Sake Barrels in Kyoto.
I could spend weeks talking about Japan (maybe I'll still decide to later), and a lot of it would probably sound eerily familiar if you regularly read travel blogs. Instead I decided I'd recap some of the things that I didn't know ahead of time and learned along the way.
Tokyo
If there's one piece of advice I can give about Japan, and Tokyo specifically, it's to make reservations for everything! The Robot Restaurant, an Owl Cafe, the Hedgehog Cafe, any and all of the Alice in Wonderland themed restaurants, etc. If you want to visit a place and the allow walk-ups, make sure to get there right when they open, or a little before. I went to the Harry Hedgehog cafe in Tokyo with no reservation, 30 minutes after they opened, and there was already an hour wait.
Osaka
Namba Walk is an underground shopping center that runs about a half a mile long and has shopping and restaurants. It connects the Nippombashi Subway Station to the JR Namba Station West. There are numerous exits, including one that gives easy access to Dotonbori.
Kyoto
A short walk from Pontocho Alley are the Teramachi and Shinkyogoku Shopping Arcades, which are the two most popular shopping streets in Kyoto and are both covered. There are dozens of shops, restaurants and shrines, and you could easily spend an afternoon there, especially on a rainy day. There's also a hotel right in the middle of all of it called the Hotel Gracery Teramachi. I didn't stay at that Hotel Gracery location but I did stay at one in Tokyo and it was a very nice hotel.
General
A lot of restaurants and shops are cash only, so unless your willing to miss out on those amazing crepes on Takeshita Street in Harajuku, have cash on hand! The same applies for buses- if you don't have some variation of a bus pass, you're going to need cash.
I never saw a trash can. Anywhere. Make sure you have room in your backpack or bag to carry any trash you'll have until you find a place to toss it.
Daiso stores are like dollar stores but with a much larger selection of items. It's a great place to pick up some souvenirs!
All of the temples I came across had bathrooms and sold drinks, snacks and gifts. Speaking of temples, you can purchase a shuin (a small autograph notebook) for about $10 USD and each temple will autograph the shuin for about $3 USD each. This quickly became my most favorite souvenir for myself from any destination yet.
There are 7-11's everywhere and they all have ATM's which will accept your foreign card.
If you plan on watching videos that you've downloaded on Netflix or Amazon don't be surprised if some (or most all) of them aren't available to watch once you get to Japan due to licencing restrictions.
Make sure your adapters are 2-prong and not 3-prong. Two out of three of my adapters didn't work in Japan because they were 3-prong.
You can read more about my Japan trip here: