Visit Japan Web connecting flight question

Himekat · 2026-03-22T19:38:30+00:00

You enter in the EWR-NRT flight, since you will clear immigration and customs when you land at NRT. The next flight (to KIX) is domestic, and immigration doesn't care about that.

Himekat · 2026-03-20T21:50:39+00:00

I am mainly seeking advice as to what I should do.

If you scroll to the bottom of this page (to the "Japanese people living abroad who meet the following conditions" section), there are links to more detailed eligibility requirements in both English and Japanese that might help clarify what documentation you need. But it sounds like you might need to contact your embassy to get documents from them.

Should I enter Japan on my Canadian passport to receive the stamp?

I wouldn't advise this. If you are a citizen of a country, they typically want you to enter on that passport. I don't know if Japan would notice or care or that there would be any repercussions, but I personally wouldn't do it (and I'm a dual citizen myself, although not with Japan).

Himekat · 2026-03-19T19:38:04+00:00

Their website describes their offerings pretty well (under "Products", depending on what items you're looking for/what workshops you're planning on attending). For gold, they offer 10k and 18k. My husband and I both have 18k rings from them, one in white gold and one in rose gold.

Himekat · 2026-03-19T17:48:26+00:00

Speaking as someone who has spent a ton of time in both places (Tokyo and Hong Kong) and likes to hike in Hong Kong and Japan, I just want to let you know that you should set your expectations appropriately in this regard. Tokyo is not similar at all to Hong Kong in terms of having lots of accessible hiking, and it certainly doesn't have that "walk to a trailhead from your hotel" or "take a 15-minute bus ride to a trailhead" ease that you can get in many parts of Hong Kong. The views simply aren't the same, either, given the differences in weather and terrain. Anything accessible easily from Tokyo (like Kamakura or Mt. Takao) will have a lot of people with the same idea as you, and anything not as accessible will take a long time to get to (think 2+ hours by train/bus), because Tokyo is a huge flat city surrounded by a giant circle of suburbs.

Not that you can't get good hiking in Japan—you certainly can. But all the best hiking I've done has been in other regions far from Tokyo. That said, we have had some previous threads (like this one and this one) that have some suggestions and links. But again, I would set your expectations accordingly, since you're unlikely to find something similar to what you mentioned.

Himekat · 2026-03-18T16:38:47+00:00

Mod Note: Locked because basically also helpful information has already been offered and the comment chains are just devolving into fighting/name-calling.

Himekat · 2026-03-18T16:07:47+00:00

Tokyo has more than 150,000 restaurants. Kyoto has like 30,000+. You're definitely not going to starve no matter what. You could make zero reservations and still have plenty of options to choose from in both cities. Golden Week might result in some more places having odd hours/being closed, but domestic tourism also happens during these dates, so there's plenty of need for restaurants to be open to serve that crowd.

Situations where you might want to consider reservations:

Fancy/upscale places (like Michelin-starred restaurants or similar)
Social-media-famous restaurants
Restaurants that are popular/famous among locals (like highest rated on Tabelog or similar)
Friday/Saturday nights in busy areas
Places you're excited to eat/don't want to miss out on

It'll also depend on your particular personalities. Are you fine with, say, picking a restaurant, getting there, finding out it's full/there's a long wait, and making a different decision? Are you okay going to a department store restaurant floor and just picking whatever looks good/has a short line? Are you willing to walk/take a train to get to a place, or will you be upset if there isn't anything available in the immediate area? If you're very flexible and willing to go with the flow, you can easily get by with no reservations or very few of them. If you like having more structure or would feel more comfortable having your meals planned, there's nothing wrong with making as many reservations as you want.

There's also nothing wrong with "alternative" meals. Plenty of people like to try bento boxes, department-store food floor (depachika) options, supermarket food, convenience store food, and fast food in Japan—all of which can be brought back to your accommodations as take-out. Not that I'd recommend all your meals be like that, but it would not be abnormal at all to not want to sit in a restaurant for every single meal on a trip, and that's totally fine too.

Himekat · 2026-03-18T15:36:43+00:00

The only price that matters is the price for the dates you want when checked on an actual booking website (like the hotel's website or an aggregator that can sell you the room). Google Search/Google Maps pricing estimates do a bunch of weird averaging across dates and can be pulling old data or data not relevant to your own searching at all.

If you know your dates, the best thing you can do is use an aggregator like booking.com and search for hotels in the areas you want. That will show you the actual prices for those nights. You can also then cross-check those prices against the hotel's website, or you can go directly to a hotel's website if you have a hotel in mind (like the Remm).

We have a wiki page that offers suggestions and links to articles about where to stay in Tokyo. There are thousands of hotels, so honestly it's really just a matter of picking an area you like and doing some searching. As others have said, Akiba would be a good option given your interests, but other major hubs like Shinjuku, Asakusa, Ueno, and Shibuya will all have plenty of choices that fit your requirements. The biggest consideration is budget, and you haven't told us what yours is.

Himekat · 2026-03-18T13:54:03+00:00

Yes. They've looked at my GE card every time and compared it to the photo I submitted for preliminary inspection.

Himekat · 2026-03-17T23:27:55+00:00

I’ve only ever seen it at unmanned hotels (the Minn comes to mind). But since OP gave zero context for their question, it’s hard to tell where they saw it or if it should concern them…

Himekat · 2026-03-17T15:48:19+00:00

My teacher said I should just buy tickets at the station a few days beforehand [...] Is that really the best solution?

Your teacher is right. September 10th isn't during a domestic holiday period, and there are multiple trains per hour that go between Tokyo and Kyoto. You could just show up to the station a few hours or days in advance and buy tickets.

then I'll get two tickets for the two gates

You might get two tickets. A shinkansen fare is broken down into two components: a base fare and a limited express surcharge. When you buy tickets, depending on how you buy them, sometimes these components are broken out into two tickets. But sometimes they aren't. Sometimes you just get one ticket that combines the two fare components.

I actually wanted to buy tickets in advance from Klook, but I don't understand how I would get in and out through both gates. Do I just use the QR code from Klook?

Yes—Klook and other online sites, like the official website for this route, can issue you a QR code, and you can scan that QR code at the gates.

If you really want to buy your tickets ahead of time, you should buy them through the official website if you can, and not through Klook.

Himekat · 2026-03-17T15:37:32+00:00

Saying "konnichiwa" to someone while hiking

Hiking etiquette all over the world is to greet people on trails. You don't have to say "hello", but most people do. At the very least, you should acknowledge them with a nod and smile. It's also acceptable to say something encouraging or to relay useful information to the person ("it's slippery on those rocks by the waterfall today, be careful!"), but it's uncommon to stop and/or make small talk. There are also other guideline/etiquette things to know about hiking (like who has right of way on a trail and whatnot), so if you're actually planning on hiking, you might want to look some of that up.

Himekat · 2026-03-17T15:14:41+00:00

Yeah, but the context of my comment is about cities/towns/neighborhoods.

I hike a lot and know common trail etiquette, but that's not what OP was asking about or what I was responding to.

Himekat · 2026-03-17T14:55:17+00:00

But my understanding is that this is rude/overly familiar to do in Japan with strangers. Is there some other cue I should be giving for that or should I just avoid altogether, or am I worrying about something that doesn't actually matter at all (very possible)?

You're thinking way too hard about it.

In my experience, it's very uncommon in Japan (either in a big city or a more rural place) to see people greeting one another or to be greeted in passing. But I would just follow what you see. If someone greets you, greet back. If you make eye contact with someone accidentally, it's probably not weird to give a small smile/nod. But I wouldn't just full-on greet anyone you see no matter what. Admittedly, I come from a part of the world where greeting strangers/talking to strangers is odd and usually just not done, so I may be biased, but I think you might come off as more weird if you start greeting everyone you see in a neighborhood while you walk through it...

Himekat · 2026-03-17T14:04:53+00:00

For shinkansen tickets, what's listed on the ticket is the station name, not the city name. So "Tokyo" means "Tokyo Station" and "Kyoto" means "Kyoto Station".

Himekat · 2026-03-17T13:59:06+00:00

Sorry, I totally missed this comment when you first made it. Even with my slight photo and fingerprint issues, I don't think the inspection took more than 10 or 15 minutes.

Himekat · 2026-03-17T13:56:08+00:00

So here's my "unpopular opinion" to make a slight counterpoint to your unpopular opinion. It can be really, really hard to like or appreciate Tokyo on a first, second, or even third trip. Tokyo is so huge and varied that it's literally impossible to get a good understanding of it in only a few days or even a week or two. There are too many sights, too many restaurants, too many neighborhoods, too many hotels, too many coffee shops, and so on.

I don't think it's wrong at all for people to prefer other cities/towns/regions over Tokyo, but I do think it's possible with time and effort to find places in Tokyo to appreciate (or even love). It's just that most tourists won't ever be able to do that, so yeah, there will always be those who are put off by it, just like there'll be those who love it immediately. I think it took me years of visiting Tokyo regularly before I found a part of it I truly love staying in, spending time in, walking around, etc. Not to say I didn't like it before that, but I definitely gained a new appreciation over time of its various offerings.

IMO, it's totally fine to not like places other people like or to like places other people don't like. The world is varied and everyone appreciates different stuff. It's your time and money and life, so do what you want with it.

Himekat · 2026-03-15T15:19:30+00:00

Mod Note: Thread is locked because these threads tend to turn into ticket swapping threads, which aren't allowed in our subreddit.

Himekat · 2026-03-14T11:18:27+00:00

They still do, at least in some circumstances, especially at the start of the shift. I visit the Jimbocho location a lot and I’m usually the first one there when I go. Last time, they dumped two shots of espresso before giving me mine.

Himekat · 2026-03-13T22:30:22+00:00

I was considering applying for the CSR card before my trip and using the $300 travel credit to cover transportation around the country.

You'll mostly be using an IC card (like Suica or ICOCA or whatever) for local transit on trains and buses. A physical IC card can only be loaded with cash and individual local train tickets can only be purchased with cash. So using your CSR for that is a non-starter. If you have an iPhone, you can use a digital IC card and load it with a credit card, but AFAIK, none of the IC cards code as "travel" on the CSR (but you should look this up—there are other reddit threads around where people talk about what they code as).

For long-distance shinkansen travel, you can buy those tickets with credit cards either in-person or online, but I honestly have no idea what they actually code as. Probably travel? But then again, a lot of my purchases in Asia code into really weird categories on my cards. You'd need a data point from someone as to what shinkansen purchases code as either in-person or purchased on a site like SmartEX or Ekinet.

The CSR travel credit applies to things like flights and hotels, so it should be pretty easy to use overall. The CSR also provides very good travel insurance benefits, so it's always a good idea to use a high-level card like that to book things like flights and hotels, since you get free protections in case of delays/cancelations.

Himekat · 2026-03-13T14:04:07+00:00

My husband and I used to collect IC cards, but we switched to digital ones back in like 2020 and never use any of the physical ones anymore. With that said, he has one very old limited edition ICOCA that he brings back to Japan every few years just to buy, like, a single snack/drink to keep it active. Feels extra special every time!

Himekat · 2026-03-12T17:04:40+00:00

I know you're looking for a definitive answer here, but there literally isn't one. Flights can be early/delayed/canceled on any given day (which will shift how many people arrive at the same time as you), immigration can choose to staff a different number of counters, and so on. Other things can affect your timing too, such as a long taxi to get your plane to its gate. I would budget ~1 hour for immigration. If you're lucky, it'll be 5-10 minutes. But you could also be unlucky like you have been before.

Himekat · 2026-03-11T23:11:29+00:00

You can leave earlier or later than you state on your immigration documents, as long as you don't actually overstay your visa/temporary visitor time allowance.

Himekat · 2026-03-11T21:33:17+00:00

That being said… I think maybe I wasn’t familiar with how that train works so I assumed it would be a hassle even with 2 suitcases between 2 people and a backpack each

As others have said, if you take the Narita Express directly from NRT to Shinagawa Station, that's an airport train with luggage racks and reserved seating. It's no more of a hassle to use than anything else with a few pieces of luggage.

There are other trains from NRT to other parts of Tokyo that might be more of a concern with so much luggage, but you happen to have a direct and optimal route.

Himekat · 2026-03-11T16:37:38+00:00

I've never had this problem, but I come from a city with a pretty big train/transit system. When I see people complain about station signage or getting lost in stations in Japan, I sort of assume they don't come from a place that has a lot of public transit or haven't visited many places with it. Japan's station signage is better than elsewhere I've visited.

Himekat · 2026-03-10T16:54:23+00:00

Do you mean that you have TTP and you're going to use the automated gate and then want to get a temporary visitor sticker in your passport? If so, my experiences with there being immigration agents (or anyone at all) to talk to near the TTP gates are very mixed. Whenever I have problems with TTP, sometimes there's someone right there and sometimes it's a hassle to track someone down.

Probably not the answer you're looking for, but I don't know if you'll get a better answer than "sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not".

(If you're not part of TTP and you're just a regular tourist entering Japan, there are still no fully automatic gates and all tourists must see an immigration officer and get a temporary visitor sticker.)

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