Most people will think that travelling to a non-English speaking country like Japan alone, with bare knowledge of local language is crazy. They often think you might get lost, become a victim of criminals, unable to befriend the locals, and so on. To make it worst, some of my friends and even family in Indonesia think that travelling abroad alone is somewhat miserable. Since you’re alone on your trip, you have no friends to talk to. Just cut the crap, solo-travelling isn’t always that bad.
- New Friend. Travelling alone isn’t always bad like people said. You can have some small chit-chat with people on the plane (in some occasions, I’m a chatterbox). Try to stay in a dorm-style guesthouse or hotel and start socializing. Remember, you’re on your own abroad! No matter how introverted you are, having some small talk to people around you is good. They will share valuable travel information and even offer you a free meal :D. When I visited Tokyo in summer 2016, I stayed at Yadoya Guesthouse Orange in Nakano. I stayed 4 nights there, and got new friends from various countries. My best buddies were two Korean dudes. They were somekind of shopaholic, even when shopping for discounted meals at supermarket nearby. They bought tons of foods, couldn’t eat them all and told me to finish the rest. They spoke broken English, but google translate saved them. So, language barrier was not a burden unless you have internet access.
- New Knowledge and experience. Traveling is like reading a book. When traveling alone, you can enjoy the “book” peacefully without hassle. I learned so many things during my visit to Japan. Locals were so helpful and friendly no matter how terrible my Japanese was. I got an awkward experience at a somekind of restaurant in Ueno. After eating my lunch, I just went straight to the door without putting the chair back to the original position and putting the plates and other utensils on the table to the dirty plates tray near the kitchen. I got shouted by the restaurant staff and people around gave me some kind of disgust stare 😦 . I came back to my table and said “gomenasai” million times to them to say sorry and cleaned up my mess on the table. I had no problem with the shouting, but that stare of disgust was the thing that freaked me out. After this embarrassing experience, I always clean up my mess on the table even when I’m back to Jakarta. People around me think it’s weird, since in my country, ahem..they still think it’s the restaurant staffs responsibility to clean the mess, customer is a king and already paid for the food.
- No Drama. Traveling on your own can avoid unwanted emotional outbursts with your travel mate. Sometimes, you just need to enjoy yourself. While in Japan, since there’s no one accompanying me, I’d go wherever and, eat anything I want.etc. No one will complain.
- Improving your survival skill. This might be the hardest challenge on solo traveling to Japan. Since my Japanese was so terrible and went offline to save some bucks that day, I have no choice than trying to ask some helps from the locals. The result was outstanding. I often got lost several times when I wander around but still survived. They were so friendly and helpful, although having language barrier. They even drew me maps to reach my destination. If I could stay longer at least 3 months, my Japanese might improve lol.
- In short, travelling to Japan alone is exciting. You’d try it, it’s only once in a lifetime. You’ll fall in love with the country.
Medit Traveller (Meler)-- Budget Slashing Travel without Worries 