Japan

Coming back to the US soon after a trip to Japan and I bought a few luxury items that will put me over the $800 duty-free allowance. Curious what people’s recent experiences have been when declaring this. Do they usually just calculate the duty and send you on your way, or do...

Arriving March 5 around 5am after basically 23 hours of travel with 2 stops. East coast to west coast to Japan. I’ll be fried. My loose plan was to hit First Cabin to freshen up, then head to my capsule hotel and drop bags before 10am check in. I know most things won’t be open...

Just got back from 10 days in Kyushu (8 full days there, 2 in Tokyo for flights). Mid 30s female, third time in Japan. Went north to south: Fukuoka → Nagasaki → Kumamoto → Kagoshima. Overall, way less stressful than Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. Fewer foreign tourists and I went off peak....

I booked a roundtrip from Denver to Japan on Hawaiian Airlines and was offered an Extra Comfort upgrade for $300 each way. I’m 24 and generally handle long flights pretty well, but I’ve never flown Hawaiian or done this route before. For those who’ve flown Hawaiian’s 787-9, is...

I was looking at Tokyo to Fukuoka and Haneda to Sapporo schedules and honestly couldn’t believe it. Widebodies stacked one after another. Feels like departures every 10 to 15 minutes. I always thought routes like LHR to CDG or LAX to JFK were peak high frequency corridors. But...

Wanted to share a small Japan win. I lost my Apple Watch at Haneda over Christmas. Put it back on after security but didn’t secure it properly and it must’ve slipped off without me noticing. We still had about an hour before boarding so my husband and I retraced our steps,...

Just got home after a few months solo in Asia and my brain still hasn’t caught up. I’m 23 and this was my first big solo trip that far from home, so everything hit harder. Japan honestly ruined me in the best way. Tokyo and Kyoto just worked. Trains on time, people polite...

Our place in Shinjuku canceled on us out of nowhere, like 19 days before arrival. We booked five months ago and now everything similar is way more expensive. Booking only offered a refund plus about 400 AUD, but 4 bed spots in the area are going for 5k to 6k now. They won’t book...

Been hunting for award space to Japan for months and finally scored it. I had about 260k MR points and did a speculative transfer to Hawaiian then Alaska back when that was still possible. Figured worst case I’d use the Alaska miles for something else. I’ve been checking...

Just snagged a roundtrip SEA–HND in ANA business for 110k points and I’m still in shock. Booked both legs through Aeroplan at the 355-day mark. Trip is Oct–Nov 2026, so now I get to start planning everything else. I know there are other sweet spots out there, but for someone who...

Flying Hawaiian mid-November from Seattle to Tokyo, and the flight looks maybe half full. Lots of open Economy Plus seats showing. It’s about $359 per person each way to upgrade for me and my girlfriend. Wondering if it’s better to just wait and ask at the gate instead? Same...

Changed my name with AA months ago after getting married. Everything looked fine, flew AUS–LAX with no issues. But after upgrading my seat, their system somehow flipped me back to my maiden name. Now I’m in Japan and AA says they can’t fix it mid-trip. Only options are hope a...

I just spent two weeks in Japan, traveling from Tokyo down to Kyushu, and it honestly felt different from any of the 40+ countries I’ve been to. Usually I get deja vu in new places, but Japan had its own identity that made everything feel fresh. Even just walking through a city...

On a train in Hokkaido, I was racing against time to catch the cranes at sunset. Just as the sky turned that perfect blue hour shade, a blizzard stopped us dead on the tracks. I was frustrated, watching the light disappear into the snow. Across from me, an older man pulled out a...