Q's regarding Japan

Bentos: They are usually made fresh where you buy them, unless you are buying them on the train. Buy the ones that look good.

I use equal or sweet&low. Its usually on the table, but I travel with a few in my purse anyway.

Gifts; all of the items you mentioned. Napkin sets are also nice, as are little bowls, cups or other dishes.

Don't tip unless you are in a traditional inn. In this case you give money in an envelope to the maid when you arrive. Taxi drivers will give you exact change.

Don't know about import restrictions.

Lots of people wearing face masks in Japan, but it's usually because they are sick and don't want to give YOU anything. .
Customs took me about 20 minutes last month.

Mochi based sweets are a traditional thing to bring back home from a trip. You will find a variety of colorully wrapped boxes for sale at the airport before you leave.

There is no shortage of souvenirs and arts & crafts, for sale in Japan.

Chopsticks? Sure. Sushi sets with platters and little bowls for soy sauce to dip your sushi. Teapots, tea cups, green tea (powder or leaves).

Ceramic dolls, yes! I really like the Hakata dolls, see:
http://tinyurl.com/yj9xfwo
You should be able to find these in Kyoto (at the multi-story souvenir shop in Gion) or in Tokyo.

Kyoto has a style of doll that I think are called Kyo dolls. A search for that term found this site which shows several arts & crafts items:
http://www.art-craft-japan.com/
I think the dolls shown there are Kyo dolls - ceramic with cloth (vs Hakata dolls which are 99% hand-painted ceramic).

Click on the doll at the top-left on the first link, the one for Hakata dolls. I have a doll very much like that beautiful lady. Her face and hands, hair and accouterments, and her gorgeous kimono and obi are all ceramic. IIRC, they go for about 10,000 yen.

Food - you can bring back packaged food. Fresh food (fruits, vegetables) is a no-no, I think.

Knives? Certainly not in carry-on.

Best to check cbp.gov about food and knives, if you are returning to the USA.

About food, here is the link:
http://cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/arriving_travelers.xml

Thanks all for the tips. mrwunrfl I was actually referring to food to take on the trip such as snacks/energy bars, etc.. but I figured that as long as it's not opened it should be okay.

Anyone know if the Shinkansen trains have Wifi?

Is there a good website to check for the weather? Weather.com doesn't recognize most of the places. Is there a big difference in weather between Tokyo/Nikko or Hakone? If it's raining or otherwise a bad day I'd rather go another day.

Try weatherbase.com

when traveling on the train, i always like to buy the eki-ben. these are bentos that are sold on the train station stops along your journey, as they serve the local cuisine, but you have to be quick enough to buy the bento in the short while before the train continues on its way.

i've brought into japan, all types of food, including meat, so don't see a problem.

as far as bringing food back with you, i prefer those thin rolled cookies rather than manju. tea is also very good as gifts.

premium sake is also an excellent gift.

No wifi on Shinkansen. There may be in some stations.

premium sake is also an excellent gift

preferably Yoshinogawa kuransosuke san,lol

Aloha!

Coffee: The hotels that we stayed in on our "Friendly Planet" Japan Tour served American Breakfast with surprisingly decent coffee. The rooms all have hot pots for making tea and I happen to think that the new Starbuck's instant coffee is pretty good. They did have artififical sweetener.

Snacks: If you have a sweet tooth, bring your own candy. You can find vanilla or green tea ice cream everywhere, but that is about it. Even the Dunken Donuts has bean curd (instead of jelly) filled donuts.

Not sure if Japan has similar H1N1 procedures as China (we just returned), but there, as you leave the plane, first stop is "quarantine" where an infrared sensor takes your temperature as you walk by and look at the health questionairre that you needed to fill out. If it is high, they pull you aside for a more detailed exam and can prevent you from entering if they think you may have it. Consider taking Tylenol before landing.

You will enjoy Japan. Great culture and people.

I am a big artificial sweetener user so I always carry some with me since it is difficult to find in traditional settings. Even the Starbucks' in Tokyo don't usually have it-they use some liquid sugar that tastes awful. The coffee is usually quite good-whether in a western hotel or in a restaurant.

I usually bring granola bars since they are easy to store and carry and don't melt. You can usually find a sweet shop and chocolate is plentiful, even in vending machines. I still have trouble with the Hagan Daaz green tea ice cream and the red bean sweet cakes. I've never been able to acquire much of a taste for them but there are some interesting traditional snacks that you should definitely try. If you have an opportunity, go to the basement of the major department stores (depatos) and check out the food markets, etc. It is an experience that is very Japanese. I love Japan and the Japanese are exceedingly friendly. Enjoy your trip.

Hello from Tokyo! I'm exhausted after a long wet day! So much to write about in my trip report but I wanted to post about some of the things discussed on this thread.

So glad I brought a big bag of Splenda as I haven't seen sugar subsitute anywhere! The coffee is really good esp at my hotel, the Prince Park Tower.

It only took about 40 min to go from the plane, immigrations, bag claim, customs, limo bus tickets & board the bus.

We did have to walk through an area where they were scanning peoples temperature at NRT.

Sweet shops are EVERYWHERE! I'm finding myself at the gym every morning to justify all the eating! We did our daytrip to Nikko, lovely weather & colors btw with very little crowds; Anyway, outside the station in that square area I ate something really yummy. Didn't know what it was or the filling but it was good. It was kinda like a dough filled with some type of paste like substance... it was either steamed or fried like tempura which was my favorite. The filling was so hot and gooey inside. I prob won't be able to find it anywhere else. Anyone know what I'm talking about?? It seemed really popular as a pretty good line was forming up.

So I have a new question! I went to the JR station today to validate the rail passes starting Sat which is when we leave for Himeji/Hiroshima. I tried to make a reservation and everything is booked solid. Do I have a good chance of just showing up early at Tokyo Station for seats by just lining up on the platform? Is that how it's done? I'm going to try and leave our big piece of luggage behind either at the hotel we're at now or the other one we're staying at a week later.

Station is so huge, we got lost in the underground shops. We were able to find some great eats, too bad we didn't find any seating area. I guess people were getting food "to go"

No, you need a reservation on the shinkansen. You cannot just show up and walk on unless you know what trains will have the unreserved seats(if any). Ask a JR ticket agent.

The paste in the manju you are eating is probably a red bean paste made from azuki beans and sugar. I love them. Fillings with sweet potato are also popular,even in donuts.

Aloha!

I think that all the shinkansen have cars with no reserved seats. The Narita Express is the only all-reserved-seats train that I know of.

Yes, just line up at the platform and board a car that has a sign saying it is unreserved. You might end up in a smoking car or standing. Just make sure it is not a Nozomi train that you get on.

When you are traveling to Hiroshima you want to get on one of the cars at the front of the train. They are non-reserved.

If you scroll down to the Train Formations section of the following wiki page you will see that the NR cars are at the Hakata (west/front) end of the train.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikari_(train)

And don't board a Kodama train at either Tokyo or Shin Osaka stations. They are too slow for this trip.

You will have to change trains at Shin Osaka.

You could ask for a reserved seat for Tokyo-Shin Osaka or Shin Osaka - Hiroshima if you can't get one for the entire trip.

Thank you, stopped back by the JR office today and they said just show up and get in line to get on the train. Is there a marker on outside of train for smoking/non-smoking? I guess we won't know until it pulls into the station. Will definitely plan on a Hikari train, the Hyperdia site is very useful... btw love the new site over the old one.

We did the Imperial Gardens, Asakusa, & hama-rikyu gardens w/ river cruise today. I found my Manju along the street of shops in Asakusa along with another kind of dessert with bean paste filling... been eating them all day long! Security is getting tight in some areas preparing for Obama on Fri & Sat.