First Time in Japan?

Yakushima

Kagoshima

There’s something comforting about Yakushima, from its emerald-green forests evoking childhood fairytales to a craggy, wind-whipped coastline that would like right at home on the shores of Britain. Trudge through its foggy, UNESCO-protected forests in search of ancient Yakusugi cedars with naught but the forest spirits for company.

Mt. Fuji

Yamanashi

Mt. Fuji is the inimitable icon of outdoors Japan and watching the sunrise from its zenith is a true bucket-list experience. Climbing season straddles the humid summer months, but as you wind along its stony walking trails, you’ll be rewarded with stellar views and cool mountain air more akin to Britain’s temperate climate.

A historical walk

Kyoto

Kyoto is Japan’s cultural capital, and with a compact size closer to the average UK city’s, it invites a walk through Japanese history. Amble along the tree-banked Philosopher’s Path, survey the hall of 1001 Buddhas at Sanjusangendo, and visit the venerable Golden Pavilion, all in a single afternoon.

Toyosu Market

Tokyo

Japanese cuisine holds an increasing amount of cultural cachet across the world, and recent research suggests sushi is now the fourth most popular Asian food in the UK. To learn more about the origins of raw fish cuisine, and to sample the freshest sushi on Earth, head to the world’s greatest fish market in Tokyo’s Toyosu district.

Setouchi Triennale

Kagawa

Just like contemporary art is booming in the UK, so it is in Japan. At the Setouchi Triennale – an open-air festival scattered across an archipelago in the Inland Sea – art connoisseurs can experience works by Japan’s most acclaimed modern artists. From Oshima to Naoshima, Megijima to Ogijima, each island tells its own tale through immersive and awe-inspiring exhibitions.

Yodogawa-Technique ChinuKochinu-the Black Sea Bream of Uno
Photo ICHIKAWA Yasushi

Beppu Onsen

Oita

Onsen, or “hot springs,” aren’t just a means of bathing and recuperation; they are a quintessentially Japanese winter pastime. Beppu Onsen is Japan’s number one bathing resort, with an abundance of baths heated by subterranean geothermal activity. Many onsen allow tattooed guests – a rarity in Japan – though beware, bathers are often separated by sex with textiles forbidden.

Nagasaki

Clinging to the western tip of Japan, Nagasaki was the entry point for the first Europeans to explore Japanese shores in the 1500s, resulting in a melting pot of cultural influences. Be sure to visit Dejima, a trading post that once stationed the Dutch East India Company. It was also the setting for best-selling English author David Mitchell’s novel, "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet."