Honto Japan Editorial– Author –

JR East's Eki-net states outright that people living overseas cannot use it. EX Reservation effectively requires a Japanese credit card. And Nozomi's non-reserved seating is cars 1 and 2 - 165 seats - not the three cars every English guide claims. Here is how buying a Shinkansen ticket actually works, from the operators' own pages.

Seven Bank does not publish an ATM fee anywhere — the ¥110/¥220 every guide quotes traces to a VISA-only notice from 2017 at the old tax rate. There is no general free Wi-Fi either; the official FAQ says so outright. Plus the contactless limit, the QR-vs-barcode trap, and why the price on the shelf isn't what you pay if you sit down.

At Narita a locker day ends at midnight, at Haneda it's 24 hours from insertion, and at Kansai it rolls over at 2am. Yamato counters cannot hold a bag overnight at all. And forwarding a suitcase Tokyo to Osaka is 3,160 yen, not the 2,630 yen still served by Yamato's own fallback table.

Japan has ten shinkansen lines and exactly one still under construction. Five train types have no unreserved seats at all, the Japan Rail Pass price rises on October 1 2026, and part of the Kyushu Shinkansen is suspended after the July earthquake. From JR's own pages, JRTT and the ministry.

Every English guide tells you miso ramen began when a customer asked for noodles in pork soup. The son of the man who invented it calls that a complete urban legend on the shop's own website. Also: six of the seventeen shops in Ramen Yokocho take no card at all, and Sapporo Ramen Republic closed years ago.

Myoryuji accepts reservations by phone only, refuses proxy bookings, bars preschool children and forbids interpreting inside the building. The 21st Century Museum shuts for renovation from May 2027 to March 2028. And Kenrokuen is free before 6:45am. From the prefecture, the city and each site's own pages.

Hiroshima's tram stop moved into the station building in August 2025, platforms B and D swapped in March 2026, and the sightseeing loop bus abolished its three colored routes in July 2026 — including the Kamiyacho and Hatchobori stops. Even official city pages still describe the old system. Here is how the city actually fits together now.

Miyajima's own tourism association says it in capitals: high tide does not mean the shrine floats, and low tide does not mean you can walk to the torii. The real thresholds are 100cm and 250cm, and some days offer neither. Also: the eternal flame hall on Mount Misen burned down on May 20, 2026. From the shrine, the city and the ferry operators.

Almost every English guide says Hoshino Resorts has five brands. There are six: LUCY, a mountain hotel brand, opened in September 2025. The group runs 73 places to stay, KAI alone changed four times in 2026, and the tattoo policy is more nuanced than the internet claims. From the company's own Japanese and English pages.

Tokyo has two Four Seasons, and fourseasons.com/tokyo/ takes you to the smaller one. Marunouchi closed for a full renovation in July 2025 and reopened in May 2026, so most English guides describe a hotel that no longer exists in that form. Otemachi has the 20-meter pool; Marunouchi does not. From the official property pages and press room.

The 8th-floor Godzilla terrace has been closed since November 2023 and still is, so nobody stands beside the head anymore — not even guests. There are four Godzilla room categories, not the two most guides list, and the entrance is at the back of the building with reception on the 8th floor. From the hotel's own pages and Toho's official Godzilla information map.

Hama Sushi's famous weekday 90-yen plate no longer exists, and its own menu carries a line most people miss: conveyor-lane branches price some items lower than the rest. There are four separate menus, five soy sauces chosen per fish, and an allergen policy that refuses substitutions outright.