Itineraries– category –

Okinawa is 1,000 miles from Tokyo and there are exactly two ways in: fly, or take the 25-hour ferry from Kagoshima. This guide covers both with real published numbers - which cities have nonstop flights to Naha, the one airline that files a public fare table, the ferry's port-by-port timetable and fuel surcharge, how to get from Naha Airport into the city, and how to reach Ishigaki and Miyako without touching Naha at all.

The Narita Express to Shibuya is 3,330 yen and the Skyliner route is 2,580 yen - but Keisei's own English Shibuya page still prints the pre-2024 fare, and JR East's March 14, 2026 revision reset everything else. Current prices, the two different buses to Shibuya, the last departure of the night, and the traps that strand people at Terminal 3.

Takayama's sights all sit within a 15-minute walk of the station, so the map is the easy part. The hard parts are the ones English guides still print wrong: Takayama Jinya went up to 500 yen on April 1, 2026, and only six Shirakawa-go bus departures a day can be boarded without a reservation. Official Japanese sources, read August 27, 2026.

Kanazawa Station is not the center of Kanazawa. The sights sit a couple of kilometers southeast, strung along a single loop bus route that now costs 220 yen a ride and 800 yen a day after the February 2026 fare rise. This guide maps the city, both loop directions, the Komatsu Airport bus at its new 1,400 yen, and the Tsuruga transfer that replaced the old Thunderbird run to Kanazawa.

Kobe is a narrow strip between the Rokko mountains and the sea, and almost every English guide gets its fares wrong. Here is the real 2026 picture: six separate station names at Sannomiya, why Kobe Station is not the center of Kobe, the City Loop's reduced timetable, the paper subway pass that no longer exists, and current prices for the cable car, ropeway and herb garden.

Two full days covers Kyoto's icons at a sprint; three lets you actually feel the city; four adds Nara and a slow morning. What each day count really buys you — and what it quietly costs.

Seven days in Japan forces one big choice: sprint the Golden Route, or go deep on one region and enjoy every hour of it. Both versions day by day — and an honest take on which one you'll be gladder you picked.

Two weeks is where a Japan trip stops being a highlight reel: the full Golden Route at a humane pace, plus Hiroshima and Miyajima — with a built-in rest day most itineraries forget. Day by day, with the swaps that let you make it yours.

The day-by-day Golden Route plan we'd hand a friend — plus the parts most itineraries skip: which tickets sell out and when they open, the peak weeks when every Nozomi seat is reserved-only, the 160 cm suitcase rule on the shinkansen, and how to ship your luggage ahead for about the price of two coffees a bag.