Japan Trip 3&4: When to Go + Useful Items + Clothes

<Previous] [Next>

3: WEATHER in JAPAN/WHEN TO GO to JAPAN

I’m probably going to complain about the humidity a lot, but it’s not like you walk out and immediately feel drenched or sticky.
There’s enough humidity to feel it in the air and make your shirt somewhat stick to you after some light exercise, but it’s not the tropics here. (Well, Okinawa… I dunno. Maybe.)
I’m mostly salty about how awful my socks got in this kind of weather.
I’m not used to my feet smelling and it irritates me, okay? :p

Anyway, that’s the kind of humidity you should expect. Not awful, but somewhat noticeable.

I didn’t research anything for the winter, but I arrived after the cherry blossom season and RIGHT before the rainy season.

Rainy season is from mid-June to mid-July, about a month, but that’s also hydrangea season. Also, it doesn’t rain EVERY day in the rainy season, just more rain than sun, and it will be even more humid. Pack a light poncho if you choose to see Japan during this season.

According to our guide, after the rainy season is when the heat starts.
… REALLY?! It was already 33C (91F) when we were there. The mangas ain’t kidding when they complain that the summers are HOT, apparently.
And the humidity doesn’t just disappear. So… it’s like Arizona, but humid? Geez…
And just think, most corporations didn’t allow businessmen to NOT wear their suit jackets and ties when commuting until just recently.
Rather than death by overworking, wasn’t it death by heatstroke? (j/k. Sorry… joke might be in poor taste)

I highly advise avoiding Golden Week (starts Apr 29), because that’s a national week-long holiday all over the country. Our tour group company doesn’t even bother having tours in Japan then because the crowds, trains, and roads are completely impossible, our guide said.

The most busy foreign tourist seasons are, as you’d expect, cherry blossom season (late March through early May, but the majority is probably, April-ish) and leaf viewing season (mid-October around Tokyo and Kyoto through early December), but I wouldn’t bother trying to completely avoid those seasons, because I feel like the average amount of tourists stays the same. It’s just the composition of foreigners to Japanese school kids will change. There were a LOT of field trips…
Maybe, if you don’t HAVE to see the blossoms or leaves, just try to avoid the bulk of the foreign traffic… whenever that would be.
That said, if you definitely want to see the cherry blossoms, our tour group company’s mid-April tours were completely filled up 6 months prior. I feel like hotels, at the very least, will suffer the same fate.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it to cherry blossom season. Japan loves nature and flowers as a way to view the passing of the seasons (flowers aren’t just for women but simply represent the world and its seasons; I love this mindset).
And so there is something to see in every season.

The flower seasons differ a little depending on which area of Japan you’re in, so do a quick lookup if you really want to see the flowers.
Also, a lot of the vast flower fields are in Hokkaido, although there is a pocket of lavender around Mt Fuji (not in bloom when we were there), so check WHERE the flowers are, too.
A real loose generalization is:

Plum Blossoms (Ume)	February through March
Cherry Blossoms (Sakura)	Late-March through Early-May
Tulips	Late-March through Early-May
Ground Sakura (Shibazakura)	April through May
Wisteria (Fuji)	May
Roses (Bana)	May through July and Late-August through September
Hydrangea (Ajisai)	June through July
Irises (Hanashobu)	June through Early-July
Sunflowers (Himawari)	Late-June through Early-August
Lavender	June
Autumn Leaves (Koyo)	September through December

The azalea flowers, a flowering bush the Japanese seem very fond of for landscaping, were in full bloom everywhere in Tokyo when we were there (late May, early June). Also, some irises, a favorite of … a Japanese Princess I can’t remember the name of… were in bloom in the Imperial Gardens, and the hydrangeas were JUST beginning to bloom… pity they weren’t in full bloom, since one of the temples we went to were famous for a hydrangea path that… yeah, didn’t have many hydrangea blossoms.

Other things to be careful of are any sort of international sporting tournament.
This fall(2019) is the World Rugby Championships… which is why we moved our vacation to the end of May.
Our tour group company is also not running any tours through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for obvious over-crowding reasons.

There are many websites out there that will help you to find a good season for your trip, including warnings of rugby championships and other unexpected events, so do your research~.

4: PACKING for JAPAN

4.1: USEFUL THINGS to have in JAPAN

The two main things I dearly wish I had brought along (Instead of my facial toner that spilled all over my luggage, that ungrateful bastard. Screw skin care lol) were:

• Sunscreen
• bug spray

Just a tiny vial of bug spray or peppermint oil spray would have been enough, but if you at all want to see temples/shrines/green scenery (bamboo path)… there are lots of mosquito breeding grounds around.
The sunscreen was a mistake on my part because my husband and I were only bringing carry-on but the rest of our party weren’t being so foolish so we, y’know, just assumed they’d bring sunscreen… well, they didn’t. FYI, EVERYONE, white, Asian, Latino, got sunburned in my tour. (…Wait. I dunno if the black guy got sunburned. Uh…) If you’re especially susceptible to sunburn, definitely bring a hat. Lots of people burned the backs of their necks. Thank goodness for long (well, mid-length) hair for me.

Other things I’d suggest that are super useful are:

• Hand sanitizer – trust me on this. Soap is rare to find in many bathrooms, and half of the ones with soap are so watered down that you wonder if it was worth using.
• Spray deodorant instead of stick deodorant
  Because using stick deodorant on your feet is… eh.
  I highly suggest women do the under-boob deodorant trick if you aren’t planning on wearing a new bra every day. It’s humid af.
• Stomach medicine, the bismuth s…subsa… the pepto bismol type.
  No one with us got food or water poisoning, but I’m still going to suggest it for a different reason: over indulgence.
  It is highly likely that your diet in Japan will be MORE starches and protein than you’re used to and LESS fiber than you’re used to. What this means is that it will take your digestive system more effort to work through your meals, which means you might not be able to eat as much or as often as you usually do simply because you can’t digest it fast enough.
  So don’t force yourself to clear your dish if you feel you’ve reached your limit, choose bread and/or fresh vegetables occasionally (salad is usually available at breakfast buffets because Japan), and bring along some stomach medicine just in case.
  I suggest eating light breakfasts. Even if you have a buffet breakfast that’s worth a lot of money… it really isn’t worth filling up and getting bogged down first thing in the morning. There are so many tastier things to stuff yourself with.
  Of course, Iron-Stomach over there was perfectly fine in terms of indigestion. He just couldn’t eat as much as the days went on.
• Febreeze/clothing refreshener spray
  Some hotels had some Japanese version of febreeze in the coat closets, but some didn’t. With the humidity, if you want to rewear clothes, spraying them with SOMETHING is just a good idea. If you’re being as foolish as me and only bringing carry-on, hose down your clothes if they’re not smelling so fresh whenever you discover your hotel has some. If you don’t want to risk not having it, bring it along.

Things I’d buy right when you get there, but again, not vital:

• Coin purse – you’ll get coins, coins, coins, and more coins for change.
  Try to get one that stays somewhat open when you open it: it saves a lot of time even if you still have to dump everything out to figure out what the hell you have.
  I didn’t bother figuring out what they were called in Japanese, because almost ALL the souvenir shops have them in various patterns, character prints, silicone/cloth/leather/whatever, and also, I had a great one completely unused from a bridal party gift, but if you decide to get a cheap one from the 100yen stores and can’t find it, try asking for a “kozeni-ire.” (koe-ze-ny ee-ray)
  I think it would be easier just getting a more expensive one from the souvenir shops and making it one of your souvenirs, though, because you’ll have a lot more options. 100yen shops have a lot of things, but a limited selection of each.
• Handkerchief
  Right, so soap isn’t always common in the bathrooms? Any way to dry your hands is LESS common. They sell terry-cloth handkerchiefs, like thin mini-towels, precisely for this reason. Handkerchiefs are also useful for wiping spills(obviously), but also laying on the ground/ledges to sit on if you’re wearing nice pants/skirt. My first purchase was a simple handkerchief from the 100yen store.
  You’re looking for a “ハンカチ”(hankachi) (han kah chee)
  They certainly sell pretty, more souvenir worthy handkerchiefs everywhere in souvenir shops, so you can also go for those if you wish. I just figured I wouldn’t want to dirty a nice one, so I bought a 100yen one (108yen with the current consumption tax).
  That said, you can also bring one of the small, square washcloths from home to use instead, come to think of it… They’re a bit bulkier to bring around, but if you don’t want to waste the money, it’s a more than suitable alternative. Oh, or those makeup microfiber wash clothes!

4.2: CLOTHES in JAPAN

So… what am I allowed to wear? Isn’t Japan like, super conservative or something?
Right… well, we in the West have a lot of preconceptions about cultures in the East, and if you don’t want to offend anyone, you might be concerned with what you should pack to wear.

While observing both the locals and tourists, I picked up a few points that the locals seemed to be concerned about.

• The main point is basically don’t have your underwear or privates showing, and wear clothing that won’t flash people on accident. So, common sense, really.
• Another point would be to dress appropriately for the location (I’m mostly talking about dressing somewhat nicely for ritzy/fashionable/fancy places), but tourists get a pretty big pass on that kind of faux pas so I wouldn’t worry about it too much – unless you’re going for business. Suit and tie, man.
  Their ‘business casual’ is a bit higher tier than American business casual, and even if you’re going on a factory tour, you might be unexpectedly taken to a fancy dinner. Bring a suit that can take some wrinkling as back up.
  If there are wrinkles, hang it in the bathroom and turn on the hot water in the shower to steam the wrinkles out (don’t hang it IN the shower, though. You just need the steam, not the water). Don’t let it get saturated in steam. Check a youtube video for shower-steaming your clothes in an emergency if you’re worried about ruining your suit.
• The last one is … well… I wouldn’t call it ‘fat-shaming’ per se… but the locals definitely got a little judgy-eyed if you wore anything that reveals/accentuates body rolls and fat pockets. I’ll make it clear; it’s not that they didn’t like fat people. It was wearing unflattering clothing for your body that they were judging.
  Many of the young girls in our group wore leggings as pants (something I can’t get used to, because it always just looks like they’re wearing old lady spanx to me). This seems uncommon in the East (even Chinese and Korean tourists didn’t wear leggings), but the only girl wearing leggings that really got the side-eye was the heavier one wearing thinner leggings and revealing her midriff from belly button to under boob. Luckily she looked obviously white so she got a ‘pass’ too, although she was definitely stared at. But… I think she would have gotten stared at in the US too. It was one of those… should she be wearing it outside the house? type of outfits.
  If you do decide to wear leggings, make sure they don’t just look like glorified pantyhose. I honestly wouldn’t wear leggings, though, because Japan is humid af, and having all that sweat right there is… ew. At least make it sport leggings with the wicking and breathable features.

Except for the girl in our group, I didn’t see ANY midriff showing, at all… well, I didn’t get any good data from observation on that, so can’t say one way or the other.

Anyway… yeah. Tourists can honestly get away with wearing anything that wouldn’t get you arrested for public indecency, so throw out all those ideas you had about a super conservative culture and pack appropriately for the weather. Even short shorts and camis were fine, as long as they sufficiently hid your underwear. Just watch out for the humidity, heat, and sunburn.

Okay, you might say, but what if I WANT to dress more like a local? You know, to fit in a little?
In that case…

The key words for dressing like a Tokyo-ite are “Clean,” “Neat,” “Professional,” and “Classy.”

Women:

• Most women wore skirts and dresses that reached knee-length and below, even with schoolgirls’ uniforms. Any shorter than knee-length seemed to require pantyhose underneath (probably a cultural fashion rule), which was something that seemed like a poor idea in the heat and humidity, and so most women just wore flowy skirts that went past the knees. The only ‘short’ skirts I saw were business suit skirts an inch or so above the knee with pantyhose underneath.
• Loose and flowy seemed to be the name of the game. Only the waist was accentuated by being cinched in with the pant or skirt waistband (tucked in shirts, even T-shirts). Even pants tended to be loose around the hips and pant legs. Wide, flowy pant legs were in.
• Shoulders seemed to be preferred to be at least mostly covered, and most women were quite concerned with getting too much sun on their skin, so there were a few cardigans. Even if they were lacy and light, it made me feel hot just looking at them.
• The coloration was light, pale, pastels, neutrals, blacks, and more subtle patterns. Lace overlay was also big.

Men:

• … I feel like men have the worse deal when it comes to fashion. While women have “loose and flowy,” men get “trim and fit.”
• Pants are long (no shorts, few capris), the hip and waist area are more or less fitted, and pant legs are slim to straight – no baggy fits and few boot fits – and tailored to your height.
• Not TOO many jeans; most men wore business-type slacks and pants, but that might be because most of the local men I saw were office workers going to work. Also, with the humidity … denim is STUFFY. I only wore my jeans twice, and the second time was only because I was fairly certain we were going to be in air-conditioning for most of it.
  It was Osaka when I first noticed the jeans worn primarily by 20-somethings and younger, most lean and straight, but the baggy ones(which weren’t all that baggy) all had holes and they were definitely going for a hipster grunge with their entire outfit. Still no shorts, though. Dunno why. It was 33C (91F) and humid. (All the men, no matter the age, in our group had given up and were sporting the dad shorts+socks, even though they had been so reluctant to earlier in the tour, lol)
• Shirts were mostly dress shirts and button-down shirts, or else high-quality T-shirts that weren’t too loose or too tight (not a tent, but as few horizontal stretchmarks as possible). No frays, no holes, no discolorations, and no stains. Once again, I didn’t see too many none-businessmen around, so take this with a grain of salt, too.
• Man purse=okay

I might have only been living out of carry-on (for 10 days… yikes) and so ended up rewearing a lot of clothes in different ways (a poor idea that I wouldn’t recommend, but ample uses of deodorant and febreeze, plus the fact that I sweat less than most people, made it work), but I lucked out since I just “felt like” dressing a little nicer, so I brought some casual-ish button down shirts that I could use as both shirts and light jackets along with a more sophisticated looking denim skirt. I mean… our hotels were WAY too nice. The first one was right off the Ginza – that said, I didn’t have to dress to the nines. Just somewhat nice, like going to a steakhouse for a family dinner nice.
Well… I was the only one, though, so once again, tourists get a huge pass for that kind of faux pas, and honestly, most people care way less about how you look than you do.

Also, fashion changes a lot, so keep in mind this is late spring, 2019.
When in doubt, just check out the Uniqlo lookbooks. You’ll get pretty close with that.

As for shoes…
Although most locals weren’t wearing them, sandals are fine – just remember that you’ll be walking in crowded areas with a ton of people, so revealing your toes and heels are definitely at your own risk.
I mean, I wouldn’t wear flipflops, but that’s more because I don’t want to bid them farewell in the tumultuous sea of people, or get the backs stepped on so I trip. No one else but you would care if you wore them.
Still, even if it wasn’t flipflops, I really wish I had brought along a pair of walking sandals. With the humidity and heat, and walking for so long, um… my socks were RIPE and my feet were regretting the sauna.
That said, I HIGHLY suggest bringing a pair of socks along if you wear sandals. There are places where you have to take off your shoes in Japan, and although the major tourist attractions didn’t seem to care, I doubt that traditional-styled restaurants would be happy if you took off your sandals and walked in barefoot. So bring a pair of socks around just in case.

Other than that… bring shoes appropriate for the amount of walking you’ll have to do.

By the way, I didn’t research the cold weather in Japan, so you’ll have to do the research on what to wear for that if it concerns you.

---

<Previous] [Next>