Herald Sun's "Ten Top Tips For Traveling In Japan"

Above, one tip is making good use of Japanese vending machines. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Keeping up-to-date on things involving Japan travel saves foreign visitors from making cultural mistakes. It doesn't matter where the helpful tips come from, as long as they are useful. The latest comes from Australia's Herald Sun website (I've noticed quite a lot of Japan travel-oriented articles originating out of Australia lately).

The newspaper posted ten top tips for traveling in Japan. Following some of them will save the traveler money.

They begin with:

In ritual-rich Japan, there are right and wrong ways of doing almost everything. Fortunately, being labelled a dumb foreigner – causing confusion and embarrassment by behaving differently – is easily avoided.

What’s more, emulating the Japanese ensures a better holiday – and saves money.

At one time, the idea of buying a can of Boss hot coffee from a vending machine (tip number 7) didn't seem all that appealing to me. But, once I tried some, I became a believer and it has come in handy more than once. It particularly came in handy last February while stuck midway between Tokyo and Narita airport for hours at a Chiba Prefecture train station due to snow. The coffee's not bad either! (Thankfully, I always bring along a supply of Sweet N' Low from home.)

To read the article, go here.