Three Things to Know Before Your Trip to Japan
/A few months ago my mom, sister and I decided to head to Japan for a 2 week girls trip. Having been to Asia previously, I expected Japan to be pretty similar to the other places I had been but I could not have been more wrong! Japan was full of surprises but the quality of the food was no surprise. SO good in fact that we ended up carrying an extra bag full of treats home. There were a few things that really shocked me that I wanted to share since so many people have trips to Japan planned with the upcoming Olympics!
There are 3,000,000 vending machines but hardly any trash cans
With vending machines everywhere you look, you would think there would need to be just as many trash cans to make sure people don’t litter. That could not be further from the case! Unlike other societies where it is common to eat or drink while you walk, that is very rare in Japan. Most people carry a small little plastic bag around with them and dispose of their trash when they get home. If only New Yorkers could be this clean!
Japan is still very much a cash based society
Unlike many other countries where you can simply swipe your credit card for every souvenir purchase that is not the case in Japan. We asked one of our tour guides why so many places only accepted cash, and they said that the credit card rates are so high that it’s not worth the fees to accept the cards. Unless you are eating at a fancy restaurant or at a designer shop make sure to always have your yen handy!
Restaurants are all category specific
As a lover of Japanese food, I could not wait to plan 2 weeks worth of meals. What I quickly realized through my research is that the restaurants all specialize in a specific cuisine. For example, at all you can eat sushi there is only sushi, tempura restaurants only have tempura etc. With different palettes and cravings it made it fun trying to strategically spread out our favorite cuisines and not have it twice in one day!
