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Country guide

Japan

The Shinkansen does the hard part

Japan is a 3,000-kilometre archipelago running on a single timetable, so the real planning question is not what to see but how far along the Shinkansen spine you are willing to travel.

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  • Main gatewaysHND · NRT Tokyo · KIX Osaka · CTS Sapporo
  • CurrencyJapanese yen (JPY) · cash still useful
  • LanguageJapanese · English signage on all Shinkansen
  • Time zoneJST (UTC+9) · no daylight saving
  • RailNozomi Tokyo–Kyoto 2h 15m · Hikari 2h 40m
  • Typical tour10–14 nights · three or four bases
Overview

Japan, in three paragraphs.

Japan is four main islands strung north to south, and the distance surprises people: Sapporo sits at the latitude of Milan, Naha at the latitude of Miami. Nearly every visitor route runs along the Pacific side of Honshu, where Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima sit on one Shinkansen line. Everything else — the Japan Sea coast, Shikoku, Kyushu, Hokkaido — branches off that spine and costs most of a day each way.

The standard first trip is Tokyo, then Hakone or the Fuji lakes, then Kyoto with Nara and Osaka, with Hiroshima and Miyajima as the usual extension. It works because the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen keep every leg under three hours. A second trip tends to go sideways instead: Kanazawa and the Noto coast, the Nakasendo walking route through the Kiso valley, Naoshima and the Inland Sea, or the onsen towns of Tohoku.

Two practical realities shape any itinerary. Hotel rooms are small and check-in is rarely before 15:00, so plan arrival days lightly and use luggage forwarding between cities. And the country empties into itself three times a year — New Year, Golden Week at the start of May, and Obon in mid-August — when reserved seats sell out and room rates double. Book those windows six months ahead or route around them.

Regions

  • Kanto and TokyoThe capital plus Hakone, Nikko, Kamakura and the Fuji lakes, all within ninety minutes. The obvious first and last base, and the easiest place to absorb jet lag.
  • KansaiKyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji inside a one-hour radius. The densest concentration of temples, gardens and old streets in Japan, and the best single base for culture-led itineraries.
  • Chubu and the Japan AlpsKanazawa, Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Matsumoto and Nagano. Mountain scenery, craft towns and hot springs, suiting a second trip or anyone who wants distance from the main corridor.
  • Western JapanHiroshima, Miyajima, the Inland Sea islands, Shikoku’s pilgrimage route and Kyushu’s volcanoes and onsen. Warmer, quieter, and strong for travellers who have already done the classic route.
  • Northern JapanTohoku and Hokkaido: Sendai, the Sanriku coast, Aomori, Sapporo and the Shiretoko peninsula. Wide landscapes, serious winters, summer festivals and the country’s best skiing and seafood.
Best time to visit

When to send your clients.

Late March to mid-April for cherry blossom and late October to early December for maple colour are the two windows worth building a trip around. Avoid Golden Week, 29 April to 5 May, and the Obon week in mid-August, when domestic travel peaks and everything sells out. June’s rainy front and the humid heat of late July and August are the weakest weeks on Honshu.

Spring · March–May

Cherry blossom moves north at roughly thirty kilometres a day, reaching Kyushu in late March, Tokyo and Kyoto around the first week of April, and Hokkaido at the start of May. Forecasts only firm up about ten days out, so any fixed date is a bet. May is arguably the better month: warm, dry and clear, with fresh green on the mountains and far thinner crowds once Golden Week ends.

Summer · June–August

The tsuyu rain front sits over Honshu from early June to mid-July, then gives way to real heat, with Kyoto regularly holding 35°C at high humidity. Hokkaido and the Nagano highlands stay comfortable, and the festival calendar is the best of the year: Gion Matsuri through July, Aomori’s Nebuta and Tokushima’s Awa Odori in early August. Typhoon risk builds from late August.

Autumn · September–November

September still carries typhoons and residual heat, but from the middle of October the weather settles into the most reliable stretch of the year. Maple colour starts in Hokkaido in late September, reaches the Japan Alps in early November, and peaks in Kyoto and Nara in the last ten days of the month, holding into early December. Skies are clear and Fuji is visible far more often.

Winter · December–February

Tokyo, Kyoto and the whole Pacific coast are cold, dry and bright, with little snow and the shortest temple queues of the year. The Japan Sea side is the opposite: Niigata, Toyama and the Hokuriku mountains take some of the heaviest snowfall on earth, which is what makes Hakuba, Nozawa and Niseko work. New Year, 29 December to 3 January, closes much of the country.

Typical seasonal conditions

What the weather usually does.

These are typical seasonal conditions, not a forecast. The figures below are long-run climate averages — the normal daily high and low for each month in Japan. No weather service is connected to this site, and no date-specific prediction is made or implied. Figures are for Tokyo; the Japan Sea coast is far snowier in winter, Hokkaido considerably colder, and Okinawa subtropical the whole year.

  • Jan 10°2° Cold, dry and bright · clearest Fuji views
  • Feb 11°2° Plum blossom late · deep snow up north
  • Mar 14°5° Cherry blossom opens in the last week
  • Apr 19°10° Peak blossom, then warm settled days
  • May 24°15° Fresh green · best walking weather
  • Jun 26°19° Tsuyu rains arrive · humid and grey
  • Jul 30°23° Hot and sticky · rains clear mid-month
  • Aug 31°24° Peak heat and Obon crowds
  • Sep 27°21° Typhoon season · still humid
  • Oct 22°15° Weather settles · very reliable
  • Nov 17°9° Maple colour peaks in the last ten days
  • Dec 12°4° Crisp and clear · New Year closures

Average daily high and low in degrees Celsius. Source: long-term climate normals. Conditions in any given week can and do differ.

Things to do

Worth your clients’ time in Japan.

Everything we contract here →
1

Ride the Shinkansen the length of Honshu

Tokyo to Hakata is 1,069 kilometres in under five hours on a Nozomi, and the window does most of the work: the Hakone hills, the tea fields of Shizuoka, Fuji on the right at about the forty-minute mark on a clear morning, then the Inland Sea. Reserve a seat rather than queuing for the unreserved cars.

2

Stay two nights in a ryokan

A ryokan is a fixed rhythm rather than a room: arrive by 16:00, bathe, eat a multi-course kaiseki dinner at a set hour, sleep on futon. Kinosaki, Kurokawa, Hakone and Nyuto in Tohoku are the classic clusters. One night feels rushed; two lets you use the baths properly and walk the town.

3

Walk an old highway

The eight-kilometre Nakasendo stretch from Magome to Tsumago takes about three hours and needs no permit or guide, with luggage forwarded between the two post towns. For something longer, the Kumano Kodo on the Kii peninsula links mountain shrines over three to five days, with village minshuku bookings the limiting factor.

4

Eat by region rather than by restaurant

Japanese food is strongly regional and the differences are real. Osaka for okonomiyaki and kushikatsu, Fukuoka for tonkotsu ramen at the Nakasu yatai stalls, Kanazawa for winter crab and seafood at Omicho market, Sapporo for miso ramen and lamb jingisukan. Department store basements are the fastest way to taste a city’s specialities.

5

Spend time in the Japan Alps

Central Honshu rises above 3,000 metres between Nagano, Toyama and Gifu. In summer the Kamikochi valley gives day walking beneath Hotaka, and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route crosses the range by cable car and trolley bus. In winter the same mountains carry the deepest reliable snow of any ski region on earth.

6

Island-hop the Seto Inland Sea

Naoshima, Teshima and Inujima turned depopulated fishing islands into a permanent art landscape of Ando concrete, Monet rooms and a Turrell light space. Ferries run from Uno and Takamatsu and the timetable is tight, so build a full day per island and stay overnight rather than trying to see two.

Experiences

31 bookable experiences in Japan.

See all 31 →

Prices shown are per-person selling rates in USD — the figure your client pays. Sign in to view agent rates, availability calendars and instant booking.

Tours

Guided tours and day trips in Japan.

All 14 tours →
Inside Japan

8 cities and regions with their own guides.

Getting around

How Japan actually works.

Shinkansen and the Japan Rail Pass

The nationwide Japan Rail Pass costs ¥50,000 for seven days in ordinary class and only pays back on long routes; a Tokyo–Kyoto–Hiroshima–Tokyo loop is roughly break-even. Nozomi and Mizuho trains need a supplement even with the pass. Point-to-point Tokyo–Kyoto is ¥14,170 reserved.

Regional rail passes

Regional passes usually beat the national one. The JR East Tohoku Area Pass is ¥30,000 for five days, the JR West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass ¥17,000 for five, and the Hokuriku Arch Pass ¥30,000 for seven days between Tokyo and Osaka via Kanazawa. All must be used on consecutive days.

IC cards for city travel

Suica, Pasmo and Icoca work on subways, buses and convenience stores nationwide, and Suica and Pasmo can be loaded into an iPhone wallet without a physical card. A typical Tokyo metro hop is ¥180–320. Physical card sales have been intermittent, so set up the mobile version before arrival.

Domestic flights

For Hokkaido, Kyushu and Okinawa, flying beats rail. Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo is ninety-five minutes against eight hours by train, and ANA and JAL both sell discounted foreign-visitor fares from around ¥7,700 per sector when booked with an international ticket. Allow ninety minutes at Haneda.

Cars and luggage forwarding

Hire a car only for Hokkaido, the Noto peninsula, rural Kyushu or Shikoku; an international driving permit under the 1949 Geneva convention is required. Everywhere else, send bags ahead with takuhaibin from a hotel desk for about ¥2,000–2,500 per case, arriving the following afternoon.

Travel tips

Things worth knowing first.

Send suitcases between cities by takuhaibin and travel with a small overnight bag. Shinkansen oversized-luggage spaces now need a free reservation, and hotel rooms rarely have space for two large cases.
Reserve Shinkansen seats for any leg during blossom season, Golden Week or Obon. Outside those weeks the unreserved cars at the front of the train are almost always fine, even at short notice.
Carry ¥10,000–20,000 in cash. Cards are now accepted widely in cities, but small restaurants, shrine offices, rural buses and market stalls remain cash only, and only post office and 7-Eleven ATMs reliably take foreign cards.
Book the headline Kyoto sights the moment they open. Saiho-ji requires a postal or online application, the Katsura and Shugakuin imperial villas book out weeks ahead, and teamLab in Tokyo sells timed tickets only.
Tattoos still bar entry at many public onsen. Book a ryokan with a private family bath, or check the growing list of tattoo-friendly properties in Kinosaki and Beppu before committing to a hot-spring night.
Arrive at Tokyo Station or Shin-Osaka at least twenty minutes early. They are large, platform numbering is not intuitive, and Shinkansen doors close exactly on the advertised minute with no leeway.
Frequently asked

Japan, answered.

Ask us something else →
Is the Japan Rail Pass still worth buying?

Less often than it once was. Since the October 2023 increase to ¥50,000 for seven days, it only pays back if you cover long distances quickly — roughly Tokyo to Hiroshima and back within the week. For a Tokyo–Hakone–Kyoto–Osaka trip, individual tickets or a regional pass will almost always cost less.

How many nights do I need for a first trip?

Ten to fourteen. That gives four nights in Tokyo, one or two at Hakone or Fuji, four in Kyoto with day trips to Nara and Osaka, and two more for Hiroshima and Miyajima. Under eight nights you are spending a disproportionate share of the trip on trains.

When exactly does the cherry blossom open?

Tokyo and Kyoto usually open around 22–28 March and peak three to seven days later, but the range across recent years is close to two weeks. If blossom is the priority, build a route with north–south flexibility so you can chase it, and accept that a fixed date cannot be guaranteed.

Do I need Japanese to travel independently?

No. Station signage, ticket machines and Shinkansen announcements are all bilingual, and Google Translate’s camera mode handles menus. Rural buses, small ryokan and family restaurants are where it thins out, which is where having a local operator hold the bookings makes the most practical difference.

Can I visit Tokyo and Kyoto without changing hotels?

Technically yes — the Nozomi takes 2h 15m — but it costs about five hours and ¥28,000 a day in return fares. Two bases is the sensible minimum. If you want one base only, Kyoto works better, since Nara, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji are all within an hour.

Is Japan expensive?

Less than it was. A weak yen has left mid-range hotels around ¥20,000–35,000 a night, a good lunch set ¥1,200–2,000 and a Shinkansen leg ¥10,000–15,000. Tokyo and Kyoto hotel rates in blossom and maple season are the exception and can double against the same week in June.

Related reading
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Our ground operation in Japan: licensed English-speaking guides, ryokan and Shinkansen contracting, and on-the-ground support across Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Hokkaido.

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Pre-costed Japan packages

Ready-priced Japan itineraries from classic Tokyo–Kyoto routings to Alps and Inland Sea extensions, each with rail, hotels and transfers already built in.

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Rail assistance

Shinkansen seat reservations, regional rail pass selection and station meet-and-assist, so that groups make tight connections without queuing at busy ticket offices.

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