The must do things before you fly to Japan.

So I've already done a video of what to do when you arrive in Japan, especially when you get to the airport.

But in this video, I wanted to focus on what you need to do before even getting on the plane.

So what a lot of people don't know about coming to Japan is that it's a very much a reservation based culture, meaning that if you want to go into some of the higher class places, or if you want to go to some high end restaurants for some very, very popular spots here in Tokyo or throughout Japan, you have to make reservations.

In fact, some of the things that will be talking about in this video It's so difficult to get in that you have to book months in advance, and by the time you arrived in Japan, it's already too late.

So I want to share this information review.

So when you get to Japan, you don't have that.

Oh, no moment where you're like, I really wanted to go here, but I can't also what you'll find is, if you do a little bit of prep work, you can save some money.

So that's another advantage of planning ahead and doing all these things before you fly to Japan.

Over all, the whole point of this video is to help all of you out so you can maximize your time here in Japan.

But before I start like always, if you want to help support the channel, check out the Tokyo merge.

I'm going to see what I'm doing on the daily.

Check out my INSTAGRAM account and if you have questions about your upcoming trip to Japan or you want to connect with people who love Japan recently created discord Community for you to connect.

Links are always in the description, and finally, I wanted to give a quick shout out to our sponsor Mobile Sim cards.

Without them, I couldn't make all of these videos for all of you.

In fact, my first tip, before coming to Japan is organizing a SIM card.

Having a SIM card overseas makes life so much easier.

I'm able to connect all by social media.

I'm able to connect all my e mails as well as just be able to navigate throughout the entire country.

What's nice about Mobile is that they offer free shipping all throughout the world, and once you've ordered it, it'll come with in a few days so that when you land in Japan, you'll have your SIM card ready to go.

And for those of you who are watching this video just before your trip, you can actually make a same day orders and pick it up When you arrive in Japan.

Mobile has a free pickup spots at the airport as well.

There's a free pickup spots in cities all throughout Japan, making it super convenient.

I'll tell you a little bit more about Mobile later on in this video, but for now, let's move on to some more things that you need to do before flying to Japan.

But it just seems to be too many cars here, so I'm gonna move to a quieter spot.

All right, that's a lot better.

Less cars, less noise.

All right, so let's continue this video number two Michelin in a high end restaurant.

So what you'll find with a lot of these Michelin high end restaurants is that the seats book up really quickly.

because a lot of these restaurants only have maybe 10 to 12 seats available, and the fact that they're already popular means that they get booked out 3 to 6 months in advance.

Just be very, very careful.

My first recommendation in all of this is just a kind of know which of the high end restaurants Michelin restaurants that you want to go to.

And then once you know, then have a look on their Web site on their Facebook page and check to see whether or not you can make reservations in advance and to see what the reservation weight is like a well funded.

Some of these restaurants don't accept online reservations.

They only accept phone reservations.

And even worse, some of the really old school restaurants on Lee accept reservations from regulars.

So many of these restaurants no longer accept looking directly from foreign travelers because of experience.

Too many no shows by travelers.

But what I wanted to share with you in this video is there's kind of work around around this, so the first thing you can do before you come to Japan has contact your hotel concierge because a lot of the times although they won't accept reservations from people overseas.

Some of the restaurants will accept reservations from your hotel concierge, so give them a call and see if they can make a reservation for you.

And then the second thing, if that's not possible, has actually online websites that will let you make reservations.

But if you do decide to use one of these online reservation systems, be aware that you're going to have to use a credit card can make the booking.

The two most travel friendly websites are pocket concierge and table check.

They're very similar and what they do.

But what I found is that table check is a bit easier to use in terms of the calendar.

There's more requests, options like what type of room you want and that kind of sort of thing.

And three, the booking is secured right away so that you know you have the seats.

But with websites like Park It concierge, you need to apply for the booking with payment, and then later you'll receive a confirmation whether or not you actually got the reservation.

The thing is, not all of the high class in Michelin restaurants are listed on these websites, he might want to check a couple of them, especially the old school ones.

They're probably not gonna be listed.

And finally, one of the last work arounds to getting into these high end restaurants.

It's actually use your guide.

If you're having a private tour and you've scheduled a private tour guide here in Japan, they can actually make the calls for you.

And since usually they're Japanese or their local, it's easier to make those reservations through them.

And if you're looking for a private tour guide in Tokyo, I actually have a friend that does it, so I'll leave a link in the description.

Next is hotel reservations.

This one would be pretty obvious.

Yes, Before you come to Japan, you need to make hotel reservations.

These days, a lot of people use a Goethe, Expedia or booking dot com to make those reservations.

Those sides air great, especially for English speakers.

But if you want more local websites, you can use websites like Rocket Travel or John that better deals and more options, especially when it comes to food options at the hotel.

But something to note about these West sites, especially when you're making reservations for, like hotels on Sands.

Real cons outside of like major cities like Tokyo is that a lot of them are sometimes just on Japanese Web sites, and a lot of them offer more deals on the Japanese websites.

In fact, a lot of these on scents and Rio cons frequented by Japanese people but you'll find, is that you need to make reservations even more advanced compared to booking your hotel in the city.

In fact, a lot of the higher end ones will get booked up quicker.

Now, on this talk about the Jr passed.

So for those of you who don't know that J R past is basically an all you can use a limited ride train pass for J R trains locally, as well as a Shinkansen bullet trains that go all throughout Japan.

So this is kind of a must, especially for travelers who are looking to travel quite a lot throughout Japan and not just days say, for example, in Tokyo.

We get so much more of a discount if you use it wisely.

A lot of Japanese people wish they could have, But J R past is only four travellers, so definitely you should look into this.

If you're gonna be doing a lot traveling, you can purchase three different durations.

You can get a seven day a 14 day in a 21 day pass, and then you can get a regular car or you can get a green car pass.

The green car pass allows you to get into nicer seats.

You should really, really consider ordering this before you get to Japan.

I'm A lot of countries have designated places where you can buy that J R past.

And it's not to say that you can't buy the Jr passed here in Japan, but you will save 10 to 20% if you buy it ahead of time.

So definitely if you want to save 10 20% by it beforehand.

But their looks like maybe some uncertified websites that you can buy the Jr passed in advance to reason I say it's uncertified is because it's not actually listed on the J R website.

I'm not saying that these websites one actually work, but just be careful when you're buying them from these online websites before buying.

These is to make sure that you're eligible and that you meet the requirements because even though you buy the passes, you might not be able to collect the passes, or you might not be able to use the passes.

If you don't meet, the requirements are, you're not eligible.

Oh, and something worth mentioning about the Jr past is that you can not only use them on trains, but you can also use them on buses and ferries.

Exceptions that do apply.

So definitely check the Web site to make sure that you can use it for that specific location in area.

Also been writing the Shinkansen on the Jr passed.

You can ride, unreserved sees, but if you want a ride reserve seats, you will need to go to the ticket booth in advance to reserve before you ride.

Also, if you're flying inner out of Narita Airport and taking the Neti Express, you can use the Jr passed to write it and save 6000 yen brown trip, which is about 55 U.

S.

Dollars so quickly.

I wanted to talk a little bit more about mobile sim cards and all of the cool things that they have to offer.

Mobile SIM cards are suitable for short and long term stays.

Basically, all plans come with unlimited data.

As a standard, you get seven gigabytes of data for G.

Lt speeds super, super fast.

But if you do need more data than you can, definitely upgrade to one of their larger plans.

And if you need, you can get a real Japanese phone number, which makes it super convenient.

If you need to call people here in Japan, or if you need people to call you after or in the card, online will come in a package like this.

Open it up like so So this is the actual SIM card that they send to you.

As you can see, it's a soft and card.

In fact, it's on the same mobile network that I use on a daily basis, which covers 99% of Japan's population.

So you know you'll be covered just like me.

Also, Mobile offers English language support and, best of all, mobile guarantees that a majority of the profits go to charity.

If you want to get your mobile SIM card and be connected when you arrive here in Japan, check out the Lincoln description.

Now let's talk about reservations for Disney.

So what you'll find with the restaurants at Disneyland and Disney Sea is that it's really difficult and extremely hard to get in if you don't have reservations, especially the higher end restaurants.

The good thing, though, is all the restaurants can be booked on the Disney website.

So if you wanna have dinner at a nice restaurant in Disney, you should definitely book ahead.

I mean, just to give you example.

Michael and I have been to Disney see so many times our favorite restaurant as Magellan.

Every time you go there, try to look book a few days in advance and it's all booked up and, like the only seats we can get our life for really, really odd times.

Maybe like 4 p.m. We have, like an early dinner.

If you're okay with 4 p.m. that's fine.

But if you wanna have dinner at, say, like, six or seven PM, then definitely make a booking in advance.

Also, something a note about the Disney resorts is at the hotels at busy lead and dizzy.

See, get booked up, especially like the Ambassador Hotel and meet a Costa.

Those get booked up at least like one month in advance to be careful if you want to stay there.

The good thing compared to restaurants is that they have up to five months advance booking.

So you do have time and another personal story.

Michael and I have tried to stay at the Mayor Costa with a park side view.

We try to book one week in advance, and the rooms are all booked or they're just super insanely expensive, like several times the cost of a normal hotel.

If you book a few months in advance so we, like, end up not doing it because we're like, Oh, well, just look at a few months and that's next time and we never do it.

So that's kind of another reason why I wanted to show that Disney experience with you, because if you are excited to come to Japan and check out Disney Resort, you're gonna want to make all of these reservations weighing events.

And I don't want you guys stuck not getting to actually experience Disney here in Japan or having to pay through the roof to get that Disney experience.

Just plan ahead.

Finally, if you want to get Disney tickets you don't actually need to buy them in advance, but if you do buy the tickets in advance, you are able to skip the lines at the entrance and just, like, scan your tickets.

So and in fact, if you want more tips about Disneyland and Disney Sea, I've actually made a complete video on that for tips and hacks.

So check out that video.

I'll leave a Lincoln description.

Next.

Let's talk about visas Now.

This one is probably a no brainer.

Before coming to any country, you want to make sure you have the proper visa to get in.

So if you're currently a citizen of one of the 68 countries listed here, and you're granted a general visa exemption, and you only need to show a valid passport to enter Japan as a temporary visitor, which allows you upto a 90 day visit except if you're from Bernau I in Indonesia, which gets 15 days or United Arab Emirates for 30 days.

But if you're not from any of these countries and you're gonna need to formally apply for a visa, it may very per countries are definitely check on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website you may need to prepare items like photos, birth certificates, invitation letters and Ginter documents, which takes time.

So be prepared.

Now let's talk about special events.

So for sports related events like sumo or baseball, you definitely need to check the season schedule because it doesn't go all throughout the year.

But it has its own season.

What you'll find is that earlier in the season, tickets are easier to get.

But as you go through towards the end of the seasons than the tickets are harder and harder to get.

So let me go through sumo.

So sumo seasons are a bit different than your typical sports.

They run in tournament form six times a year, called Basho in various locations in Japan.

Here's the 2020 schedule and the 2021 scheduled for reference.

Basically, there are three tiers of seats.

Ringside box seats and balcony seats, ringside being the most difficult to obtain.

There's also Juice Seki, which are free seating tickets, but they're not available for pre sales, and they sell out quickly from ADM on each day of the Sumo Tournament.