Japan 2026 & 2027

Tokyo + Fuji + Alps — Kanto + Eastern Chubu. East Japan is where Japan's iconic imagery comes to life. The perfect cone of Mount Fuji reflected in the Fuji Five Lakes. The steam-shrouded ryokan valleys of Hakone. The towering Japanese Alps accessible via the breathtaking Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route — a corridor of rock, snow walls and cloud. And at the centre of it all, Tokyo: ancient temples beside neon skyscrapers, Michelin-starred ramen beside cherry blossom parks.

Culture + Heritage — Kansai + Chugoku + Shikoku. West Japan holds the cultural soul of the nation. Kyoto's thousand temples, the torii-gated hillsides of Fushimi Inari, the lantern-lit geisha lanes of Gion. Shirakawa-go's UNESCO-listed thatched-roof village buried in snow. The Seto Inland Sea islands dotted with contemporary art. And the remote Iya Valley — one of Japan's last great hidden landscapes, draped in cedar and mist, accessible only by vine bridge.

Volcanoes + Onsen — Kyushu. Japan's southernmost main island is a land of extraordinary geological drama. Mount Aso is one of the world's largest active calderas, its crater belching sulfurous steam across vast grasslands. Beppu pours steam from every street corner through its famous "Hells" — boiling ponds of vivid cobalt, blood-red and jade green. Takachiho Gorge was carved by myth — the gods are said to have descended here — and Yakushima's ancient cedar forests, some over 7,000 years old, feel truly primordial.

Beaches + Tropical — Okinawa & Remote Islands. Japan's southern islands are a revelation for travelers who think Japan means temples and neon. Okinawa's Kabira Bay turns the sea a shade of turquoise almost too perfect to be real. Ishigaki and Miyako offer some of Asia's finest coral reef diving, manta ray encounters, and white-sand beaches backed by jungle. The pace slows to something close to silence, the water is warm, and the Ryukyuan culture — distinct from mainland Japan — gives the islands their own cuisine, music and ancient castle ruins.