What do I need to know?

• Pack light enough to travel in a single bag, or small suitcase if possible. You’ll prolly bring another one back with goodies if you’re anything like us. If you travel to our shows you’ll be on the train a lot, with limited space. You’re going to walk a lot.

• The train system is incredibly robust. Google maps will tell you every spot to get on and get off. It can even tell you when the last train runs. Worst case, cabs are available everywhere at all times. Uber even works in Tokyo and some other areas.

• Pay with cash to get a Suica Card at any train station, then load that up as you go. You can get apps on your phone to read the card to see your balance if you’re unsure before a trip.

• Book your B&Bs / hotels ahead of time. Consider how close you want to be to the city etc. In Tokyo, we ended up in a nice spot about 3 miles out of Tokyo with a rail station about a five minute walk away.

• Get an international sim card. This will let you use live translation apps (including google lens to read signs and such) as well as navigate with GPS. We used a few different ESIM services and they all worked great. E-sim means you can just activate it without a physical sim card, right before you leave from your phone.

• 7-11 is a spot where you can load cash on your Suica card ahead of time, take out cash (many ATMS dont support visa/usa cards) and get some of the coolest snacks.