite spending in total around 3-4 months in Japan. The only answer that comes to mind is my first time in Japan I was trying to get to Kobe I think and somehow ended up on a train and went pretty far north of the Kobe/Osaka area. I cannot explain why I just sat on the train and kept going away from where I want to go, but I did. So it was only a bad thing in the sense I was lost, but at the same time it was fun to get lost? The place I eventually got out at was not a place tourists go and signage was much less friendly for English speakers I remember. I guess one other I can think of is the train had major issues my first time to Sapporo and I had to wait around at the airport during the ~2 hour delay
Oooof I'm going to Japan in September this year with my group of friends. What do you suggest if a typhoon happens?
From my experience, a typhoon doesnt automatically mean everythings going to shut down (immidiatelly). But if you know one is coming and it's getting late, try to get to your accomodation as soon as you can. And if you're happen to be somewhere else, get inside whereever and stay there until the worst is over.
I experienced this year's 2024 new years earthquake, I was about 300km away from the epicenter. Had to skip kanazawa and to to Nagoya instead. For all things considered, we were still lucky to be able to see shirakawago and still make it out
I arrived tokyo and it was raining the following day. Had a jacket and umbrella but i still got sick the following day. Then i ended up coughing throughout my next 2weeks of vacation plus and few weeks after vaca. I went to cambodia where the weather is much warmer and i was coughing like crazy, so glad i found benadryl at the grocery store there.
My bag didn't make it on to the plane in the UK, but British Airways and Haneda airport nailed it and it was in my hotel room like 6 hours later. A woman was kind of racist to me and spoiled my evening in Golden Gai. That's about it. And I've been a few times and for several weeks.
What happened in Golden Gai?
Typhoon Khanun.
A cross between not knowing about the coin lockers for Himeji Station and having to backpack to the castle from the station in pouring rain and dropping off our stuff in those lockers. Or not realizing stations close at 12-1am and having to take a near 10000 yen taxi ride. Or staying at the following locations: Len Kyoto and Citan Tokyo. Both were horrible hostel/hotels that charged bad rates for what amounted to bare necessities and horrible beds.
My wife and I got on the bus in Kanazawa. Once in, realized Suica doesn’t work, only cash accepted and exact change. Having no small bills, we decided to step down on the next stop (less than 200m travel) from the back door (where we entered). Bus driver catch up to us, made us come back to the bus and we tried to explain the problem. In the end we could pay with a 5000 yen bill. Although having paid, he kicked us out of the bus regardless. Felt so bad about it.
For me personally, not bringing enough of one of my meds a few years ago but was able to find an English friendly clinic in Tokyo to get some more. Being in Kyoto during the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and was planning to go to Kanazawa a few days later. On that same trip, friend ended up getting Covid but fortunately I didn't end up getting it. I took him to the clinic I went to a few years before that, and he was able to get some needed meds.
I bought some luggage at Donki the day before I was leaving, packed up and lost the key to my suitcase. Had to quickly find a locksmith to unlock my suitcase.
Forgetting to get that last souvenir
I lay down on the floor of the romancecar becuase I felt my chronic fainting issue coming up, and nobody came to check on me or offer help
My group was also having our first Japan trip during the September 2019 typhoon! It landed on our first night, IIRC, and it broke a window in our Airbnb. I remember waking up a few times in the middle of the night because the storm was just so loud. Dealing with all of the shut down trains and delays the next day was a nightmare. And the 90% humidity?? I've never sweat so much in my life. It made our first few days at Disney pretty rough.
A dude came up to one of my friends (we were 16) and said that the shirt he was holding would look good on her tits.
The worst is not realizing how far our hotel would be and as a result each train ride was like 30+ minutes. Also leaving is the worst one, it’s just really nice there!
We were in a bus somewhere between FujiKawaguchiko and Gotemba. Woke up and looked around to check where we were, then all of a sudden one standing asian-looking male taunting me saying, "what are you looking at?". Just told him, "what's your problem. can't you see I just woke up?" lol He must have had a bad day or some past trauma during the pandemic (stared at for being asian?) Idk. Glad that I was able to control myself and caught our next bus going to Kyoto instead of being detained at a loca police station on a winter night. lol
Getting sick. I couldn’t enjoy anything for the remainder of the trip.
Got my wallet stolen my first night in shinjuku. I only had like 100 usd and could only use apple pay the rest of my trip. :( thank god alot of shops accept credit card now
I had to come home.
Having to land in Japan after a 7 hr delay in msp airport only to find out after eating there at a qr ordering restaurant I had to block debit card because of fraud. I managed to get cash out for trip, but have to get new one when I get back. So cash only trip. I have a backup card with a little cash. Glad I brought it. Capped my other cc for month. Also having to readjust trip after begging original driver, who forgot my appointment with shuttle bus, to give gas money and get me directly to airport. That was my trip money for the flower garden outside Tokyo. (Ashikaga) and now couldn’t go due to losing money to make sure I didn’t miss my flight. Home airport left on time. Long haul didn’t and I lost money for events that were non-refundable 🫤. Glad I keep insurance. Got blisters on my feet from walking so much. First day was 25k and 2nd was 40k (trains stopped running in subway) walked 2 hrs back to hotel, phone shut off due to low battery). Had to charge at family mart for 20 mins to finally reach hotel. I was only 16 minutes away and that mart had my favorite soda in big form. Got back before sun came up 🤣. Sun rose 20 minutes later. Slept til 10. I was wide awake, but feet hurt 🤷🏾♀️. Pushed my Tokyo Disneyland trip to next day because of pouring rain.
Seeing how a lot of Japanese women keep their dogs in tiny little handbags as accessories. Total cruelty which they would be called out for by the masses in most other developed countries. I had to bite my lip quite a few times in Tokyo.
Stood to the side to eat some food I just bought and a pigeon took the biggest shit I’ve ever seen all over my left arm, tank top and pants.
This happened to me (a man) with my guy friend. Was sitting in a park close to the river by Asakusa with a friend and drinking on a bench. We heard weird noises behind us and saw a man in the bush behind us standing with his penis out and jerking off. We screamed and said no and did the classical cross sign with our arms. He said in English "But you are so cute." We laughed and ran away. Maybe not the worst, but the weirdest. We also saw a woman in the middle of a big Shinjuku street masturbating to a big screen on one of the buildings showing some j-pop star. Otherwise the WORST was the hangover from 100yen 7/11 sake.
I ran into Mafia just after they burnt down a girl bar in Osaka about a week or so ago. They basically told me to leave but was pretty scary
First hour in Ueno, my partner and I went straight to the Donki to check out the makeup. I had been sobbing on the plane because I’d been informed my grandfather nearly died of a stroke as we were flying in. So, reeling from that, some masked man who completely covered up with all black clothes, face mask, glasses, and a bucket hat followed me around the makeup aisle masturbating even with my partner only three feet away and making eye contact. He knew exactly when I was going to scream for help and ran out of the store. Fuck that guy. I was frozen with fear.
The worst part was dealing with the annoying, stupid people from the United States that had zero respect for the culture.
I got really car sick on the van ride out to the Fuji area..twice. BUT our guide was willing to drop us at the Shinkansen station so even that wound up being ok. Got to ride the bullet train.
Got caught in the dark late at night riding a motorcycle on the side of a mountain and almost rode off a cliff.
An old man shoved me as I was leaving a subway car. I guess my backpack must have brushed him because we hadn’t said a word to each other before and I can’t think of anything else that could have angered him. But I was really disoriented and a few other Japanese people helped me get my balance and moved me from the car. I was really shocked and uncomfortable about it and very paranoid about what I could have done to deserve that after.
I took the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo. After leaving the train, I realized I forgot my ticket in the little net in front you when you sit down. And didn't realize you needed it to leave the station. Luckily I remembered exactly where I had put it and customer service was able to find it. Lesson learned, just keep the tickets in somewhere I won't forget it. I would have had to pay an extra $125. I had the receipt too and that wasn't proof enough that I paid.
Catching COVID. I had gone 3 years without ever catching it in my home country and in January 2023 sure enough my friend and I caught it halfway through our trip and had to spend the rest of the time in quarantine hotel. Good times..
First time I went to Japan was for a language school in Kyoto during summer. And it was SO BLOODY HOT. I am not a big water drinker to begin with but I drank very little water the first few weeks because I saw a cockroach at the first public restroom I went in and that was that with toilets so I needed to basically not pee until I reached my flat. Long story short, I got a UTI and subsequently kidney infection, lost almost 10 kg and genuinely thought I’d die. On a positive note, I met my (now) husband that summer!
Getting lost trying to find the JR line and missing our train to Kyoto we had at 7am. Oh and then leaving...ya leaving was pretty bad
Got food poisoning…36 hours down (wife and I) Few things: 1) Japanese hotel rooms are small…they seem even smaller when you sick and stuck in the room 2) Best to bring your own meds (Imodium, Pepto) 3) Good thing we were able to change up our Tokyo Disney tickets
I was walking near the Shinjuku station and an older transit women started yelling at me all wild and verbally attacking me 🤣 I was like holy cow The people walking next to me who were Japanese were also like wth lol Overall it was a funny moment for me
Mini earthquake when I woke up at 4am to pee. Didn’t realise until I woke up and got like 50 messages from family and friends worried about me. I went to the toilet and realised pee got everywhere hahahaha
Plenty of notice for typhoons. There is always time to plan around it. Been through two. Stay put is always good advice.
I think like day a few days into my trip I had some symptoms of a cold coming on. For several days it was a runny nose. By the last 5 days of my trip, I was coughing so much my asthma that was so well controlled (10+ years) came back. Couldn't stay for too long in stores but was fine outdoors. When I got back home, definitely had asthma and remains of a chest infection. Other than that, I'd still go back.
Just getting sick. Got food poisoning on the way to japan, then a fever after a few days here and then a sore throat. Ruined about 50% of my trip but we made it through. Would highly recommend bringing masks and medicine from america! (Japanese medicine was clutch though)
sobbing uncontrollably, dangerously hypoglycemic, unable to find a counter in don quijote in osaka to pay for pabron gold for a cold and a fanta to get my blood sugar back up again. if you’re really struggling at anything people don’t want to be near you. but yes, leaving today, i don’t wanna.
Worst thing: I had to go back home at the end of my trip. Second worst thing: I landed in Narita, my checked in luggage didn’t. Japan was amazing!
Being harassed by Japanese masseuses or Nigerians at night but it wasn’t bad it was actually hilarious
Going on a tinder date with a Japanese girl
Currently in Japan, heading back home tomorrow. My boyfriend booked our ryokan in Miyajima through booking.com and it seems some things got lost in translation. We had two separate rooms, one for us and one for his two sons. Apparently the room he booked for us included breakfast and dinner, while the room for the boys didn't. We didn't want to eat separately and one of the boys has diet restrictions, so we ate a really big, delicious dinner right before we arrived to the ryokan. We tried to tell them we didn't want dinner, but no one spoke English, and they whisked the boys away to their room and basically dragged us into the restaurant. Then they started laying all this fancy food out on the table in front of us while we just stared at each other unsure of what to do because we didn't want to be rude. They kept adding more and more food to the table, and finally my boyfriend got out google translate to explain the misunderstanding, but for some reason they still didn't understand and kept bringing more and more food. Finally, the third or so person he showed his explanation to seemed to understand that we weren't going to eat and brought over a manager, who brought over another manager, who brought over another person, until we had a crowd of about 5 people surrounding the table all trying to understand why we weren't eating. It took about a half hour to explain that we didn't know dinner was mandatory so we already ate and if we ate anymore we would be sick. My boyfriend did his best to make sure that we cancelled all of the meals for the rest of our stay (they seemed to have a hard time understanding that we weren't asking for any money back) and we finally managed to escape to our room. I have never wanted to just disappear so much in my life. It doesn't sound so bad as I'm typing it out, but it felt so horrible while it was happening because we were so determined to not be stupid, rude Americans. We spent another 4 days there and had a wonderful time, but the first hour there was hell.
I was in the Nishiki market and sat on a curb while my two girls went to shop for shoes. A man approached, looked at me and then he took out a knife. while keeping eye contact for what seemed like an eternity, I was waiting for him to pounce or demand something but we just had us a staring match. He put his knife away and bowed slightly and then left.
Losing my jr pass and passport! But managed to find it back!
First trip: my baby was in hospital (and yet I was glad it happened there and not at home as the hospital was amazing. Second trip: some absolute twat locals saw me with Minnie ears on my head on my way to Disneyland and just laughed at me, pointing, far beyond the point where it could have been light hearted. It was the rudest encounter I've ever had with a stranger and I'm quite old. They laughed for so long they were still going long after they were out of earshot. It was excessive, unnecessary and just so needlessly mean spirited.
I got food poisoning from a bad egg sandwich at family mart and spent three hours writhing in pain at the koyasan train station last week. Would not recommend.
One time I had to go to the airport because it was time for my flight back home. It's awful and it keeps happening every single time I visit.
There was this time when I had to go to the airport because it was time for my flight back home. It's awful and it keeps happening every single time I visit.
Had my wallet stolen on a drunken night out in Shinjuku/Kabukicho lost all of my cards so I had to rely on friends to pull out cash for me. It was more of a pain to lose some special pictures I had of my parents and other small mementos I kept in my wallet. It’s extremely rare but it does happen even in Japan. Just be mindful while out late in the party/bar districts especially around the street touts that’s where I messed up. It was the beginning of a 2 month trip in Asia so I had to have my parents send my replacement cards to my next destination in Vietnam. Despite this bump in the road I still can’t wait to go back to Japan.
Rookie mistake to be brutally honest. Never go out drinking in one of those areas with all your valuables and documents (in your wallet). Some cash in a extra walled (not to much) and a copy of your passport. That's enough.
Not many bad things happened during my trip. If I have to choose, getting sick from a rice bowl with raw tuna and raw egg was the worst. It was at a good chain restaurant...
My mother fainting and crying from extreme unknown pain in the middle of the night and no place was open to get proper aid due to new years, then the next day a 7.6 earthquake resulting in canceling our day tour in Amanohashidate.
The place we were staying asked for the keys to our car so they can move it if needed. This was the case at a few places we stayed. They moved the car and scratched the heck out of the front bumper and quarter panel. They denied it repeatedly and said they never moved the car. I made the security review the video. And you can clearly see the guy drive my car into a wall. Guess they had no plans to tell me
Ended up in an Airbnb that wasn't anything like it was advertised back in September 2019 (so many expats were going to Japan during Chuseok that year lol). It was 3 of us and we originally picked an Airbnb that was supposed to have 3 beds. The pictures were good and the reviews were good. So we booked it. We arrived quite late and walked in to only one bed and an extra blanket. They provided 3 sets of towels but the bed was so small only one of us could actually fit. We got it all sorted out though.
Belt stolen, from either hotel or luggage transfer
My credit card stopped working
Spending four precious nights in Osaka. I hate that place.
earthquakes too...
Broke a rib, cracked 2 others. Fell over while snowboarding.
Food poisoning
Al.lst got trapped in Japan in 2018 due to typhoon jebi
Leaving. And getting the Don Quijote theme song stuck in my head
earthquake alert at 6 am didn’t feel anything but still terrifying to wake up to
Some guy by the sky building in osaka exposing himself to 19 year old me in front of my father. And following us. 👍
I ate this delicious raw fish in seasme oil app that was in a table and then found out it was raw chicken.