2 Myths That Refrain People From Travelling To Japan And The One About Vending Machines with Used Panties
By: Markus Fogg
Tags: Japan, Culture, Travel, Photos, Myths

2 Myths That Refrain People From Travelling To Japan And The One About Vending Machines with Used Panties

Torii Gate / Mara Moldoveanu

This is the closest you may feel to being an alien in another planet. There is no better way to describe my perception when arriving to Japan.

for someone like me, with a clearly different genetics, the auditory factor of not understanding anything and the visual impact of an alphabet from which you can’t guess a single word, helps to create that nice feeling of being in a fantastic world. In some rural areas it is impossible for foreigners to pass unnoticed.

Three common beliefs about the Asian country and the truth about them:

1. — It’s VERY expensive:

The general perception is that in Japan the price of everything is much higher than anywhere. You would be surprised to learn that it is not completely true.

If we speak of a backpacking trip -my case most of the times-, there are hostels with shared rooms at prices lower than in some emblematic European cities. You can find the same prices -and depending on the season even lower- than Barcelona and Madrid for example, that aren’t between the most expensive in Europe.

So you can have an idea, my first trip was in winter, February, and I paid 9 euros per night in a very nice hostel in Tokyo and 11 euros per night in another one even better in Kyoto.

While you can find very expensive restaurants for some kinds of food, the ramen is an universal Japanese dish that is always affordable with an average price that is usually around 8 euros, which is the same as most of the places in Barcelona (where I live). The cheapest I recall was paying around 3,50 euros, although that’s unusually low.

Shinkansen, known in English as the bullet train

For the foreign traveler there are unlimited rail passes for 1, 2 or 3 weeks at very reasonable prices, taking into consideration that you can travel the whole country over the tracks — 230, 370 y 480 euros approximately.

Under my own experience, countries like Iceland and Sweden, and cities like Chicago, Paris and Amsterdam end up being much more expensive than Japan in several aspects.

If you do a search for “ most expensive countries to visit” you can see that usually Japan does not make it to the top 10, while the Nordic countries, UK and Paris for example, appear there quite often. Switzerland on top. Take into consideration that Japan will pop up as an expensive country to live in, but that’s a completely different topic than being a traveler.

I want to make clear that is is not to say that Japan is cheap, but you can visit it with a limited budget, as there are many options. It is possible to make it with an average wage from a country like Spain, that is more or less half than in USA.

What I find to be very expensive is the local public transportation, specially in cities as big as Tokyo. Going from one place to another can take over an hour and it is like you haven’t gone out of the downtown. You can easily spend 10 euros a day, so I recommend you to get an unlimited subway pass.

Do you have specific questions about prices for a traveling to Japan? Write me or comment below. Depending on the topic I can make a post or answer you directly.

2. — It is VERY difficult to manage yourself with the language barrier:

The truth is that fluent English is not widely spoken in Japan and the more you move away from the major cities the more you notice it. BUT, there is always people eager to help visitors. The Japanese can be extremely sweet.

If you are lost in a public place in front of a map people may approach you even if they don’t speak English, so you point the place that you want to go for them to guide you. Sometimes they will even want to take you there. If they speak English they will want to practice the language with you.

Train station sign: Stop texting while walking

This is a tip specially useful in rural areas: “ Eki wa doku desu ka? “, which means “¿Where is the train station?”. It really helped me few times. If you don’t remember the whole sentence, the word “eki” (station) should do.

You may encounter local people that react a little harsh when you approach them, but it is never with the intention to be mean, while some persons will be curious about you, others can be afraid of not knowing how to handle the situation, as they don’t speak the language and more likely they have never interacted with a foreigner. This happens mostly in rural locations.

In the restaurants, most of the times, there are pictures of the food in the menu, so pointing what you want will be enough.

In a lot of public places there are signs in English and even printed material in different languages in the touristic attractions.

Finding someone that speaks Spanish is quite unusual, only once I met a Japanese who does it. He was the owner of a hostel in Nagasaki that spent a season living in Central America (this web is also in Spanish, so I left this in here when writing the English version).

In conclusion, the language is not a problem in Japan.

3. — There are vending machines with used panties:

This is the most curious question that always pops out when speaking about this country.

Vending Machines

The numbers are impressive, there is approximately one vending machine for each 25 people in Japan. In the public places you see almost exclusively drinks, snack dispensers are not so common.

The myth says that there are some vending machines where you can buy used panties. I have seen a fair amount of places in Japan from north to south and never saw one of those. But, as a friend correctly pointed out, maybe I didn’t check the right places, although this already gave indications that it might not be true.

The topic arises constantly, even at barbecues with friends, so I decided to do a deeper research and find some answers.

The truth is, after checking tons of webs and blogs, that it is possible to find a machine that sells (what appears to be) female used underpants, but the garments are just manufactured to “look like”. The trick is that apart from tons of Japanese characters that most of the foreigners do not understand, only one word is added in English, “USED”. Together with pics of panties, the desired effect is created: “the myth is true!”. For a Japanese it is clear in the text those items are not really used.

BUT, according to different sources, it is truth that used panties were sold in some back alleys in Akihabara, Tokyo, much more than a decade ago, but not necessarily (or not only) in vending machines.

Legal restrictions over this topic and a bigger control from the police ended the practice.

As it was to be expected, market for this items exists online, as any other thing that you can think of this days. For what it seems this business is legal. If you are curious about it (only over 18 please!): langel.jp — one of several webs.

You can’t say with total certainty that this machines don’t exist today, but if there is an real one in operation, for sure it is located in an hidden underground place.

Sake barrels — photo: Mara Moldoveanu

So, do you dare to go to Japan? It’s difficult to go there and not wanting to return, it is unusual to find a person who doesn’t want to go over and over again after the first time visiting. I even met people that has traveled there 7 times and have learned the language on their free time at home.

If you want more info about how to plan your trip to Japan, write me. There is still a lot to say about this marvelous hyper-fantastic travel destination. I feel the urge to go there again while writing about it! It is an amazing experience in all possible ways, culinary, spiritual, artistic, social, architectonic, technological… Definitely, up to this moment, my favorite destination. Until next time!