I recently returned from a 3 week trip with 4 days in South Korea and just over 2 weeks in Japan travelling light through Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Kobe. Below you can see the contents of my bag which weighed in at only 5kg (11lbs) including a laptop. The weather in Japan and particularly South Korea was very cold winds and occasional rain. I layered my merino t-shirt with my merino co/pivot and Uniqlo ultralight down and merino wool buff. I also wore my outlier slim dungarees and darn tough merino wool socks. The temperatures ranged from 25+ celsius (77F) hot (before I left Australia where it is currently summer) to 5 celsius (41F) cold at night in Japan. I didn't feel too cold except when the wind really picked up. The Uniqlo ultralight down kept me fairly warm but if it dropped any cooler I'd have had to use my merino long johns and throw on another mid-layer or get a more windproof shell.
The bag was not too over packed when I left and so I actually had a fair amount of room for souvenirs which I don't usually buy. This time I brought back probably around 1 to 2kg worth of souvenirs. I would suggest buying small key chains as souvenirs though. Overall I was quite happy with this pack but the only thing that was quite annoying was that getting the laptop out at the security checkpoints was not as easy as with other bags that have a laptop compartment.
Bag: GORUCK 20L Shadow Ruck
(this bag was discontinued but GORUCK do make a similar bag called the Rucker 20)
Toiletries
- Tweezers
- Nail clippers
- Deodorant
- Tek Towel
- Tooth Powder
- Tooth Brush
- Muhle Shave Brush
- Shave soap
- Pocket Towel
- Shampoo
- Styptic pencil
- paw paw cream
Electronics/misc
- Surface Pro 3
- Water bottle
- usb cables
- Earphones
- Packing cube
- Travel adapter
- Passport Wallet
- Saddleback Wallet
- Padlock
- Dry bag
Clothes