40 Unusual Things To Do In Japan
Japan was the first country on our hit list as we departed North America. What honestly drew us there was snowboarding and sushi. But we knew there was much more than just that to Japan, there’s temples, samurais, dragons, Japanese tea, geishas, cherry blossoms, little people, high energy cities, and a lot of history.
And although we knew there was many famous sights to see and things to do in Japan, we want to mention a few of the more unusual but noteworthy things you can do in this tiny but packed country. Since we are more of an experiential couple (do-ers more than see-ers) sometimes hopping around from one sightseeing point to the next tourist attraction gets quite boring to us. We revel in the simple moments, the hilarious ones, and the unbelievable unusual ones. Here are our memoirs of Japan plus the top 40 budget-friendly and atypical things to do.
- Order something off the menu that the waiter is telling you is “spicy” by pointing to his tongue, only to realize later you’re ordering a whole bunch of cow-tongue hot pot.
- Walk around aimlessly with plastic bags on your feet because you don’t have proper winter shoes and you can’t understand any of the characters on the street signs.
- Meet and greet your friends at the airport.
- Get excited over Sailor Moon figurines as many of the suppressed men do.
- Go into hidden massive casinos and show your imaginary friend Steve around.
- Drink blue beer … why not?
- Sleep on the floor in traditional Japanese room. Who actually pays for sleeping on the floor?
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Enjoy a Sapporo Brewery beer tasting. Only about a $3 CAD per beer.
- Wiggin’ out.
- Take pictures with people who think you’re famous.
- Eat delicious udon and curry soups.
- Smoke a cigarette backwards.
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Get hit by 50 km/h or so winds while at Niseko Hirafu Mountain Resort.(Non-budget friendly but the mountain and powder is worth checking out!)
- Take sweet pictures of your friends snowboarding.
- Enjoy a few shots or warm beverages at the Ice Bar.
- Mistakenly order $300 CAD hot pot when you thought it was only $30. Know your currency conversions!! We ate canned soup for 2 days in a row after.
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Get pummeled in 60cm of fresh snow over two nights.
- Sing every word you say at a fancy fondue restaurant.
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Shop for hours upon hours at a chopstick store. Only to see that you can’t pick because there is WAY too many.
- Go bowling!
- Buy a live, saran-wrapped pufferfish for about $125 CAD (not-budget friendly and unfortunately we just couldn’t do it… it was alive and suffocating!)
- Become a sumo wrestler by eating alot and then sleeping right afterwards.We’re working on mastering this. Not by choice…
- Take a cooking class with Eat Osaka and get a complimentary magic show!! Also you make fresh udon noodles by massaging the dough with your feet and then putting it somewhere warm, like down your pants, under your armpit, near your breasts, you get the idea. The noodles are made with real TLC.
- Go to a live sumo-wrestling tournament for a whole day.
- Take naps.
- Eat some noodles!
- Go to a Power Rangers museum! We think 1996 was the best year for the show.
- Draw Japanese anime! Then look next to you to see old men are doing the same thing.
- Juggle a soccerball with the kids of Japan.
- Cook and eat delicious ogonomoyaki. I’ll give a recipe for the “street food” version of it in one of our future blogs! It’s delicious and a traditional budget-friendly meal.
- Create your own bike tour. Then get lost and find yourself caught in a brutal rain storm.
- Watch the Japanese Infantry in action.
- Join a ping pong tournament. (Note: you may have to fake your identity and act as a Japanese senior)
- If ping pong doesn’t work out for you, try an all woman’s martial arts class. These grannies could definitely kick our asses.
- Watch dog races!
- All-you-can-drink KARAOKE. Then see into other people’s rooms to see if they are having just as much fun. We checked out a room with topless Japanese business men … funny surprise!
- Walk around beautiful zen gardens and feed the koi fish.
- Make a really life-like mask of your best friend and go rob a gas station or liquor store. Or make a porn???
- Nap under beautiful cherry blossom trees. And wake up to a Jackie Chan movie being filmed in front of you.
- And just in general have an awesome time in an amazing country!
