Best Places to Visit in Japan: 5 Picks and How to Choose

Japan rewards a narrow itinerary. For a first trip of a week or less, the answer is Tokyo plus Kyoto — Tokyo for range, food and the easiest logistics in the country; Kyoto for the temples, gardens and old streets people picture when they imagine Japan. Add Osaka if street food and nightlife matter more to you than another temple, and stretch to Hiroshima and Miyajima if you have ten days and want the trip to carry some weight. Sapporo is the wildcard: superb seafood and mountains, far enough north that it works best as its own Hokkaido trip rather than a two-night add-on.

• Five to seven days: Tokyo and Kyoto, nothing else.
• Ten days: add Osaka as a base for Nara, or Hiroshima for the peace museum and Miyajima.
• Food first: Osaka or Sapporo.
• Second trip, or a winter trip: Sapporo and the rest of Hokkaido.

Two rules fall out of these tables. First, Tokyo and Kyoto are not interchangeable — Tokyo gives you variety and logistics, Kyoto gives you atmosphere and old Japan, and a first trip that skips one usually regrets it. Second, the marginal cities should earn their slot: Osaka earns it through food, Hiroshima through the museum and Miyajima. If neither of those appeals, spend the nights in Kyoto instead.

Answer those five honestly, in that order, and the shortlist usually collapses on its own. A couple traveling in late July with eight days should not be choosing between Kyoto and Sapporo on merit — the weather is doing the choosing. A pair with ten days in November should be building around Kyoto and Hiroshima, not adding a northern detour.

• Seven days: four nights in Tokyo with one day trip, three nights in Kyoto, and a fast train between them.
• Ten days: three nights Tokyo, three Kyoto, two Osaka, two Hiroshima and Miyajima — or drop Osaka to one night and give Kyoto a fourth.
• Fourteen days: the ten-day route plus Kanazawa or Hakone, or a short flight up to Sapporo if you want a second climate.

Keep the long moves to one per trip. Tokyo to Kyoto is a single comfortable train ride; adding Hiroshima after that is another; Osaka to Hiroshima and back to Tokyo in three days is where itineraries start to feel like logistics exercises.

Cherry blossom in Tokyo and Kyoto usually peaks from late March into early April, and Kyoto's fall foliage runs roughly mid-to-late November. Both are the busiest and priciest weeks of the year, so book months ahead. The rainy season runs from mid-June into mid-July across most of Honshu, and typhoons are most likely from August into September.

July and August are hot and humid in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka — which is exactly when Sapporo is at its best, dry and mild with flowers in the fields. Sapporo's Snow Festival takes over Odori Park for about a week in early February, and Hokkaido's ski hills are at their peak around the same time. Hiroshima and Miyajima are most comfortable in spring and fall, and Miyajima's tides decide whether the torii appears to float or stands on mud, so check a tide table the night before.

• Cramming four regions into a week. You will remember station platforms, not temples.
• Booking hotels late for spring and fall. The good rooms in Kyoto go first.
• Assuming cards work everywhere. Carry cash for small restaurants, shrines and market stalls.
• Underestimating walking. Station exits are far apart and a "short walk" on a map is often twenty minutes.
• Skipping the Hiroshima museum because it sounds grim. It is the reason most travelers say that stop mattered most.