so my weeb ass is finally going to Japan. Main things me and my partner want to do are Ghlibi museum and theme park, see the life size Gundam, and go to a baseball game. We'll be mostly in Tokyo and Kyoto and then the Ghibli theme park in Nagoya. We like all the nerd shit so we'll be in Shibuya, Shinkuk and Akihabara, and maybe do some fancy stuff in Ginza.
Yeah it was more the lack of prep on my part, the need for exact change based on distance traveled, and not knowing kana that kept me from using them in Kyoto. That said, I'd rather use trains 10/10 times.
At some point in the future I'm going to do a post about how bad Japanese buses are. Most bus systems in Japan have terrible frequencies (like every 40 minutes or worse, even in heavily urbanized areas) and have incomprehensible schedules. Kyoto is one of the few exceptions, with some lines that have decent branding that run every 10 minutes or better all day.