Things to Do– category –

The 77th Sapporo Snow Festival runs February 4 to 11, 2027 - the organisers published the dates in July 2026 and say everything else lands in mid-December. This guide has what is already confirmed: the four venues, the ticket-slip system at the tube slider, why there is no parking, and the two items you must wear to use anything.

Yufuin runs an annual event where 400 people eat beef on a hillside and then scream about their lives into the open air. The 52nd is on October 12, 2026, costs 5,000 yen and closes for applications on September 18. This guide covers that, the five districts the city is actually made of, and the strongly acidic spring in the hills above town.

The Shimanami Kaido lets you drop the bike at the far end - but the one-way fee is a separate 1,000 yen the rental price does not include, and the e-bike cannot be kept overnight at all. Official rates for every bike type, the ten terminals, the helmet rule, and the battery range that decides whether you make it across.

Koyasan sells a 2,500 yen combination ticket covering five things. Add the four halls up individually and you get 2,200 yen - the combination only wins if you also take the 1,000 yen precept ceremony. This guide has the official price of every hall, the free ones nobody mentions, the 6:00 opening at Okunoin, and the day in September the Kondo is shut.

Todaiji does not sell one ticket. The Great Buddha Hall, Hokke-do, the Kaidan-in ordination hall and the museum each take their own admission, and the temple states plainly that payment is cash only. This guide has the official prices, the hours that differ hall by hall, why there is no car park, and the audio guide that runs in nine languages.

Most visitors see the white-walled canal quarter and leave. The city that owns it also invented Japanese denim and masking tape, holds more Japan Heritage stories than any other municipality, and publishes live parking congestion.

The official access table puts Kanazawa to Toyama at about 20 minutes by train, and Tokyo to Toyama at about 2 hours 5 minutes. Almost every Kanazawa itinerary goes straight past it.

The pagoda is open 24 hours and the official listing shows no admission price. What it does show is parking at 1,000 to 1,500 yen for six hours - and a request that visitors stop driving up to the plaza because it has become dangerous.

The official site runs a standing notice saying the nickname Crow Castle is wrong. It also sells a timed e-ticket for 100 yen less than the paper one. And the keep is 140 steps of stairs at up to 61 degrees.

Tokyo's main Christmas market moves venue between years, and as of early September the 2026 edition has not been announced - the official site still shows 2025. Here is what the pattern has been, and how to check rather than guess.

There are 42 Sotetsu Fresa Inn properties, and seven pairs of them sit at the same station under near-identical names - two at Shimbashi, two in Ginza, two at Ofuna. Booking the wrong side of a station is the mistake this chain invites.

Akita's food is not a menu you order from. Kiritanpo belongs to the autumn rice harvest, hatahata comes ashore around December, and babahera is sold at event grounds rather than in shops. Here is what that means for planning a trip.