5 Tips for Women Traveling Solo in Japan

Among the world’s safest countries, Japan can certainly still be daunting for lone feminine people.

By Rachel Hartwick Mar 13, 2019 9 min read

As an expat, there are numerous reasons you might elect to just take a solamente adventure in Japan. Possibly your brand new friends don’t have actually the exact same days off work while you. Perhaps you’ve been staying in Japan for decades and also have grown exhausted doing exactly the same things using the exact same individuals. Or even traveling alone simply fits your personality.

Once I relocated to Japan, my English-teaching work put me in Fukui, notorious to be the least-visited prefecture by worldwide tourists. Therefore as soon as I’d settled in and a week-long autumn break from work arrived around, I became wanting to escape my prefecture’s cold, rainy times and explore the southern islands of Okinawa. My buddies didn’t have exactly the same days off work I booked a flight on a bit of a whim and set off on my first solo trip in Japan as me, so. It absolutely was a nerve-racking experience and lonely in certain cases (and interestingly took lots of courage simply to bring myself to eat at a restaurant alone), but 100 % worth every penny.

Considered among the safest that is world’s, Japan has been around the utmost effective 10 nations associated with international Peace Index the past ten years. Irrespective of the main reason, solamente travel that is female Japan is amazing while the trials and tribulations of traveling alone as a lady shouldn’t deter you against the action ahead. Listed below are five what to bear in mind before departing on a solo journey in Japan.

1. Select your accommodation sensibly

HostelWorld, CouchSurfing and Airbnb accommodation apps.

Generally speaking, we seek out a place that is closest into the town center. Because of this, I am able to avoid walking in low-lit, low-traffic areas whenever possible. There are numerous platforms for low priced accommodation in Japan which make it simple for females to locate personal or rooms that are women-only particularly when on a tight budget.

• HostelWorld causes it to be extremely simple to find the cheapest accomodation in English, thus I put it to use nearly solely in Japan. You’ll find there’s more often than not a women-only dorm choice, that we choose because there is commonly far fewer snorers maintaining me awake. It’s an experience worth trying if you’ve never stayed in a hostel before. We find they’re especially enjoyable for solamente travel in Japan because lots of the social individuals crashing you can find alone, seeking to make buddies and have now interesting stories of exactly what led them to come quickly to Japan. Due to the nature associated with task, hostel staff usually talk English, are content to suggest restaurants that are local genuinely would like you to take pleasure from the nation they reside in up to they are doing. If sharing a dorm isn’t your cup tea, numerous hostels also provide personal spaces for a little greater cost.
• The Couchsurfing application is for what it really appears like — crashing on a couch that is local’s free. The greater amount of you settee surf, the greater you can easily build your profile as a dependable, polite and simple visitor. However the platform has evolved into more than simply finding a accepted place to fall asleep. Regarding the app, there is a number of activities and “hangouts” around Japan. For instance, one user organizes a Pink Bar Crawl in a Shinjuku LGBT area 100% free every and another is promoting a hanami (cherry blossom celebration) meet-up at a Tokyo park in April saturday.
• Airbnb. If you’re seeking an even more stay that is home-like Japan, take a look at Airbnb. While a recent Minpaku Law has capped Airbnb use within Japan at 180 times, many subscribed listings are now actually dependable. Just like other accommodation, make sure that your Airbnb of option is in a well-lit main area, is personal and has now high safety. You’ll be able to see the owners’ profile you prefer a female host before you book, should.
• Women-only accommodation. If you’re maybe not into provided areas, you can find a wide range of women-only hostels, capsule resort hotels and guesthouses across Japan, apparently much more compared to other areas around the globe. A quick Bing search of “female/women just resort hotels,” paired with your location town has a tendency to have an array of outcomes — especially in Tokyo.

2. Use Facebook groups

Inspite of the selection of information available on the internet now, travel companies and team trips continue to be thriving in Japan. This will make it even more straightforward to do some solamente travel every so often of one’s selecting. You will find a true number of Facebook teams created specifically in order to connect ladies tourists with each other to talk about guidelines, advice and help.

• Girls Love Travel — with over 600,000 people, a huge selection of updates are posted in this international forum each time from ladies throughout the world. From finding guide tips about a location you’re interested in to basic strategies for a travel itinerary anywhere on earth, there’s no concern too broad or obscure because of this team.
• Futon Party! A Love/Dating Discussion Group for Expat feamales in Japan — With nearly 2,000 people, this team is primarily for ladies to go over dating life in Japan. This is a really straight forward group that doesn’t shy away from talking about dating and sex if you’re planning on swiping into some Tinder dates on your Japan solo trip and want advice.
• JET Ladies + — Originally designed for ALTs inside the JET Programme in Japan, this group welcomes all expats that are female-identifying Japan. In the event that you’ve never ever held it’s place in the JET Programme before and you may explain a compelling good reason why you’d want to join, based on the about web page, the admins will consider carefully your demand. Week Wie zu sehen, wer Dich auf fdating mag, ohne zu bezahlen topics of conversations in this group include everything from volunteer traveling to the best spots to go for this year’s extended Golden. Further, this community of expat women everyday lives in both big towns and much more inaka (countryside) towns, therefore it’s a great location to find prospective travel mates and less touristy destinations.