June Tokyo Rain will be 3/4 Of the Day. Rain stop for 1 hour then continue rain again...then stop...then start
24 Hours got 15 Hrs is raining. Raining Season go Japan can experience exchange umbrealla with stranger.

Buy Transparent Standard Umbrella from Convienance Store...go Restraurant for lunch, after lunch my brand new Transparent Umbrella will be gone, But same type older will be there, Take it to next Convinenance store buy some drinks, Umbrella gone again with another even old same type. Then I bring this CB umbrella cross a road to another Convinenance store and take away ppl new transparent umbrella and left that CB one to another unlucky stranger.....

This post has been edited by RegentCid: Jan 7 2025, 01:42 PM

Hi All,

I'll be visiting Osaka area in Feb 2025. The last time I visited Japan was back in 2018.

Please help me with a couple of questions:

1. For immigration and custom clearance (inbound and outbound), is it compulsory to digital immigration and custom clearance via https://services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/ ?

2. Tax return, I remember I read somewhere in the past there's also a digital ID that we need to sign up in advance. Is that still the case?

3. Is Japan still a cash society or they are now more cashless? I'm going with family of 3 including myself for 10 days, is 90K yen cash sufficient and the rest can be pay by credit card / TNG / Apple Suica . I also saw a few post about pay pay, do i need to sign up for pay pay as well?

4. I have a physical suica card. I'm planning to link my physical suica card to my iphone wallet. Once the suica card is link to iphone, can I still use the physical suica card ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

For 1 & 2, last month I was there, don't remember signing up anything.
When departing Tokyo, for duty free, the customs officer direct you to self scan your passport before the immigration counter. I thought supposed to have check but all they do is touch n go your passport.

For 3, yes, but it's changing. If you have iOS you can rely on digital Suica. For PayPay just use TouchNGo app. Most shops accept digital payments these days, except few old shops.

Your physical suica still got balance? If no balance just use digital ah

Thanks for the reply. So for Pay Pay we can use TNG Ali Pay for payment? Don't have to sign up for Pay Pay wallet ?


Physical Suica still have some balance if I remember it correctly. I was suppose to get some refund for the Suica card back in 2018 but refund counter was closed when I reached the airport, hence didn't get any refund for the Suica card.


Btw, If I buy cloths or shoes in Japan and eligible for tax refund, can I still wear the cloths and shoes when I'm still in Japan? I know consumable , cosmetic products are sealed and should not be open in Japan. What about cloths and shoes?

Thank you.

Paypay utilizes Alipay+ network. So Touch N Go works. Tried and tested. Most major chain that accepts card generally accepts Paypay.

What are the options if departure from Narita at 8:15am means have to arrive by 5:15am? Thinking to stay overnight at airport. Maybe from Disneyland after fireworks take train to the airport and overnight. Hmm

1st Bus leaving Tokyo Station Yaesu Side Bus Platform was 5am. Journey took 60 minute.
You had to buy Bus ticket 1st from Yaesu Express Bus Ticket Office.

https://tyo-nrt.com/en/busstop/tokyo

https://tyo-nrt.com/wp/wp-content/themes/ty...imetable_en.pdf

Booked Tokyo in July - no turning back liao

Habislah.....you pick most wet season.

I checked, rainy season till mid July. Going on the last week. Finger crossed haha

This post has been edited by Human Nature: Jan 9 2025, 09:49 AM

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to visit Tokyo in March and only that city I suppose, any recommendations of hotel that I can stay that is near the center/downtown or perhaps around Ginza?

I have surveyed the hotels in numerous sites and I would like to seek advice whether its better to book hotels directly at their main website or its good to book through agoda/booking.com/expedia?
Just afraid of the stories that sometimes(although rare) that bookings through agoda/booking.com can sometimes be invalid due to overbooking and would like to lock in the best as possible.

I'll be traveling alone and will be there for 4D/3N

Any suggestions and recommendations will be appreciated.

Thank you!

Center / Downtown will be very expensive. What is your Budget?
Want cheap hotel can stay at Ikebukuro. You want even cheaper can stay at Kitasenju.

i prefer Hotels.com and i always use this platform because of the free one night after collecting ten nights of booking and the price guarantee (if you found a cheaper price elsewhere, they will refund the price difference to you).

You can use the platform to list the hotels based on nearest to farthest location, lowest to highest price, etc.

I have used it countless times in various countries (including Japan and China) and never experienced them saying they don't recognise the booking. I even received several free nights stay and price difference reductions.

I always used those third party platforms to talk to the hotel receptionist because most of the time they don't speak English and they dont reply my emails. So i relied on the help centre agents of the platform to get the answers i want. They will call the hotel and speak in their language and then they will get back to me.

I think i wouldnt mind spending abit on hotels haha and i see that the prices in downtown is indeed expensive. I will also look at Ikebukuro as its my first time in Japan
Thanks man

Ah thanksssss, I am currently looking at it and comparing since I usually directly book those hotel franchises like Marriot during my stay in US and even when i went over to check in, there was a customer that was making complain on his bookings that he paid for but was told its full and the manager and supervisor came out and apologized so that made me scared.

I defo will check out on hotel.com, so far all my friends have been saying theyve only used agoda and bookings so I was just curious. Thanks for the recommendations

1 - I didn’t digital anything. Just rocked up and filled the paper forms while on the plane and handed it over at immigration.

2 - again I didn’t digital anything. There was a self-scan facility when exiting the country, but it seemed to be opt-in rather than mandatory. I did it, but not sure what would’ve happened if I didn’t.

3 - in Tokyo, I only used cash for kids’ train tickets and coin-operated laundries. Everywhere else I used suica and credit card.

4 - not sure, I set up digital suica on my iPhone from scratch.

Suica is back on stock? I have 3 icocas from my previous trip. Just need 1 more IC card.

4. No. once you transfer your physical IC card to ipong, the physical card is no longer working. Advisable just to create from ipong(wallet) itself

If I am taking the Keisei Main Line Rapid Limited Express from Narita, can I just tap using IC card or I still need to get a physical ticket? It is not reserved, so I think it is just like any local train right.

1. I prefer digital since can complete everything back at home and faster to go through immi and custom. This only apply to inbound, outbound no need.

2. For tax free again can use the visit japan web to register all your info and will give qr code for you too like immi and custom. If not mistaken now tax free will need to be done in airport rather than individual shop starting 2025 cause a lot of c country ppl abuse the system. But im not sure accurate or not.

3. For tokyo most of the place accept cashless like cc, suica. But some places like ramen shop only accept cash so better take some. If need extra cash can just withdraw from 7/11 atm. No need paypay, afaik pay pay need japan phone no to register.

4. You can only choose one physical or on iphone. Once linked, the physical no longer can use.

This post has been edited by HumanExtinction: Jan 14 2025, 04:33 PM

Since you just travelling alone, i suggest to just stay in business hotel like toyoko / sotetsu inn to save some money. The extra money can spend on food