How to use this guide
Connecting the regions
In general, you'll almost always fly in to and leave from Tokyo Haneda or Narita. Spend at least several days at the start or end of your trip there. You can move between cities by train (Shinkansen bullet trains), and obviously it makes sense not to backtrack. So a typical itinerary might be Tokyo → Kyoto → Osaka → Hiroshima, moving west, e.g.
Japan has tropical islands to the southwest, notably the Okinawa (Ryuku) island chain. This is a popular island vacation destination for Japanese and Asians. It's still mostly Japan , but with a little more "island time" (think: carribean).
To the far north is the large island of Hokkaido. It's still quite hot in the summer, but has excellent snow sports in the winter. It's famous for crab and sea urchin, as well as beer from the capital city, Sapporo.
NOTE: If you have time between cities, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of TA-Q-BIN luggage portage. Your hotel can arrange the transfer. But note that it will take at least an extra day to arrive at your next hotel.
TODO — Ken: draft the recommended order and the transit notes for
each leg: recommended transport, travel time, and pass vs. individual tickets.
Trip planner
A day-by-day skeleton. Pick a must-visit per slot from the region pages and pencil it in — print this page and mark it up.
| Day | Morning | Afternoon | Evening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | — | — | — |
| Day 2 | — | — | — |
| Day 3 | — | — | — |
| Day 4 | — | — | — |
| Day 5 | — | — | — |
| Day 6 | — | — | — |
| Day 7 | — | — | — |
Must-visit shortlist
Tokyo
Osaka
Setouchi
Travel notes
TODO: language tips, etiquette reminders, eSIM, helpful apps, cash —
the practical page-one stuff, in Ken's voice.