Travel to Japan: Tips from an American’s First Visit in 2019
Tips you’ll find in this page - at a glance:
Choose your season of travel (there are more than just cherry blossom season)
Book excursions well in advance
Consider local immersions by booking an airbnb
Create a flexible itinerary
Download Google Maps and Google Translate (but make the effort to learn basic phrases)
Buy an external battery (or two) to keep your phone charged
Leave empty space in your luggage (for the souvenirs on your way back)
‘Cash is King’, so bring all your spending money as cash - credit cards are accepted but not everywhere
Essential things to do upon arrival at the airport - the JR Pass, prepaid train pass, Wi-Fi for your phone, and currency exchange here for best rate using your clean, unmarked and untorn bills
Expect to walk (looking at you, car-commuters) - take comfy shoes, bonus if easy slip-on/off
Be punctual, apologize when you’re not, and how being a good guest matters
Food etiquette (looking at you, mixers of wasabi in your soy saucer)
Matcha - what it is, where you’ll find it, and how it might leave your heart aching
There’s a bonus tip in there, too, with anecdotes and other tips spread throughout that are worth reading.
Photo by me, taken at teamLab Borderless musuem in Tokyo, April 2019
If you’re a fellow admirer of Japanese culture, and especially if you’re a lifelong fan of anime, then a trip to the land of the rising sun will be like returning home. That is the most authentic, raw way of describing what a nine-day trip felt to my heart in April 2019.
When it came to international travel, I had honestly always dreamt of honeymooning in Hawaii (yes, I notice the irony in describing the 50th state to join the United States as ‘international travel’ - but that’s how exotic the islands of Hawaii actually seem to us mainlanders). A trip to Japan was perhaps subconsciously such an impossibility that it never crossed my mind as a place for me to visit. But there I was, at the end of 2018 being invited by my new family to join them on a trip.
This was my first, but certainly should not be my last, trip to Japan, and I’d like to share with you the things that helped me prepare for an amazingly memorable trip (including some of the insights worthy of your awareness for your very own adventure in Japan).
Preparing Before your Flight
Choose Your Season - Do some research regarding what time of year you’d like to visit. Everyone reveres cherry blossom season, but have you considered the beautiful, deep reds that spread across the treetops in autumn? The wonderful thing you’ll learn about Japan is that it’s geographical composition allows for various experiences even within one season - so if you prefer snowy slops, the sub-artic conditions in Hokkaido are for you, while sunny beach days are plentiful in the sub-tropical conditions of Okinawa anytime of the year.
Consider as well that other travelers might be looking for the same experiences, so can you bare the busy-ness and higher costs of booking during cherry blossom season? Perhaps you’re looking to celebrate with the locals during their summer festivals. Or would you prefer the quiet, cool, and low-traffic months of mid-January to late March, to more easily get into the zen state of mind?
Everything has its pros and cons. So for a nicely descriptive explanation of what the weather is like in different seasons, with first hand anecdotes, I highly recommend this enjoyable post by travel blogger Katie Diederichs.
My trip days were chosen by my sister-in-law, whos Aires birthday we were to celebrate. We were to spend nine days total, from April 10th to the 19th, which means those blessed sakura were in our future.
A note on expectations - do away with most of them. Cherry blossom season is normally expected towards the end of March into early April, but during our first full-day touring on the 11th, our guide kept telling us how lucky we were to get the views we had of the cherry blossom. See, the cherry blossoms in the region began to bloom earlier than expected for that area, and because they usually only last about a week, it was truly such a blessing that they were still so plentifully on the trees during our tour - so much so, that she made this declaration multiple times throughout the trip.
Evidence of trees that had shed their blossoms, with plenty of other tress full to enjoy on April 11th, 2019, Kyoto.
And if you read the linked blog by Katie Diederichs, she sights the statistically best times to see the mighty yet timid Mt. Fuji between the months of November and February, while the worst months are between April and August.
If you fail to look up, you might miss something magical.
Taken on the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo on April 16th, 2019.
Photo of myself and my partner
Taken at the Fujisan World Heritage Center on April 18th, 2019
As the photos above show, the other unexpected big blessing in our trip was two extra-crisp sightings of Mt. Fuji on two consecutive days - during one of the months slated to have statistically slim chances of getting a clear view!
This is why minding your expectations is so important. Better yet, toss your expectations into the ocean - it’s an appropriately zen way of being in Japan, where over 66% of the population identifies with Buddhism (Shinto being the indigenous and main faith observed alongside Buddhism).
Book Your Excursions (hassle-free experiences) - Tripadvisor is your friend, and excursions with quality proven companies is the best way to get the most out of your first visit.
I’m not sure what my sis-in-law used as criteria for looking up activities, but I know she relied heavily on ratings and comments for making the final picks. Thanks to the work that she did in paying for these trips well before we even boarded our plane, we got to visit multiple temples, shrines, and feed deer in Nara; immerse ourselves in wall art at teamLab’s Borderless art exhibit in Tokyo; and ride street go-karts through Osaka, without any headaches or hassles.
I had never considered booking activities so far in advance, but it’s now something I would highly recommend and consider doing myself if the intention is to deeply get to know a place for the first time. You truly will get the biggest bang for your buck - see it as an educational and spiritual investment.
One of our full-day trips consisted of visiting three major sites in Kyoto and two in Nara, getting around in an air-conditioned bus with an exceptionally experienced driver, and being provided with a buffet-lunch with authentically local pickings. Our guide was also very knowledgeable and entertaining during our commute between stops. Had we tried to execute such an itinerary on our own, we probably would not have made it through even half of it, and we definitely would have missed out on wonderful information.
Treat yourself to at least one full-day excursion, you won’t regret it.
Book an Airbnb (even for just one night) - For a truly immersive local experience, I can’t stress enough this wonderful opportunity that modernity has offered us through this service. The first 2 nights of my first ever experience in Japan were spent in a small home in Yamashina Ward in the prefecture of Kyoto, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
A “Save Yourself from Embarrassment” Tip: let your taxi driver know that the address you just gave them is intentionally for a residential neighborhood. Since most tourists book at nearby hotels, the address seemed to have thrown off our first taxi driver who was elderly and did not speak English (and who was not using a GPS device). So for the first time in possibly both mine and the driver’s experience, this fare (us, embarrassingly having to get out of the taxi after having settled in with our luggage and our selves jam packed into the compact car common to Japan) was passed along to a young, English speaking gentleman. The gentleman plugged in our address to the GPS and headed along, and it wasn’t until after veering away from the city and into a suburban area that he asked, “Are you staying in a residence?” Wow. The realization truly slapped me in the face at that moment - that older driver, seasoned and with no need of a GPS because he probably knew all the main roads by heart, how could it be correct that these tourists gave an address for such a quiet residence? Here’s one concept that should better help you understand why this situation didn’t go another way. From my reading about how others describe Japanese culture, because of the modesty and politeness in this culture, you take whatever the other person says at face value. There are many subtleties that if there’s something you meant to say, even if it was incorrect but the Japanese person didn’t understand, a Japanese person practicing their nicety will not correct you, they will assume they fell short in their understanding, and the conversation might simply move along. This might be frustrating and confusing, especially to foreigners who are perhaps used to being more direct and unafraid to (politely) ask for clarification. But this is the way is it in this culture, and as a thoughtful traveler, you will do well to keep this in mind. Japanese culture is very much about personal responsibility, modesty, and being considerate of those around you. So, the older taxi driver, rather than asking us directly for clarification and risk expressing that we were incorrect, tried his best to understand why he was looking at a residential address. It does seem like it was more embarrassing to hand us over to another driver (as we literally had to remove ourselves and our luggage from his cab), but who knows - maybe I’ve got it all wrong, and perhaps this savvy business man did not want to drive out into a residential area where it was highly unlikely he would score a fare back into the city. But alas, this is how it happened.
Staying in that residence, we got our first major experience with convenience stores, locally called konbini. They are actually convenient, having not only food items but magazines, daily necessities, clothes, international ATMs and machines that let you reserve tickets for local events, attractions, or museums (you can only get tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum or Tokyo Disney in this way).
(In the States, convenience stores are laughable and rarely truly convenient - neither by location nor goods. They have plenty of junk food like chips and sodas, but you’ll be lucky to find toiletries.)
Just across the street and 12 steps over from our AirBnB was one convenience store which carried an impressive variety of grocery items. And if we wanted a different assortment of goods, there was a 7 eleven one block over. Come to think of it, in all the places we stayed in Japan, there was at least 1 convenience store well within a 1 minute walk.
While at our residence we also got to experience how extensively the Japanese divide their garbage. Each municipal has its own guidelines, but what I found most striking was how sorting can be viewed best in terms of what is combustible and what is non-combustible. There is a law that’s been enforced since 1997 that not only has consumers recycling, but requires manufacturers and businesses that use packaging and containers pay a recycling fee based on how much they produce and sell. (What a concept.. can we get that in the states too, please?)
Our host provided us with a great guide for separating garbage that I unfortunately did not take a picture of, but here is a helpful video by one Australian’s experience after her move to Japan.
Create an Itinerary (but keep it flexible) - Whether you are traveling solo or in a group, it’s best to spend some time creating a detailed itinerary. International travel is a big investment, especially if you have the luxury of staying for more than a week (which might seem like plenty, but it will go by fast). So keeping some form of structure to keep you focused and exposed to as much as possible on your first visit will be well worth the effort.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t leave room for inspired moments of wandering. The itinerary I created for my group of 6 left plenty of TBD’s and multiple highlighted dinner options to be determined in the moment (i.e. one restaurant in Kyoto was closed by the time we were ready for dinner, so we went to the other option - which was not only amazing but still has the best Okonomiyaki that I’ve had thus far).
The word "okonomiyaki" is derived from "okonomi" meaning "as you like" and "yaki" meaning "grilled”. It is commonly referred to as being a Japanese pancake, made with flour, eggs, shredded cabbage, your choice of protein, and topped with a variety of condiments like mayonnaise and bonito flakes.
So don’t be afraid of leaving a few hours in the morning or afternoon open for exploration. And if you’re traveling in a group, it’s ok to have separate experiences depending on your groups preferences. On a day when the family went to Universal Studios Japan, my partner and I ventured off to a little town on a cliff by the sea; and on another day when one half of the group wanted to spend the day shopping in bustling Akihabara, the other half retreated to walking the more quiet park of Ueno in the prefecture of Tokyo.
Download these Apps - You might come across a lot of suggestions for apps to use in Japan - by far the two that I used the most was Google Maps and Google Translate.
A powerful map app with reviews and train departure times available is a no-brainer - but the less-heard-of Google Translate truly changes the game of international travel.
If you’re lucky enough to get stopped by a local who seems to want to engage in pleasantries, Google Translate has a hand icon within the ‘Conversation’ section that display this prompt for you to show the other person.
With any luck, they will kindly nod their head and say “hai dozo,” “yes, go ahead.”
Using the ‘Conversation’ feature in the app with Auto turned on made it so that when I spoke, my English was recognized and translated into Japanese, displaying text while also automatically playing the audio. Then without pushing a button, the app recognizes the Japanese spoken and displays the text and voices the text to English.
This is the main page, showing phrases that you can save so you can listen back to the pronunciation.
The Camera feature allows you to either take an image and highlight the recognizable text in the image. But you can also hover the camera over an image (say, a food label) and see the translation in real time if you hold the phone steady.
The Handwriting feature lets you take your shot at using your finger to trace a letter or character that you’re looking to find the meaning of.
The morning that we left our Kyoto Airbnb, I had the most interesting conversation with a lovely local woman. I got to know someone who was older than me, who speaks in a different language, but whos gratitude and wonder for life I intimately share. In those moments, there was no age, geographic, or language barrier, and it was very memorable experience. She was such a good sport in using the app with me.
I do want to say that it doesn’t take away from knowing certain phrases yourself. For example, if you rely solely on Google Translate for help figure out how to say “no, thank you”, you will get Īe, kekkōdesu, which is a literal translation that is not used in normal conversation. First thing to know: saying “iie”, directly translated from “no” is considered rude. And to say “no, thank you”, you would not say “iie, arigato.” No one uses that in normal and polite conversation.
Certain phrases, if not many, have multiple meanings depending on the context. Daijoubu, which Google translates as “all right”, should be used to express your “no, thank you” as “no, that’s alright.”
If you practice and use basic phrases (even without perfect pronunciation) you’ll see the impression and joy in the face of every person you speak to, as the people truly appreciate your effort in trying to use their native tongue.
Hannah, of YouTube’s Currently Hannah, is one of the gems I found during my own research for my trip - and she introduced me to phrases that I consistently used on a daily basis (including “matcha arimasuka” 5 times a day, as you'll read more about later). Also, she’s cute and funny, and I praise her wonderfulness to this day.
Another ‘Save Yourself from Embarrassment’ Tip: When we went to a tiny seaside town, we had an early dinner at a restaurant run by a sweet elderly man. He almost didn’t seem open at the time, since no other customers or workers were there, and he seemed slightly hesitant to sit us down, even though based on the pictured menu it was clear that he hosts tourists. Well, he showed us to a seat, and after resorting to using Google Translate to explain that I do eat fish but no pork or other animal meat, we placed our order. He seemed both amused and disappointed by that little technological feature of translation. The meal’s presentation was spectacular, and it was a real treat being served personally by the chef. At one point, he enthusiastically started what a realized was a countdown from 5 to 1, and he was doing so with genuine enthusiasm and eye-contact in a way that suggested we should participate in the countdown. I have to tell you that the only thing I could do was smile and bob my head up and down, as if I was counting in my head. I remember this mini-performance involved fire but honestly can’t remember the unique details that helped ‘transform’ my food. But he did his thing, and as he turned to walk away I could swear his arms hung down his sides like “ay yai yai, why bother.” That’s how I felt, like a privileged foreigner who went out into a low-traffic, almost rural part of the country and couldn’t be bothered to learn her “1, 2, 3s.” I missed out on a connection with a stranger because I relied too much on technology that was not useful for the moment. I know for a fact that the experience could have been that much more special had I at least known by damn basic numbers. So if you want to be polite and leave a good impression as a guest, please practice “go, yon, san, ni, ichi.”
Buy an External Battery (2 if you can) - If you’re making the most of your visit, then you will only be at your lodging for sleep. That can mean that you’re going out from 6am to 10pm some nights, you’re using your phone for not only taking pictures and filming videos all day, but using your apps to get around and help with translations. My friend, you’re gonna need an external battery or two. Before this trip, my partner and I happened to buy new phones (the Galaxy S10) along with a promotional deal on a wireless charger kit for each of us that included a small, lightweight external battery.
While you don’t need to buy a new phone, keep in mind that older phones (especially if full of data that runs multiple apps in the background) won’t be as efficient in their battery use, so you’ll really need one or even two external batteries if you can manage. Also known as portable power banks, the average price of these devices range from $20-$40.
Leave Empty Space in your Luggage (or be prepared to leave things behind) - This is one thing I did not get right on my trip. Not only did I take a humongous luggage that was such a hassle to lug around in public transportation, but it was full to the brim. So when it came time to pack all my souvenirs at the end of our vacation, I actually had to make the decision to leave behind a pair of pants (obviously not my favorite pair) and two tennis shoes (sadly pictured below).
The platinum pink luggage above is mine, the biggest of all of six rolling suitcases we would cram with us on the train. The days we traveled between our stays was a struggle with the stairs, and again, with our family taking up extra space in the train during regular folk’s commute. And pictured lastly are the poor pairs of shoes (mine and my partner’s) that had to get left behind to make room for our flight back home.
This one tip is easy, straight forward, and you’ll be happy you did it.
Bring Cash (and a coin purse) - For as advanced as Japan is with their Shinkansen bullet trains that reach top speeds of 199mp/h (320 km/h), and for all the different robotics types that Japan is leading the world in developing - Cash (and coin) is King.
Make sure to have bills that aren’t wrinkled, ripped, or marked on, as when you reach a currency exchange, personnel will be very picky about the bills they accept. Do not exchange before your flight or in the hotel you’ll be staying in - you can get much better exchange rates at the airport in Japan.
It’s not that plastic is not accepted, it’s just not as widely accepted, and so it’s better used for bigger purchases. See this post for more great tips on exchanges.
BONUS TIP - Turn Geotag On for your photos - You might want to remember the names of the wonderful places that you took 1,287 pictures and videos of. If you’re smart (unlike me) you know how to make that location data permanent per picture before you delete them off of your phone after 2 years of hoarding them there. Ok, this one is about me… Yes, I had the pictures themselves backed up directly via cloud service this entire time, but no, the location information for each photo did not transfer over. So when I finally deleted my 日本 album from my phone to make room for a recent trip to Pennsylvania, I hadn’t realized what I’d lose and now I have to manually scour between my map’s saved locations, my itinerary, and use clues on my pictures to help me determine where any given picture was taken. Don’t be like me! For optimal documentation of your travels, turn on Location Tags in your camera settings. And I honestly have not found how to ensure that the location data from each picture transfers successfully upon exportation to a cloud service, so please comment or email me directly with tips on how to do so for both Android and iPhone. Thank you kindly.
日本へよこそ。| Welcome to Japan
The 4 Essentials at the Airport
JR Pass - Depending on your itinerary, you should seriously consider purchasing this pass to use the Shinkansen (the bullet train system that takes you cross country as opposed to the conventional train system used for travel within an area, see here for more). Shinkansen would allow you to cut what would be a 6 hour car drive from Tokyo to Kyoto in half. To purchase this pass, you will find a large area in the airport for assistance.
IC Card - The conventional trains are the most efficient and economical mode of transportation across metropolitan areas. Purchasing a prepaid train card is easy with English instructions available at designated machines. Here are the names of the different IC cards, depending on which region you purchase one at.
Mobile Data - Look for “Wi-Fi Rental” signs to help you locate a shop to purchase either a domestic prepaid sim card for your smartphone, or a Wi-Fi router to share internet connection with your travel group (the battery on the router is very efficient during all-day use, so you will only need to recharge it overnight). Unless you’re an absolute klutz or plan on going to some water attraction with the router attached to your forehead, I advise that you skip paying the insurance on the device. I think we paid something like $70 that could have safely been used elsewhere.
Currency Exchange - With all the cash that you have on hand for spending, and the extra for an emergency - now (at the airport) is the time to exchange that. Rates vary depending on when you travel, but you will get the best deal for this service at the airport. When you’re out shopping and trying to determine the cost of an item, I used an unofficial ‘decimal cheat’. If you see something that costs ¥100 (yen), move the decimal place over once to the left, and you know that you’re roughly purchasing the item for $10 (at the current Japanese yen to U.S. dollar rate as of this writing, 1=0.0090, it means ¥100=$9.00, but rounding it with the ‘decimal cheat’ helped me to quickly convert and asses the monetary value of an item).
Expect to Walk (Skip the Cabs) - Remember the taxi experience on our arrival to Kyoto? Well, the next morning would provide another lesson learned regarding transportation in Japan.
Important to note: the United States is diverse in it’s modes of transportation (there are places like New York that operate on semi-reliable subways) but still, the country is heavily skewed towards personal automobiles, and those who don’t have the means or live in a highly dense, expensive city might opt for buses most of the time.
Being the suburban dwellers that we were, and pampered with our own vehicles - a car was what we continued to perceive as the best way to get around. So we tried to call a cab to take our party of 6 from our door in Yamashina to where our tour bus awaited at the parking lot of the shopping mall called Kyoto Avanti . We tried our best to use a taxi service app that was suggested in our host’s guidebook, but it seemed like either the app was not working or no cabs were available.
We walked to the nearby 7 eleven for snacks and assistance. Here, Google Translate was a great tool for explaining such a specific request to one of the cashiers. The young gentleman was so kind - he went to the back and called the cab service himself to book two cars (because as it turns out, you will be hard pressed to find SUVs or vans as taxi capable of transporting 6 people).
We waited until we could not wait any longer - we were about 40 minutes away from missing that tour bus (and we knew, at least, that the Japanese are very punctual, more on that later). Thankfully, we were able to reach someone from the tour company via phone who advised us - get this - to walk to Yamashina station, grab a train towards Kyoto station, and walk to the shopping mall’s parking lot. It would have been courteous of me to go back to the cashier and ask him to cancel the cab request on our behalf, but we made haste as instructed.
It was a 20 min walk through the quaint neighborhood to the station, at most a 6 minute wait for the 5 minute ride on the train to Kyoto, and a final 3 minute sprint. Even though we were technically 3 minutes shy of being late, we were the last group being waited for, and had we not called when we did they definitely would have left us.
This, my friends, was a lesson in relaying on your own two feet to get you to the nearest train station, and trust the rest to punctual and efficient train rides. (Google Maps will provide you with accurate schedules for the train lines available in any given station.)
A note on what shoes to pack: (from experience) Do wear cute boating shoes with memory foam. Do not break-in a brand new pair of boots just because they are cute, you will get blisters! Shoes that are easy to remove and put back on are great because you will find temples, shrines, homes, and even some traditional restaurants will require that you leave your shoes at the door. So also pack cute socks and forego the socks with holes. Pro tip: once you take your shoes off, turn them so that the toes are pointing towards the door - this is not only interpreted as more neat, but it eases the process of putting your shoes on when it comes time for you head out of the door.
Be Punctual (& apologize properly when you’re not) - The Japanese people are very punctual - it’s a matter of trust that someone will be available and ready to start when they say they will, and a form of respect towards the other person who is counting on you.
So during this trip, when my group dragged behind at the very last stop of that first all-day excursion in Kyoto, it was embarrassing to say the least. We knew better by then. So I apologized with a clear (although most informal variation) of apology - “gomen’nasai” (ごめんなさい), accompanied by a mid-bow. Only, of course, I made the mistake of doing this while walking up the steps of the bus. Though I was facing the driver, who was at his seat already, it’s much more genuine and polite had I stood still first, and then bowed - not bowing and apologizing while walking. I imagined that for all my best intentions, I must have looked like the equivalent of a teenager drawling out a vocal-fried “sorry” while flipping my hair, chewing gum, and walking into the other room.
Your status as a foreigner will give you a certain pass when it comes to botched norms and Japanese etiquette, but I imagine that some long-term workers in the service industry can tire of the blatant ignorance they see day-in and day-out. Much like properly bringing a gift to someone’s home when you’re invited, be respectful by being punctual and getting to know basic etiquette of the country you’re visiting, no matter where you travel to (but especially Japan).
Why make such a big deal about Japanese etiquette in particular? I’d like to make this point to anyone who’s made it this far in reading these tips but who might also be thinking “who cares about being so self-conscious; why are the Japanese so sensitive then; I don’t care how I’m perceived anyway this is such an effort.” Well, I wish I could put it more elegantly, but Japan is a culture of community, of ‘we’, of not being a nuisance to others or causing unnecessary attention to yourself. To a foreigner, many customs and etiquettes can seem strict, cumbersome, and therefore restrictive and frustrating. The good news is that as a foreign visitor, you will not be expected to comport yourself within all the strict subtleties of this historically rich culture. There’s no problem being your outgoing, social American self (many will secretly admire that contrast to the highest virtue that is modesty). Just keep in mind that not only will certain etiquette go a long way in keeping interactions friendly and pleasant, it will leave a great impression on everyone you meet. Again, it’s worth being a good guest by understanding and respecting your host.
Consider also, how particular it might seem to start listing off all the ways you show respect (or disrespect) in your own country or region. If you really observe and list out all the customs you don’t consciously have to think about anymore while you’re going about your life, you’ll find there are many, and so someone else who is learning about your ways might find your culture to seem strict and full of frustrating subtleties.
On Food Etiquette - You’ll find many articles online about table manners in Japan, like these 7 Table Manners In Japan You Should Know Before Visiting, which includes it’s own entirely separate dedication on How To Use Chopsticks And 5 Tips On Good Basics Manners.
I really like the tips provided in the links above, and I’ll just add this one here because it not only speaks to how to enjoy specific dishes, but it brings up a faux pas my partner does at home - do not mix wasabi (and/or ginger) into your soy saucer. This is the equivalent of adding salt to a dish - it can be insulting, especially for how dedicated many Japanese chefs are at their craft.
‘Matcha’ is a Green Tea (be careful ordering it) - This one is a bit more specific to Kyoto, and I’m sharing this as an amusing anecdote. I can’t honestly pinpoint when the first delicious cup of warm matcha touched my lips, but I was hooked upon arrival. I found matcha at the konbini. I found matcha at vending machines. I consumed matcha mid-day, and sometimes with my dinner. Now, I’m no morning person, but to my surprise I was waking up on my own during this trip by 5am. However, I began to struggle to fall right into sleep even after the exhaustion of a full day’s activities. I was so busy with experiencing Japan that I didn’t think twice about what this delicious drink actually was, and I ordered it often. When our travels took us out of historical Kyoto and into metropolitan Osaka, I struggled to kind this frothy green goodness. I no longer found it at the konbini. I no longer found it at vending machines. What gives? Three days later, we were in Tokyo, and I struggled again to find my fix. Finally, at the Family Mart down the block from my hotel, I asked the sweet cashier.. “Matcha, arimasuka?” He had an employee walk me to the back of the store, to the coolers against the wall, who pointed to one of the bottles of green ‘iced’ tea that I had already seen - but this was not my matcha. Desperate, I walked back to the counter and noticed a picture on the counter with options for hot brewed coffee that included a picture of the midori nectar of my dreams. Pointing to the image, I tried once more “sumimasen, arimasuka?” He lit up, and I lit up, as he again beckoned his employee to walk me over to the brewing machine on the side of the store - and right there was that wonderful word matcha. Finally. I drank to my heart’s delight, and for dinner that same night we grabbed a few goodies to feast on in our room, and it included another warm cup of heaven.
It hadn’t occurred to me until that night to turn to the internet for answers - why was it such a struggle to find this drink outside of Kyoto? While there was no one-article that dedicated itself to shedding light on this, I put the pieces together:
Matcha the drink is a result of specifically grown and processed green tea leaves that are ground into a fine powder and whipped into hot water. It originated in China, and is the tea used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies.
If you’re a fan of 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II, perhaps the sweet ceremony Kumiko chan performs for our darling Daniel san (just before the storm decimates Mr. Miyagi’s hometown in Okinawa) left as big enough impression on you as it did me. Just don’t expect a smooch from your host at the end.
Kyōto (literally, “Capital City”) was the capital of Japan for over 1000 years (from 794 to 1868). It remains as the main city for conserving traditional Japanese culture and Buddhist practices. Zen Buddhism came to Japan in 1191, along with this method of preparing green tea. You can certainly read more about it here.
Based on these findings, it seemed appropriate then that this very specific and historical way of consuming green tea was celebrated and enjoyed in historical Kyoto, yet not so sought after in the more modernized metropolises of Osaka and Tokyo. This realization made my heart sink - had I known that I could not easily find this gem elsewhere, I would have taken more opportunities to enjoy it! The other side of that coin was this - matcha is green tea, as in, caffeinated. Not only that, the traditional practicing of growing the green tea plant in the shade caffeinates the end product even more, which is why zen monks regarded it as a great tool for meditation. So here was the answer to why I started having such a hard time falling asleep - I was getting caffeinated at all hours of the day! Did that stop me from going back to that Family Mart before the end of my trip to have more matcha? Heck no. My eyes have teared up during writing the entire section of this blog - that’s how deep of an impression this earthy, sweet taste left in my being.
Needless to say that we tried to obtain some authentic matcha power once we returned to the states. We even purchased our own tea kit that included the bowl, whisk, and spoon. But alas, it was not as sweet as when we had it in Kyoto. Maybe the grade we bought was not high enough, maybe the tourist heavy locations we went to in Japan put sweeteners to satisfy the foreign tongue. Matcha mochi are usually only found in the states frozen, as an ice cream, but the flavor is not usually right. You’ll find matcha lattes and frapps available at Starbucks nowadays, but all the sugar added is pretty blasphemous if you ask me.
I resort to restocking my matcha powder on a regular basis for freshness, and take it down without a sweetener (only some honey for the times that I do). When I return to Japan, I know that I will most likely spend most of my time back in that historic city.. drinking in the views, the traditions, and all the matcha.
