Editor
Jon Ng
Jon Ng lives in Japan with his family and runs Trip Lovers, a YouTube channel of Japan travel guides, city walks, attraction tours and travel news. He writes and runs Japan Echo, the written companion to the channel.
What Jon covers
- Getting around: the Japan Rail Pass, booking the shinkansen, Tokyo subway tickets, IC cards and luggage forwarding.
- Money: what things cost in 2026, new travel fees and the new tax-free system.
- Places: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Akihabara, plus aquariums, museums and night walks on the channel.
- Pop culture and food: Pokémon Center stores, trading cards, Gunpla, ramen ticket machines, izakaya and convenience stores.
How Jon's guides are made
Guides on Japan Echo are researched with the help of AI tools and checked against official sources, which are listed and dated in each guide. The images of Jon on this site, including the portrait above, are AI-generated and captioned that way. The videos below are Jon's own footage from Trip Lovers. Read the full checking and AI policy.
Videos by Jon
A selection from the Trip Lovers channel. Videos load only when you press play.
Guides by Jon
New to Japan? Start with Plan your first Japan trip.
- 20 Japanese phrases that make eating out easier
- Izakaya basics: how a Japanese pub dinner works
- Ramen in Japan: styles, ticket machines and noodle firmness
- How to eat well from a Japanese convenience store
- Every Pokémon Center store in Japan, and which to visit
- Buying Pokémon cards in Japan without getting burned
- Akihabara in one day: a route for first-timers
- Osaka in two days, plus Universal Studios Japan
- Kyoto for first-timers: beating the crowds in 2026
- Buying Gundam model kits in Japan: grades, stores and packing
- Japanese drugstore shopping: skincare, sunscreen and what to skip
- Onsen etiquette: how to use a Japanese hot spring
- Business hotel, capsule or ryokan? Choosing where to stay
- Tokyo Subway Ticket: unlimited rides from ¥1,000 a day
- Travel hands-free: sending your suitcase ahead
- Is the Japan Rail Pass still worth it in 2026?
- eSIM, pocket Wi-Fi or SIM card: getting data in Japan
- How to book the shinkansen as a foreign visitor
- Suica, PASMO and ICOCA: the tap card you will use every day
- Your first three hours in Japan: airport to hotel
- Cash, cards or phone: how to pay for things in Japan
- What a day in Japan really costs in 2026
- Every new travel fee in Japan for 2026, in one place
- Japan's new tax-free system from 1 November 2026