Never considered Japan? Here's 10 reasons you should.

There’s no other country in the world where you can find yourself naked in a room full of strangers on more than one occasion.

Yep, welcome to Japan. Where getting out of your comfort zone (and getting naked in public) is part of the everyday experience.

There’s no country I love to visit more than Japan. There’s just something about this place that’s intoxicating. For me it’s the beautiful mix of tradition and innovation. For others it’s the incredibly welcoming people, the tranquil temples or the quality of the food.

I’m in Japan with Jetstar Airways, who have just started flying a direct route from Melbourne to Toyko. Anyone who has flown from Melbourne to Japan before will understand why this particular flight is a big deal – previously, you could only get to Japan by taking a detour through Sydney or Cairns. So the idea of getting there in just under nine hours now? It’s a little bit heaven for the Japan regulars like me.

This is my third trip to Japan. Back in high school, I did a three-week tour around the big cities with twenty other students. Then in 2007, I spent six months studying doing a lot of karaoke and Asahi drinking in a city that sits halfway between Kyoto and Osaka called Hirakata.

There are two things I regret from my time in Japan. The first was not doing enough to leave Japan as a fluent speaker. My Japanese is fine – I can get by – but coming back here has made me realise how easy it is for language skills to disappear. I can’t help but think that if I’d tried harder back then, maybe I wouldn’t be struggling to find the words for ‘my Japanese sucks and I’m sorry’ today.

The other thing I never got to do in Japan was spend a good amount of time in Tokyo. So with three days in the city this time, I was determined to go hard. We stayed in the area known as Shinjuku, which is known for the iconic neon signs on the sides of its buildings. It’s the perfect location from which to travel to the many areas of Toyko: Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza, Asakusa and the place every Tokyo twenty-something wants to live – Shiokitazawa.

If you’re ever lucky enough to make it to Toyko – whether it’s for 24 hours or 24 days – here are my recommendations for what to do:

1. Use a vending machine.

Just about every street corner in Japan is littered with hi-tech vending machines offering everything from water and beer to ice cream and women’s undies. Drinks are usually priced from around 100 – 200 yen (which is the equivalent of a few Aussie dollars).

Like a box of chocolates, you’ll never know what you’re going to get (unless you choose Coca Cola) but here’s a tip: Anything marked with a blue label is cold, while the drinks labelled with red are hot.

Be game and try a hot coffee in a can, if only because it’s something you’ll never ever be able to do on the streets of Melbourne or Adelaide.

2. Eat all the food.

Try the ramen (it’s a broth style noodle dish usually with a soy or miso base and always served steaming hot), the gyoza ( pan-fried pork dumplings usually made in servings of five or six) and okonomiyaki (a Japanese style pancake made with cabbage, squid and pork, cooked on a hotplate and topped with teriyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise.)

We had the strange but fortunate experience of stumbling upon an okonomiyaki restaurant in Shinjuku where the hot plates double as tables and customers cook their own food. It took us just a few minutes to figure out that everyone else wasn’t cooking their pancakes the same way as us (or were we not cooking ours like everyone else?) But the end product still turned out damn fine.

*I’d recommend all meals be accompanied by an ice cold Asahi beer.

3. Go to a themed restaurant

I’m still trying to figure out how I ended up at Tokyo’s ‘Robot Restaurant’ early one Friday night in Shinzuku. All I can say is that I was expecting more Robots in the one hour show, and less women in lingerie playing musical instruments, dancing, riding sharks and fighting robots.

I’m not going to lie. It was entertaining. But I do take issue with the fact that the men wore full costumes, while the women wore very little.

Moving on.

4. Visit the traditional Japanese garden at Shinjuku Gyoen  National Garden

You’ll be hard pressed not to ask “how’s the serenity?” after spending a few minutes in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, located in the heart of Tokyo.

We arrived as the park opened at 9am and, for about half an hour, were able to enjoy the place almost completely to ourselves. If you manage to make it here, take five, put the camera away and breathe it all in.

5. People watch at Shibuya  Crossing

It’s hard to imagine that the crossing will be as packed as it just was, but it only takes a few minutes for the hoards of people to bank up on each of the four corners and for it to all happen. And again. And again.

And… you get the gist.

6. Check out the view at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.

And the best part is that the whole experience is the right price (and that price is free).

7. Channel your inner teenager and try the photo machines.

Purikura (or photo booth) machines are all the rage with Japanese teenagers. You walk into the machine, smile on cue and then take to the editing booth where you decorate the images with Japanese slogans and symbols and make the photos look, well, nothing like yourself.

The machines – which are found in arcade style stores- are all in Japanese. If you can’t navigate the machines, someone will usually step in and help. And if they don’t? Just click buttons until something happens.

Worked for us.

8. Wake up early and experience the Tsukiji fish markets.

They’re the world’s biggest fish markets and you’ll never see anything like it. The market stocks everything from shellfish to 300-kilogram tuna.

I’m not kidding when I say you need to wake up early. Most travel guides recommend that you arrive at the market before 5am if you want to watch the Tuna auctions. Only 120 people are admitted into the auctions daily, so it pays to be there first.

A visit to the markets is not complete without breakfast. There are a huge number of eat-in restaurants in and around the market serving fresh sashimi, sushi, ramen and donburi.

Image via ThinkStock.

9. Combine cats and coffee at the Cat Cafe.

The cat cafe was created as a response to the number of people in Japan living in high rise buildings, where pets are not an option. Cat lovers (or tourists) pay around 1500 yen (about $16) to enter the cafe and from there they can order a coffee or tea and play with the cats around them.

Sounds bizzare? It is. It really is.

*If you’re not so much a cat person but don’t want to miss out, try the Rabbit Cafe a few suburbs down in Harajuku.

10. Just walk and see what you find.

There’s no better way to see the real Japan. Try and venture away from the main streets from time to time – it’s amazing just how much an area can change only a few metres from the beaten track.

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If you’re looking for a more traditional experience in Japan, Jetstar now fly to 10 domestic destinations including Mastuyama – a small city on the island of Shikoku known for it’s camellias and hot spring baths.

Mastuyama is the antidote to Tokyo, if you will. The streets are not crowded, there are no neon signs and rather than dress Anime style, visitors in Mastuyama City make their way around town wearing Japanese wooden thongs and Yukatas (Japanese style robes, provided by the hotel you stay in.)

We opted for Japanese style rooms at the hotels in Mastuyama, which are traditional rooms with Tatami mat floors and shōji paper walls.

At the Hanayuzuki Hotel in Mastuyama.

Just be wary that very few people in Matsuyama speak English. (Although in my opinion, that’s what makes the experience) so I’d recommend hiring a guide or planning well ahead.

1. Explore the Dogo Onsenart festival.

As part of the Dogo Onsenart 2014, 9 modern artists (including one Australian) have redesigned a room in participating hotels around Matsuyama. The rooms can be rented overnight or visited during the day and most are simply stunning. My favourite was a room by Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, who left relics of his words around scattered around the room at the Dogo-Kan Ryokan.

The exhibition runs until December, 2014.

2. Try Japanese delicacies at the Funaya Hotel

3. Get your kit off at the Dogo Onsen.

Yes, it’s customary to bathe naked in Japanese hot springs and yeah, it can be a little scary and overwhelming.

Trust me when I tell you to take the chance and give it a go. The Dogo Onsen is one of the oldest hot springs in Japan and if you truly want to experience Japan, this is the way to do it.

Just make sure you know which is the ladies’ bath and which is the men’s.

Lucy traveled as a guest of Jetstar Airways.

Jetstar Airways now offers up to 18 flights a week to Tokyo (Narita) from the Gold Coast, Cairns and Melbourne and up to seven flights a week between Cairns and Osaka. The Melbourne to Tokyo flights will operate four times weekly on Airbus A330 aircraft. The route will eventually be operated by Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Jetstar also fly to 10 cities within Japan. You can find out more info about flights to and from Japan here.