Go to Japan. You will love Japan. And you will never regret it :)

Japanese version of Minions singing Banana!!! :D

Ok, let’s give Japan some credit here, they do try to speak sukoshi English and make life easier for gaijin like me by putting up English signboards here and there, loading up their Tourist Information Centres with English – speaking personnel and stuffs, and some helpful Japanese even attempt to speak some English to help a lost – looking gaijin, and I did kinda get  blown over by a Japanese who actually speaks better English than me LOL. All in all, Japan is an easy place to visit.

Safety - wise, well, I came back in one piece and intact. Let me stress this out, Japan is very SAFE, and please use some COMMON SENSE to remain safe too. I wouldn't take the risk of wandering around alone in a lonely alley at night or entering areas that seem dodgy etc. why tempt danger, if you get what I mean. Generally you can see and judge how safe Japan is by watching how the locals and tourists behave, let me give some examples here:
- people are sleeping on the train with their phone loosely held in their hands and earphone over their ears
- everyone who is a tourist walk around with super expensive looking camera and lenses hanging on their neck
- the vendors left their stalls and wares and money boxes unattended

Anyway, to plan this Japan solo trip, it took me almost a year, well, because initially I wanted to go during spring and do some hanami but I read somewhere that people flock into Japan like a tsunami at that time so I have to choose another time that I hope would be quieter, and of course, cheaper. So September it is then. End of summer, entering autumn, not too much of rain hopefully, not too warm or cold, just nice for a warm – blooded Malaysian me :D

As if blessing my trip, MAS was having a huge SALE at the time I was surfing around and keeping an eye on the plane tickets price. So I got my return tickets at a whopping RM1500!!! God, talk about being lucky. (Moral of the story, book 4 – 5 months early and check for tickets bargain like there’s nothing else you’d do in the world hahaha)

Next was visa. Previously we Malaysian had to undergo a very tedious process of application at the embassy of Japan in Kuala Lumpur where parking can be a nightmare. Luckily, again, the embassy announced that starting July 2013, the International passport holder with embedded microchip does not have to apply for a visa. Of course I’d jump at this and splurged RM300 to make a new microchip passport (mine is expiring by early next year anyway so little is at lost).

Money. Japan being a cash society, I had to convert quite a sum, an amount that I wouldn’t dream of walking around in Malaysia with. At the time of conversion, yen has dipped to 2.9 so I converted as fast as possible whenever I found a money changer. I rarely convert at the bank as they are more expensive. The money changers allow lots of haggling but the downside is most of them don’t stock too much on yen so again, I converted on the weekly basis and whenever I can. And pray hard that I won’t get robbed :p

Tips:
- planning is essential.
- always check out for plane tickets sale, which MAS and AirAsia seems to be offering a lot nowadays
- last minute is a hassle
- make a list
- make everything convenient for yourself
- do lots of homework. LOTS. Seriously :D

Conclusion. Go to Japan. You will love Japan. And you will never regret it :)