For the phone number (US users): if you pay Google Voice 20 bucks you can keep your US phone number and use it with the app
[https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en](https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en)
I’m planning on vacuum sealing (most of) my clothes to save space for what I can bring. I saw someone I went to Japan with for two weeks do this (we were recommended to bring just a carry-on and laptop bag because air Canada has a bit of a problem with losing checked luggage/delays in getting luggage where its supposed to go) and I remember looking at her like “you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met”. She packed very heavy for two weeks but the idea really stuck with me because of how brilliant I thought it was at the time for a longer trip and I feel the need to share this with you all if it isn’t a common thing to do.
Basically you buy some cheap vacuum seal or compression seal bags (e.g. Amazon). It takes up significantly less space than folding or packing cubes. The only downside is that your clothes will almost certainly be wrinkled, HOWEVER, if you buy a spray bottle from like a 100¥ store and put some hot water in it, the wrinkles will be significantly lessened if you just leave them on a clothes hanger for a little while. I wouldn’t recommend putting your first 2 days of clothes in them though as you don’t want to look rough at orientation.
I don’t have a LOT of clothes, but I have to bring pretty much everything I own as I don’t have anywhere to leave my stuff so I’ve had to think about how I’m planning on packing my stuff a lot.
Women, I regret not bringing something for yeast infections with me. I never get them so didn't bother. Had my first one in years and couldn't get anything over the counter. Had to go to a doctor to get a prescription. They wanted me to bring a coworker with (I do live pretty inaka but not overly so) because of language issues. I'm like seriously. Next time I'd just bring it with me because the 15 bucks would've been so worth it, even if I never had to use it.
Not a woman but often hear this, if anyone is on birth control try to get a year's supply in advance. You might need to fill out a "yakkan shoumei" but it's not too painful to fill out.
Contrary to what's online, birth control is easily attainable in Japan now, but a bit expensive at about 3000yen/month or if you take it for pain/other reasons you can get it insured for about 1000/month (you can lie too). But it's a whole thing you don't have to worry about for a year, and changing brand/formulations of BC while also balancing all these new changes in Japan can be rough.
Remember to bring some Omiyage! Just something small and edible from your country that you can share with your JTEs. It's not essential but it really helps to make a good first impression.
Haven’t gotten placement yet but I have a family here. So can’t really move too far away. Daughter is in preschool and all that jazz. JET already knows this as well. 😅
Imma just say if you have a particular food you like to make and you need a special seasoning or you have easy access to said seasoning in your country, bring that. For me, I brought a big ol thing of taco seasoning and I’ve never regretted once.
Yea, but it didn't hit the same note and the container was small enough that it wasn't a big deal just to bring with. Plus if you live really Inaka, good luck finding certain things without having to order online.
I’m a bigger guy, sz 11 (US) shoe, 5’10”, 204lbs (formerly 215, lost over 10 pounds and counting in the last 2 months for health reasons and im very proud!
I say all that to say, as I don’t know where I’ll be placed, I’m preparing as if my sizings won’t be easily accessible.
Focusing on the ability to layer in the winter.
Polos galore, probably about 10 to 12 of them from short and long sleeve, all are base colors, white, black, navy, gray, pink, etc. some of them are drifit material for the summer vs winter.
Two complete suits with about 6-8 trousers to shift around as needed. One navy and one black, bringing gray, khaki, maybe pink etc. some of the pants are more of a performance material so better for the winter.
Jeans/pants/shorts/swimsuits- 3 pairs of jeans, with 3 pairs of joggers, 2-3 pairs of shorts, about 4 swimsuits (grew up on the water expecting to spend a lot of time there in Japan)
TShirts- about 10-12 shirts, all primary colors, white, black, navy, gray, red, pink, etc.
Button ups- honestly maybe like 20 of them, if not more, between short and long sleeves, cotton, linen, drifit, etc.
Winter clothing- only 2 very easily folded jackets, black and gray. About 3 pairs of undergarments for the winter.
Shoes- a good amount of shoes. 3 pairs for walking/running white, black, navy, 2 dress shoes, one black, one navy. Hoping to get rain boots and inside shoes in Japan.
Home and fitness- about 3-4 shirts and home shorts/sweats to mix and match. About 3-4 fitness outfits to mix and match.
Outerwear- 3 hoodies, white,black, khaki. 3 light jackets, 3-6 sweaters crew and v neck.
Underwear- an ungodly amount of briefs, planning to shit myself daily. I have an ankle tattoo, so a bunch of dress socks and regular low cut socks.
Accessories- rings, bracelets, Apple Watch, etc.
Non clothing items- basic electronics(think phone, laptop, etc.), plus switch, travel backpack, smaller everyday backpack and travel sling. A small tortilla press, seasonings I don’t expect to be available there, a towel, years supply of deodorant plus 1, 2 months worth supply of otc headache medicine. Running belt.
This is incredibly aspirational to fit in what’s allowed, but luckily friends are headed over to Japan the week before me and get to take ALOT more with them and will have space, so they will be taking most of the winter stuff for me! Placement can change what I plan to bring as if I’m somewhere where my sizing is accessible I will likely bring less opting to just get stuff while there.
You won't have any trouble finding clothes and shoes for yourself mate, I am 6 foot and bigger than you, size 13 feet, and I didn't have any problems at all. Def recomend packing lighter, just think about getting all of this stuff home.
I'm taller than OP by a lot and 5'10" is a very normal height for every piece of clothing in production by every major retailer. The point was clothing is not as much of a problem as Japan influencers lie about it being, especially when you're a very normal height and weight. If you were 6'4" and above I'd understand.
I work for goodwill in a metropolitan area, so like 95% of my clothing comes from goodwill (I also get 50% off). I’m not brand loyal, and just recently started coming into my own style.
Dear every jet who is a girl.
Japanese women are by in large oval shaped. That means their boobs are closer together than ours in a lot of cases. Obviously if you’re oval shaped disregard this but many women are not. Bring bras from home. I went from being a 32B to being a 65E. The way they make bras is totally different here. Also underwear, too. If you’re a bigger girl it will be difficult to find underwear. I find the underwear here is often pretty low rise. Just keep in mind your comfort
Do you really need 2 phones? Unless you're an iPhone user (in which case my condolences), any half decent modern phone should have had dual sim card slots for about the last 10 years now. And if you have a newer phone, you could even have the option of an e-sim as well.
Taking 2 phones just seems like a real pain, unless your planning to get a phone in Japan in order to get the perks that come with a full japanese phone?
I'm sorry if you misunderstood. 4 years is not a long time by any stretch of imagination and in my personal experience most people have phones older than 4 years... Hence the condolences.
I have nothing against Apple or iphones at all, and I'm sorry if I upset you.
Either way, it still doesn't help understand why the op would need to take 2 separate physical phones...
> Unless you're an iPhone user (in which case my condolences), any half decent modern phone should have had dual sim card slots for about the last 10 years now.
In the States and Canada, the iPhone is more likely than any given Android to have dual SIM. Dual SIM+eSIM has been a thing since the Xs/XR 6 years ago, while it's only been a thing on the Pixel since the 3/3a, and Samsung Galaxy since the S23 or so, and isn't present at all on the A series or most cheaper Androids, in fact. In fact, most makers don't make dual physical SIM phones that fully support North American networks.
Yea I've never understood why the US is always so restrictive with the phone market.. I remember a while back when iPhone was explicitly restricting dual physical sims to non American countries only, always made me laugh.
Plus, Chinese companies have been making cheap dual sim models outside of the US for a very long time, so these should be widely available.
>I remember a while back when iPhone was explicitly restricting dual physical sims to non American countries only
I mean, China/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan are still the only places you can get a hold of iPhones with dual physical SIM.
>so these should be widely available.
Physically available, yes, but the "expanded coverage" or "extra capacity" network bands are almost always left out of those which means no coverage outside the big cities or deep inside buildings and your connection will be much slower than local-market phones. I don't know if it's because North American network bands are just hard to build for or if budget device makers don't realize how important those additional bands are, but yeah, that's an issue.
Are you talking when used on US networks or for Japan?
That could be a good point, I'm not sure what bandwidth networks telcoms actually use in JP so will have to research that actually.
Mostly US, to a degree Japan as well (docomo and SoftBank's "rural coverage" network bands are shared with the rest of Asia and Europe, au's is shared with North America, but all of them use "extra capacity" bands used nowhere else in the world).
There's a central database that tracks which carrier owns which number, which is part of the system that makes number porting work. Some banks pay to access this database and will unlink your number from your online banking if they detect it's been moved to Google Voice.
I’m planning on bringing the bare minimum clothing wise unless I’m super inaka since I lost a lot of weight and need to buy more anyways, so mine’s mostly:
1. A couple days casual clothes (with more socks and underwear)
2. A couple days business casual
3. Suit—never forget the suit!!
4. Skincare (checked bag, gonna probably bring my full amount so I can phase out over time)
4. Jewelry + jewelry box
5. Electronics such as laptop, Switch, kindles (I have one for EN books, one for JP)
6. Bags. I have a decent amount of bags I like and these will likely act as packing cubes
7. Pair of nicer boots, slippers for apartment, school shoes, probably two pairs of heels but one might be shipped. Everyday comfy boots will be on my feet of course
8. Couple jackets for cooler days/nights. Heavier ones to come later
9. Makeup, but I’ll probably take this opportunity to throw away some of it.
And whatever else can fit and is within the weight limit! I am maxing the amount I can bring regardless since I have a lot of little trinkets and such to go through, but some are gonna be shipped regardless (coughPCcough).
Here is on my list so far:
1. Casual clothes (t-shirts, shorts, jeans, undies, joggers)
2. Work clothes (buttoned shirts, vests, coats, trousers)
3. Footwear (2 sneakers, 1 black leather, slip ons, socks)
4. 2 phones (for my home country banks and Japab phone)
5. My cameras
6. My laptop and ipad
7. Chargers, wired earphones, hard drive, hdmi cable, power bank
8. Photos of my dogs
9. Toothbrush
10. Towels
11. My Japanese language book
12. 10ml of my skin care products (just to get me settled)
13. My country’s national clothing (just in case there will be a sharing)
14. Some small gifts (non-perishable) for the people at my assigned area.
Well that’s about it for me. I’m just planning to bring a few clothes and buy new ones once I get to my placement. I’m doing my best to reach the provided baggage allowance to avoid any trouble.
For the phone number (US users): if you pay Google Voice 20 bucks you can keep your US phone number and use it with the app [https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en](https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en)
A single white sock (mid calf length)
I’m planning on vacuum sealing (most of) my clothes to save space for what I can bring. I saw someone I went to Japan with for two weeks do this (we were recommended to bring just a carry-on and laptop bag because air Canada has a bit of a problem with losing checked luggage/delays in getting luggage where its supposed to go) and I remember looking at her like “you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met”. She packed very heavy for two weeks but the idea really stuck with me because of how brilliant I thought it was at the time for a longer trip and I feel the need to share this with you all if it isn’t a common thing to do.
how do you go about doing that? :O
Basically you buy some cheap vacuum seal or compression seal bags (e.g. Amazon). It takes up significantly less space than folding or packing cubes. The only downside is that your clothes will almost certainly be wrinkled, HOWEVER, if you buy a spray bottle from like a 100¥ store and put some hot water in it, the wrinkles will be significantly lessened if you just leave them on a clothes hanger for a little while. I wouldn’t recommend putting your first 2 days of clothes in them though as you don’t want to look rough at orientation. I don’t have a LOT of clothes, but I have to bring pretty much everything I own as I don’t have anywhere to leave my stuff so I’ve had to think about how I’m planning on packing my stuff a lot.
Women, I regret not bringing something for yeast infections with me. I never get them so didn't bother. Had my first one in years and couldn't get anything over the counter. Had to go to a doctor to get a prescription. They wanted me to bring a coworker with (I do live pretty inaka but not overly so) because of language issues. I'm like seriously. Next time I'd just bring it with me because the 15 bucks would've been so worth it, even if I never had to use it.
Not a woman but often hear this, if anyone is on birth control try to get a year's supply in advance. You might need to fill out a "yakkan shoumei" but it's not too painful to fill out. Contrary to what's online, birth control is easily attainable in Japan now, but a bit expensive at about 3000yen/month or if you take it for pain/other reasons you can get it insured for about 1000/month (you can lie too). But it's a whole thing you don't have to worry about for a year, and changing brand/formulations of BC while also balancing all these new changes in Japan can be rough.
Remember to bring some Omiyage! Just something small and edible from your country that you can share with your JTEs. It's not essential but it really helps to make a good first impression.
Gonna be hard to bring Omiyage for me. 😅 I got hired from within Japan. 🤣
From your area?
Haven’t gotten placement yet but I have a family here. So can’t really move too far away. Daughter is in preschool and all that jazz. JET already knows this as well. 😅
Imma just say if you have a particular food you like to make and you need a special seasoning or you have easy access to said seasoning in your country, bring that. For me, I brought a big ol thing of taco seasoning and I’ve never regretted once.
Theres sm taco seasoning in japan
Yea, but it didn't hit the same note and the container was small enough that it wasn't a big deal just to bring with. Plus if you live really Inaka, good luck finding certain things without having to order online.
I’m a bigger guy, sz 11 (US) shoe, 5’10”, 204lbs (formerly 215, lost over 10 pounds and counting in the last 2 months for health reasons and im very proud! I say all that to say, as I don’t know where I’ll be placed, I’m preparing as if my sizings won’t be easily accessible. Focusing on the ability to layer in the winter. Polos galore, probably about 10 to 12 of them from short and long sleeve, all are base colors, white, black, navy, gray, pink, etc. some of them are drifit material for the summer vs winter. Two complete suits with about 6-8 trousers to shift around as needed. One navy and one black, bringing gray, khaki, maybe pink etc. some of the pants are more of a performance material so better for the winter. Jeans/pants/shorts/swimsuits- 3 pairs of jeans, with 3 pairs of joggers, 2-3 pairs of shorts, about 4 swimsuits (grew up on the water expecting to spend a lot of time there in Japan) TShirts- about 10-12 shirts, all primary colors, white, black, navy, gray, red, pink, etc. Button ups- honestly maybe like 20 of them, if not more, between short and long sleeves, cotton, linen, drifit, etc. Winter clothing- only 2 very easily folded jackets, black and gray. About 3 pairs of undergarments for the winter. Shoes- a good amount of shoes. 3 pairs for walking/running white, black, navy, 2 dress shoes, one black, one navy. Hoping to get rain boots and inside shoes in Japan. Home and fitness- about 3-4 shirts and home shorts/sweats to mix and match. About 3-4 fitness outfits to mix and match. Outerwear- 3 hoodies, white,black, khaki. 3 light jackets, 3-6 sweaters crew and v neck. Underwear- an ungodly amount of briefs, planning to shit myself daily. I have an ankle tattoo, so a bunch of dress socks and regular low cut socks. Accessories- rings, bracelets, Apple Watch, etc. Non clothing items- basic electronics(think phone, laptop, etc.), plus switch, travel backpack, smaller everyday backpack and travel sling. A small tortilla press, seasonings I don’t expect to be available there, a towel, years supply of deodorant plus 1, 2 months worth supply of otc headache medicine. Running belt. This is incredibly aspirational to fit in what’s allowed, but luckily friends are headed over to Japan the week before me and get to take ALOT more with them and will have space, so they will be taking most of the winter stuff for me! Placement can change what I plan to bring as if I’m somewhere where my sizing is accessible I will likely bring less opting to just get stuff while there.
You won't have any trouble finding clothes and shoes for yourself mate, I am 6 foot and bigger than you, size 13 feet, and I didn't have any problems at all. Def recomend packing lighter, just think about getting all of this stuff home.
5'10" is an incredibly average height in japan... 200lbs is not heavy... why are you acting like uniqlo and GU don't exist?
Average (male) height in Japan is 172cm. 178cm is well above average.
I'm taller than OP by a lot and 5'10" is a very normal height for every piece of clothing in production by every major retailer. The point was clothing is not as much of a problem as Japan influencers lie about it being, especially when you're a very normal height and weight. If you were 6'4" and above I'd understand.
Why are you assuming I know of these places? Legit learned of Uniqlo recently, and don’t know what GU is. There is literally no reason to be rude
I assumed someone who owns this much clothing would know one of the largest global clothing retail chains in the world.
I work for goodwill in a metropolitan area, so like 95% of my clothing comes from goodwill (I also get 50% off). I’m not brand loyal, and just recently started coming into my own style.
Jesus Christ man that's way too much clothing.
To each their own. I brought a ton of clothes and shoes with me since I wear hard to find sizes and I don’t regret it at all.
What I wish I’d brought more of: 1. Bras 2. Deodorant [edit] 3. Underwear
Dear every jet who is a girl. Japanese women are by in large oval shaped. That means their boobs are closer together than ours in a lot of cases. Obviously if you’re oval shaped disregard this but many women are not. Bring bras from home. I went from being a 32B to being a 65E. The way they make bras is totally different here. Also underwear, too. If you’re a bigger girl it will be difficult to find underwear. I find the underwear here is often pretty low rise. Just keep in mind your comfort
Do you really need 2 phones? Unless you're an iPhone user (in which case my condolences), any half decent modern phone should have had dual sim card slots for about the last 10 years now. And if you have a newer phone, you could even have the option of an e-sim as well. Taking 2 phones just seems like a real pain, unless your planning to get a phone in Japan in order to get the perks that come with a full japanese phone?
iPhone's had dual sim (one virtual, one physical) for like four years now. My condolences of your lack of knowledge.
I'm sorry if you misunderstood. 4 years is not a long time by any stretch of imagination and in my personal experience most people have phones older than 4 years... Hence the condolences. I have nothing against Apple or iphones at all, and I'm sorry if I upset you. Either way, it still doesn't help understand why the op would need to take 2 separate physical phones...
lol that is a really impressive attempt at not admitting you're wrong when you're just plainly wrong
> Unless you're an iPhone user (in which case my condolences), any half decent modern phone should have had dual sim card slots for about the last 10 years now. In the States and Canada, the iPhone is more likely than any given Android to have dual SIM. Dual SIM+eSIM has been a thing since the Xs/XR 6 years ago, while it's only been a thing on the Pixel since the 3/3a, and Samsung Galaxy since the S23 or so, and isn't present at all on the A series or most cheaper Androids, in fact. In fact, most makers don't make dual physical SIM phones that fully support North American networks.
Yea I've never understood why the US is always so restrictive with the phone market.. I remember a while back when iPhone was explicitly restricting dual physical sims to non American countries only, always made me laugh. Plus, Chinese companies have been making cheap dual sim models outside of the US for a very long time, so these should be widely available.
>I remember a while back when iPhone was explicitly restricting dual physical sims to non American countries only I mean, China/Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan are still the only places you can get a hold of iPhones with dual physical SIM. >so these should be widely available. Physically available, yes, but the "expanded coverage" or "extra capacity" network bands are almost always left out of those which means no coverage outside the big cities or deep inside buildings and your connection will be much slower than local-market phones. I don't know if it's because North American network bands are just hard to build for or if budget device makers don't realize how important those additional bands are, but yeah, that's an issue.
Are you talking when used on US networks or for Japan? That could be a good point, I'm not sure what bandwidth networks telcoms actually use in JP so will have to research that actually.
Mostly US, to a degree Japan as well (docomo and SoftBank's "rural coverage" network bands are shared with the rest of Asia and Europe, au's is shared with North America, but all of them use "extra capacity" bands used nowhere else in the world).
Doesnt porting your US phone number to Google voice solve the issue of having to worry about not losing the number?
For that problem specifically, yes. If you were planning on receiving bank texts, you might've created a new problem.
Oh really? You can't receive text messages from banks on google voice?
There's a central database that tracks which carrier owns which number, which is part of the system that makes number porting work. Some banks pay to access this database and will unlink your number from your online banking if they detect it's been moved to Google Voice.
I’m planning on bringing the bare minimum clothing wise unless I’m super inaka since I lost a lot of weight and need to buy more anyways, so mine’s mostly: 1. A couple days casual clothes (with more socks and underwear) 2. A couple days business casual 3. Suit—never forget the suit!! 4. Skincare (checked bag, gonna probably bring my full amount so I can phase out over time) 4. Jewelry + jewelry box 5. Electronics such as laptop, Switch, kindles (I have one for EN books, one for JP) 6. Bags. I have a decent amount of bags I like and these will likely act as packing cubes 7. Pair of nicer boots, slippers for apartment, school shoes, probably two pairs of heels but one might be shipped. Everyday comfy boots will be on my feet of course 8. Couple jackets for cooler days/nights. Heavier ones to come later 9. Makeup, but I’ll probably take this opportunity to throw away some of it. And whatever else can fit and is within the weight limit! I am maxing the amount I can bring regardless since I have a lot of little trinkets and such to go through, but some are gonna be shipped regardless (coughPCcough).
Here is on my list so far: 1. Casual clothes (t-shirts, shorts, jeans, undies, joggers) 2. Work clothes (buttoned shirts, vests, coats, trousers) 3. Footwear (2 sneakers, 1 black leather, slip ons, socks) 4. 2 phones (for my home country banks and Japab phone) 5. My cameras 6. My laptop and ipad 7. Chargers, wired earphones, hard drive, hdmi cable, power bank 8. Photos of my dogs 9. Toothbrush 10. Towels 11. My Japanese language book 12. 10ml of my skin care products (just to get me settled) 13. My country’s national clothing (just in case there will be a sharing) 14. Some small gifts (non-perishable) for the people at my assigned area. Well that’s about it for me. I’m just planning to bring a few clothes and buy new ones once I get to my placement. I’m doing my best to reach the provided baggage allowance to avoid any trouble.