I probably don’t have to convince you that visiting Japan is a great trip idea. Wandering through the country on my own remains one of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, exciting, yet at times, challenging trips I have taken. And learning some kanji for travel would have helped me a lot.

There is a lot to love – neon-splattered cities, silent temples, sprawling forests, snow-covered mountains, flavorful and healthy food, millennia-old culture, and amazing public transportation.

Getting Around Japan

Japan can be a hard place to navigate. Cultural norms and standards are numerous, unique, and strict. Everything from orders to addresses works very differently in the country than most of the world.

I’m not kidding about addresses. If you stay at an Airbnb or small hotel, don’t wait for a street name and house number. Expect step-by-step directions on how to arrive, complete with photos of every turn you have to take. An address usually consists of a block number and the specific building number of that block.

If you can figure these out right off the bat, you are a smarter person than I.

Besides that, English is not widely spoken. Most signs, especially outside a few tourist neighborhoods, are written in kanji characters.

Intro to Kanji

This presents a problem if you don’t know how to read kanji, or the Japanese language in any capacity. I will go out on a limb here and assume most of you who are not Japanese are not intimately familiar with the kanji character system.

I spent some time as a tourist in Japan breaking down. Things like handling money, greeting people, following instructions, reading a note, or…well, reading in general suddenly become almost impossible in my destination.

Then I learned that even Japanese students don’t fully learn kanji until grade 9, and I felt somewhat better about my confusion and general lack of knowledge.

So to help you on your Japanese journey, here is a kanji character cheat sheet for your trip.

Basic Kanji to Know

Before we start, it’s good to know that there are three different “alphabets” in the Japanese language. Hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

Kanji is a complex system of 2000+ symbols. The symbols are similar to Chinese characters, but have different meanings. Don’t worry, we’re not fully learning Japanese today, this is just a little intro. 

Hiragana and katakana are syllabic alphabets, with each character standing in for a phonetic sound. You should also write them using a specific stroke order, but since I already feel most of the non-language nerd’s eyes glossing over, I’ll skip ahead. 

The only difference is that katakana is used exclusively for “loan words”, aka words that have been adopted from other languages, like English, into Japanese. I will include the syllabic alphabet symbols in situations when they are used on certain signs instead of kanji.

Kanji For Travel and Basic Necessities

If you need money, medicine, a bank, or the police on your trip, these are useful kanji to know.

Police in Japan may serve a few more functions than police officers in your country. In addition to their policing duties, police officers at “kouban” can help you with directions and collect lost and found items. 

I guess when you’re one of the safest countries on earth, your police offers need more to do.

Smoking in Japan

These words might seem irrelevant for those who eschew this deadly habit, but smoking areas work a bit differently in Japan. 

Smoking is generally prohibited outdoors, except for select glass enclosures placed every so often on the sidewalk. However, it is allowed indoors in some restaurants and bars, which breaks most Americans’ minds.

So whether you’re looking to light up or avoid those lighting up during your trip, these are good kanji to know.

Street Sign Kanji

As I already mentioned, knowing what direction you need to walk in can be fairly challenging in Japanese cities. When you travel, being able to recognize the words below will probably be fairly helpful.

Kanji for Transportation

When you travel in Tokyo, or anywhere in Japan, take a ride on the super clean and efficient Tokyo metro. It’s a great transportation system to use, to the extent you can understand it.

Japan’s public transportation system is one of the most modern and efficient systems in the world. If you’re traveling to different cities on your journey, the metro and the shinkansen (bullet train) will help get you there comfortably and fast.

Provided you know how to navigate it.

Food and Drink in Japan

For a classic Japanese food and drink experience, learn the words (and kanji symbols) for sushi, ramen, and izakaya below.

Izakaya are generally likened to pubs. But there’s great (and cheap) beer, shared salty and fried plates, and most likely a fair amount of people smoking.

Here is an example of some common items on a Japanese menu.

Getting Around an Onsen

Onsen, or communal baths in Japan, are separated by gender.

If you want to avoid walking naked into a room full of people who will turn and stare at you – as opposed to walking naked into a room of people who will find it completely normal you just walked in naked – keep the kanji characters for “man” and “woman” in mind. Reading carefully is extra important here.

The above kanji should give you a good base as a traveler in Japan. If you want to be adventurous and start learning more kanji, check out Remembering the Kanji. 

Have a wonderful trip to Japan, and don’t forget to visit Golden Gai in Tokyo!

If you want a cheat sheet of the above kanji that you can carry around in your wallet or pocket when you visit Japan, sign up to get this downloadable kanji sheet.