First Experience in Japan
 

With the wide range of personalities and backgrounds in this forum, I'm interested to hear what everyone's first experience was when they first came to Japan. This is inspired by a comment AlwaysAisle made in the train thread. I first entered Japan in the late 90s, based on what I've read, I'm younger than a lot of you (mid 40s) who shared experiences riding trains in the 70s and early 80s, so you got to see Japan during a different time even further separated from technology than I was. Maybe a dumb post, but I'm really interested in hearing your experiences.

My first time was a bit funny for me, I was a young dumb Army Sergeant, just got off a World Airways flight from LAX (DC-10 I believe?) through a layover at Yakota AIr Base, then on to Okinawa. I was picked up after my first very uncomfortable overseas flight and driven to my barracks at Fort Buckner between Chatan and Kita-nakagusuku (southeastish side of Camp Foster). I had almost no sleep but decided to go for a walk as I couldn't get over the excitement of being in a new foreign land. I walked in to a San-A, bought a bottle of jasmine ice tea, then walked down the main road, looked over and saw what appeared to be a dog driving a small bongo truck. I thought I was either dreaming or hallucinating. My mind couldn't figure out why a dog was sitting in the driver seat of this truck driving down the road. Then after a few minutes, it hit me, that the steering wheels were on the other side (I had no idea). Of the years I lived in Japan, I made lots of friends, and have lots of great memories over 10 yen Kirin beer, sake, karaoke, Goya Champuru, and CoCo Ichibanya, but that experience, as trivial as it is, will always be burned in to my mind in vivid detail.

Great idea for a thread!

I have two first experiences with visiting Japan. One was when I was a child and we visited the 1990 International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka. I don't remember too much of that trip since it's been over thirty years ago, but I do remember things like being impressed by the underground shopping streets, walking so much that I had to soak my feet in the tub after we got back to the hotel, being impressed by the technology on display at the Panasonic Museum and getting to ride a sled in the snow at an exhibit at the Expo. We flew Japan Asia Airways there and also had a domestic seg to Haneda, which I recall being disappointed about because we didn't get to take the Shinkansen due to high costs and because we flew into the "lesser" (haha) airport in Tokyo. As for Tokyo, I have a feint memory of staying near Sunshine City in Ikebukuro and taking the Limousine Bus back to Haneda when it was time to head home and while I don't remember any of it, we have family photos of our trip to Tokyo Disneyland.

After that, we had what seemed like many years of travel between HKG & HNL via NRT courtesy of JL, whom I loved flying. I remember running around NRT collecting discarded phone cards (yes, I was weird), some of which I still have in my possession.

My second first experience with visiting Japan started when my girlfriend at the time moved to Taipei and I would visit her from the States during all of my university holidays. I usually travelled via NRT on UA but my last visit involved an itinerary on NH via HND to TSA. In fact, it was this very forum in which I posed a question to:

I had a really lovely time in those few hours, with my destination being the old Tsukiji Market:

That brief layover and all my travels on NH started to pique my interest in Japan as a grown up and after my girlfriend and I broke up, I started what I now think of as my glorious decade of travel to Japan in May 2012 with a Kagoshima/Osaka/Fukuoka loop along with a few hours in Tokyo on my way out of the country. I enjoyed myself so much and had so much fun that I returned all throughout the 2010s, travelling to different parts of the country, including Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo, etc. Some of my favourite memories of that first proper trip to Japan as a grown up include drunkenly making friends at the various yatai in Fukuoka, visiting the Suntory Yamazaki factory at the start of the Japanese whiskey boom (when Yamazaki 12 was so, so cheap in comparison to what it goes for now), two Hanshin Tigers games (none at Koshien, sadly) and visiting JR West's railway museum (now moved out near Kyoto).

I do really miss visiting Japan, especially with my home of Hong Kong being off limits for what feels like decades, but even when I am able to visit Japan again, I won't ever have a decade of getting to visit every year. I guess part of this is nostalgia for Japan itself and the other part is nostalgia for my carefree thirties when the world seemed like it was in much, much better shape.

My first visit was by myself in 1984 when I was 23. I traveled by Japan Rail Pass and stayed mostly in youth hostels. I distinctly recall being Ohayo gozaimasu-ed each morning over the hostel's loudspeaker. I remember having to travel to Ōmiya Station to catch the Tōhoku Shinkansen and I recall having to catch the all blue trains to do that. I also recall being something of a curiosity to the school kids in smaller towns. I recall my departure from Yokohama as I sailed on the Soviet ferry to Nakohdka. I also recall the Japanese man who paid for first class on the Trans Siberian, but was unfortunate to get a Russian fisherman who had Styrofoam containers of fish all over the room who drank a bottle of vodka every day. Poor Japanese guy was miserable. I also recall showing up by random chance at one of the festivals in Takayama where the big floats are carried trough town. I was even asked to join in and help carry one for a very short time. I recall staying in a temple youth hostel in Nakatsu. I was the only one there. I remember taking the train to Shingu and visiting the temple there. I recall visiting the Sony building in Ginza where they showed Thriller (Michael Jackson) on their big projection TV. Strangely I do not remember much of anything about the food I ate. I guess back then I ate to stay alive, not as recreation. I remember all the vending machines.

Love this thread so far -- although my first experience in Japan wasn't so "romantic" lol as those so far -- In the late 1990's I was sent to Japan to fix a long line of ex-pat leaders mistakes at our division on Tokyo - I landed after a 14 hour flight and was immediately overwhelmed by the heat an humidity (It was July lol) - I still remember my initial amazement at the precision of the trains (NEX) - and my clumsy attempts at the "ATM" to purchase a green car ticket (didn't realize that was an uppity decision then lol).

My new home was in Shinagawa and I would be working in Omori. My first night in my new apartment was lonely -- and then we had a major earthquake (not really - but I didn't know that then) - and then I began to understand why all pictures are hung from wires that are attached to a metal strip at the ceiling lol... On my first day at work I received the best advice in my life about living in Japan -- if its late and you don't know where you are just follow the people -- they always go to the local train station - and damn if that isn't so true even today!

I immediately fell in love with Japanese culture and people. When I was younger I was a semi pro baseball player -- so I spent my weekends at the local Shinagawa baseball field watching the high school teams play -- wow Japanese baseball was so much more serious and advanced than America. But it was sitting in the stands that changed me -- that's where I met the owner of the local grocery store, the owner of the local izakaya and the local sushi place -- and then I met my wife and it changed my life forever...

It's the day to day things I remember the most -- taking a train at 10pm and seeing a 10 year old heading home with no fear or worries. Or sitting at a deserted intersection watching everyone wait for the sign to cross even though there wasn't a car for miles -- or the absolute terror of being in Shinagawa station when the last trains come in -- you would think Godzilla was chasing everyone! I remember the first time I "climbed" Takao to watch the sunset -- and then drank my way down -- or my first trip to the local temple -- or my first run on Sumida-gawa -- all like it was yesterday!

Ok back on track -- True story -- the local grocery store set up a "Gaijin end-cap" for me -- basically they watched me wander around the store (cluelessly) and they would take the items I would always purchase and they consolidated it to one place -- all just to make it easier for me (for those of you not living in Japan the Ramen aisle alone is intimidating). Back then there was no English on anything -- today it is much easier of course but I think the lack of English made me have to work more -- and that was in a way good.... Every day in my first year they helped me learn one more word of Japanese and seemed to truly take pleasure as I learned -- and to this day we remain in touch....

I'll never forget those days and the people that took the time to help out a helpless gaijin -- and it's why I love Japan and am proud to live there and always will be!

First time in Japan was Summer of 1985. Landed into NRT on a Pan Am flight that had an engine malfunction and had to dump fuel and make an emergency landing in Anchorage, which delayed the flight for many hours. It was early July, and the weather was (as expected) perfectly unpleasant. My parents were coming in independently at the same time as I was so we were all going to meet in NRT.

But my mom, being my mom, when she learned my flight was terribly delayed she just headed to the Keio Plaza and left me to fend for my own devices. Which was unfortunate, as she was an experienced Japan traveler (her first visit was with my dad in 1964). So I had to find my own way to the Keio Plaza, which I apparently managed to do, don't even know how.

The next few weeks were a very strange, jet-lagged, hallucinatory, sweat-drenched experience. My conclusion at the time was that Japan was the future and the 21st Century was going to be the Asian Century. Putting my money where my mouth was, I ended up moving to Asia in 1992, and have been living in and out of Japan and Hong Kong (with some longish stretches in the West) ever since.

The first six months of actually living in Japan (as opposed to just visiting for long stretches) happened in the early 1990s, and that was another attitude-adjustment session. My personality and my world-view were severely reconfigured in that period, probably as much (or maybe more) as taking psychedelics when I was young and impressionable.

I appreciate you all entertaining the thread idea, I was hoping it wouldn't end up with some eyerolls. I love seeing pictures and hearing experiences from peoples travel and the perspectives they have from things they see that are almost certainly different from the way I interpreted things.

My first experience was visiting Japan in 1989 on a work visit. I spent a day or two in Tokyo but then went out to a small town in the country where the factories that I was dealing with were located. We were the customer and we were treated like royalty by the corporate managers. But there was also some intense cost negotiations that had to take place. So my focus at the time was on business negotiations and trying to reach an agreement that would satisfy my management. So while the exposure of the Japanese culture was interesting my main concentration was the cultural negotiation differences between working with a Japanese company and working with an American company. It was all very intense but I found Japan culturally fascinating.

The second time I went to Japan was in 2019 on vacation as a solo traveler. I spent 10 days in Tokyo and Yokohama simply roaming around and visiting sights and eating interesting food and taking the subways. It was such an amazing trip. I had so much fun. After a few days, I was missing having conversations with people. I did not speak very much, if any, Japanese and the Japanese people I encountered spoke varying levels of English, but there was nothing conversational about our interactions. It was mostly transactional. I missed talking with people.

So, I went out in Nishi Shinjuku on Saturday night and found some gay bars that were frequented by westerners and met some guys from Brooklyn and we went bar hopping together for the evening and that was a lot of fun. I talked their ears off, but they understood,

When I was there in 1989 I found just getting around Tokyo at the time being very intimidating since I couldn’t read most of the subway signs. But obviously the use of Roman characters in informational signs has vastly improved because in 2019 I was able to negotiate train stations and subway stations by myself and ended up going all over the city. I also enjoyed the three days I spent in Yokohama as I found it a little bit more approachable than some parts of Tokyo.

I can’t wait to return and check out some more places.

I need to add that one of the reasons I found Japan easier to deal with in 2019 was because I had read the thread on flyertalk on Tips for your first visit to Japan. ;)

First trip to Japan was in mid-80s. Different than the usual tourist, especially these days, our destination was small city of Kurume in Kyushu, about an hour outside of Fukuoka. Flew from SEA to NRT, I think on Thai Airlines, then transferred to a domestic flight to Fukuoka. During transit in NRT, happened to see mid-summer sumo tournament on a large screen TV. Had only heard of sumo, but never actually seen it. I was immediately pulled in and watched it nearly every day thereafter during that trip. Chiyonofuji was strong in those days.

While in Kurume, I was astounded by how different and interesting Japan daily life was. They have a long shopping street there in the middle of town called "Ichiban-gai". Now, it's rather abandoned for the shopping mall style places on the edge of town, but in those days it was the place to shop. It was summer and hot. I was amazed to watch the shop owners sprinkle water on the ground in front of their shops to cool it off and get a cool breeze to come inside. First day we had jet lag and I was hungry for lunch at like 10:00 am. We finally found a place serving yakisoba. Had never heard of it before, but it remains a favorite to this day.

I took about 20 or more rolls of 36-exposure slides of everything I saw. I remember being fascinated to see a road out in the country that suddenly narrowed to fit between a farmer's house and a field on the other side. Obviously, the farm had been there much longer than the road, so the road had to accommodate. Coming from the Western US, that was a novel idea. Of course, took a photo. Back in Seattle, we had friends over to show them slides of our trip. Like a couple of hours worth! After a while, they all started to bow out and say that they had to get going, but I kept saying, "Wait! Let me show you this one more incredible thing first.".

My first visit was in 2013. We were living in Indonesia and really missing skiing so that was the driver to choose Japan. What I remember the most is that before hand I had taken such extensive notes of all the trains / busses / etc I needed to take to reach Hakuba, even writing down the Japanese characters. Anyone who has used public transportation in Japan as an English speaker would have a good chuckle about that I suppose, as it is so easy to navigate in English once you figure out how to work the ticket machines. Especially getting to Hakuba, you could just find a white guy with a ski bag and folllow him. HA. Another thing that still stands out for me, and gives me second hand cringe now (after 8 more trips to Japan) was my 5 year old child putting her feet on the seat on the Shinkansen and having them forcibly pulled off the seat by an angry train conductor. That was a big shock! We of course know better about things manners now :) What was great was how by the end of that last trip we were so confident in easy travel that we realized we didn't need to stress about getting somewhere early or leaving extra time between connections "just in case" because everything just works! That said, we did have one hiccup, where we were on a hop-on-hop off bus, the last trip of the day, and my wife had a few (or more) beers in here so we had to get off the bus to find a toilet, assuming that we could easily get back to our hotel via the trains. Turns out as this was not a tourist area, there were no English language maps to guide us on where we were on the train system and which station we wanted to go to to purchase to proper fare. We stood there looking confused for about 20 seconds before multiple people offered in English to help us get where we needed to be. We used this trick often over our many return trips, always finding that "confused Gaijin" are usually helped quite quickly! I can't wait to return.

My first trip to Japan was also my first intercontinental trip in 2008 on JAL. They still had economy on the upper deck of the 747, replete with thickly-padded seats with loop cassette IFE. The crew kept on plying us with drinks... good memories.

I remember arriving in Asakusa and somehow finding our hostel (I'd drawn a map from the station, counting the number of intersections to get there!). The hostel had a roof terrace and so we stood there, that night, after a rain squall. We could see skyscrapers in the distance, and I believe the Sky Tree was being built. There were helicopters in the air, planes taking off from Haneda, and lights as far as we could see. It really felt like a different world.

I came back a number of times, once for work and the others with my wife, for pleasure. The work trip was fun, spent mostly in hangars over in Narita. It was early summer and already quite warm. It was interesting to see that all the Japanese ramp workers had steel helmets and a towel underneath. I thought it was a bit stupid, but as we had to wear the helmet outside and the sun started cooking our heads the towel made a lot of sense, very quickly.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from western Japan on one of our trips to visit family -- this is in Shimonoseki -- home of blowfish! Yes we ate some -- and lots of other sashimi for the amazing price of 100 yen per piece -- heaven! The other picture is from my daily runs on the Sumidagawa terrace -- We live in Hatchobori on the river -- and we love it.
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My first trips to Japan were in 2007. I work with a drum & bugle corps based in Tokyo. I have visited 3 times a year from 2007 through 2019 (and now starting again next month). Since my visits are business-related, they are almost a carbon copy every trip...5-6 days in length LAX>NRT on UA 32/33 (except next month, as they JUST canceled UA 32 3 weeks out...not happy), almost always take N'EX to Shinjuku (bus a few times due to typhoons...those are fun), always stay at Hilton Tokyo in Shinjuku.

First thing that hit me as "whoa" was, and still is, stepping out of Shinjuku station onto the main drag facing the LUMINE buildings in the early evening! All the lights, the massive crowd, and me sticking out at 6'3" and white. Something about that energy is amazing. And taking the cab to the Hilton a few blocks amongst the madness.

We train from Seibu-Shinjuku (another killer intersection with massive video) to the facilities out at Higashi-Yamatoshi, kind of a common outer-city location. Like I said, every trip is very similar, but I haven't gotten sick of it at all. I have hardly ever (maybe never) had any sort of negative interaction with anyone in Japan. We have our eating zones, quick train rides to Harajuku/Shibuya are fun. Killer ramen at Jangara. Like I said, mostly carbon copy but fun!

My first time in Japan was the summer of 1984. Landed in Narita and was shocked by the heat and humidity. Arrived for a 6 month university exchange program. Picked up by a couple of Japanese friends who were studying at the same university and drove to Yokohama, where I would be staying. No air-conditioning in the car and just urban sprawl like I had never seen. We were going to stop by their favorite coffee shop to drink Calpis to cool down. They kept going on about how Japanese love Calpis and often drink it in summer. I had never heard of it before and was just hearing 'cow piss' in my head. I thought maybe I had made the wrong decision to study in Japan! It was a great time. Was the height of the bubble era, I was a poor college student with dollars, the yen was about 260 to the dollar, so for me everything seemed so cheap, and it was like a bubble for me, too.

My wife talks fondly of the bubble economy -- when new comers would be flown to Hawaii for two weeks and everyone was buying everything.... Until it ended....

Someone once told me that's the reason why they deliberated renamed it Calpico in America.