Japan
★★★★1/2
Train journeys
Train review: What’s not to love about a Japanese bullet train?
The scenery is spectacular, the carriage warm and comfortable, the food top-notch, and the arrival – in a not-exactly-shocking turn of events – is bang on time.
- by Ben Groundwater
Visiting a shrine in Japan is a way to press pause on your busy life
The chief reason to visit a Shinto shrine is for lovely tranquillity amid the crowded clamour of Japan.
- by Brian Johnston
10 things we’ll never understand about Japan
We all love Japan but, no matter how many times we visit, some things will always remain a puzzle.
- by Brian Johnston
Art is a way of life in Japan’s answer to Florence
Ishikawa prefecture is known for attracting the most talented artisans in the country, in a culture of creation that dates back centuries.
- by Ben Groundwater
Zen, with a little help from a club-wielding monk
The threat of violence has a way of focusing the mind. And this Japanese mountain temple offers enlightenment through an “awakening stick”.
- by Ben Groundwater
Japan’s capital of reinvention has a bamboozling spate of new attractions
Tokyo is an exhausting but exhilarating place to visit. Its glamour, organisation and startling contrasts provide the ultimate Japanese experience.
- by Brian Johnston
Japan’s hidden islands a paradise for locavores
Culture and great food merge on these spectacular isles.
- by Ute Junker
Opinion
Food and wine
The one secret about Japan that travel writers don’t want you to know
Your ticket to eating and drinking at all the best establishments in a country that can be famously difficult to navigate comes down to one word.
- by Ben Groundwater
Teen tourist carves name into 1200-year-old temple
According to police, a 17-year-old Canadian used his fingernail to carve “J” and “Julian” into a pillar of Japan’s Toshodaiji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- by Natalie B. Compton and Julia Mio Inuma
Tokyo’s vintage stores have no trash, only treasure
There is tremendous respect and love for vintage items in Tokyo and if you’re shopping for vintage, the hard work has been done.
- by Ben Groundwater