Travel to Japan

Here's a short summary of more or less frequently asked things on traveling to Japan (on business). For pleasure, there are several good sites

Index

First Timer

If you are planning a trip to Japan for the first time, watch this YouTube video, at least the first 4 min about getting cash and about the exchange rates.

Also, if you are traveling on your own and have flexibility over the timing, avoid traveling to Japan in the summer (June-Aug). It will be hot and humid, unless you can tolerate them.

Passport and visa

You do not need visa if you have a Canadian or an American passport, but your passport need to be valid during the period of stay (For more).

  • List of visa exempt countries
If you need a visa
  • Montreal, for residents of Province of Quebec
  • Toronto, for residents of Province of Ontario
  • Vancouver, for residents of Province of British Columbia

Flights

  • Generally speaking, flights leaving from North America or Europe for Japan will arrive a day later than the day you fly out. So in order to arrive in Japan on a Sunday, you need to fly out on the Saturday a day early. You arrive back in North America the same day you fly from Japan (when flying direct). So if you fly from Japan on a Saturday in the afternoon, you will arrive in LAX/SFO/YYZ/YUL/YVR on the same Saturday.
  • There are two airports to fly into when heading to Tokyo.
    • Haneda (HND, inside Tokyo). Haneda is less than 30min away from the central part of Tokyo, and cab ride may make sense (JPY5,000 ~ JPY7,000ish) depending on the exact location in Tokyo, but the monorail or trains are the way to go).
    • Narita (NRT, outside Tokyo). Narita is over one hour from the central part of Tokyo, and a cab ride to Tokyo will be very expensive (over JPY25,000).

    Air Canada flies directly to/from Haneda from/to YYZ (Pearson) daily since July 2014, and there should be at least one daily from the major airports in west coast US (SFO, LAX, etc.).
  • YYZ and HND
    • When you look for flights, you will want to choose HND (Haneda), NOT Narita (NRT). But flights to Haneda can be more expensive depending on the timing, sometimes quite a lot.
    • The flight from YYZ to HND leaves after the noon and arrive in late afternoon the next day. The flight from HND to YYZ leaves around 5pm and arrives about the same time the same day.
  • YUL and NRT
    • From June 1, 2018, Air Canada operates direct flights between NRT and Montreal (YUL). For info on NRT to Tokyo, see here.
  • YVR and HND/NRT
    • In addition to Air Canada, Japan's two major airlines, Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airlines (ANA or NH) fly direct to/from Haneda from/to YVR.
    • One caution is that (since July 2023?) the ANA flights from YVR arrive at Terminal 2 (the Domestic terminal for ANA) as opposed to Air Canada and all other foreign carriers departing from and arriving to Terminal 3, which is the international terminal. JAL may follow the same suit as ANA and fly from/to Terminal 1 (which is almost exclusively used by JAL).
    • ZipAir, a LCC based in Tokyo, has started flying between YVR and NRT since March 2024.
  • LAX and HND
    • There are 4 carriers flying direct between LAX and HND: JAL (One World), ANA (Star Alliance), American and Delta. ANA leaves after the midnight and arrive very early in the morning the following day..., which you might not want to take. You can't check in till 3pm or something, hotels in Japan are generally very rigid about that and usually show no flexibility.
    • American and Delta leave LAX in the morning around 10~11AM and arrive in Tokyo just after 2PM. So, these are better ones to catch.
    • Similarly, there are 3 flights from HND to LAX by the same carriers, Delta and American leave around 4PM, while ANA at 23:30.
  • LAX and NRT
    • Most of flights from the west coast US to NRT leaves in the morning to early afternoon (10-13) and arrive in Narita the next day mid-late afternoon (3-5PM).
    • Most of flights from NRT to LAX leaves late afternoon (about 5pm) and arrive in LAX before noon the same day.
    • When you do arrive in Narita, and you are not familiar with the train system, you will want to book a hotel in Tokyo to which buses will directly take you. Cab ride to Tokyo will be over $300, so you don't want to do that.
  • Flying into Osaka
    • KIX, Kansai Airport is the only international airport in the Kansai area (Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nara) that many international carriers fly into. This is located south of Osaka, and takes about 50min to Osaka and 90 min to Kyoto by train.
    • There is also Itami (ITM) airport, which serves as a domestic airport. This is located in the north of Osaka, and takes about 20-25min by cab in early morning or roughly 30min by (multiple) trains to get to the central part (Umeda). You could easily find flights between Haneda and Itami (at least every 30min) but only a few a day from/to Narita.
        There is no airport in Kyoto, nor in Nara.
    • KIX is farther to Osaka than Kobe (domestic) airport (UKB). So, UKB could be an option if you fly domestically. There's even a ferry service between KIX and UKB.
    • Air Canada (Rouge) used to fly between YVR and KIX, I flew once myself, but this appears to have been suspended since the pandemic.
      Air Canada has resumed flights between YVR and KIX (since May 2024), AND added direct flights between YYZ (Toronto) and KIX, 3 a week between June 17 and Oct 25 2024 (more).
  • Other airports
    • Fukuoka (FUK)
      • There are many inter-Asia flights from/to Fukuoka airport. It is only 10 min away from the central part of Fukuoka (Hakata station) by subway, and to the bullet trains, making it a convenient port of entry to Japan from other Asian countries.
        It might take additional 20-30min to move from the international terminal to the domestic one by shuttle bus where the subway station is located (I have never tried myself). You could take a cab directly between the international terminal and Hakata station, and that will be 15-20min (around JPY2,000).
    • Sapporo/Shin-Chitose (CTS)
      • Air Canada will fly directly to/from CTS from/to YVR between 2026-12-17 and 2027-03-25. For more.

(Mandatory?) Online Customs Declaration

If you try to online check-in to an Air Canda flight to Japan, you will most likely be asked if you've completed the online customs declaration at Visit Japan Web, or you won't even be able to start the check-in process. Not sure if this is specific to Air Canada. But it's best to register yourself and complete declaration, and get a QR code, and capture it as a screenshot prior to heading to the airport.

Business Cards

Business cards are still a thing in Japan, so you will distribute a lot more business cards in Japan than you'd normally do elsewhere. Reprint if you are short on yours.

  • It's also a good idea to have a pdf version of your business card so you can print locally in Japan (at Kinko's). Normally this can be done overnight. 100 pcs (double sided and color) for less than JPY10,000 (in Oct 2025).
  • When ordering your SideFX cards at Kinko's
    • Size: 91mm x 55mm
    • Paper: ニューVマット (or 'New V Matte') for double sided color
  • If you want to add your name in Japanese (Katakana), it's probably best to print in Japan too.

Cash, Debit and Credit Cards

  • While most of hotels and restaurants (but not all) will accept major credit cards (Visa/MC and AMEX), you will need more cash than you'd normally carry in North America (US). This is to buy a train IC card and to recharge it, and also buying small things (coffee, snacks, coin lockers, etc), and cabs (while most of taxis in Tokyo now take credit cards and train IC cards, there are more chances of taxis not taking non-cash payment outside Tokyo.
      The Go taxi app makes getting a cab and paying with a credit card extemely easy, and you probably won't have to speak a word of Japanese (or of any language at all). This works in most of the major cities in Japan including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Sendai, Sapporo and others.
  • You can withdraw JPY cash directly from your US/Canada bank account at ATMs inside 7-Eleven and few others in Japan (there are few right outside the customs at Haneda Airport). The ATMs inside Japan Post, which was the only option until 2018 or so, no longer do this. Additional fees is applied but as far as I believe, it's more favorable than the foreign exchange kiosks at airports. So you can get JPY cash once you've landed.
  • When paying with your (Canadian) credit card, you may be given a choice between paying in JPY or CDN. Always pay in the local currency (JPY while in Japan) to avoid more expensive conversion.

IC Train Cards (Suica, Pasmo, Icoca, etc.)

In general, the first thing you'll want to do after you've come out of the customs area is to

  1. find an ATM and get cash, and then
  2. buy an IC train Cards (General Information: Japan Guide)
    • either Suica or Pasmo if you are arriving in Haneda,
    • ICOCA if arriving in KIX. Suica/Pasmo and ICOCA are almost completely interchangeable, except one known limitation on ICOCA.
    • Arriving in Narita, you don't need a Suica/Pasmo immediately if you are to get on Narita Express or Skyliner, as you wil be given paper tickets, especially when the queue for IC Card is very long, so consider buying one once you've arrived in Tokyo.
        Try not to buy Welcome Suica, that's only good for 28 days, you won't get a refund once expired, unless you know you won't come back.
You will want to load it up with at least 5,000 yen if you are staying for a week (or 5 business days).

These IC train cards work not only for train tickets but also for

  • coin lockers
  • vending machines
  • taxis
  • at convenience stores (7-elven, FamilyMart, Lawson, etc) and chain coffee shops and restaurants (e.g. Starbucks and Tullys, Yoshinoya, McD, etc.)
  • commuter green car seats
but not all.

The major drawback of these physical IC train cards is that when you recharge or add funds, the machine only accepts cash, and there's no other way. So, you need to withdraw cash beforehand.

There is a Suica app for iPhones. With this, the fund can be added with a credit card or ApplePay, but for some reasons, there was one person with a US iPhone whose Suica app did not work at all in Tokyo (Oct 2025). We still don't know why.

There was a period of time when IC Cards were not available for new purchase because of shortage of the chip inside. This restriction has since been lifted, and as of late 2025 they could be purchased again at most of stations, not necessarily the biggest stations like Tokyo, Shinjuku, but also at stations like Shinbashi.

Additional info on IC train cards

Dietary (or being a vegetarian/vegan)

Clean Socks

Some restaurants (and other more traditional establishments) require you to take your shoes off. In that case, you will want clean socks on :)

Electricity

  • The voltage in Japan is 100V. Most of power outlets are for two prongs, the same one as the iPhone charger, so your camera and phone chargers should work fine without converters. But if your laptop AC adapter has the 3 prong plug, you will want one or two 3->2 prong adapters. I usually have 2 of those in my suitcase.

Wifi router/E-Sim

It's best that you book one online in advance before you start your journey. This will save quite a lot of money. Usually walking into a wifi shop at the airport without a reservation can get very expensive (e.g. over JPY20K for 2 weeks when walk-in as opposed to JPY9K for the same duration when booked online).

  • Mobile Wifi router: I normally rent one from here (all in Japanese) so multiple devices (up to 5) can access simultaneously.
  • E-sim: My daughters have been using airalo. You need to download the app on your phone, and activate. Make sure to turn off your "Cellular Data" when using your e-sim in Japan, or you will be charged from your carrier as well.

LAN access

Almost all hotels in Japan have free wifi, but the speed varies quite a lot. It helps if you've prepared for LAN access (Ethernet=wired) for your laptop, not just wifi. But, I am more convinced now that the network connectivity at a hotel room is almost entirely by luck. Sometimes, you stay in a hotel with a decent connectivity while it's just you in your group who suffer. At some hotel, wired network is much faster than wifi, at some it's completely opposite, and some other time, wifi crawls only for a period(s) of time, in the morning before everyone leaves and at night right before everyone falls asleep.

At some hotel, if you ask for a help, they may bring a pocket wifi router to your room to boost the connectivity. So, it may help if you ask.

UPDATED: Mobile Batteries

Airlines are to enforce even more strict restrictions over carry-on mobile batteries in the wake of recent in-flight fire incidents. The Japanese airlines (JAL and ANA) are reported to enforce new rules from July 8, 2025.

  • < 100Wh: no restriction
  • 100Wh ~ 160Wh: 2 per person
  • > 160Wh: not allowed
  • In the cabin, mobile batteries must stay somewhere reachable, and NOT in the overhead bin

    Watt-hours (Wh) = Volts (V) x Amp hour (Ah)
Wh = V x (mAh / 1000)
    If you have a 10000mah 3.7V battery, such as Anker Powercore 10K, that's 37Wh.

Check the Canadian Authority, which states "Avoid charging onboard" among other guidelines.

Air Canada is banning (under "Batteries and Personal Electronic Devices")

  • Anker Power Bank A1647
  • Anker Zolo Power Bank A1681
  • Anker Zolo Power Bank A1689
and these products are on a recall. But electric toothbrushes and/or shavers can be packed in your checked baggage.

You should check the latest before you fly.

Medication

You should consult with other sources, but I just came to know that while (regular) Tylenol (Acetaminophen/Paracetamol), Advil (Ibuprofen), and Alevecan (Naproxen) are permitted to bring into Japan for personal use, generally up to a two-month supply, without special paperwork, the followings are prohibited:

  • Tylenol Cold
  • Tylenol Sinus
  • Nyquil
and other stimulant-based medications.

Melatonin is also permintted for personal use, up to a two-month supply without special paperwork.

Packing

Check this video. This is by far the most comprehensive video I've watched about just packing to travel to Japan (35min by kensho Quest, March 2026).

Traveling within Japan

Between Tokyo and Osaka or Kyoto, we usually take the bullet train though depending on schedule we may choose to fly to ITM (Osaka). Should avoid KIX (Kansai) for a domestic flight unless you head to Wakayama City, or Sakai (堺) and its south. KIX is far, farther to Osaka than from Kobe airport.

We normally take cabs outside Tokyo (i.e. Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, etc). The Go taxi app makes cab rides extremely easy.

  • Tokyo
  • Yokohama
  • Kyoto
    When booking the bullet train for Kyoto and Osaka and want to view Mt. Fuji from your window, book the E (and D) side seat. The A side is always facing Pacific Ocean regardless of the direction of train.
      Even if you couldn't get an E seat, you could always walk to one of the deck areas to take photos. If you are on a Nozomi, it will be about 40min after departing Tokyo station, and for about 4min.
    • Haneda to Kyoto
    • Kyoto Sightseeing
    • Kyoto to ITM (Itami/Osaka Airport)
      • Roughly 60 min by bus. Leaves from various places in Kyoto, but the one on the Hachijo exit (south side) of JR Kyoto station is most frequent and roughly every 20min after 10AM (Time table).
  • From the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) to NRT
    • Fly from ITM to NRT
        You could fly from ITM to NRT and catch your outbound flight. However, the number of flights to NRT is limited. e.g. only one available with ANA in the afternoon (14:05-15:30), so the connection could be very tight.
          In Oct 2025, I had the said ANA flight, but I had to take a bus from the aircraft to the terminal building when landed, and had to go through the security (again). Not sure if this is a new norm, as I remember I didn't have to go through the security before the pandemic, which was the reason I chose to fly. Either case, when I got to the gate for my 17:15 AC flight for YVR, boarding had already begun. I made it to my flight OK but no time for shopping.
    • Bullet train to Shinagawa
      • Another approach is to take the bullet train back to Shinagawa, one stop before Tokyo. It will be 2.5 hours from Osaka and 2 hours from Kyoto.
      • Then transfer to Narita Express at Shinagawa (70 min, 2 available almost every hour between noon and 7pm, :24 and :49).
      • This way, the walk is much shorter than transferring at Tokyo station. But you might want to stay in Shinagawa the night before if you don't want to be stressed out.

Links

Last Update: 2026-03-15

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