I think chemical warmers are not classified as dangerous goods and can be carried in both carry‑on and checked baggage.

Ok thanks

no problem buying it here and bring it overseas....saw many people did that

I'm doing shiga kogen (yakebitaiyama) for the first time this season. Starting on christmas day but man this year the weather forecast seems to be above zero from this weekend onwards (not to mention it seems like the mountain is only half open and not much snow forecast. Sad.

Wew nice! I only visited yokoteyama I think 23/24 season..wanted to also visit kumanoyu for its ungroomed terrains

Yea, the weather sucks..a couple of days ago I was at lotte arai, started the season with slushy snow everywhere. I think a lot of ski resorts are having a bad time except hakuba at the moment

Reporting in! My first day today the weather was not too bad when I started (around 3 deg), then it started to rain (the horror), but after lunch it changed to snow and has been snowing since then! Hoping that tha dump overnight/tomorrow pans out!

wew! that look so nice compared to the other resorts. I'll be travelling to Ishikawa tomorrow for the winter holiday and depending on the snow condition in the nearby resorts, might consider visiting shiga kogen on the 28th because shiga kogen seems to have the best snow overall

This post has been edited by quadcube: Dec 26 2025, 04:30 PM

Guys, is early March still good for skiing? If so, have any recommendation ski slope near Tokyo? Ayam beginner no experience

Can try Gala Yuzawa

or go a bit further to Nozawa Onsen or Myoko Kogen

So I finished my Shiga Kogen trip. Got really super lucky with lots of snow and low temperatures on the 1st-2nd ski days, before that the weather was crap.

I learned that Christmas to New Year’s Day is Japan super peak period for travel and skiing, certain timings the slopes were PACKED with ppl and gondola queues were like 30mins long, far cry from all the gaijin social media that Shiga Kogen is deserted.

I stayed at Prince Hotel (yakebitaiyama) which is ski in ski out and very good / convenient for skiing, but outside of that there is literally nothing to do at all. Pros and cons I guess. If you don’t rent car, there’s a shuttle between the villages but it is infrequent.

Here’s my kid’s ski video progression from 2 seasons ago to this one https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS5krnhSh/

wanna ask some veterans here. Is google pay commonly use in tokyo ？ Thought of setting up wise account. Tq

use it as credit card
tap using NFC after adding it into your wallet

wise is debit card ler.Inhave never used digital payment before in Japan.

debit and credit are the same thing these days
just that one has money inside and another doesn't, the terminal doesn't know it's credit or debit
just tap credit card as payment method and tap it/swipe it, just have to make sure there is money inside....better yet yen inside

most of the machine i saw has the option for credit card and QR code
only a few spot that i saw specifically writes "cash only" so do bring cash as well in the land of cash is still king

This post has been edited by MR_alien: Jan 17 2026, 08:35 PM

In Tokyo, cash is still the most reliable way to pay, especially in local markets and small shops. Cards and QR payments are accepted, but not as widely as in Seoul. Think of it as similar to Seoul’s traditional markets, but with even fewer cashless options. If you want convenience, load up a Suica or Pasmo card — it works for transport, convenience stores, and some cafés. But always carry cash, because you’ll need it more often than in Seoul. To summarise, it depends on your shopping style and preferences. If you only eat or shop at chain restaurants or convenient stores (or even Donki), then you get to use cashless payments almost all the way. However, if you frequently visit local markets or plan to spend a lot of your time in rural or suburban areas, cash is more reliable. Even in ramen restaurants, cash is almost always preferred over credit/debit cards and QR payments. You can count with the fingers on your hands the number of ramen joints that accept cashless payments, really.

Thanks for the heads up.

If you consider Suica/pasmo as digital payment then in major cities there is almost no need for cash if you really want to use digital. My last 3 visits to Japan, 2a1c, 2 weeks, I could have gotten by with ~20k¥ cash usage total for each of them.

Three caveats:
1. I am iPhone user so digital Suica self top up is much more convenient for me than android user
2. It is fairly common for shops to accept chip credit card but NOT to accept paywave / touch.
3. The more you step into rural territory the more likely you will need cash. One example, in Kutchan (Hokkaido) the JR station there doesn’t even accept Suica/pasmo lol.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Jan 19 2026, 12:25 PM

Wondering if anyone here used ANA Self-Service Kiosks at KLIA before? Is it recommended and user friendly?

will only do tokyo, mount fuji and kamakura .10 days trip so will be easy going one. lol. Coz i read that wise can do cash withdrawal in Japan. Also their currency conversion rate is very attractive.

last month i withdrawal 10k yen at japan atm, fee 110yen