Preparation
When a colleague and I asked for advice on getting by in Japan from one of my firm's senior managers, she replied, 'practice your bowing and smile a lot,' not bad advice.

Americans just need a current passport and proof of a temporary visit (such as an onward ticket), which is unlikely to be asked for). Before going, consider the following while packing. Because hot coffee can cost $10 in the hotel restaurant, you may wish to bring either some instant coffee or coffee bags if your hotel has a hot pot (which it probably will). If your personal beliefs prevent you from BYO food & drink to your destination, and you can stomach cold coffee and aren't lactose intolerant, you can pay ¥120 for a can of ice coffee from a vending machine. As the TV offerings will be Japanese game and variety shows, CNBC and CNN, you may wish to bring a book. Assuming, of course, that you will have any free time outside of the office -- the Japanese business day can be longer than the American business day. At 7 PM, at least half the staff was still in our Tokyo office. This is a big difference from the UK or the US offices, where only a handful would still be in at the 11th hour of the business day.

A phrase book with phrases in Japanese letters may prove useful if all else fails when asking for directions or trying to determine cost of a ticket. Due to cost and difficulty of locating familiar sundry or pharmaceutical products, if you can, bring enough advil, contact lens solution, moleskin (plasters) toothpaste, etc. to last your trip. A copy of your eyeglass prescription, or any other medical prescriptions is also a must, especially when trying to bring in personal prescription drugs. Check your toiletry bag before you go to make sure you're taking only what you need and not what might get you into trouble with skittish customs officers. I once carried a container of valium to 4 different countries, not realizing it was there!

The Flight
Flights from North America use Tokyo as a connecting city to points further west, i.e. Beijing & Singapore, so there are quite a few choices for airlines, and thus competitive pricing for tickets. Tokyo is about 400 miles closer to San Francisco than London, and the flight from SFO to Narita is about 9.5 to 10.5 hours depending on direction. If flying UAL business class, and you like Japanese food, pre-arrange a bento meal; it's much better than the American food choices.

The Airport
Tokyo has two, Narita and Haneda. If you're flying internationally, you will arrive at Narita. Narita is out in the country about 40 miles northeast of the city center.

To get into the city center, there are several options. A taxi will cost about $300 US (a better deal than the aforementioned fruit, but hardly a bargain). There is also a 'Limousine Bus' (a bus, not a limousine, sorry) which stops at all of the major hotels in Central Tokyo. There is also a Narita Express train, which will take you to central Tokyo. Either of these options was ¥3000 in May '01. After exiting the customs area, there is a counter with signs in English and staff who speak it. I was advised by my seatmate from Tokyo to take the train, rather than the bus if it's either morning or afternoon rush hour. A recommendation: have the staff at the transportation counter write name and address of your hotel in Japanese if you don't already have it - this will help if you need to catch a taxi or ask for directions later.

Getting from Narita to city will take 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hrs, depending on traffic, and destination relative to city center. On the return flight, give yourself as much extra time as you can at the airport, as going through security can be time-consuming. Also, be prepared to show your passport and your ticket to airport police at a checkpoint just before arriving at airport terminal.

For those working for my firm, our office is in the Ebisu district, which is SE of the City Center. The Westin Tokyo is about a 10-15 minute walk away from the office. If Limousine bus is sold out or not available to Westin Tokyo for several hours (as is usually the case when arriving from San Francisco), buses go more frequently to Shinagawa, which is much closer to Ebisu than central Tokyo. Buy a ticket to the New Takanawa Prince Hotel in Shinagawa, and take a taxi from there. Or, buy a ticket on Narita Express to Shinagawa, and taxi from there. Be sure to have the Westin Tokyo written in Japanese for the taxi driver or show him the map in your guidebook (Lonely Planet Tokyo has name in Japanese).

Below story is from my first trip to Tokyo. Fortunately, the airport has been MUCH less crowded, on 2 subsequent trips. Conclusion: if flying from SFO, take the earlier of the 2 UAL flights (arrive at 5 rather than 7 PM).

First Impression of Japan -- Narita is a Busy Airport
Our flight arrived in the evening Tokyo time. Because some other flights arrived prior to ours, we were in the slowest moving, most crowded immigration queue I have seen. It took about an hour with so many people that there was no room to move or stand. One of my colleagues mentioned that despite the US's problems, they were still number-one in efficiency, easy enough to agree with at that time. After retrieving baggage and clearing customs, we were informed that all of the buses for the evening were sold out, as well as the next train, which departed in 20 minutes. There were seats available on the following train in 50 minutes. Due to our other colleague Rob being stuck in a half-hour line at the currency exchange counter, we would have missed the next train anyway. The currency changers wouldn't accept one of my hundred dollar bills. They threw it back to Rob and just said 'no'. Fortunately, the hotel did accept it, and the clerk didn't know why it was refused at the airport; I don't remember if it was one of the old-style small profile notes, more popular with 3rd world counterfeiters.

On the Narita Express train, we saw our first examples of Japanese technical wizardry. In the tunnel, after the train leaves the platform, there was a sequence of lighted images (no doubt an advertisement) that became animated when the train moves. Inside each car of the train was an illuminated map of the route with a cursor showing location of train relative to airport and city center.

Money
The currency is the yen (¥), which, in Apr of '02, was worth about 130 to the US dollar (current exchange rate, click here). Notes come ¥10,000; ¥5,000; and ¥1,000 (and recently ¥2,000) per Jan Dodd's Tokyo guide. Coins come in ¥500; ¥100; ¥50 ¥10; ¥5 and ¥1. The 5 yen and 50 yen coins have holes. When I was changing money in the hotel, I was given two ¥10,000 notes for my hundred dollar bills. When I asked for the bills in smaller denominations, the clerk politely told me that everyone will be able to make change; it's not like American $100 bill where getting change isn't always easy or possible. Due to very low crime rate in Tokyo, people carry more cash (as opposed to plastic) than they might in the States.

Carrying some (lots of?) cash is a good idea as credit cards are not accepted everywhere. My experience was that credit cards are accepted in large restaurants and department stores, but often not in smaller ones. The smaller and more traditional the business, the less likely plastic is taken.

Most ATM's and some businesses accept only Japanese cash cards. For withdrawing cash from an international account, you will need to find an International ATM. As this may or may not be designated in English, look for a Cirrus, Visa, or Star symbol on the machine. The closest one to our office is Fuji Bank on 3rd floor in Ebisu Garden Place Tower, only open during banking hours. It's more convenient to change money at front desk of Westin. Some banks and all large hotels will change currency. The banks will have a foreign currency exchange sign. My hotel, the Westin Tokyo in Ebisu, gave a fairly reasonable rate, unlike other countries where there was a hefty surcharge for the convenience. One other warning - currency changers prefer Western hard currency such as dollars, British pounds, euros, etc. In the airport, I saw someone with Chinese remnimbi turned down. If you are coming from a country less economically developed, you may wish to purchase yen in that country prior to your departure.

Last word on money. It's no secret that Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Plan accordingly. When we arrived at the Westin Tokyo, we went upstairs to look at the restaurant menus; several places had courses ranging in price from ¥8,000 to ¥20,000. This is the land of the $10 beer. Fortunately, like everywhere else, there is a wide deviation in restaurant prices and better values are there for those willing to do the work. We were able to get by on $30 to $80 per person for dinner, drinks included, (with exception of a chicken kai-seki place detailed below), and $15 to $20 for lunch. My firm's Intranet page on travel to Tokyo sums it up nicely by saying "¥2,000 is not a lot to spend for lunch, but ¥20,000 is a lot to spend on dinner. Learn to appreciate the power of a 0."

The Office
Upon arrival in our Tokyo office, I was shown a guest desk, with a phone of a similar model to that which I use in San Francisco, and relatively new PC with flat screen monitor, and a keyboard set up in the American format (as opposed to British, which has half a left shift key and ancillary characters in different places). Although, the staff in my group seemed to be comfortable with first names, the Japanese generally don't address colleagues or acquaintances by first name, instead using last name followed by san, e.g. Nakamoto-san, which means Mr. or Ms. Nakamoto. If the person prefers a first name basis, they will tell you, as was the case with my seat mate on the flight over when I addressed him as "--------- - san".

When printing or making copies, our printers and copy machines have only Japanese wording -- yours may too. Not a problem until the printer or copy machine runs out of paper or jams. In my case, there was always someone around who was willing to help out the confused foreigner. Vending machines are easier, as most of them have either a logo or word in English, although the unseasoned palate may not know how Calpis soda and Pocari Sweat will taste. Hint: the former is like carbonated American lemonade, the latter is like Gatorade. In our office's kitchen, someone was thoughtful enough to write 'mirk' on the jar containing white powder to designate milk. The Japanese language doesn't have the English L sound and consequently L's and R's are sometimes confused in pronunciation and spelling. Having taken beginning Japanese, I am sympathetic to the difficulty of learning a language with a completely different alphabet and grammar structure, so no jokes about typos and twisted grammar please.

If unclear on a topic, or trying to make a decision or trying to better explain an issue, your colleagues or clients will speak among themselves in Japanese. This isn't unusual, so don't worry or take offense; they may only be confirming their understanding of what you just said. My experience was that when the language switches back to English during one of these discussions, it was probably meant for my ears, so best to pay attention. I haven't experienced this, but have also heard that the Japanese aren't as uncomfortable with long pauses in meetings or discussions, and may use this to throw a foreigner off-balance, particularly during negotiation.

I was advised by Kenji, my seatmate on my first flight to Tokyo, that yes doesn't always mean yes. It's not considered polite to immediately say no in Japan, so better to take a yes as meaning 'I understand it' or 'I will consider it'. Also, avoid yes/no questions asked in a negative manner, for example, 'sake doesn't give bad hangovers, does it?' If speaking Japanese, this would be answered, yes, sake doesn't give bad hangovers, meaning that's right, no bad hangovers. Or, it could be answered no, as in that's wrong, expect a bad hangover (which, BTW, is the correct answer to the original question.)

Japanese train stations are full of stores which sell and wrap gifts. The reason for this is that there is a whole culture behind gift giving. A gift can be given as a way of expressing gratitude. If giving a gift, it should be modest and should be wrapped. Due to reasons of modesty, the recipient won't open the gift when presented with it. Avoid giving anything in combinations of four and nine, which are associated with death and sickness, respectively.

The hints above just scratch the surface with respect to business customs. In a meeting room, there is a designated spot for the leader of the group hosting the meeting and for the leader of the visitors. Likewise, when climbing in a vehicle, the leader has a designated seat. If in doubt, stand and you will be directed to where to sit. Try Hilka Klinkenberg's recommendations for international business etiquette or see end for recommended reading on Japanese customs.

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