1st Segment. Preparation

Yep.
you should be prepared.
Whenever you wanted to go on a trip, you should be well prepared. say, clothes, money, planning,and physical strength.

my 1st time in Japan was for 5 days 4 nights. but the trip itself took 7 days and 6 nights.
the first night we spent in Haneda Airport, and the last night on the flight back to KL.

the first night was okay, but the last night was not so much. i mean, you have to sleep on a chair in a cheap flight which is no where near comfortable. i even got the window seat but i still can't sleep well. what do you expect? yeah, low price never go with high quality, of course. haha.
so, be prepared.

clothes.
we went there in winter season, because it's the cheapest price we found.
we spent quite some money on clothing, because as south-east asian-er, we never have winter. we live where 30 C is common, so we don't have any clothes that might work for less than 10 C.
so we bought winter jacket (a thick one), heatech legging, shirt, and gloves, and winter boots. bought my jacket and boots from ebay, and, i can say, i'm not disappointed. yay!
it's cool taking picture with those cool-looking jacket and boots, but, if you're planning on having a lot of walks, i mean like a looot of walks, maybe you should consider how comfortable your shoes is. unless you wanted to have a sore feet.
and, it turns out, you don't have to wear winter boots. yes, it's true that it's cold, but you can warm your feet with a lot of socks, without spending more money on a winter boots. i even took my legging off because my feet were sweaty.
i don't really know whether my heatech shirt do the magic, because i have a thick jacket. but the gloves quite helping although i can still feel the cold.
i didn't bring a lot of clothes, just two pieces in fact. i change clothes every two days. besides, it's winter. no matter how long you walks, you'd never get sweaty. unless you're climbing the stairs to Chureito Pagoda. that was my first drop of sweat.

Money.
bring money. if its more than 10.000 yen, you'll be asked to fill some document.
i brought 5.000, but because an unexpected expenses, i had to go to the post office to take money from ATM. I used Mandiri by the way. it charges about 20k IDR. the post office attendant was very helpful. :)

Planning.
it goes with a looot of researching. you'd never know what you'll have when you get there. you might have plan A, but you got to have another plan, in case it doesn't work. and if you don't, then you have to make it quick. you can't stay too long in one place or else, you'll just wasting your time which for the sake of your experience, is very valuable.
and you can't make a quick decision if you didn't do research. at least you have to know where to go, what to do, and so on.
in Japan yes there are a lot of free wifi area, such as, hotel, manga cafe, train station, and airport.
but some free wifi in train station can only be accessed through registering and opening your email, which if we didn't have wifi access, then how would we check the email??
if you wanted a safer trip, you had to have wifi where you want it when you need it. and if roaming is out of the question, then go rent some pocket wifi. which i did. and it helps. a lot. and it charges. a lot. T__T
but it's better than roaming your phone.

Electronic Device
Power bank and Universal adaptor. yep. you need it. and make sure it's working perfectly. because mine doesn't. hiks.
but luckily i have another charger from the pocket wifi i rent, so when the pocket wifi is full, i can re-charge my power bank. i always chose to re-charge my power bank at night instead of my cellphone, because i can always re-charge my cell using powerbank on the day without having to stuck in one place.

JR Pass.
calculate it thoroughly. and unless you wanted to spent more than 29.110 yen on your trip for train expenses, don't buy JR Pass.
yes, it's true it's easier, but Shinkansen for Tokyo - Osaka only about 8-9k yen one way. a round trip would spend say, 18k. Shinkansen Kyoto - Osaka was only 500-700 yen, and the local/Metro/JR train was about 200-300 yen.
we bought JR Pass thinking that we can spent one of our night in Night Train, or the NobiNobi Seat which cost about 15k yen, so it should be okay. but unfortunately, the NobiNobi Seats on Sunrise Izumo was full booked. so instead of saving money, we ended up on spending money to find a place to sleep. yes, it was quite a disappointment.
so, plan and calculate carefully and thoroughly.

Physical Strength.
since time is valuable, you need to move your cute ass from one place to another, and if you got sick or tired in the middle of it, then it wouldn't be fun anymore.
so make it enjoyable! you have to be healthy!
especially if you want to climb nearly 400 stairs to go to Chureito Pagoda. (oh my feeeet!!!)

Food.
if you're a moslem, then it'll be quite difficult to find a place that's safe to eat. at least you need to find fish-based dishes or vegetarian dishes. and even if you find one, it'll be quite expensive.
me?
i spent three days eating bread and sausage which i brought from home, and another three days eating Seaweed Onigiri (110 yen) from Lawson. yep, i think i lose some weight. hahaha
oh yeah. don't forget. no liquid going through the immigration entrance. you have to drink it all or throw it away. your call.

Bags.
since i was using a non baggage-seat on a low-fare flight, so it means i have to be thoughtful on how i'm using my bag. i can only carry one backpack, along with one totebag or handbag. but i actually brought a small shoulder bag, really small that it wasn't count as one. lol.
but it helps, because i put my wallet, passport and JR Pass there.
i really wanted to say that i was backpacking in Japan, but i don't think that's the case. i mean, yeah, i only bring backpack, but i still find the safety in the hands of rented pocket wifi and JR Pass. if i were really backpacking, i wouldn't have those.
back to backpack, you still need to calculate how much gifts and souvenir you'll bring. because once you bring more than one backpack and one handbag, you'll be subject to baggage fees. and it's expensive. :D

so that's all for preparation that i remember on doing.
see you on next detailed segment!