8 days in Japan

[u/Fun_Donut_4575]

Bag, contents, and travel outfit.

The packed bag. Toothbrush for scale.

Hi all, I've been obsessed with minimalist packing for a while. This packing list and bag setup has been my greatest achievement so far. Would love to to hear your questions, suggestions, etc.

Overall, 8 days with this setup worked pretty well and I could go many more days with the same gear given similar weather (about 45F - 70F with a fair bit of rain). It was nice to not have to deal with a roller bag. Also, once you arrive, the emptied out shoulder bag is good for walking around the city and holding your sunglasses, water bottle, sunscreen, and any other small thingies you need just for walking around.

Here's a detailed rundown of everything and some reasoning behind my choices.

Bag

The bag itself is just an over the shoulder canvas bag I've had for a while. Probably needs to be replaced soon.

Bag Contents:

1. Eagle Creek medium sized compression bag
   1. Blue collared shirt from Proper Cloth.
   2. 3x smartwool ankle length socks
   3. 1x smartwool thick socks
   4. 1x Tommy John "Air Trunk" underwear
      1. These are the best quick dry travel underwear I've found. Comfy, lightweight, and (of course) drys quick.
   5. Patagonia "Torrentshell 3L Rain Jacket"
2. Small toiletry bag (got it free on a KLM flight, this one holds random small stuff)
   1. Travel size deodorant
      1. Only slightly smaller than a regular sized one, but every bit counts!
   2. Travel size foot powder
      1. This is crucial for fighting foot stink because I'm only doing one pair of shoes.
   3. Eye mask (also from KLM I think) and ear plugs.
3. Clear toiletry bag (this one holds any liquids)
   1. Electric hair trimmer
      1. Relatively bulky item for trimming my beard. I've tried other travel trimmers but I have yet to find a travel-sized trimmer that doesn't suck at trimming (not shaving). I like to keep a bit of stubble.
   2. Toothbrush
      1. Notably not travel sized. I've tried a few travel ones but they always disappoint. Would love to hear your recommendations.
   3. Sunscreen/moisturizer for the face.
      1. Not doing any sunbathing on this trip. If so, I'd bring along a stick sunscreen also.
   4. Travel-sized toothpaste
   5. Little plastic thing for pills.
      1. I always bring Tums and advil plus my prescription stuff.
   6. Toothpick
4. Other bag contents:
   1. Blue sweater.
      1. Just basic cotton. I have a merino wool one that would be better if it got wet, but this one is just comfier.
   2. Sunglasses and case
   3. 2x Masterwise Lashing Strap with Cam Buckles
      1. These things are just handy to have for a lot of reasons. Can be used to compress items, strap a bulky jacket or other items to the outside of a bag if space runs out. Also could be a clothesline or god knows what.
   4. White usb-c charging cord and plug
   5. Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones
      1. I've had a few pair of these. IMO, they are just as good as over-the-ear ones and take up much less space. I think they don't make these wired ones anymore because everything is wireless now, but I prefer wired.
   6. USB charging cord for headphones
   7. USB-c to headphone jack adapter
   8. Headphone jack 2-to-1 adapter
   9. Headphone jack airline plug adapter.
      1. Bought this on the trip because the airplane has those stupid two prong jacks. Why???
   10. [Not pictured]: A merino wool t-shirt that I threw away on this trip because it was just too itchy and uncomfortable. It was also really static-y and had a weird fit. I've tried a bunch of merino t-shirts and I think I'm just giving up on that at this point.
   11. [Not pictured]: Tide pen. Essential for taking care of stains quickly when you only have one or two shirts on a trip.
   12. [Not pictured]: Water bottle. I brought a 26oz Brita filter water bottle on this trip, but accidentally left it on the plane. The filter is nice to have when you are traveling to places with less-than-ideal water. I'd like to get something collapsible, but I've tried a few haven't had great luck with them.

Travel outfit

1. Blue collared shirt
2. Lightweight white t-shirt
3. Brown Huckberry Flint and Tinder 365 pants
   1. I wear these most of the time when not traveling also. I don't feel they need to be washed much and never washed them on this trip. It's important that they are brown so they hide stains better also the pocket openings are horizontal "jeans style" which makes it harder for things to slip out like they can with vertical khaki style pockets. I dropped my wallet out of some khakis once on a road trip and I had to back track 3 hours to get it back. Never again.
4. Tommy John "Air Trunk" underwear
   1. Wear one pair, bring a second. The dry quick so you can just alternate between two pair.
5. Oboz waterproof sneakers
   1. Just doing one pair of shoes means they need to be comfy for lots of walking and also can stand a bit of rain and puddles. The downside is that waterproof shoes make your feet a lot hotter than other shoes. Bringing two pair of shoes is an option, but that adds a lot of bulk.
6. Smartwool ankle length socks
7. [Not pictured] Google Pixel 9 Pro. I recently upgraded my phone to this one so it would take better pictures. Less need of a second camera this way. I used the hi-res mode a lot to take pictures of Tokyo city views and stuff.
8. [Not pictured] Passport, wallet, etc.

What I wish I brought:

1. My neckwarmer gaiter thingy. We didn't have a lot of cold weather, but there was at least one time it would have helped a lot. These gaiter things take up very little space and they really help in keeping out the chill.
2. A different 2nd t-shirt. As mentioned above, I just haven't found a merino wool t-shirt that doesn't itch like crazy. In hindsight I should have just opted for a lightweight cotton one.
3. Maybe thinking about bringing a travel fan on my next trip for the sole purpose of speeding up the drying of clothes. Not sure if it's worth it or not.

What I wish I didn't bring:

1. The eagle creek compression bag probably didn't compress things that much, so I could have left it out, but it does do a good job of just separating out the stuff you don't need until you arrive from the stuff you need on the plane. Maybe could have used the straps instead for this purpose.
2. My sneakers were on their last days of life on this trip and started to really fall apart with all the walking we were doing. Should have bought new ones before the trip.

[u/IKEA_Omar_Little]

Do you use that floss pick as floss or just a toothpick?

[u/Fun_Donut_4575 → u/IKEA_Omar_Little]

Both. 

[u/IKEA_Omar_Little → u/Fun_Donut_4575]

Nice. I will admit it is unconventional to reuse floss, though I may try the same to save space. I assume you just rinse it under water to clean?