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Every year, Japan lures millions of unsuspecting tourists to it's concrete-encased shores, tourists who come to explore it's emerald-green hills and traditional Buddhist temples, experience its towering Metropolises and mega-shopping complexes, and feel utterly out of place on its trains and in its restaurants, clubs, bars, and pubs.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of travel guides, websites, blogs, and books designed to arm the visitor to Japan with all the information he or she needs to survive the "Japan experience" and make the most of it. Unfortunately, most of that information is generic and patently obvious, and will leave you feeling, well, like an out of place tourist when you get here.

Not to worry. To combat the relative uselessness of most travel guides I've put together an Ichiban! list of Top 10 Travel Tips for visiting Japan. This list won't help you find anything or guide you around Japan in any way, but it might help you prepare yourself for what you'll find when you step off the plane, onto the train, and into the Japan they didn't tell you about.

1. Eat whatever is given to you. Don't make a face, don't wrinkle your nose, don't push it away. It's food, it's fresh, and it's different so eat it with a smile, and then quickly wash it down with whatever liquid is in reach. And if you simply can't stomach raw bits of pickled squid or rotting, slime-covered soybeans, lie and say you have an 'aller-gee'. It's the polite thing to do.

2. Smile more. Even if you're just walking down the street or sitting on the train, keep a smile (not a smirk) on your face. You're scary enough in your home town on a good day. Imagine yourself after a few days on the road in Japan, and it's easy to see why people cross the street to avoid you. Smile, and at least they'll think your mostly harmless...or possibly a Mormon.

3. Remove your shoes.

4. See point (3) above, and then remember to remove your shoes when you enter buildings and walk past those big stacks of lockers, conveniently located by most entrances, that are chalk-full of shoes just like yours--only smaller, cleaner, and probably more expensive.

5. Learn a few basic Japanese phrases before you get on the plane, and then accept the fact that you won't be able to understand the answers to any of them. But by at least saying 'sumi masen' or 'onegaishimasu' you might get some attention and understanding, and then quite possibly an answer in English.

6. Go to an onsen (hot spring) or sento (public bath), remove your clothes, and leave your shame at home. Everyone is naked under their clothes, so get over yourself and jump right in. Just remember to wash, scrub, wash again, and dry every square centimetre on, in, and between your body before you do. And if you have a tattoo, accept the fact your naked flesh might not be welcome everywhere.

7. Embrace the differences without judgement. In Japan, you will see young girls in incredibly short skirts everywhere, at all hours. You will see pornographic magazines at 7-11 and on the trains. You will be around people who smoke and drink, and then smoke and drink some more, and then fall down. Accept it, it's part of the culture and a good example of how a personally tolerant and incredibly safe society functions.

8. Do not think your are a golden God just because you may be taller than many or blonder than most, and just because many people stare at you, say hello, buy you drinks, or in the case of attractive young women, flatter you. You do not become special, more attractive, more intelligent, or drop dead sexy simply by coming to Japan. If you live here for a while, maybe. But not on your first visit.

9. Keep this in mind at all times: Japanese hosts, hostesses, friends, in-laws, grandparents, police, teachers, gangsters, school girls, and even passing strangers you end up drinking with will continually keep your glass full and you won't realize it until you've had far too much. If you don't pay attention, you'll wake up with a furry tongue and a headache the likes of which even God himself never envisioned. And no hair-of-the-dog will wipe out the acute sense of embarrassment you'll feel at being out-drank by someone twice your age--or half.

10. Never believe the people who just suffered through your extended rendition of "Stairway to Heaven" in the karaoke box when they applaud and tell you how great you sounded. You didn't. They are just being nice, Japanese-style. In truth, you will have stunk the place up and single-handedly caused a spike in the Japanese suicide rate. Don't do it.

Keep these ten simple points in mind at all times, and you'll be sure to have a great time in Japan and possibly even remember some of what you experience when you get here. And best of all, you'll realize that when it comes to travelling and experiencing a culture and country for the first time, sometimes the more you actually read, the less you actually know.

While tradition and etiquette may be a little more important in Japan then, say, lower Washington State, people are people and as a visitor you'll be expected to screw up once in a while. So relax, have a good time, and make a fool of yourself. It's inevitable.

Just don't forget to remove your shoes.

Dan G. Hilton writes On Japan at http://www.hiltonjapan.com