Japan,
the first time.

Pick a season and how long you have. These are the plans that simply work. Not offbeat at all. For that, there's Offbeat Japan.

The best all-round season. Leaves turn in the mountains in October and reach Kyoto in late November.

4 plans for 3 weeks in autumn

21 daysAll year

Tokyo to the Volcanoes

The full length of the bullet train line and beyond: castles, volcanoes and Nagasaki on the way down.

For hot spring and history lovers

21days
9places to sleep
11 h 35on trains

Day by day

Days 1 to 5
Tokyo

Worth it. Asakusa before 8am, then an evening walking the backstreets from Shibuya to Harajuku.
Skip. Paying for the Skytree. The Metropolitan Government towers in Shinjuku have the same view for free.
Eat. Sushi, ramen, tempura, and the food halls in department store basements.
1 h 30 by train
Day 6
Hakone

Worth it. One night in a ryokan with a hot spring bath and dinner in your room. Splurge here, not in Tokyo.
Skip. Coming as a day trip to see Mount Fuji. It hides in cloud more often than not.
Eat. Black eggs at Owakudani, soba in Hakone-Yumoto, a kaiseki dinner at your ryokan.
2 h 30 by train
Days 7 to 10
Kyoto

Worth it. Fushimi Inari at 7am or after dusk. Keep climbing past the halfway point and you have it to yourself.
Skip. The Arashiyama bamboo grove at midday. It is a short path and you shuffle through it shoulder to shoulder.
Eat. Kaiseki, tofu, obanzai home cooking and matcha everything.
30 min by train
Days 11 and 12
Osaka

Worth it. Eating your way through Namba and Shinsekai at night. This is the city for it.
Skip. Going inside Osaka Castle. It is a 1931 concrete rebuild with a lift. Enjoy it from the park.
Eat. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu. The local motto is eat till you drop.
1 h 25 by train
Days 13 and 14
Hiroshima

Worth it. Two unhurried hours in the Peace Memorial Museum, then okonomiyaki, layered the Hiroshima way.
Skip. Doing it as a day trip from Kyoto. It deserves more than a rushed afternoon.
Eat. Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, and oysters.
1 h 05 by train
Day 15
Fukuoka

Worth it. Ramen at a yatai street stall by the river, shoulder to shoulder with locals.
Skip. Expecting big sights. Come to eat, and use it as the door to Kyushu.
Eat. Hakata tonkotsu ramen, mentaiko and motsunabe hot pot.
1 h 30 by train
Days 16 and 17
Nagasaki

Worth it. The Peace Park, the old trading post of Dejima, and the night view from Mount Inasa.
Skip. Squeezing it into one day from Fukuoka. The city only makes sense slowly.
Eat. Champon noodles and castella sponge cake.
2 h 15 by train
Days 18 and 19
Kumamoto and Aso

Worth it. Kumamoto Castle, then a day out to the crater of Mount Aso, one of the largest calderas on earth.
Skip. Going to Aso without checking the gas alert. The crater closes when the volcano is in a mood.
Eat. Kumamoto ramen with black garlic oil.
50 min by train
Days 20 and 21
Kagoshima

Worth it. Sakurajima, the volcano smoking across the bay. Take the 15-minute ferry and walk its lava fields.
Skip. Wearing white. On ash days the whole city gets a light grey dusting.
Eat. Kurobuta black pork, and shirokuma shaved ice.