Country · 3 guides
Nowhere else changes so completely from one train stop to the next — and nowhere else runs so precisely on time.
Japan packs an extraordinary amount into a chain of islands roughly the length of the US east coast: neon megacities and silent cedar forests, 1,200-year-old temples and bullet trains that leave to the second. It rewards travellers who slow down — a morning at a Kyoto shrine, an afternoon soaking in an onsen, a late night in a six-seat Tokyo bar. The rail network makes it one of the easiest countries in Asia to explore without a car, and the food is superb at every price. Come for the cherry blossom or the autumn maples, and stay for everything in between.
Japan in numbers
Plan your tripAttraction-by-attraction guides to 3 cities in Japan, each one mapped.
Trip planner
The headline season. Cherry blossom sweeps north from Kyushu in late March to Tokyo and Kyoto in early April, and Hokkaido weeks later, so the exact timing shifts with latitude and the year's weather. Temperatures are mild and the light is lovely — but blossom season is the busiest and priciest time to travel, and May is quieter and just as pleasant.
Hot and genuinely humid across most of the country, with a rainy season through much of June and early July, and a typhoon risk building into late summer. It is the season of fireworks and mountain hiking — the official Mount Fuji climbing window falls in July and August — and the time to head for Hokkaido or the Japan Alps, where the heat breaks.
Arguably the best all-round season. The humidity drops, skies clear, and autumn colour moves the opposite way to the blossom — south from Hokkaido in late September to Kyoto and Tokyo in late November. Early September can still be hot and carries a typhoon risk, but October and November are reliably beautiful.
Cold and dry on the Pacific side, with crisp sunny days in Tokyo and Kyoto and the occasional dusting of snow on the temples. The Sea of Japan side and the mountains get enormous snowfall instead, which makes Hokkaido and Nagano among the most reliable ski destinations anywhere. Okinawa stays mild enough for a beach walk, if not for swimming.
The classic first-timer's line down the Pacific side, entirely by train and the single best introduction to the country. Fly into Tokyo and out of Osaka (or the reverse) so you never double back.
A shinkansen run west from Kansai that trades temple crowds for island scenery and modern art. Pairs naturally onto the end of the Golden Route if you have longer.
For a second trip, or a first one in high summer when the south is sweltering. The shinkansen runs as far as Hakodate and Sapporo, but this is the one route where renting a car genuinely opens things up.
Eight questions travellers ask before they go.
Autumn (October–November) and spring (late March–May) are the two best windows. Autumn brings clear skies, comfortable temperatures and spectacular maple colour, and is generally the easier of the two to travel in. Spring has the cherry blossom, which is genuinely worth seeing but draws the largest crowds and the highest prices of the year — and shifts by a week or two depending on latitude and the season. Summer is hot and humid with a June rainy season, though the mountains and Hokkaido stay pleasant, and winter is cold, clear and excellent for both hot springs and skiing.
Ten days to two weeks is the realistic minimum for a first visit, which comfortably covers Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka with a stop near Mount Fuji. A week is enough for Tokyo and Kyoto alone if you accept a fast pace. Three weeks lets you add Hiroshima and the Inland Sea, or push north into Tōhoku and Hokkaido. Japan is longer than it looks — Tokyo to Okinawa is a flight, not a train ride — so resist the urge to cover the whole country in one trip.
For most itineraries, no — and in the big cities a car is a liability, with expensive parking and excellent subways. The rail network reaches almost everywhere a visitor wants to go, and the shinkansen is faster than driving city to city. Rent a car only for the rural areas where trains thin out: Hokkaido, inland Tōhoku, Shikoku, Kyushu's interior, and the Japan Alps. If you do drive, note that Japan drives on the left and that you must carry an International Driving Permit alongside your home licence — Japan does not accept a foreign licence on its own.
Temples and shrines, the bullet train, cherry blossom, hot springs and some of the best food on earth — but also the contrast between them. It is a country where a thousand-year-old wooden shrine sits a subway stop from a neon shopping district, where anime and tea ceremony coexist, and where public transport, service and cleanliness are held to a standard that surprises almost every first-time visitor.
Less than you might expect, but far more than you need to worry about. Station signage, train announcements and menus in tourist areas are widely bilingual, major museums have English information, and staff in hotels and big-city restaurants usually manage the essentials. Outside the cities English drops off sharply. A translation app, a few words of Japanese and a willingness to point will carry you comfortably — travellers rarely have real trouble getting around.
The Japanese yen (¥). Cards are now accepted almost everywhere in cities, and a rechargeable IC card such as Suica or Pasmo covers trains, buses, lockers and convenience stores. Even so, carry some cash: small restaurants, rural bus routes, shrine offerings, market stalls and older ryokan can still be cash-only. Convenience-store ATMs — 7-Eleven and Japan Post in particular — reliably accept foreign cards, which is not true of every bank machine.
Far more than sushi. Ramen varies by region — rich tonkotsu in Fukuoka, miso in Sapporo — and so does almost everything else: okonomiyaki in Osaka and Hiroshima, kaiseki multi-course dining in Kyoto, fresh seafood and dairy in Hokkaido. Eat at least once at a standing noodle bar, once at a department-store food hall in the basement, and once from a convenience store, which in Japan is genuinely good. Vegetarians should know that dashi, a fish-based stock, is in a great many dishes that look meat-free.
Cities, culture, hiking and rail travel.
