So it is happening.
I have lived in San Diego my entire life. I just booked a one-way flight to Tokyo two months from now.
What do I need?
I am still looking at luggage: OR how can I min-max my baggage amount? Right now I am thinking a 28" suitcase + a big box of stuff (checked 2 pieces) and my 24" roller carry-on + backpack.
Also anyone ever ship stuff overseas?
Get rid of what you can, store what you can’t, take only what you need (in checked baggage).
I visit Tokyo roughly annually for work and my impression is you can get pretty much anything you want there, unlike some other, poorer Asian countries where some consumer items can be hard to find (especially foods, or specific brands if you’re particular).
Toiletries is worth researching on a Japan expats forum - these tend to be the more variable abroad in my experience.
Moving abroad is a great adventure, good luck!
If you take vitamins, nutritional supplements, or any OTC medication regularly, stock up. They are available in Japan but generally much more expensive.
If you are above an (U.S. sizes) L or especially tall you probably want to use some of your allotment on winter clothing and dress shirts. Ditto shoes. If you don’t expect to return for more stuff in the near future I’d say really go light on the entertainment, notebook and phone aside.
You won’t need an adapter if your computer charger is two prong. Don’t plan on bringing any other appliances (even hair dryers)…both voltage and frequency are lower (some items may still work, but I wouldn’t count on it).
As AK Icebear wrote, you can get anything in Tokyo (even big&tall) but at a price or having to go out of your way.
Wear masks on the trains (it really does seem to help with avoiding everyone else’s cold). If you drink craft beer (I assume you do since SD), best drink plenty of it before you go… alcohol in general is not cheap and craft beer is both semi rare and expensive. All Japanese bartenders are going to give you an inch of head on the pour. They are not trying to stiff you (well, any more than the next guy) it’s just the standard for the country.
You’re going to have a great time! Try to learn as much of the language as you can as quickly as you can, of course. Let us know how it goes!
On arrival, tell Steam support that you want to keep your US credit card linked to your account and keep access to the US storefront. Japanese Steam is a massive con.
This is a good suggestion. Figuring out a reasonable VPN to maintain access to other region locked content is worth investigating as well.
No advice for Japan in particular but leave things in marked boxes and in the possession of someone you trust to send them to you when needed. i.e. “Send me the winter clothes box,” or similar. Skip taking anything you don’t truly need, like media, books, etc.
I’m not sure how good your Japanese is but even if it’s great, actually living abroad frequently brings culture shock sometime within the first six months. You say it won’t happen to you, then it does. If so, expect a little depression and loneliness and longing for the things stateside. Due to that, try your hardest to establish new routines for things you did previously. Have a meal locally at the same place multiple times a week. Try to get to know neighbors or localized coworkers and hang out with them to expand your friend group.
I realize that may sound cheesy because you’re going to an awesome place with tons to do, but believe me, it happens. Before you can absorb another culture you have to force yourself through letting go of a little of everything you did before. Once you pass the hurdle though, I’m betting you’re going to have a blast.
I’m going to link a quick googled source for what I’m talking about. In the military we actually got a training class along with a language primer class. Knowing that I would go through these stages helped a lot.
Obviously this is attuned to students but you get the gist:
There are four stages of culture shock:
- Initial Euphoria / The Honeymoon Stage - After first arriving to a new place, you’ll likely be caught up in all the wonderful things your new chosen home has to offer. During this stage, you are more likely to recognize cultural similarities and be charmed by the differences.
- Irritation and Hostility / The Negotiation Stage - Gradually, the euphoria will diminish. You’ll get lost. You’ll get mad at the apparent “disorganization” of things. You’ll become overwhelmed with all the things you have to adjust to and either feel irritated or compelled to make things go “your way”.
- Gradual Understanding / The Adjustment Stage - You’re finally able to relax. You’ve come to terms with your new home and have achieved a balance of emotions. Instead of feeling irritated, you’re understanding of differences. You’ll start to have a more positive outlook, interest in learning more about your host country, and make more effort to fit in.
- Adaptation or Biculturalism / The Mastery Stage - Reaching a high level of comfort in your new home is the final stage of culture shock. The order of things makes sense, you can talk to strangers with ease, and you understand cultural nuances. Your routine is more natural. Sure, you still miss your friends and family, but your new friends and activities have become part of your daily life.
Culture Shock and Depression
In some cases, culture shock can resemble or trigger study abroad depression. If you fear you are on the verge of or already in this state, don’t try to get through it alone. Talk to your study abroad directors or volunteer coordinators. Don’t isolate yourself.
You’ll 99.9% likely to move into a smaller space in Tokyo, so try to pack light if you’re shipping stuff overseas, even if the company is subsidizing moving costs.
Maybe get yourself intro’ed to the Otaru group in Tokyo to meet Tokyo expats in the gaming industry (basically the 8-4 group and co)
I have no advice, but just wanted to wish you good luck and safe travels.
Also, please post plenty of pictures and your experiences back to this thread. Living overseas is something I’d always wanted to do, but never ended up having the opportunity. I, and I’m sure many others here, would greatly enjoy reading about your experiences.
Exciting! Good luck, frogger!
Find a good Mexican restaurant , it’s the food you may miss the most, especially from SD. Learn to make your own from scratch too.
This is good advice for anyone moving out of North America - Mexican food is tough to find nearly anywhere else, and when you do it is pricey! (by US standards)
Back when I lived in Tokyo Junkadelic was pretty legit. Maybe check that out when you get the chance.
I strongly agree. In our cases, our move was so sudden, retrospectively it became an opportunity, to throw or give away the vast majority of our belongings. We kept that ecology since then, and have kept things to a minimum, allowing us to move cities pretty easily.
Things are overrated, and travelling light gives a real sense of freedom.
People won’t love it when they come visiting your place, though ;)
The lucky thing is this theme somewhat fits Japan, especially if you are used to sleeping on the floor.
Well you asked for advice that is interesting so here it is: I haven’t spent that much time in Asia, and I know Japan is famous for their toilets, but when I lived in Nigeria I had an emergency pack of Charmin Extra Soft so if I ever got the runs I wouldn’t compound the issue with the sandpaper they consider toilet paper there.
It’s been so long since I lived there a lot of my information is probably out-dated, but if you’re in a big city area, or even just outside it, it’s pretty surprising how easy it is to navigate with minimal or no Japanese language skills at all.
If you are looking for a phone, Softbank is a big retailer and the ones near the major train stations should have English speaking staff; phone are not cheap. As a visitor you can only pick up like a SIM card but someone with an address should be able, at some point, get one of their subscriptions. I was never there long enough for that piece.
If you plan on using your debit card early on before figuring out your banking situation, Post Offices have machines that can read the cards and pull cash from. Hopefully you have one without foreign transaction fees. Sometimes those lines are long as people pay bills there too. I think it’s still a cash society. I walked around with tons of cash. I didn’t advertise this, but after the first couple of times I didn’t feel unsafe. If you do get a “regular” phone I think you can buy a lot with it now too.
I have like zero direction sense, and minimal Japanese language skills, and navigating the trains and traveling around Tokyo was surprisingly easy. If you have some, you’re in even better shape. There is a lot of English there, maps and signage everywhere too. Just keep track of when trains stop running because they do… stop running. Taxis are ridiculously expensive. Oh yeah, Tokyo is huge… like, giant huge city, don’t plan on seeing it in one day or so. Assuming you are on a train route and no it, get yourself a train card like Suica (could be a different company depending on the route).
Hi-tech toilers are fun. Only dead souls forget to marvel at these fun contraptions. Enjoy!
If you have tattoos, try and hide them, especially going to hot springs. I hear it’s better now but still…
Soft rules:
No tipping. There’s no tipping in Japan. In fact, they often say it will embarrass everyone involved when you try. I was told early on not to tip so I never tried. I am sure you know about the shoe thing. The business card sensitives is real, take it with two hands read it and don’t put it away. Card and gift giving is a thing. If you are staying with someone, like right off the plane, bring something with you to give them, something local is usually fine. Be punctual, no seriously being late or even not being early is often a thing.
Japanese deodorant is awful. We must have industrial strength here. You might want to bring some extra until you adapt to what they have.
Bowing can be challenging. It’s easier to follow someone’s lead. Hey if our presidents can’t get it right, we get a pass too! Seriously though, just read up on it and do your best. Like Japanese language itself, the effort is usually appreciated and business situation, well I assume someone will inform you.
Seriously though, don’t worry. It’s a great country!
If you forgot something, didn’t bring it, you’ll probably be able to get it. They’re postal system is fine, though not cheap, so you can certainly ship things too. If you’re lost, a few people might wave their hand in front of their face (this basically means go away), but eventually you’ll get help. Try to learn the language. If you mess it up, don’t worry, they’re often thrilled when you even try. Warn your friends and family that at some point you’ll vent and tell them you hate it… and you don’t mean it. It’s just one of the stages.
I have been to Japan like 9 times. (staying anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months at time) So I have a little idea of what I am getting myself into. Probably not long enough to go through the 4 stages of culture shock @Skipper posted though. I’d imagine it would end up being something completely off my radar.
I am definitely using this as an opportunity to get rid of stuff and become more minimalistic for sure. Marie Kondo help me! I do want to bring some boardgames over because there was a pretty good English-speaking boardgaming meetup group I’ve been to a few times in Tokyo hosted by one Nao-chan. Just trying to decide which ones and their size is kind of an issue.
One thing I do worry about though is how weak and expensive over the counter medicine that doesn’t even work is (or the general lack of Western medicine, even basic things like tums). I’ll probably have to ship stuff over.
Shiiiit. I didn’t know about this. I think for Netflix I don’t have a choice do I?
Mexican Food/Craft Beer et al: I know all about this. I’ve already made my own tacos in Tokyo before…perhaps I should practice making a CAB (carne asada burrito) and my own corn tortillas. The expensive craft beer market is kind of a drag but it is getting more popular I think. I’ll also miss American bacon, cheese in general, and readily available sourdough bread. Shit is a real bitch to find and if you do the slices are micro-sized. I want those large jumbo slices you get out of a wide round loaf that you need a double wide toaster for.
A decent VPN can solve this issue for services like Netflix - just a question of if it’s worth it to you. Not sure what is on offer domestically in Japan.
It’s a bit more complicate now: Netflix cracked down on VPN a couple of years, and 99% of them won’t work anymore. A couple of non-US ones are offering a method to stream US Netflix, and US Netflix only, or so they claim: the only one that worked for me is an Australia-based one called Getflix. It’s a DNS-based VPN that will allow you to access anything from anywhere, pretty much, but more importantly it is pretty reliable to access US Netflix, for 4 bucks/month — it even offers some basic VPN servers around the world, but those aren’t speedy and I wouldn’t use it as a way to secure my connection, but it’s still handy when you may need it, for the occasional site blocking Japan.
There is next to nothing on the Japanese Netflix, but CD-video dumps of early 80s Jackie Chan flicks (at 15fps! have to see it to believe it). It’s very changing though: what with wacky copyrights holders and stuff, stuff comes and goes all the time, better not grow attached! I remember there were the Indiana Jones movies there for a couple of month early on, it might have been a worldwide exclusive. But for the past year, it’s been tons upon tons of anime if that is your thing, which tells me they may be aiming their streaming at a very specific crowd now.
I completely believe that, but note that I have many friends (and myself) using a variety of VPNs to resolve this issue, without any difficulty. Perhaps its a case of an ongoing “arms war” between the content providers and VPNs.
I suggest you get some antiseptics (I always travelled with 2 to 3 hexamidine small bottles every yearly trip), and try to avoid Japanese practitioners as much as possible as they go massively antiobiotics blindly on about any injury or disease — and hospitals throw those away in the toilets or in the river and… oh dear, I’d better stop.
Some ibuprofen come advised, as the molecule is nearly unavailable, and only at expensive over the counter stuff with laughingly low dosages, mixed amongs tons of other ingredients because mix juices are the best.
If you face a medical emergency like a grave disease, to keep it short I’d travel back ASAP.
On the positive side, if you have dental work, get it done in Japan: they are a century ahead of the rest of the world I am guessing. Their alliage covers are both cheap and amazing. Dentist care in general is very cheap in my experience, as long as you are covered by the Japanese social security of course.
Choose your practitioner wisely, though, as the majority of dentists in Japan have been known for not sterilizing their stuff properly between patients in the recent past.
Also be minimal, but stock up on first necessity stuff like bottles of water, sugar, canned food. There are books handed everywhere listing that sort of stuff, but it is a change from living temporarily to permanently: you need to be able to face the occasional emergency on your own.
Ah yes, not related, but don’t fall for the “National Pension” governemental hoax. If you get a work in a Japanese company, you will have to pay it, but no need to lash yourself otherwise despite the very creepy and menacing mail you will regularly get telling you you should. Don’t register knowingly for it on arrival, in any case.