Japan rewards a little planning more than almost anywhere we send travellers - and punishes the lack of it with wasted hours and decision fatigue. Get the structure right and the country becomes astonishingly easy. Here's how we set up a first trip.
Two bases beat five
Base in Osaka (or Kyoto) for the Kansai region, then move once to Tokyo. Kyoto's temples and Nara's deer are easy day trips from Osaka, so you unpack twice, not five times - and you spend your evenings exploring rather than checking into another hotel.
Let the train do the work
Japan's rail is punctual to a degree that feels almost unreal, and it reaches nearly everything. We arrange the intercity Shinkansen and private, chauffeur-driven cars for the touring days, so there's no fumbling with tickets, platforms or language at the barriers - you just travel.
Pace the icons
Mount Fuji, teamLab's digital-art worlds and Tokyo DisneySea are each a full day. Space them out and keep a slow morning between - Japan is as much about a quiet temple garden, a convenience-store coffee, or a perfect bowl of ramen as it is about the big-ticket sights.
Want it as a ready starting point? See our Osaka + Tokyo package, then we shape it to you.
