Japan Reopens, Post-Pandemic Travel Tips — Ridgeline issue 147

Let’s cut to the chase: Japan is reopening. October 11, 2022. The floodgates bashed aside. The day has come. This strange day. What should you do?

Japan is cheap right now. I mean, compared to NYC or SF or London, Japan has always been cheap. But now it’s freakishly cheap. (And can’t stay this cheap; I suspect we’re in a six month Special Cheap Window.) I just got back from a NYC trip, and, man, Japan feels nearly free it’s so cheap. The yen is at a quarter-century low. If you make money in US Bucks, everything is at a 30% discount compared to just a few years ago.

I wrote about many of these cities in my Tiny Barber newsletter last year. The archives are available to SPECIAL PROJECTS members.

Speaking of which, I’m going to run a 90-minute members-only video/livestream Q&A session next week. Folks thinking of visiting can ask me questions. I’ll record it and make the recording available to members.

Generally though, my advice is: don’t be afraid to simply explore. This is a country that pleads for you to explore, to get away from Shibuya or Gion or even the now somewhat too-visited Naoshima. Skip the dumb over-Instagram’d cocktail bars of Tokyo. Ignore Golden Gai. Hop on a train and pick a mid-sized city and walk around. Talk to folks. Eat something that terrifies you. Make a friend with an octogenarian. Enjoy the fruits of functioning infrastructure, a social safety net, a gun-free, safe society. Experience “sensible competence” and carry that feeling home.

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