1. Why Japan, and why 2026

Few countries reward a first-time visitor the way Japan does. Bullet trains leave to the second, the streets are spotless, crime is so low that locals leave bags on café tables to hold a seat, and the gap between a ¥400 bowl of ramen and a two-Michelin-star counter is mostly a matter of how you feel that night. It is, genuinely, one of the easiest “hard” destinations in the world.

And right now the timing is unusually good. The yen has stayed weak against the dollar, pound, euro and Australian dollar, which means hotels, taxis, restaurants and trains feel roughly 20–30% cheaper on the ground than they did before 2022. A trip that felt like a splurge a few years ago is firmly mid-range today.

Below we walk through every decision in order: do you need a visa, when to go, how to move around, how to pay, where to actually point your week, what to eat, where to sleep, and how not to accidentally be rude. Read it once and your itinerary will mostly write itself.

2. Do you need a visa? Entry essentials

For most Western travellers, entry is refreshingly simple. Japan grants visa-free short stays of up to 90 days to citizens of around 70 countries and regions, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the entire EU. You don’t apply for anything in advance — you arrive, your passport is stamped, and you’re in.

• Passport: must be valid for the duration of your stay (six months’ validity is a safe habit, though not strictly required for most nationalities).
• Onward ticket: immigration can ask to see proof you’re leaving. Have a return or onward flight handy.
• Visit Japan Web: register your immigration and customs details online before you fly and you’ll breeze through with a QR code instead of paper forms. It’s optional but saves time at the airport.

3. When to go: seasons, sakura and foliage

Japan has four genuinely distinct seasons, and the month you choose changes the trip more than the city you choose. Here’s the honest version.

Chasing the cherry blossoms

Sakura sweeps north over a couple of weeks. In 2026 the forecast is slightly earlier than average thanks to a warm winter: Tokyo around 19–28 March, Kyoto roughly 23 March–1 April, and Sapporo not until late April. Because the bloom only lasts about a week per city, flexibility beats precision — if you can chase it north, you get several bites at it.

Autumn colour (often the smarter pick)

The foliage front runs the opposite way, starting in Hokkaido in late September and reaching Tokyo and Kyoto in mid-to-late November, lingering into early December in Kyoto. It’s less of a stampede than sakura and the weather is dry and comfortable.

4. Getting around: trains, the Shinkansen and the JR Pass

Japan’s rail network is the best on Earth, and it’s how you’ll cover ground. The Shinkansen (bullet train) links the major cities at up to 320 km/h — Tokyo to Kyoto in about 2 hours 15 minutes, city centre to city centre, no airport faff.

The IC card: your day-one essential

Before anything else, get an IC card — Suica, PASMO or ICOCA. They’re identical in practice: tap through any subway or local train gate nationwide, and pay at convenience stores, vending machines and many shops. Physical cards are sold again after the 2023–24 chip shortage, but the easiest route is digital: add Suica to Apple Pay or Google Pay and top it up straight from your card. Tourists can also grab a deposit-free Welcome Suica at Narita or Haneda.

Is the Japan Rail Pass still worth it?

This is the question every first-timer asks, and the answer changed. The nationwide JR Pass is now expensive:

For context, a one-way Tokyo–Kyoto bullet train is about ¥14,000. So the 7-day pass only pays off if you’re doing serious long-distance back-and-forth — say Tokyo → Hiroshima → back, or a fast multi-city loop. A classic Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka first trip usually comes out cheaper buying individual tickets, especially now.

5. Money: cash, cards and the 2026 tax changes

Here’s the myth worth busting on arrival: Japan is not a cashless country yet. Contactless Visa and Mastercard are spreading fast, big stores and chains take cards happily, and your IC card covers convenience stores — but small restaurants, family izakaya, shrines, rural buses and the odd ramen counter are still cash only.

Tax-free shopping is changing — 1 November 2026

Tourists can claim back Japan’s 10% consumption tax on purchases over ¥5,000 at registered stores. Two things to know for 2026:

• Until 31 October 2026: the old system — you show your passport and pay the tax-free price in-store.
• From 1 November 2026: a new “pay first, refund later” model. You pay the full tax-included price in the shop, then claim the refund collectively at the airport before departure (within 90 days of purchase). The fiddly “sealed bag” rule for consumables goes away.

The departure tax is going up

Japan’s “Sayonara Tax” — a small fee bundled into your airfare — rises from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 per person from 1 July 2026. You won’t pay it at a counter; it’s already inside your ticket price. Worth knowing, not worth worrying about.

What it actually costs

6. Where to go: making sense of the map

Japan is longer than you think — Hokkaido in the snowy north and Okinawa in the subtropical south are nearly 3,000 km apart. For a first trip, resist the urge to “see it all.” Pick one or two regions and go deep. Here’s the lay of the land, north to south.

Tohoku (the rugged northeast) and Shikoku (the pilgrim island) round out the country and are wonderful once you’ve done the headline regions.

7. The classic first trip: Tokyo and Kansai

If this is your first time and you have 7–10 days, the tried-and-true route is the “Golden Route”: Tokyo → (Hakone/Fuji) → Kyoto → Osaka. It’s popular for a reason — it strings together the city, the mountains and the old capital with fast, simple train connections.

Tokyo

Give it at least three days. Shibuya and Shinjuku for the electric, Blade-Runner side; Asakusa and Yanaka for old downtown; Harajuku and Shimokitazawa for style and thrift; teamLab and the Tokyo bay area for the futuristic. Day-trip out to Hakone for hot springs and Fuji views, or to Nikko for shrines in cedar forest.

Kyoto, Osaka and Nara

Kyoto is temples, geisha districts and bamboo — go early to Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama to beat the crowds. Osaka, 15 minutes away by rapid train, is the country’s kitchen: Dotonbori’s lights, takoyaki and the friendliest energy in Japan. Nara, a short hop from either, has free-roaming deer and one of the world’s great bronze Buddhas. The three make an effortless cluster.

8. What to eat

Eating is half the reason to come, and you do not need a big budget to eat brilliantly. Some of the best meals of your life will cost ¥1,000.

• Ramen — regional and tribal: rich tonkotsu in Fukuoka, soy-based shoyu in Tokyo, miso in Sapporo. Order from the ticket machine, slurp without shame.
• Sushi — from ¥120-a-plate conveyor belts to hushed counter omakase. A mid-range kaiten (conveyor) place is a perfect, low-stress introduction.
• Izakaya — Japan’s pubs, where you order small plates of yakitori, sashimi and fried things over beer or sake. The heart of a Japanese night out.
• Regional specialities — Osaka’s takoyaki and okonomiyaki, Hiroshima’s layered okonomiyaki, Hokkaido’s seafood and dairy, Nagoya’s miso katsu. Chase them where they belong.
• Konbini — don’t laugh. 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart sell genuinely good, cheap food: egg-salad sandwiches, onigiri, fresh fried chicken, an entire breakfast for ¥500.

9. Where to stay

Accommodation in Japan is clean, safe and varied, from ¥3,000 capsules to ¥100,000 ryokan. Match the type to the trip:

Book popular dates — sakura, November, Golden Week — months ahead. The best-value rooms in Kyoto vanish first.

10. Staying connected: eSIM and Wi-Fi

You’ll lean on your phone constantly — Google Maps for the train maze, translation apps for menus, restaurant bookings. Sort data before you leave the airport.

• eSIM (best for most): if your phone supports it, an eSIM is the easy win — buy online before you fly, scan a QR code, and you land already connected. No counter, no physical SIM swap. Budget around 1 GB per day of use.
• Pocket Wi-Fi: a small rental hotspot that covers several devices at once — better for families or groups, though it’s another gadget to charge and return.
• Free Wi-Fi: common in stations, convenience stores, cafés and hotels, but patchy outside cities and not secure. Treat it as backup, not your main plan.

11. Etiquette: how not to stand out (in a bad way)

Japanese etiquette can feel intimidating from afar, but it boils down to a single principle: don’t be a nuisance to the people around you. Get these few right and you’ll be fine.

• Trains are quiet. No phone calls, keep conversations low, set your phone to silent (“manner mode”). It’s the loudest unspoken rule in the country.
• Shoes off in homes, ryokan, many temples and some restaurants. Watch for a step up and a shelf of slippers — that’s your cue.
• No tipping. None. It can cause genuine confusion or mild offence. Good service is simply the standard; the price is the price.
• Queue and follow the arrows. Lines form neatly for trains and lifts; stand on the correct side of the escalator (left in Tokyo, right in Osaka).
• Carry your rubbish. Public bins are rare. You’ll often hold your trash until you find one — or take it back to your hotel.

12. Sample itineraries

7 days — first-timer’s Golden Route

• Days 1–3 — Tokyo: the city’s neighbourhoods, a teamLab or Shibuya Sky evening, one day trip to Hakone or Nikko.
• Day 4 — travel + Kyoto: morning Shinkansen, afternoon at Fushimi Inari and Gion.
• Days 5–6 — Kyoto & Nara: Arashiyama and the temple circuit; a half-day to Nara’s deer and Great Buddha.
• Day 7 — Osaka: Dotonbori, Osaka Castle, one last great meal before flying home from Kansai Airport.

10–14 days — Golden Route, deeper

Add Hiroshima and Miyajima after Kansai (easy by bullet train), or swing through the Japanese Alps — Takayama and Shirakawa-go — between Tokyo and Kyoto. With two weeks you can also fold in Kanazawa or a few days in Hokkaido or Fukuoka.

We’ll link region-by-region and city-by-city guides here as they go live, so you can drill from this overview straight into the detail you need.

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