All 23 cards are free. No app, no account, nothing to pay — and every guide is the whole answer.
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Every situation, in the order you'll hit them

Twenty-three guides, each one a complete answer to a single moment: what happens, what they'll ask you, what to say back, and the one thing not to do. All free, no email required.

Lit yatai food stalls and their counters on a Hakata street at night
Photo: Nesnad · CC BY 4.0

All twenty-three

The situations

Ordering ramen from a ticket machineFoodPaying at a convenience storeShopsUsing any ticket vending machineFoodGetting a table at an izakayaFoodOrdering at a sushi counterFoodOrdering coffee, here or awayFoodPaying at a restaurantFoodDo you tip in Japan?HelpTaking a taxi in JapanTransportBuying a train ticketTransportEntering an onsenStaySaying you're vegetarianHelpTax-free shoppingShopsBuying medicine in JapanShopsYokocho and yatai, explainedFoodGetting into tiny barsFoodOtoshi and cover chargesFoodOrdering at a yataiFoodPaying and leavingFoodThe unwritten rulesFoodFukuoka yataiFoodTokyo yokocho directoryFoodBar alleys beyond TokyoFood

By category

Grouped by where you are standing

Food

Counters, machines and the moment the bill arrives.

Shops

Convenience stores, drugstores and the tax-free desk.

Transport

Taxis, IC cards, gates and ticket machines.

Stay

Check-in, the onsen, and the rules nobody states.

Help

When it has gone wrong and you need a way out.

Every ritual on this page is dated, and the cards carry the month they were checked. Japan changes these details more often than guidebooks admit — machines get replaced, charges get added, rules get relaxed. Used a card at a counter? Tell us how it went: [email protected].

Packs

Take them with you

Japan Core
Free

The 13 day-time situation cards, for your phone.

  • 13 cards at 1080 × 1620 for the camera roll: food, shops, transport, stay and help
  • Phone images only — there is no print sheet for these yet
  • Works offline — they are images, not an app
  • Corrections stay free and appear at your download link
Get the Core pack free
Japan Nights
Free

Ten cards for the smallest rooms in Japan: yatai and yokocho.

  • 10 cards for yatai stalls and yokocho bars: getting in, the cover charge, ordering, paying, leaving
  • Decoder cards for yakitori, oden, Hakata ramen and the drinks menu
  • One printable A4 sheet, grayscale, cut marks
  • Free with an email — the link is on the next page
Get Japan Nights free
All 23 cardsEverything drawn
Free

Every card on the site, one email, one download.

  • All 23 cards at full resolution — the 13 day cards plus the 10 night cards
  • The night-card print sheet (A4, grayscale) and a one-file ZIP
  • Works offline — images, not an app
  • Free, and what you download is yours to keep
Get all 23 cards free
Dated and versionedFree — nothing here is for saleNo app, no account