Japan Winter 2022/23 Trip Report (TDR, Kamakura, Tokyo, Universal, Osaka, Nara) Complete!

[wanderlust7]

Did you just keep adding money in small amounts? Sounds like that's simple enough to do if linked to your Apple Wallet.

The minimum reload is 1000 yen. I did 1000 or 2000 as we went along.

 

[MasonsG]

I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you posted this trip report, we are going to Tokyo and Osaka first of April and hoping you won't mind a couple questions.
Did you ever try using a taxi, we are also a group of 4 (2 grandparents, adult daughter and 13 yr old grandson), I know vehicles are smaller- do you know if they allow 4 passengers in a taxi. We are staying in Shibuya and taking the metro to DisneySea is a lot longer by subway than taxi- like 1 hr 2 min plus a 17 min walk vs 18 min taxi ride, but the taxi ride will be expensive, especially if we have to take 2!
Your fantastic tip about tax on purchases, could you have just shown your passport card or did you have to carry your actual passport with you, I would much rather leave the passport locked at the hotel so was wondering.
We really appreciated your mentioning the teamLab Planets, I didn't even know I wanted to go see it until I looked at it on youTube, so very grateful you mentioned it.
We are also doing Universal in Osaka- at either it or DisneySea- did you happen to notice anything that seemed more like American food- like a burger or pizza for tweens. Our grandson is excited to see Japan but unfortunately not the most adventurous of eaters, we know you can't take food in the parks, or vending machines inside the parks that might have chips?
Huge thanks for the time you took to share your trip... there has not been a lot of updated info post covid.

 

[wanderlust7]

I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you posted this trip report, we are going to Tokyo and Osaka first of April and hoping you won't mind a couple questions.
Did you ever try using a taxi, we are also a group of 4 (2 grandparents, adult daughter and 13 yr old grandson), I know vehicles are smaller- do you know if they allow 4 passengers in a taxi. We are staying in Shibuya and taking the metro to DisneySea is a lot longer by subway than taxi- like 1 hr 2 min plus a 17 min walk vs 18 min taxi ride, but the taxi ride will be expensive, especially if we have to take 2!
Your fantastic tip about tax on purchases, could you have just shown your passport card or did you have to carry your actual passport with you, I would much rather leave the passport locked at the hotel so was wondering.
We really appreciated your mentioning the teamLab Planets, I didn't even know I wanted to go see it until I looked at it on youTube, so very grateful you mentioned it.
We are also doing Universal in Osaka- at either it or DisneySea- did you happen to notice anything that seemed more like American food- like a burger or pizza for tweens. Our grandson is excited to see Japan but unfortunately not the most adventurous of eaters, we know you can't take food in the parks, or vending machines inside the parks that might have chips?
Huge thanks for the time you took to share your trip... there has not been a lot of updated info post covid.

I'm so glad it was helpful to you!

We did take a taxi once with 2 adults and 2 kids. It was fine, I sat in the front next to the driver. There was a plexiglass divider. If you take a taxi, don't forget to consider traffic.

You need your actual passport because they need to scan the QR code that's on your entry sticker. Foreigners are actually legally required to carry their passports in Japan.

A lot of the food in the parks is American/Western. Don't think you'll have any trouble finding burgers or pizza. We only saw drink vending machines in the parks. Very reasonably priced compared to US parks (about $2 a bottle).

 

[MasonsG]

Thank you again for taking the time to help out, we grandparents had been to Japan twice before, but not since 2006. The world has changed post covid plus we hadn't done amusement parks back then. Having a tween grandson certainly keeps us younger. I will be far less nervous if we can all travel in the same taxi, not sure if rope drop is a thing in Tokyo DisneySea like it is here at Disneyland but we'll try to get in at opening. The wealth of info you provided about even using the vending machines has been invaluable. And very appreciative to know we actually need to carry our passports on us while in Japan. I believe before we left them in the hotel room safe and on the cruise ship, then carried xerox copies during the day. Thank you!!

 

[AndyR]

Rope drop at TDL & TDR is like rope drop in the USA but on steroids. The speed/rate at which they move guests through the turnstiles is amazing. Then there’s the mad speed walk (used to be a run) for the rides.

 

[MasonsG]

They must not be stopping them to attach a photo to each persons ticket like they do at DL in CA, I'll be mentally prepared for the stampede :0) Here even the bag check lines are daunting but thankfully it's kept everyone safe. And this will be my first experience with curry popcorn- we love regular popcorn, this will be interesting.

 

[wanderlust7]

They must not be stopping them to attach a photo to each persons ticket like they do at DL in CA, I'll be mentally prepared for the stampede :0) Here even the bag check lines are daunting but thankfully it's kept everyone safe. And this will be my first experience with curry popcorn- we love regular popcorn, this will be interesting.

There are only 1 day tickets currently, so there would be no need to attach a photo. Although I don't remember if they ever did that.

 

[MasonsG]

out of curiosity, when anyone was buying a Suica card, as we'll need 4 of them ( I don't have a phone wallet set up), was it best to take U.S. cash to buy the Suica cards or to charge them to a credit card? This will be our first trip using them, before we just bought metro tickets from the machines for each destination I believe. Where did you prefer to buy them- a bank, 7-11, metro station, Narita airport. We already have the bus transfer from Narita to the hotel in Shibuya. Now I can't imagine going with them.

 

[wanderlust7]

out of curiosity, when anyone was buying a Suica card, as we'll need 4 of them ( I don't have a phone wallet set up), was it best to take U.S. cash to buy the Suica cards or to charge them to a credit card? This will be our first trip using them, before we just bought metro tickets from the machines for each destination I believe. Where did you prefer to buy them- a bank, 7-11, metro station, Narita airport. We already have the bus transfer from Narita to the hotel in Shibuya. Now I can't imagine going with them.

In general, you can't buy or reload physical Suicas with a credit card. I did come across some info that said certain ticket machines take credit card, but I have no idea if it's true and we didn't try to find one.

You definitely can't buy it with USD cash. You'd have to exchange the USD cash for yen at a bank or currency exchange counter first.

I bought DH and DS's Suica at a JR counter at Narita, but only because I needed to get a child Suica and you can't get those at a machine. So just bought them all at the same time. Otherwise, I would have just used a ticket machine.

 

[MasonsG]

That is hugely helpful and makes perfect sense. I am going to be so much better prepared thanks to you. And just to mention, Disneyland in CA does take your picture even on single day tickets, at least as of the 7th of January, We used to have season passes for about a decade, but with all the changes, we just went with single day tickets this year. It wasn't even a hopper as we were mostly there to do Savi's workshop this trip, every single one of us had to have their picture attached to the scanned single day ticket.. I don't mind, it just does really add to how quickly the CM's can move the lines, love the excitement and anticipation at rope drop ;0) Nothing quite like it.! I'll bring cash to buy yen. Thanks!!!

 

[AndyR]

We usually use our US ATM cards to get cash at the 711 and then use that cash to reload our Suica cards.

 

[MasonsG]

That certainly makes things beyond convenient, I know 7-11 seem to be everywhere. Really excited, feel so much more prepared. Thank you all !!