I recently went on a winter trip to Japan over the holidays. I was completely oblivious to the ordeals ahead. Curious about the tragedies that lay ahead? Here is a brief list:
- Visit Japan Web
- Japanese Winter Air
- Temperature
As a survivor of such tragedies, here are a list of actually super important things to keep in mind as you prepare for your winter trip to Japan!
Visit Japan Web
This doesn’t just apply for Japan in the winter, but it’s so important that I have to include it anyways. If I had to tell you about one thing and one thing only, it would be to register yourself on Visit Japan Web before you board your flight to Japan.
Once you arrive in Japan, you’ll be expected to provide documents to the immigration officers and the customs officers before you can go pick up your checked luggage and leave the airport. If you already registered on Visit Japan Web, then you’ll only need to provide the officers with QR codes.
It makes the process super streamlined because you won’t have to worry about a single thing once you arrive in Japan. Otherwise you’ll probably be confused and have to step aside to fill out documents after getting off an exhausting flight.
I didn’t know about Visit Japan Web, so I was confused on what to do, tired from my flight, overly warm (we’ll talk about temperatures later), and I had to manually fill out the documents. Which was miserable, so don’t be like me.
Japanese Winter Air
This was something I was completely unaware of until it struck me. The air in Japan is absurdly dry in the winter. Back in Vancouver, I only ever occasionally needed to use lip balm and never carried a tube of hand cream on me. If I did that in Japan, my hands probably would’ve turned dried into bonito flakes then crumbled to dust.
To avoid suffering that fate, I ran off to do some shopping the night after I arrived in Japan. I had to buy:
- Hand Cream
- Lip Balm
- Dry Scalp Shampoo
- Gloves
My lips, hands, and scalp are areas that are occasionally prone to dryness, but once I set foot in Japan, that “occasionally” turned into “always”. That list isn’t exhaustive and depending on your skin, you might need more or less.
That is to say, you know yourself best, so make sure to cover all of your weak spots. The Japanese Winter Air is merciless and will not hesitate to turn your lavish hands into crusty claws.
Temperature
This in particular is not a huge deal, but it affects how you pack and optimize the clothes you bring. Although Japanese winters are super drying, they are really not that cold. Or at least when you compare Tokyo and Osaka to Vancouver that seems to be the case. So make sure to pay attention to the weather forecasts in Japan before you decide to bring a heavily insulated down jacket and 100 pieces to layer under it.
Although if you misappropriately dress for the weather when arrive you in Japan, you could always change what you’re wearing once you get to your accommodations.
Except the biggest nightmare about not dressing up properly for a Japanese winter is that the airport’s air conditioning won’t be tuned for a Canadian winter. Trying to navigate the airport while wearing a Canadian winter outfit is a death sentence because you have to fight off the urge to melt into a miserable pool of sweat.
That combined with the confusion and nervousness of arriving in a different country is a recipe for disaster. So with that said, let’s repeat this together: “Canadian winters are not like Japanese winters!”
Hopefully with those 3 pieces of advice from me, you’ll be slightly more prepared to kickstart your adventure in Japan than I was.
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