What to Bring for a Summer Trip to Japan

I’ll start with some of the bad advice I got before moving to Japan one June many Prime Ministers ago…

• One person told me not to bring any shorts or anything that would expose my legs because it’s not done in “that culture”.
• Another person told me to pack a black suit just in case I get invited to a funeral because “they have a lot of funerals over there”.
• Yet another person told me to pack enough snacks for the week because the fish goes bad fast.

After living in Japan through way too many sweaty summers, here’s my packing advice for a trip to Japan in the summer. If anybody has some questions or good suggestions, feel free to lay it out in the comments.

• T-shirts – both long and short-sleeved. You are going to sweat, and a lot of the temples and sights in Japan don’t give you a lot of room for shade. It is humid and you will sweat, a mid-day change of shirt will make your day. The night can sometimes be cool warranting a nice long-sleeved T-shirt.
• Ditto for socks. Unless you are wearing hiking sandals or something like that, you may want to change soggy ones for dry ones.
• Ditto for underwear.
• Short pants. It’s humid… that should be your first concern.
• An extra pair of shoes or something like that if you wear a larger size. You can probably get them in a larger city, but it also might be convenient to have something you can wear if you happen to lose a shoe in a rice paddy or somewhere like that.
• A hat to keep out the son. Hat’s are common, in fact you’ll see women speeding down the road ringing their bicycle bells wearing hats with oversized brims and what can best be describe as welder-mask looking visors on.
• Deoderant. If you wear it, bring it. It’s not as easy to find as long time residents wish.
• Presents. It’s always good to have something cool to give people you meet. It’s really hard to check what kinds of things are already available in Japan, but uniquely American candy, American magazines, or something unique from your home town always works. In Japan they really appreciate things that you can “only get” a certain place.

Things you don’t need:

• Umbrellas. It will rain, but they are so inexpensive there it might be better to get a cheap one than risk losing your good one on the train. In the Summer, it might even feel good to let yourself get wet.
• Diapers. This is my personal opinion, but I think diapers are much better in Japan. They are very soft, and pull-up types are abundant. This is one of the few items we actually bring with us when we travel from Japan to the U.S.
• A suit or dress clothes. Unless you know you are going to need them, I wouldn’t worry about bringing them. There are also cheap stores like Uniqlo where you can get some pretty good clothes inexpensively in a pinch.

I’m sure I’ve missed some things and I’ll add to this list in the comments if I realize what it is. As I said before, I’m open to comments and suggestions!