Great thread and pics
@Raymond Lin. I had a trip to Japan on my wishlist pre-COVID. Need to check out the airmiles situation and see if I can get something organised. If I do I'll be hitting you up for general recommendations. I have to say it seems quite a daunting place to visit, but I guess nowhere different where you don't speak the language.
The language thing is overplayed and not as daunting as you would expect, at least for a tourist, much different kettle of fish if you are living there and trying to open a bank account or do any kind of paperwork.
As a tourist, the things you will encounter are
1 - Ordering food. Most places have either a machine to order from outside, or photos of food you can point to. They often have English menu in the city, almost always. Or the chains will have an ipad to order direct from the table which can switch to English. Although i must admit some of these apps on these tablets are very in BETA stage, I filmed the operation of one where some of the buttons didn't do anything when you switched to English!
There are occasions where i did need to whip out Google Translate camera, like the self check out in Sushiro. You go to the self check out with the QR code you got given, then the machine will take payment, except it's in Japanese, at least i didn't see an English language option! So i had to use Google translate camera to get through that.
2 - Getting around, all the trains shows places name in English, and announce in Japanese, English, Mandarin and Korean.
One incident I had to seek help from a staff at a remote location at a station, I basically wanted to have my fare on my trip in the phone canceled as I had a JR Pass from that day. So I didn't want a £40 charge to my card, it was my fault. But using google translate and they had this translation gadget thing, we got the job done between us.
You just need a bit of patience when in situation like that.
3 - I would say, everywhere you go, give yourself extra 10mins when you get there, some of the stations are massive, with several "gates" at different places to enter for different lines, think of Circle Line and Northern Line, but even though they are in the same station technically, the entry barrier are separate, as they are operated private companies. So you need to make sure you enter in the right one. That can be confusion, as they are not linked together AFTER you are through the gate. So give yourself time to find the platform.
Oh, if you have an iPhone, transport is super easy. I was straight onto the platform to get the train the second i got out of immigration and got my bags, the queue to the tickets at the station was long. Or like this in Shinjuku. I didn't have to get a physical ticket once.
Not sure if you can see it, 3 JR staff in uniform helping some tourists to get tickets. I just tap with my phone like you do in London Underground. The app is call Suica. The Andriod version doesn't work for outside Japanese phone as easily and its all in Japanese. The iPhone one doesn't need an app, just add the card to Apple Wallet.
4 - Google maps walking distances....i'd say, again, give yourself extra 30% what it says, it doesn't take into elevation and to make the time Google suggests, you really need to powerwalk or jog.
