Japan 2018

Introduction

Idea to visit Japan was in the back of my mind for a while. At the moment, it's still the only country I've visited outside Europe / North America continents

It took some time to do a research and make initial plan.

Planning points

• Keep it short (week +/-)
• Avoid "high seasons" ("golden week" etc) if possible
• 2 cities only - Tokyo and Kyoto
• there were NO OFFLINE Google maps for Japan due to legal / business reasons !
• Research about mobile internet (looking back, I would have been in trouble if I haven't bought the local SIM. I also managed to stay under 500 MB of usage AFAIK). Having mobile internet and Google maps in particular, at all times with you in the country where you can't read the alphabet at all, is worth a lot.
• Order Japan rail pass in advance

 Arriving in Tokyo

• It took about 3 hours from landing in Narita Airport (NRT) until boarding a train to Tokyo. Because I needed to
• get a SIM card (forgetting my account password in the process :)
• exchange Rail pass voucher for a Rail pass
• get a SUICA card (for local transportation)
• get some cash, just in case
• some other stuff I don't remember 

Some other "first impressions" 

• Weather was good and really warm
• even you know that they drive on the left, you don't notice it right away
• trucks / semis with lots of chrome, like in US
• a TON of vending machines everywhere, selling various stuff, for kind of reasonable prices
• 7-11 / FamilyMart convenience stores, there are lots of them and they're open until late. Godsend.
• More "sensible" / "serious" approach to everything in general
• Underground is a bit hard to understand / non-intuitive compared to Europe
• "politeness"
• English translations... aren't everywhere.
• Interesting "remaining time until green" indicators at the traffic lights
• "Cold coffee", not unique to Japan, but seemed like much more of a "thing" compared to Europe
• obsession with plastic bags. They have gazillion sizes and strive to pack your purchase  in the correctly sized bag

Overall, Japan is "crazy" and unusual. Would gladly visit again. Not sure when that could happen in current job market and pandemic thing though...