BritinJapan

I have lived in Japan for 12 years and have no problems travelling around, but I wondered if anyone would like to share what they find difficult or annoying about travel to and in Japan.

Please don't include language issues, this can be true anywhere.

jackrussellterrier

the heating on trains/subway in the winter. Always too hot!

BritinJapan

Yes sometime the reverse in summer !

jackrussellterrier

Here's another one….

Taxi drivers. The quality seems to have dropped over the years to the point that I dread taking one in Tokyo apart from to/from Haneda. I prefer public transport.

JOUY31

Moving this thread to the Japan forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz co-moderator

fozziedoggie

Care to elaborate a bit? What don't you like about the drivers? I'll be in Tokyo next September, so I'm just curious.

Thanks.

gnaget

I think it's an exaggeration. Compared to the rest of the world they are very good. They may not know their way around so that's why they have GPS. I guess many are new: just moved to Tokyo from the countryside. Also found one that had poor kanji skills so he had a hard time with the GPS. But come on, how many cabbies in the US can read or speak English?

BritinJapan

I think its a mixed bag. On the plus side they are almost 100% honest, don't rip you off and no tips required ( its almost an insult to offer ) you can always get a receipt. However its true that in recent years a lot of out of work people from outside Tokyo have come in and they don't always know where they are going, added to the fact that Tokyo addresses are not always easy to find, getting close is easy, getting to the exact place, not so much.

Always take a business card in Japanese, if possible print off a map, and lastly expect some difficulty and don't expect any driver to speak English.

jackrussellterrier

^ exactly what my wife says as well.

BritinJapan

Then I must be right, I find when I agree with my wife I am always correct

fozziedoggie

Happy wife = happy life.

evergrn

Train travel in Tokyo can be challenging if you've got little kids in strollers. Elevators can be scarce in many stations (and ones to platform are usually very small), train commuters can be complete aholes when you get on with your baby (most of the time, no one will offer you a seat) and especially stroller (sometimes you might get looks from other riders who are annoyed that your stroller's taking up space). People are so much kinder in Hong Kong and USA in that regard.

There are also many restaurants that don't allow strollers inside, so then you can't take advantage of a napping child to squeeze in a meal in peace.

jpatokal

Just FYI, until fairly recently, there was an official ban on taking (unfolded) strollers on trains, which explains some of the looks you were getting.

I agree that Japanese cities are tougher than most places with kids, but much of this comes down to space -- restaurants don't ban strollers because they're mean and hate kids, they ban them because there's genuinely no space for them. Those Japanese restaurants that are kid-friendly, on the other hand (eg. Dennys and other "fami-resu"), pull out all the stops to welcome them.

(...and if you think Dennys isn't a Japanese restaurant, you haven't been to one in Japan!)

railroadtycoon

Annoying is having to explain to some hotel check in staff that I live in Japan.

If you are a visitor to Japan, hotels are required have a copy your passport.
Residents of Japan are not required to do this, all we have to do is put our address down when checking in (as with all other Japanese).

The last check-in staff asked me in Japanese if I was living in Japan (even though I made the reservation in Japanese and my address was already recorded in Japanese and using a Japanese credit card!, not sure what more one would need!), I said はい　and no more questions were asked. Last year in Osaka, the clerk asked me for my passport and again I had to respond that I live in Japan and pointed the check in sheet my address (which was written down in Japanese).

Some hotels still erroneously have policies (usually found on their website) that all non-Japanese must have their passports copied, thankfully though the hotel staff appear to have been trained to only ask to copy passports if the person does not live in Japan. I usually carry a copy of the Japan hotel law with me, thankfully I never had to pull it out.

While annoying, I never had any problems after quickly pointing out that I live in Japan. I have read other stories from other people having issues (particularly at Toyoko-inns), though I have personally never had any issues after pointing out I am a resident.

jib71

Gee. Why am I not surprised?