What I Wish I Packed for Japan (And What I Didn’t Need)

Hey, I'm Mika and I wanted to share all the things that I think you need to bring with you when you go to Japan as well as things I ended up not using so hopefully you save space and learn from my mistakes. I'm half Japanese so I've been to Japan quite a few times in my life and I studied abroad in Tokyo so I'm quite familiar with packing for Japan. If you happen to be packing as we speak or planning a future trip to Japan, hopefully some of these tips will help ease some of your travel anxiety because boy do I know that well. So this video will be broken down into three parts. One will be the things I think you should bring with you, two, I'm going to go over all the things that I brought and regret bringing because I never used, and three, I'm going to have some extra tips at the end. So these are all the things that I think you should bring with you on your trip to Japan. The first thing being modest, breathable clothing. In general, Japan is still a very modest clothing society so you're going to be seeing a lot of longer skirts, longer pants, longer sleeves. You're also not going to be seeing a lot of tight fitting clothing or lower cut tops. That being said, people wear shorts, people wear like shorter skirts. Wear what makes you feel comfortable but just keep this in mind. I think to avoid some of the stares, which I like to do, I always tend to dress a little bit more on the modest side. From my perspective, I highly recommend bringing lightweight, natural fabrics that breathe. Some of the pieces that I wore most when I was in Japan were these black linen trousers. This gingam gani dress, and this white linen midi skirt. I actually wore a lot of these long linen skirts. I felt covered but I didn't feel hot from it, which is amazing. At the core of everything I brought was trying to look as put together as possible. In Japan, people really do dress up so you're not going to see people wearing athleisure or anything. Keep that in mind when you're packing. The second item I highly recommend you bringing is a collapsible, reusable shopping bag. This is like an actual must. You're going to be shopping a lot while you're in Japan and you do not want to carry around like a big, heavy backpack or like a huge purse. I didn't have one so I did buy this. I bought my shukupato bag from Donki and it was the best purchase I bought while I was in Japan because I used it all the time when I was there. Like literally every day. It was so tiny, so easy to fold. It has like a nice elastic to keep it all in place and it fit really well in my purse. Anyway, bring a reusable bag if you can. Something lightweight. You will be using it all the time. The third thing is a portable charger. When you're in Japan, when you're traveling, you're going to have these long days and you're going to be taking a lot of photos, a lot of video. You're going to be on Google Maps like all the time trying to figure out where you go next. You do not want to be stuck in Japan and like not really speak Japanese and not know how to get around. It's just an anxiety you want to try and avoid. Make sure to bring a portable charger. I did and my phone was always dead by the end of the day, so I ended up using my portable charger nearly every day when I was there. The fourth thing is a compact umbrella. If you go to Japan in the summertime, you're going during tsuyu, which is the rainy season and that ranges from mid-June to end of July, but also if you're going anywhere between May and early fall, which is about October, you'll potentially be going during typhoon season, which also is super rainy and can be very humid and hot as well. So I would recommend bringing a compact umbrella. I ended up buying this. This is a UV protection parasol for both sun and rain. If it was raining, I obviously use this and I also use this in the sun, so it would protect me from the heat as well as protect my skin from any sun damage and a lot of people in Japan actually do this. So I highly recommend you packing one or if you're like me, just buy one when you get there. The next thing is skincare or medications you personally rely on. You can obviously buy everything when you're in Japan, but there are things that you need that are special to you. For me, it's like my contacts. I cannot find them in Japan and I literally cannot see without them. So make sure you bring your specialized health goods. Okay, so the last thing is comfortable, versatile shoes. Obviously this is like a no-brainer. You're going to be walking so much when you're in Japan. On average, I think a tourist walks around 20,000 steps, which is like insane, but it's such a like easy walkable city. You're going to use public transport everywhere, which is like so refreshing and amazing and awesome. I love that in a city, but that all being said, make sure you're bringing shoes that can withstand that much walking. For me, I brought my Tevas and they're amazing because they're like pretty unassuming, but also I can walk 10, 20,000 steps in them like no problem and they also kind of go with everything. The other shoe I ended up wearing a lot while I was in Japan were these Adidas Sambas. They are pretty comfortable. They are a little bit flat, but I liked how they kind of went with everything. They're casual, but they don't look sloppy, which is really important because people in Japan really do dress up and that is something to keep in mind. Make sure you're bringing a shoe that you can walk 10,000 to 20,000 steps in no problem every day. Now let's move on to everything I regret bringing with me on my trip to Japan. So there was quite a bit of stuff that I brought with me that I regret. It took up so much space and it was just like unnecessary weight that I had. The first was clothes. So I mentioned earlier about like the being modest thing. I had known this in the past. Like I said, I've been to Japan many times and yet I still brought things that I wouldn't wear in Japan. The first two things were these V-neck vests, because it's V-neck and pretty form-fitting. I didn't gravitate towards these vests very often. The blue one I actually didn't wear at all. And then the next thing was this matching linen short skirt. Again because of the length, I didn't feel comfortable wearing this. The denim shorts. I don't know why I packed them. I didn't find women wearing denim shorts very often there. I didn't wear these once. Because I packed these things I ended up not wearing, that meant there was a lot of outfits I ended up repeating. There was a point where I started running out of clothes. So I did buy a few things at Uniqlo, which is another tip. You can always buy clothing in Japan when you're there. There are so many options. GU, Uniqlo, Muji. I ended up buying this Uniqlo tank top, which I ended up wearing quite a bit while I was in Japan. It was sleeveless, but because it was a high neckline, it gave me a lot of coverage. And then I also bought this lightweight cardigan that I would throw on top of things sometimes. The second thing I regret bringing was personal care excess. So that's like anything like shampoo or any extra personal care items. Japan is the motherland of all things skincare, so I would recommend just bringing your bare essentials and then leaving some excess room to play. I knew all this going in and I still think I overpacked. This way, again, you will also minimize how much you're bringing and you'll just have a lighter situation in general. The third thing is excess technology. I thought I'd film more with my camera, so I brought my DSLR. And I didn't use it once because number one, it's heavy, it didn't fit in my purse easily, and my phone was just so simple, light, and I always had it with me. So I ended up using my phone all the time. It was also much more discreet. But that being said, if you're a big camera person and you like to record and you like to do all that stuff, you know, do it. Amazing. Good for you. I just didn't do it. The other thing was I brought both my laptop and my iPad, and I didn't use my iPad once when I was there because I was obviously so busy doing stuff all day that I didn't have time to watch a movie or whatever. Tear down on the tech. It's heavy. You probably won't use it. And it's just an unnecessary stress of just lugging that around everywhere. The fourth thing is too many shoes and accessories. I touched on this before. Make sure you bring comfortable shoes, right? But on the flip side, don't bring the stuff that's not comfortable. So I brought a pair of these cute Mary Janes that I didn't end up wearing that much. Not that they are not comfortable. Okay, I'm going to interrupt here. These shoes ended up being actually really uncomfortable the first day I wore them. They really ripped up my heels. I had to actually buy these bandages. Also on the accessories front, I brought a couple of bags. This bag is really cute and I did carry it around sometimes, but because of the size, it was at times a little bit annoying and I ended up carrying my large red coach a lot more. The last thing is exercise stuff. I thought I was going to have a lot more time to exercise when I was there, which is very wishful thinking. In general, I walked like 20,000 steps a day when I was in Japan. I didn't really need to exercise because I was just doing so much more activity that I normally don't do. But for me, I didn't use it at all. I would recommend not bringing your exercise stuff unless you have some kind of training you have to do or you do a lot of exercise, it's good for you. Now we're on to the general bonus tip section. These are the things that I would generally recommend for when you're packing for Japan. The first thing, you can always buy it when you're in Japan unless it's your passport or something that's extremely vital to your life. If you forget something, you can go to stores like Donki, which is Don Quixote, Sun Drug, Matsumoto, Kiyoshi, Hen's, Muji. Also any convenience store like 7-Eleven, Lawson's, Family Mart, you can get toothpaste, like that type of stuff. You can find it, you can buy it for cheaper and it's just not a big deal. So don't put so much stress on yourself, just make sure you have the basics. The second tip is leave a lot of space in your suitcase. You're going to end up buying a lot more than you anticipated. I've had friends and family that go to Japan and only brought a carry-on and kind of regret not having bought more. Tokyo is such a mecca for shopping, so if I were you, just leave a little bit extra space if you think you need. For me, like I brought a checked-in suitcase and most of it was empty and I ended up having a big haul, which I actually made a video here, check that out if you're interested. Kind of like a sub-tip from this point is if you do buy too much and you just don't have the space, you can always buy a suitcase at Donki, it's not the end of the world. A lot of tourists do this. To sum this all up, make sure you bring what you need. Your passport, your money, your phone. Everything else is pretty replaceable. Pack a little lighter than you normally do. It's just easier on you if you're traveling around a lot and it also gives you the opportunity to fill it with some nice little baby souvenirs while you're in Japan. I hope you have a great trip to Japan. Let me know what you pack, what you don't pack. Let me know what you regret bringing because packing is really stressful. I completely understand that and the only way we learn is through doing. So good luck, I hope your trip goes well or I hope it went well and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.