Japan travel guides that get the numbers right
We run 楽マニ (Rakumani), a Japanese comparison site that tracks mobile plans, credit card rewards and cashless payments every month. These English guides apply the same fact-checking discipline to the questions visitors from Singapore, Vietnam, China and beyond ask most: how to get online, and how to pay.
Arriving: Visit Japan Web, Immigration, Customs
The QR code that speeds up arrival, the entry stamp automated gates don’t give you, duty-free allowances, and the food that gets confiscated.
Read the guide →🧭Tool: Which SIM Should You Buy?
Five questions and you get a straight answer — travel eSIM, airport SIM, pocket Wi-Fi or a plan with a Japanese number.
Read the guide →📱Tourist SIM & eSIM in Japan
eSIM vs airport SIM vs pocket Wi-Fi: real 2026 prices, the "unlimited" fine print, and what to set up before you land.
Read the guide →💳Cashless Payments in Japan
Welcome Suica, tap-to-ride with your credit card, which QR wallets from home actually work, ATMs — and the November 2026 tax-free change.
Read the guide →🛍️Tax-Free Shopping in Japan
How the 10% tax exemption works, what counts, where to claim it — and exactly what changes when Japan switches to airport refunds on November 1, 2026.
Read the guide →🚆Airport to City: Narita, Haneda & Kansai
Train, bus or taxi? Real fares and journey times for every major route into Tokyo and Osaka, which ones take a credit-card tap, and the late-night options.
Read the guide →🧳Big Luggage on the Shinkansen
Suitcases over 160 cm need a free seat reservation on the Tokyo–Osaka route — and cost ¥1,000 on board if you skip it.
Read the guide →🎫JR Pass & Rail Passes: Worth It in 2026?
The nationwide JR Pass rarely pays off since the 2023 price hike. We run the break-even math and show the regional passes that usually beat it.
Read the guide →🧳Send Your Luggage Ahead (Takkyubin)
Ship the suitcase to your next hotel or the airport and travel hands-free: what it costs, how to book it at the front desk, and when to use a locker instead.
Read the guide →🆘Emergencies: Who to Call, What It Costs
110 and 119, the 24-hour hotlines that can interpret for you, why visitors pay 100% of hospital costs on the spot, and what to do when the ground shakes.
Read the guide →🏨Where to Stay: Taxes, Check-In & Onsen
The lodging tax charged at the front desk city by city, why hotels photocopy your passport, and how to use a public bath without embarrassment.
Read the guide →🏪Convenience Stores as Travel Infrastructure
Which konbini ATM takes your foreign card and in how many languages, why the free Wi-Fi mostly vanished, and the services worth walking in for.
Read the guide →💊Drugstore Shopping in Japan
Which chain to walk into, how tax-free works on cosmetics and medicine (including the sealed-bag rule), and the customs limits that catch people on the way home.
Read the guide →How these guides are maintained
- Every price and rule is checked against an official or primary source, linked at the bottom of each guide.
- Values are representative as of the “last checked” date shown on each guide — Japanese pricing and campaigns change frequently.
- We do not currently place affiliate links on these English pages; links go to official sites.