Cheat sheets

• Getting around

  IC cards, the Tokyo subway, and Shinkansen tips.

• Survival Japanese

  The phrases that cover shopping, food, trains, and hotel check-in.

• Trip logistics & hacks

  Apps, luggage rules, shipping your haul home, and the 2025–26 rule changes.

• Pokémon Café & lottery

  How café reservations and the 30th-anniversary lottery work.

• Shopping hacks

  Tax-free rules, Don Quijote discounts, and drugstore strategy.