There are tons of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit groups out there for all the niches and rabbit holes you could want to explore before arriving in Japan. Photography groups, food blogs and foodie communities, Japanese history forums, and pretty much anything else you could think of populate the walls of the web. There is a failsafe trick for getting the most out of these groups: ask simple questions! On the most active groups, you’ll get a deluge of responses from fellow hobbyists, many of whom have already been to Japan.

Example Questions:
“Which are the best off the beaten path museums in Japan?”
“What’s your favorite simple recipe?”
“What’s your best shot of Tokyo?”
“Where’s the best hidden spot in Kyoto?”
“If I have ‘X’ days in ‘destination Y’ where should I go?”
“Which is the best store in Akihabara to buy video games?”
“What are your favorite spots for sushi in Toyosu/Tsukiji market?”

Mood boards are online collages or visual presentations used to convey feelings about a certain place or topic. Even if you’re not the most artistic person out there, they are pretty easy to make, with most mood board sites and apps having clear sets of detailed instructions. They can serve as a quick reminder of the restaurants you have to eat, those must-visit destinations, and the iconic Japan Instagram shots you want to recapture in person.

Download this mood board here.
Or
Download the template to write your own!

There’s a good chance food is among the reasons you’re visiting Japan, so why not whip up a few meals in your own kitchen to get inspired? For culinary ideas and even cooking outlines, refer back to those Facebook (and other social media) groups, the Live Japan archives, or be adventurous and use a translation app to go into greater detail on Japanese cooking blogs and forums!

Obviously, some dishes will require more obscure ingredients, and your local supermarket shelves may not be stacked high with Japanese sauces, marinades or seasonings. However, some dishes are relatively simplistic and require few ingredients. For example:
· Gyudon (beef bowl): thin slices of beef, onions, soy sauce, sugar and mirin (white wine, vermouth or sherry can be used instead), along with rice and egg to serve.
· Tamagoyaki (grilled egg): egg, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, salt, dashi (or chicken broth)
· Yakitori (chicken skewers): chicken pieces (thigh, breast, wings, hearts, etc.), salt, green onions, tare sauce (can be made with soy sauce, mirin, sugar, garlic, sherry vinegar and ginger)

Japanese can be a complex language to navigate, but Rome wasn’t built in an evening. Start by learning a new word or useful phrase every day to get ready for your trip. You can even compile your own basic phrasebook to cater to your needs and interests – there’s no point in learning formal business phrases from a textbook if you’re only in Japan for a two-week vacation. Here are a few everyday words to get the ball rolling:

‘Konnichiwa’ – Hello
‘Ohayoo Gosaimasu’ – Good morning
‘Arigatou Gozaimasu’ – Thank you very much
‘Daijoubu desu’ – That’s okay
‘Ikura desu ka’ – How much is it?
‘’X’ wa doko desu ka’ – Where is ‘X’
‘Okaikei onegaishimasu’ – Can I get the bill please?

There are also some great techniques for remembering your daily words: learn how to draw the kanji (the Chinese character(s) associated with the word/phrase); try using the word/phrase in a sentence; watch Japanese TV shows to help reinforce common words you’ve learnt and how to use them; find an online language exchange group.

Finding a partner who is equally enthused about learning Japanese can really help; you could even try making flashcards and testing out your vocab and grammar on each other.

Japanese podcasts have long been great language learning tools. But in recent years culture, history and work/life in Japan podcasts have become increasingly popular too.

Whether you want to learn conversational Japanese, discover the ins and outs of Japan’s subcultures, delve deeper into the weird world of regional folklore, or get inspiration for a future move to the Land of the Rising Sun, podcasts are a fantastic avenue through which to do it.

There are tons of podcast providers across all platforms these days. If you want to find something specific, type keywords into the search bar:
‘Learn Japanese Beginner’
‘Japanese Food’
‘Samurai History’

If you can think of it, there's probably a podcast about it!

For bibliophiles, reading a good book on Japan may suit you better. Since the early works of the great Japanophile Donald Richie, a whole host of foreign wordsmiths have written excellent travel, culture, food and biographical accounts inspired by Japan and its people. These kinds of books are great for people who want to take a deep dive beyond the surface information in guide books. The aforementioned Richie, plus Alex Kerr, Boye Lafayette De Mente and Michael Booth are notable authors in this field.

Japanese fiction is another great method of inspiration for your upcoming travels. Several English-speaking authors have envisaged great tales that take place on Japanese shores (David Mitchell and Arthur Golden are just a couple), but thanks to wealth of professional translators out there, books written originally in Japanese are now equally accessible in English; Haruki Murakami’s books provide arguably the most definitive entry points.

Japanese film and television are stylistically very unique, and as such watching one of the many timeless movies or TV shows to come out of Japan is sure to ramp up your excitement levels. Anime is an integral part of Japanese culture, from its art styles to its signature blood-pumping, over-the-top melodrama. Bingeing one of the numerous series available through online streaming sites will supply you with hours upon hours of entertainment.

For films, Japanese classics that recount tales from history and explore the arcana of samurai culture are perfect for history buffs. The movies of Akira Kurosawa were said to have inspired the entire spaghetti western genre that took Hollywood by storm in the 1960s. His importance on the world of filmmaking remains over half a century later, as do his powerful storytelling methods.

Japanese culture is (in)famous for its strict etiquette and the specificity of its behavioral norms. To make sure you don’t venture into any taboo areas either in conversation or with your actions, it’s worth doing a bit of pre-trip research on what not to do in Japan. Here are some basic examples of behaviors you should avoid:

Don’t:
· Wear shoes indoors when there are cubby holes to place them by the doorway
· Place your chopsticks into a bowl of rice when not eating – this signifies death
· Talk on the phone (or talk loudly at all) when riding the train
· Eat on the street unless you’re at a market or somewhere else appropriate
· Blow your nose in public

Generally, locals will not chastise you for making a mistake and carrying out these behaviors, but it’s good to be mindful nonetheless.