Podcast Episode “Listener Q&A”

DescripThis transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

0:03

Cold Open

Yokoso, welcome back.

In the previous episode, we talked about food and some bigger ideas.

Hey, if you haven't heard that one yet, you might want to check it out.

This time we're doing something a little bit different.

It's AQ and a episode.

We're talking underrated Japan, why rice in Japan tastes so good, eating vegetarian in Japan, cash, and well, a few other things that come up all the time.

0:27

Just a housekeeping note, we've got some guest episodes coming up real soon.

In fact, we're recording those and editing those as we speak.

So keep an eye out for those in your podcast player.

Meanwhile, grab a beverage, settle in, and enjoy this episode of the Japan Travel Pros Podcast.

0:43

Let's get started.

Hey, it's Ari at Japan Travel Pros Thanks for checking in.

0:58

Intro

We've got producer Aki in studio today.

Say hi to everyone, Aki.

Hi, Konichiwa.

Konichiwa.

So as I mentioned the cold open, we're doing AQ and a episode today and I want to jump right into it because we got some great questions from listeners already.

1:13

In fact, one of them took the time to record a message.

We really appreciate that, by the way.

So again, these are real questions from real people, and we'll come back on the other side and jump right in.

1:23

Rice in Japan & Outside Japan

Hi Harry, this is Laurent from France.

First off, love the first episode.

And yes, food in Paris can really be hit or miss.

As someone living a few miles from Paris, I'm completely with you on that.

Funny enough, I just come back from London and I was much more impressed by the food over there.

1:40

So now that I have probably lost all my French credibility, here's my question in Japan and I've got a two-part of you.

First, you talked about what's overrated in your first episode.

So what are underrated?

Things that most people completely miss when they travel in Japan.

1:56

Speaking of underrated, on my second trip to Japan last year, I was completely blown away by the rice.

Plain white rice.

And mind you, I wasn't a rice person before.

A bowl of wood on absolutely rice.

It wasn't my thing.

2:12

And the same thing happened to the rest of the family.

Now we're the kind of people who buy Japanese rice in 10K bags.

So what do you think this is?

Why does rice in Japan taste so much better than rice in most of the places?

Do you even agree with this?

2:28

And while we add it, what varieties do you eat at home on a regular basis?

Thanks for taking my questions and keep up the great work.

2:37

Speaker 1

Wow, Laura, what a question.

Mercy Boku, we really appreciate that.

Taking the time to put a voice clip together.

Actually going to jump into the rice part of it.

The second thing that you asked about first, interesting we're seeing in Japan these days less consumption of rice and that is driven by by price really more than anything else.

2:57

The cost of rice has gone way up.

There is inflation in Japan, but rice is even outpacing inflation.

It's doubled.

I think the price right, more than doubled in just in the in the last few years, it's just started to come down a little bit.

But this has forced Japanese people, a lot of Japanese people, to change their habits, and probably ourselves included.

3:17

We love rice, but we don't eat rice every day, not in, not in our house.

And that's probably typical now, or at least not too atypical for a lot of people in Japan.

But we make a choice.

When we eat rice, we want to have it good.

And so you asked what kind of rice do you buy?

3:33

Sometimes we'll we'll get something in the supermarket, but we'll typically buy it from a farmers market or something local.

If we happen to be in a rice producing area, then we'll we'll buy rice there.

We also know an organic market nearby that that sells rice.

It's good quality rice.

It's locally produced.

3:49

We've opted for quality, not quantity, and we might have that rice two or three times a week, something like that.

And maybe we're having rice as part of a meal somewhere else.

If we're eating out, if we're having yakiniku, for example, Yakiniku is, is Korean barbecue in Japan and it goes great with rice.

4:07

Ramen, even people enjoy.

That's like that's a double carb thing going on right there.

But rice, it turns out to be really good with, with ramen ourselves, we probably have rice maybe 5 or 6 * a week somewhere in in the mix.

And it's not only rice in, in rice form.

4:22

For example, when we travel to different regions of Japan, we'll notice the rice that's being served in the meal.

Maybe we're in Akita Prefecture, for example, they have Akita Comachi rice, which is really good stuff, not only in a bowl of rice, but you can taste it in mulchi, You can have it in rice crackers.

4:40

And of course you can have it in Nihongshu, Japanese sake.

And you can really taste the two things that if you drink sake over time, that the things that you start to taste the most are the local rice that regions rice and the water, because those are the two basic ingredients in in sake.

4:58

And it really, it really comes out.

Why does it taste so good in Japan and never quite taste the same outside Japan?

Now, I had a professor many, many years ago, and I hope you're listening to this podcast, Doctor Nosco.

I said, what's what's the deal with what?

5:13

Why even in LA, even in Little Tokyo, even in Japan town, San Francisco, food that is cooked by Japanese people in Japanese restaurants and eaten by at least some Japanese customers.

Why doesn't it taste the same and it starts with the rice?

Why doesn't it taste the same as the food in Japan?

5:29

He said, Ari, there's something about Japanese food.

It just doesn't travel well.

I remember that all these years later, because it's, it's absolutely true.

And I don't know what it is.

Maybe it's the water, maybe it's the process, maybe it's the ambience.

It, it could be a combination of things.

5:44

Even the same bowl of rice, the same kind of rice cooked exactly the same way will taste different depending on what else you're having it with, what else is on the table, what else you're eating it with.

I think we can, we can boil it down, pun intended.

We can boil it all down to say Japanese food doesn't travel very well and thus rice doesn't travel very well.

6:03

So Laurent, if you're buying 10K bags of Japanese rice and eating that in, in France, fantastic.

We appreciate you supporting Japanese rice production and let us know how it's turning out.

And yeah, there's a whole philosophical debate to be had there as to would it taste the same versus if you cooked it in Japan or if Aki came to your home in France and cooked that rice, would it taste different?

6:26

Yeah, we can.

We can go down a whole philosophical rabbit hole about this.

Laura, thank you for asking about rice.

It's a great segue to the other part of your question, which is about underrated.

6:36

Underrated Japan

And I'm going to begin with rice because I think rice is one of those things that is highly underrated by many visitors to Japan.

It's ironic because Japan is almost synonymous with rice and and vice versa, but yet somehow people focus on a lot of the other things that they're eating.

6:51

But Laurent, as you mentioned and others, you may have noticed this as well.

When you come back to Japan for your second trip or your third trip, etcetera, all of a sudden it might be that first meal that you have when you when you jump off the plane and maybe you're eating it in Haneda airport or maybe you're having it in the city in Tokyo or somewhere in Osaka for that matter.

7:10

That first bowl of rice that you have with that meal.

And this is also true for Japanese who've been away from Japan for a little while and come back to Japan.

That first bowl of rice you have is absolutely amazing.

There's no doubt about it.

And I could see where as a visitor to Japan, you begin to appreciate that more and more.

7:30

I'd say that's one of the underrated things.

If you're a first time visitor in Japan and you want to focus on the rice a bit and think about where it was grown and what kind of rice it is, that's great.

And as you travel around Japan, as you go into different regions, you might notice that the rice tastes a little bit different.

7:45

And that's because of the water.

That's because of the the type of rice itself and the soil conditions and all these things.

While we're on the subject of food, let's talk about a food category and A food type.

We're kind of picking up where we left off in the last episode, which was all about food.

And I'm going to give you a food category 1st, and it might be something that you've heard of or maybe not.

8:05

And that's called yoshoku.

Now yoshoku in Japanese literally means Western food, but it does not mean McDonald's.

It doesn't mean AT bone steak.

It means a particular type of food that was essentially invented in Japan, but using the influence of Western foods.

8:24

So it might be fried food, for example, fried shrimp or Tong katsu, which is pork cutlet.

You probably had that.

Yoshoka has all kinds of things in, in that category.

What's another good one?

Aki hambagu hot, which is a hamburger steak.

8:40

And, and those are those are fantastic.

We have that at home quite a bit.

Oh, beef cut.

So yeah, beef, beef cutlets.

Absolutely.

Many people go if you're in, if you're in Kyoto, for example, there are, there are some famous places there.

What's another one?

Honey cream Koroke.

Oh, Koroke in general is the other the croquettes and then a creamy croquette with, with crab in it.

8:59

Now there's a crossover.

I see where you're jumping into here because one of the places we eat honey cream Koroke a lot is that Koko Ichibanya which is a Curry place.

Curry kare in fact is a kind of yoshhoku.

It's a Japanese food that has had western influence that you might be thinking Curry.

9:14

Isn't that from India.

Japanese Curry actually came from the UK.

Yoshhoku is a great category and highly recommend you try some yoshhoku while you're in Japan.

And then a food type.

Well I've already mentioned it, which is Curry.

So it is not Indian Curry, although there are great Indian restaurants and Nepali restaurants in Japan as well.

9:35

But Japanese Curry is a totally different beast.

It really was reinvented in Japan and is very much become a kokumin shoku, which is a national Japanese dish.

There are dishes like Damen, for example, or Kade that clearly had origins outside of Japan but also became reinvented to become Japanese over time.

9:58

It's something that we have at home once or twice a month, and we probably eat it out as well once or twice a month.

And depending on who you talk to, there are some people who eat it even weekly, for example.

And there are some great restaurants to try it out.

There are chain restaurants like Coco Ichi.

10:14

We mentioned that if you're in the Kanazawa area, they have Kanazawa Curry.

And then in Tokyo, there isn't a neighborhood called Kanda Jimbocho, and they have a lot of Curry restaurants there, so you'll smell it when you're walking down the street.

And again, I know what you might be thinking because we hear this from clients from time to time.

10:30

Hey, I don't want to go to Japan and eat Indian food.

No worries.

You don't have to.

You're definitely eating Japanese food when you have Japanese Curry.

I want to shift our focus a little bit away from food for a bit and talk about places.

Places I think are at this point, by the way, we're recording this in June 2026.

10:50

So a place that I say is underrated right now might no longer be underrated in a year from now.

That's how much tourism and and travel in Japan is changing so quickly.

Let's talk about a region, a city and a town that I think are underrated.

11:07

An underrated region is the Setochi region.

An underrated city is the city of Sendai in northern Japan, the Tohoka region, and an underrated town is Hikone.

So let's talk a little bit about these.

And again, we could do a whole episode on this on any one of these places.

11:24

So I mentioned the region of Setochi.

It is basically the Inland Sea region.

It has bordered by Honshu on one side, which is the main island of Japan on the north, and then on the South it is the island of Shikoku and then West and E, it basically narrows down.

11:43

It has Hiroshima on one side and just West of Kobe on the other side.

Lots of natural beauty in this region.

Cities and towns that you can visit.

Okama is 1 and an Okama prefecture.

There's a town called Kurashiki which itself is probably not underrated anymore, but it's a great place to go.

12:00

But smaller towns and natural beauty.

Onomichi Onomichi is a is a great town a little bit east of the city of Hiroshima.

It's in Hiroshima Prefecture and from Onomichi, that's actually where the Shimanami Kaido is the the cycling routes that take you across these series of islands eventually out to Imabadi and, and across into Shikoku.

12:23

So yeah, all kinds of natural beauty and the place that we can do a full episode on at some point.

So in terms of cities, I mentioned Sendai.

Sendai is one of our favorite cities.

It is just outside the top ten in terms of population in Japan and it's only a little bit smaller than Kyoto.

12:39

Well, everybody's heard of Kyoto.

Not that many people have have heard of Sendai, and that's OK.

Relatively speaking, there aren't that many international visitors.

There are some and it's well set up and you can find great hotels and staff who speak English in those hotels and in restaurants.

12:54

But relatively speaking, it doesn't experience over tourism.

It doesn't experience mass tourism and it's a great gateway to the Tohoku region.

Now I mentioned a town as well.

It's the town of Hikone.

Perhaps the highlight for you is Hikone Castle.

13:10

There are only 12 original castles left in Japan.

If you go to Nijo Castle in Kyoto, that's not an original.

If you go to Osaka Castle in guess where Osaka, that's not an original.

So in this Kansai region, for example, we have two original castles.

13:26

Himanji Castle is beautiful.

It may be our favorite castle in Japan.

It is.

It is the favorite among many people in Japan, and it gets a lot of crowds.

It gets a lot of people there.

If you don't visit first thing in the morning, you'll notice that it does get pretty crowded.

On the other hand, if you go to Hikone, it's just an hour north of Kyoto by local train and you realize right away you're in you're in a different place.

13:47

You're not in Kyoto anymore.

You're not in Osaka anymore.

And I say that in the best possible way.

Beautiful little castle built up on a hill and it has a Joe kamachi below that, a town beneath the castle, a nice little garden there as well.

And then you can, you can have lunch.

14:04

It is also close to the only region, which means Olmi beef.

So you can have Olmi beef for lunch in different forms at a steakhouse or as Yakinika.

We had Olmi Koroke croquettes which were really good.

Very close to the castle town, there is a Main Street absolutely frozen in time.

14:22

It looks like a relic from the 60s or 70s.

And that is in Japan what's called Showa.

Anything from that Showa period, which is, which is the peak of Japanese prosperity.

It's actually undergoing quite a Showa retro, as they call it a a rejuvenation, if you will, And you can walk down this, this Main St. in Hikone, these older buildings and extremely atmospheric.

14:48

Did how many tourists We saw a few, but really not, not too many visitors.

It was it was a pretty quiet and it was a lovely day.

It was a beautiful day that we were there, great weather and it was a Saturday.

So you'd think a lot of people would have would have been around, but no, not so much.

No, we can't guarantee what it's going to be like when when you're there.

But as far as an underrated town, Hikone would be our choice for that.

15:07

So those are just a few things in terms of foods and places and experiences off the top of our heads that we'd say are underrated.

Laurent, thank you for the question.

Thank you for the inspiration.

We probably will do multiple episodes and going in different directions on these.

And you're coming back to Japan soon.

15:23

So we look forward to seeing you again, Mercy Boku, and we'll move on.

15:28

Japan for Vegetarians

This episode of the Japan Travel Pros podcast is brought to you by Japan Travel Pros.

Because, yeah, who else would it be brought to you by?

Here at Japan Travel Pros, we help you plan your trip to Japan so it feels right for you once you're actually here.

Because that's the part that gets kind of lost sometimes, doesn't it?

15:46

You know, it's easy enough to make a list of places.

Tokyo, Kyoto, Hakone, Hiroshima, Hanazawa, Those are all great.

But then the questions come like, where do you stay?

What order should you go in?

What's worth the extra train ride?

Well, it looks easy enough on a map, but then takes up too much time.

16:05

And what did AI call a hidden gem that is absolutely not a secret anymore?

Well, that's where we come in.

If you're planning a trip to Japan and you want some help sorting out the good ideas from the noise, head on over to japantravelpros.com/plan and schedule a consultation.

16:24

Welcome back to the Q&A episode.

And our next question is from Puja in California.

Pooja wants to know how is Japan for vegetarians?

Thanks for the question, Pooja.

So the short answer that we always give on that one is Japan is absolutely possible if you're a vegetarian.

That's the short answer.

16:40

Now, the longer answer is more complicated and more nuanced.

And I'll start broadly.

So there is a perception that many people around the world have of Japanese food being very healthy.

And in many people's minds, healthy food means a lot of vegetables.

16:56

Now this is all true so far.

Japanese food is healthy because it's balanced.

This is where we get into a little bit of a sticky situation is that although Japanese food has a lot of vegetables, Japanese people eat some form of non plant based protein every day.

17:15

That's a very broad and vague way to say they're eating meat or fish essentially every day.

And that makes it a little bit difficult to go to a local restaurant and have Japanese food that is actually vegetarian.

17:31

The reason why it comes down to one thing, one ingredient called dashi.

Dashi is the big one because dashi generally traditionally is, it's a stock and it is, it's actually a fish stock.

It is bonito stock.

Now you might see kombu dashi in some places.

17:47

It's a little bit more common these days in Tokyo and in Kyoto, where there are a lot of international visitors who want vegetarian food, but it's still not that common.

Most dashi is fish stock.

And dashi appears in all kinds of Japanese food that you never thought would have fish involved.

18:04

You thought you might think, oh, this is, this is purely vegetable.

It could be a boiled or steamed or simmered or stewed vegetable dish, but it has dashi at the base of it.

So now you've got you've got fish going on.

It could be something like miso soup.

You look at the bowl, you say, well, it's got, it's got tofu in there that's vegetarian.

18:21

It has seaweed in there, that's vegetarian.

It has miso in there that's vegetarian.

What's wrong with this bowl of soup?

The answer is dashi, right?

It's going to have fish stock at its base in, in Washaku in Japanese cuisine.

How a lot of different vegetable dishes have dashi essentially seasoning or flavoring that that dish in different notes.

18:44

This is where we ask the question to clients, For example, what level vegetarian?

I know there's no, there's no official classification for this, but if you're a vegan, for example, it's going to be a little trickier.

If you're a vegetarian for religious purposes, it's it's going to be tricky as well.

I like to think of this as the MasterCard logo, if you will.

19:01

MasterCard is not sponsored this podcast by the way, but I like to think of it as the MasterCard logo, the Venn diagram, the overlap of Japanese food, healthy food and vegetarian food is a narrow band in the middle.

So what happens more often than not is you end up going to places that are actually not Japanese.

19:17

First thing we start with when talking with clients, for example, is we'll say you can always go to an Indian restaurant and they're everywhere.

They always have vegetarian dishes.

Now I know what you're thinking.

Hey I'm going to Japan.

The last thing I want to have is non Japanese food.

I want to I'm going there for the Japanese food.

19:33

Fair enough.

There are a number of restaurants in tourist areas, for example in Tokyo and Kyoto, in Osaka, and even in Kawaguchiko and places like that.

Near Mount Fuji, for example, you will find vegetarian and vegan options for Damen and for so let's call it international food or multi multinational type of type of restaurants.

19:58

You might see some Japanese items on the menu, but a Japanese person might not recognize that as a as a Japanese restaurant.

Hey, we're all about an open eyes approach in terms of Japan travel here.

So we're going to we're going to call it like we see it and and let you know now, depending on where you go.

For example, if you're in Kyoto, we have a place that we've we've been to a few times for Damen.

20:17

It's in the popular Higashiyama area.

It's near Guillon, for example.

It is a.

Is a ramen restaurant.

They make it with pork the the traditional way.

They have a vegan ramen that that I've had there more than once and I'm not a vegan.

I'm not a vegetarian.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I've very much enjoyed the vegan ramen there.

20:36

I've had a couple of places as well.

There's a chain called Engine Engine Ramen, for example, in Kyoto and Osaka and elsewhere that has a wide menu with a vegan option with a gluten free option.

So as you can see, it's it's doable, but it's tricky.

20:53

Now when you're in Kyoto, we definitely recommend going for shojin diyoti, which is usually part of a Buddhist temple and Buddhist cuisine is generally vegetarian.

However, Aki does shojin diyoti.

Do they serve things with dashi?

21:11

Probably not, but you should ask.

It's important to ask if again, if you, if you are a strictly a vegan or observing a vegetarian practice for religious purposes, ask what their dashi is.

Ask what they use and ask if they have an alternative such as kombu dashi, which is the seaweed dashi.

21:28

One of our clients ask is it possible to customize or order off the menu as a lot of Americans call it, to say I'd like a salad or I'd like something with vegetables or something like that.

It might be if you're in a hotel, an international hotel, or in a in an international chain restaurant, but as a rule, it's probably best not to try that.

21:50

It's generally frowned upon in Japan in terms of customization and order customization.

So if you're a vegetarian, for example, and you're going with a group of people and you're standing outside a restaurant looking at the menu and you don't see vegetarian options, assume that this place, this restaurant is not going to work out and you should probably move down the street.

22:08

And the great thing about being in Japan is there are all kinds of restaurants in all kinds of neighborhoods, and you will find something for you somewhere that works out.

So I hope that helps.

Thank you, Pooja, for the question.

We appreciate that.

Back after this.

Welcome back.

22:22

Cash in Japan

We're taking your questions, we're giving you answers.

And this is a question that comes up at least once a week, if not more from clients.

And that is, do I need cash in Japan?

We just had this question come up the other day.

The short answer is yes, and I'm going to explain why.

So you might be thinking, Oh yeah, Japan, Japan's living in the future.

22:41

It's cashless, right?

This is the country that still uses the fax machine.

So they absolutely, definitely still use cash.

Hey, I'm an American living in Japan.

A big word for US Americans is freedom.

And so I know for a lot of people, cashless feels like freedom.

22:59

Cashless feels like, hey, I'm free to move about my country or my town and not worry about somebody robbing me and somebody, you know, pickpocketing me or something like that.

Well then in Japan it's quite the opposite.

You'll feel free if you have cash because cash opens up doors in Japan.

23:18

I'm going to go down a list of reasons why you should have cash.

Clients asked if they bring cash from home.

You can do that.

If you want Peace of Mind, you can go to your local bank.

You will not get a good exchange rate, but still not a bad idea to get maybe a couple $100.

Again, we're speaking U.S. dollars here.

23:34

Get a couple $100 in cash.

It won't be a great rate, but that will ensure that you have cash when you arrive in Japan.

Now, having said that, 99.9% of the time, no problem to use the ATM at the airport.

Use the ATM.

By the way, don't go to the booth where you're physically exchanging cash.

23:50

They'll give you a bad rate every time.

Use the ATM at the airport and we usually suggest to our clients take out ¥50,000, which is about $300 and change 310 three, $120.00 as at the time that we record this.

That will probably last you a long time and you'll start to realize where cash is used.

24:08

For example, if you're looking to buy a bullet train tickets or a similar express train, when you walk up to a machine, the machine might take credit cards, but it might not take your credit card.

And here's where we get into another situation where I'm saying cash is freedom.

Sometimes international credit cards randomly fail in Japan for no particular reason.

24:27

There's just not a handshake being made somewhere along the way.

So that's a great reason then, isn't it, To have cash on hand because you don't want to be in a situation where you've enjoyed your meal.

You walk up to the cash register to pay, and all of a sudden you realize your card doesn't work and you have no cash.

24:43

Now what other kinds of places don't take credit cards?

So local restaurants in Japan tend to be cash only.

A lot of local restaurants don't take credit card.

Let's start with Rahman, for example, because you probably want to eat that during your time in Japan.

If you want to go to a local Rahman restaurant, they usually have ticket machines and those ticket machines are usually, for your purposes, cash only.

25:07

So that's a great reason to have cash on you as well.

You might find yourself in a situation where you're in a small store or a small restaurant and they take cash only.

I want to give you one more reason why it would be nice to have some cash on hand.

It is possible that while you're here in Japan, there could be a situation where the credit card systems go down and the AT Ms. might go down as well.

25:28

So I'm talking about either an earthquake or a tsunami or a typhoon.

These are the big ones, and it doesn't happen that often, and the systems are pretty good overall, pretty strong, but not unheard of.

25:44

It's a good idea to have cash.

So for all these reasons, have some cash on hand, feel good about it, feel free about it.

To my American friends and to our American clients, I want to say that cash is freedom in Japan, and I've learned to embrace it.

It took me a little while.

25:59

It took me some mistakes.

Now, if you're concerned about what happens to the cash that you have leftover at the end, that's a legit concern.

I get that.

Spend it, spend it down.

The great thing about the exchange rate, especially these days is you can buy souvenirs, you can buy literally anything with cash, and you can even get pretty good meal at the airport before you go.

26:19

And here's a bonus if you have a few 1000 or ¥10,000 left, something like that, come back to Japan and spend it again because that money is not going to go out of style.

So really all kinds of reasons to have cash.

Quick break.

Hey, if this episode has you rethinking how to plan your Japan trip, well, that's just what we do here at Japan Travel Pros Summertime, winter time, first trip, second trip, Golden Route, or something more regional.

26:45

Summer Travel in Japan

We'll help you build a customized Japan trip that's just right for you.

Go to japantravelpros.com/plan and schedule a session with us.

Got a question from Michael in New York?

Hey Michael, how you doing, pal?

So Michael wants to know Japan summertime.

27:03

Good idea, bad idea.

What's the deal there, Michael?

I'm going to give you the short answer and a longer, more nuanced answer because that's that's how we do it here.

The short answer is if summer is the only time you can visit Japan, please come to Japan.

Don't let it be a dealer breaker.

Don't let it dissuade you from your dream trip to Japan.

27:21

It can be great, but know before you go, know what you're getting into.

Japan gets hot and really humid in the summertime.

You might be thinking of summer as June, July, or August.

Well, those are different kinds of weather and in fact, three different, distinctly different seasons here in Japan.

27:39

And so we've got spring, for example, starting around sakura time, starting around cherry blossoms, late March, running through April and May and into early June.

The weather tends to be dry relatively and the temperatures are starting to warm up, but it's usually a pretty nice time to be here.

And then round about the first or second week of June starts the rainy season in Japan.

27:59

In in much of Japan.

Hokkaido doesn't have it.

Okinawa starts earlier.

But for the rest of Japan, typically the first or second week of June on through mid-july for about a month or six weeks, it's rainy season.

Now what does this mean?

It's not an all day, everyday kind of rain, but typical Japanese person leaves home every morning with an umbrella, knowing that at some point during the day it might rain.

28:23

It might rain for an hour or two on and off, and sometimes the weather forecast shows sunshine and then boom, there's a shower or even a thunderstorm in the late afternoon, early evening, something like that.

So good to be prepared.

It works better if you're in the cities because you can always duck into a cafe or gallery or shops or museum or anything like that.

28:45

You've got indoor options if you're in an area in Hakone, for example, and you're you're planning on some sightseeing or here in an area like Takayama or Nakosendo or the Alps.

In places like that, rainy season might affect you more, but just depends on how you feel about rolling the dice and seeing what happens.

29:06

But again, good to know before you go.

And then once we finish rainy season in mid-july, then it's hot and humid.

Traditionally that was all the way through August.

And at this point, what we're saying is it's all the way through September.

29:21

How hot and how humid?

That's a, that's a good question.

People we know who are from India, Southeast Asia, places like that will tell you, Ari Sun, it's really hot here.

Here meaning Japan.

In fact, we know a guy who goes home in August back to India and then comes back to Japan and says, wow, it's so hot in Japan.

29:41

Not in India, in Japan, the question we ask a lot of clients is not only where are you from, but what's your lifestyle?

Because we had a lot of people say, oh, I live in Texas or I live in Florida or where I live, summers get really hot and humid.

There's one thing that's even more important than that is what kind of lifestyle do you have?

30:00

Because if you live in a hot place, but you go from air conditioned home into your air conditioned car, to your air conditioned office, to the air conditioned store, to the air conditioned gym and back to your air conditioned home.

You see where I'm going with this?

You're basically spending 24/7 in air conditioning.

30:16

So how much time do you spend outside?

People take anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 steps a day.

If you do the math, you're talking about several hours outside all day every day.

And Aki, does it, Does it get better in the evening or overnight?

30:32

It actually no.

Yeah, it's it's more humid.

The temperature drops a little bit.

The sun goes down, but the humidity starts to increase and actually feels stickier, if anything.

So not saying this is scary.

I don't want this to be a deal breaker for you unless if you're somebody who has flexibility in your travel plans and you say, yeah, you know, I can actually come there in October or I can come there in February.

30:57

Let's have that conversation.

Let's talk about that because those are probably better months for you to travel depending on how you feel about heat and humidity versus cooler weather or things like that.

Not that October is super cool, but it starts to at least go from hot and humid to warm to starts to cool off by the end of October.

31:13

Let's let's say that on the other hand, sometimes we're talking to a client and they'll say, well, I can take 3 weeks off in the summer and have effectively a 17 day or a 21 day trip in Japan, or I can spend 10 days over Christmas and New Year's.

Which one should I do?

31:30

I think there's a really good case to be made for you should still come in the summertime because you're spending more time here.

As long as you set the pace, I think you'll be all right in the summer.

And that's that segways into what we really want to talk about here in terms of, OK, let's say you're coming to Japan in the summer.

If you're listening to this podcast and you've already bought your tickets, or maybe you're a teacher, maybe you're a student, or maybe you have kids in the family who are on the school calendar.

31:52

Those are all reasons that you want to travel to Japan in the summer.

No problem.

Important then to plan early, plan well, plan often and have a Plan B.

That's a big one.

Every summer we work with clients in Japan who've come here and realize that was a, that was a really ambitious plan, but it's time to put a Plan B together.

32:10

In some cases, we've seen clients get heat stroke, which is not uncommon, especially these days in Japan.

And we've seen clients just get completely wiped out by a very ambitious plan.

You can prevent this from happening by having a better plan to begin with, a plan that gives you a little bit of space, a little bit of breathing room.

32:30

And that's probably a case to have a few more days in Japan, but also spread out your plans across those days.

Don't add more plans to the day's.

Keep some space open.

If you're working with us here at Japan Travel Pros, we can usually spot it.

And when we look at an itinerary and say, wow, you're kind of you're kind of setting yourselves up for failure on this one.

32:49

And just to give you a little heads up, a little bit of warning as to what you might want to do instead.

So we love helping out in those cases.

And yeah, again, Michael, if if summer is the time that you can get away, absolutely recommend Japan.

Don't let it be a deal breaker.

But if you have a flexible schedule, you might want to look at some other times as well and then see what works best for you.

33:15

Big thanks to everyone who sent questions.

33:18

Closing Remarks with Ari

And if you got a question, we'd love to hear from you.

You can send us a voice clip.

Yeah, just go ahead on your phone and record a voice memo.

Send it on over, or it can be a text form as well. e-mail us at Ari at japantravelpros.com.

That's Ari at japantravelpros.com.

33:34

Thanks for listening all the way to the end.

Hey, if you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us on your podcast app.

And if you want to help other travelers discover the show, we really appreciate a rating or review.

We've got some guest episodes coming up real soon, so stay tuned for those.

And until next time, safe travels.tion text goes here