Tokyo Travel Essentials
Traveling to Tokyo, Japan? Lucky you! Tokyo has so much to offer, make sure you pack accordingly to get the most out of your travels. No one likes traveling and having to scramble to buy things before getting to see anything!
Don’t underestimate the sheer size of the city, Tokyo is truly massive. If it’s your first time visiting the city, chances are you’ll spend most of the day on your feet exploring so comfy shoes are an absolute must! Here are a few essential things you should have on you when traveling in Tokyo, Japan.
SMALL, LIGHTWEIGHT BACKPACK
Get a backpack or bag that allows you to be hands free. You’ll want something to hold all of your daily essentials when traveling in Tokyo and to have room for the things you may purchase along the way.
WET WIPES / NAPKINS
Be prepared, always have a pack of wet wipes or napkins on you! Napkins aren’t always easy to come by in Japan. At some restaurants you’ll be given a wet towel to wipe your hands at the beginning of your meal and to use throughout your meal.
CASES AND POUCHES
Compartmentalize and protect the goods! Put all your little things into cases or pouches then put those into your main bag. This will make finding things in your bag SO much easier.
SUNGLASSES
To low key people watch, or are we the only ones who do this? Shibuya Crossing is the best place to people watch in Tokyo!
HEADPHONES + IPOD
Self explanatory, for music. You don’t want to drain your phone’s battery to listen to music so why not bring an mp3 player if you have one?
Bose On-Ear Headphones + Apple iPod shuffle
CAMERA
We mainly used our iPhone 6S as the camera for this trip but we did bring along our DSLR for those long exposure and low light shots. A good camera is highly recommended, the pictures you take will last a lifetime, might as well make sure they’re high quality!
PASSPORT + PASSPORT HOLDER
Protect your goods! Shopping tip: bring your passport with you and when you spend $100 or more at select shops your purchase will be tax free! Otherwise sales tax in Tokyo is 8%.
RAIL PASS
An essential for traveling around Tokyo. This card will save you time and make traveling SO much easier, read more here (COMING SOON).
CASH | Japanese Yen (¥)
Japan is a cash country. Only large businesses like department stores accept credit cards, so as a general rule you always have cash on hand. Plus credit card transaction and international fees are not fun.
DRY SHAMPOO
For when your hair needs a pick-me-up. We swear by dry shampoo, one of the greatest inventions ever! Especially needed if you’re traveling in the summer.
POWERBANK
To stay fully charged throughout the day! We purchased this particular powerbank and use it daily. A personal life safer, over and over again. It’s our favorite power bank, and we have four! Seriously.
CHANGE HOLDER
As mentioned previously, Japan is a cash country. And unlike America, their coins hold more value (ex: $1, $5 coins). Even when we broke big bills we would be given change in all coins, so we ended up converting a pencil pouch we brought along into a handy change purse #winning.
COMFY SHOES
The best way to see a city is the run through it, or in our case, to walk through it. Comfy shoes are a must, there’s a lot to see in Tokyo!
One Last Thing
One important travel essential that isn’t pictured: a pocket Wi-Fi device. Best. Thing. Ever. It is the black rectangular case at the bottom right in the picture above. The case held the device itself, charging cable and power adapter, and a user manual. A pocket Wi-Fi WILL GAVE YOU LIFE when traveling in Tokyo. A flawless Wi-Fi connection everywhere you go, don’t get lost without it!
More information on renting a pocket wifi here (COMING SOON).
What are some of your travel essentials?
Comment below!
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Super helpful tips! Thanks for sharing.
Pocket wifi devices are amazing! Great list!
I wish we had them in the US!
Super helpful post! I just got back from a month in Japan, and definitely agree with all of these! 🙂
Love Japan, can’t wait to be back!
Love the layout of your site and this post! Great inspiration for my planned posts with a similar format in terms of how to arrange it all one the page. Oh, and the tips are pretty good too 🙂
Thank you! I’m so happy I was able to give you some formatting ideas 🙂
Love this list! Will definitely keep it in mind, I’ve always wanted to go to Tokyo 😍
The backpack is definitely an essential while traveling in Tokyo! I also found it helpful to carry a small ziploc bag so I could put any garbage in it. When I went I had trouble finding trash bins so it was handy having the small ziploc around.
The ziploc bag is genius and definitely needed! I kind of just put my trash in my pocket until I eventually found a trashbin..
Such an awesome post!!!! Love all your photos and that backpack is so cute!
What did we all do before power banks?? I’ve actually never tried dry shampoo prepares for life to be changed.
Haha, I live by dry shampoo!
Not only essentials things for a day out in Tokyo, but some great tips on life in Japan as well. I had no idea Japan was so big on cash. It’s so futuristic you’d expect they accept only credit cards and no cash everywhere! Tokyo is still pretty high on our bucket list, so thanks for the tips. 😉
My thoughts exactly! I planned on using my credit card the whole trip, but luckily I read up beforehand about it being a very cash country.
Wet Wipes is my thing wherever I travel too. Great ideas for a trip to Tokyo!
I just got back from Tokyo and had a blast! The city exceeded my expectations.
Great tips. I liked polarized sunglasses. Dry shampoo is something new for me. Will try.
Dry shampoo is the best!
Super helpful! Looking forward to that pocket wifi post!
Ditch the pocket wifi. Way too expensive. Get a Project Fi smartphone which you can tether any device. Besides a Project Fi smartphone allows you to make phone calls. And, your friends and family can call you as it will have a US phone number.