Japan

The shinkansen is superb — Tokyo to Kyoto in 2h15 at 320 km/h — but the JR Pass was hiked about 70% in late 2023 (to roughly ¥50,000 for 7 days, and it rises again on 1 October 2026), which quietly ended its status as the default buy. A simple Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka trip no longer covers the pass; you now need to add Hiroshima or a lot of rail to break even, so price your actual route against individual tickets or a regional pass. Two more gotchas: the fastest Nozomi and Mizuho trains aren’t on the pass, and for city transit you tap an IC card (Suica/Pasmo) — the tourist Welcome Suica skips the counter.

The famous windows are cherry blossom (late March to early April) and autumn leaves (November) — both stunning, both the year’s most crowded and expensive, and the blossom lasts only five to seven days per city, which is why people forecast-chase it. Summer is hot and humid with a June–July rainy season and August–September typhoons; winter is quiet, with world-class powder skiing in Hokkaido. Two domestic-travel landmines book everything out: Golden Week (late April to early May) and Obon (mid-August), when reserved train seats can vanish within minutes and hotels double.

Tokyo is less a city than a cluster of them; Kyoto is the temple capital and the overtourism epicentre. Two Kyoto rules catch people out: photographing geisha on Gion’s private alleys now carries a ¥10,000 fine (public streets are fine), and the free icons — Fushimi Inari’s torii tunnels, the Arashiyama bamboo grove — are packed by mid-morning, so go at dawn. Osaka is the food city, Hiroshima and Miyajima the moving day trip, and Nara the bowing-deer one.

Mount Fuji is the sharpest example of the new controls: the Yoshida trail runs only early July to mid-September, and 2026 brings a ¥4,000 permit, a 4,000-climber daily cap and mandatory online booking. Away from the crowds, the Japanese Alps and Takayama are the traditional-Japan alternative, and the real onsen question is tattoos — many baths still refuse them, so plan cover stickers or a private bath.

The ones visitors most often get wrong: shoes off in homes, ryokan and tatami rooms; no tipping — it isn’t expected and can confuse; keep quiet on trains, no phone calls; don’t eat while walking; and carry your rubbish, because public bins are scarce. At an onsen you wash thoroughly, seated, before getting in, and bathe naked — no swimwear. Slurping your noodles is fine, even appreciated. None of it is enforced, but following it is the difference between blending in and being the tourist everyone notices.

Most Westerners get 90 days visa-free; the optional Visit Japan Web QR speeds arrival but paper forms still work. Plugs are Type A at 100V (US plugs fit; check dual-voltage), tap water is excellent, and Japan is among the safest countries anywhere — low crime and famously high rates of lost items being returned. The current draw is money: the yen is near 40-year lows, so the country is unusually affordable right now, though a departure tax (rising to ¥3,000) and new city lodging taxes are creeping in as record tourism prompts overtourism measures.