Japan is a country marked by spectacular natural beauty, gracious hospitality and rich artistic heritage. Cities are a wonderland of gleaming skyscrapers, groundbreaking technology and frenetic pace of life whereas the countryside hums along with its rustic lifestyles and time-honored traditions.
Culture, History, Nature, Food, Shopping and Technology
An archipelagic nation that stretches over 3,000km from north to south, travel to Japan can be made year-round throughout its four distinct seasons. A popular time to visit is the cherry blossom season in March and April. Summer is ideal for hitting the mountaintop ski resorts of Hokkaido; autumn is great for chrysanthemum shows and maple viewing; while year-end is a good time to visit Kyushu and Okinawa for their warmer and milder winters.
If knowledge is power, then self-reliance is the new luxury. As the routines of our lives are upended, more of us are seeking to travel in ways that prepare us for whatever the world throws at us next. Here’s how to prep for the survivalist-tourism trend.
Only in Japan would a rustic country farmstay include a disco greenhouse. A quick hop from Tokyo takes you straight into this organic wonderland. Strawberries and sweet potato heaven.
Starting October 1, Japan is reopening its borders to all foreign nationals with long-term permits to stay or those visiting for shorter-term business trips.
These days, more travelers are gazing at the skies than taking to them in airplanes. Dark Sky Parks, telescope meetups and bioluminescent zones herald the dawn of Asia’s astrotourism.
Osaka is a place to find nourishment and healing in mind and body. Hotel Elcient is your home in this gateway.
Enter your next Tokyo trip as an in-the-know local.
A whirlwind trip to Kyoto ponders the ancient, the new and the impermanent.
Here’s when and where you might be able to travel again in Asia.
This new central Kyoto hotel is the embodiment of timeless Japanese harmony.
The emergency decree is ending and coronavirus cases in Japan are waning, so naturally we’ve started to plan our next trip.
Apart, but somehow not alone. Here’s what lockdown looks like for 10 people across the globe.
Mix things up on your next family trip with activities that get the imagination—and the adrenaline— flowing.
Family stays can be stylish too—these new and refurbished hotels, resorts and villas let you go glam with the fam.
Japanese viticulture might seem new and strange, but Koshu grape-cultivation has been around for centuries. We take a tasting tour of a wine country you’ve probably never considered.
We may all be stuck indoors, but, thanks to Google Earth, we can still experience the dreamy pink trees from our couches.
Happier days are ahead! For now, virtually escape to these 10 cheerful places.
Quarantining has the T+L staff daydreaming of many things (social interaction?) but especially these dishes.
An alternative to mainstream hotels, serviced apartments offer more space, in-room facilities and privacy.
The best way to gear up for the Tokyo Olympics? Three days of intensive training in sport and culture. Just keep your gloves on.
New to Tokyo’s buzzing hotel scene, TRUNK(HOUSE) is a modern-day “salon”—an exclusive, residential-style hub for sophisticated travelers who appreciate culture and luxury.
Portom International Hokkaido is about to open up, and it’s the perfect, most luxurious base to explore Japan’s northern-most island.
You probably know JR Kyushu for their trains, but the group’s new hotel brand THE BLOSSOM is going to make waves in Japan’s hospitality industry.
Don’t get us started on the zen of Japan’s ancient capital: from the towering trees to the handcrafted everything, the sense of tradition here slows the heart rate. Culinary-focused Park Hyatt Kyoto brings a new retreat— and sundry feasts— for all the senses.
With the famed ‘Niseko Express’ refreshing plentiful powder daily, Japan’s winter capital is on every downhiller’s list. Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono brings serene sophistication, exceptional dining experiences and their signature service to this resort town—which has plenty of summer draws, too.
Twenty places to visit this year, including the majestic Hunza Valley, Bangkok for those with an appetite, and a new-look Kyoto.
If it’s authenticity you seek in Japan’s ancient capital, a low-rise beauty wrapped around Kyoyamato, a kaiseki restaurant run by the same family since 1877, is where you want to lay your head.
Matching traditional tatami floors, a genkan-style entryway and a hinoki-wood bathtub with Charles Eames furnishings and Noguchi lights, this one-room boutique stay is a designer’s daydream.
Spain meets Sichuan in Tokyo’s central business district, where chef Hirofumi Saito opened Textura earlier this year.
The first Tokyo outpost of Hokkaido’s Michelin three-starred Sushi Miyakawa has touched down in the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo.
After a three-year, 110-billion-yen renovation, Tokyo’s grandest of dames is back looking as elegant as ever before—intentionally.
How can you not love a city where they revere their culinary traditions high and low as much as they warmly welcome visitors from near and far? Stephanie Zubiri makes a whirlwind gustatory visit to Osaka that takes in a temple to world-famous Japanese beef and a bar themed on cannel mackerel.
Set in old forest amid history-laden north Kyoto, a new Aman wants you to do little more than wander, contemplate and explore both its own vast grounds and the neighborhood it calls home.
Squeezed into whisky or steeped in a bath— Japanese citrus works its magic on us.
Off the west coast of Japan, Adam H. Graham visits Sado Island seeking an immersion in the nation’s golden age, and discovers a shingle-roofed, pine-ridged, Midcentury time capsule.
Craft beer isn’t the sole domain of men anymore. Across Asia, trailblazing female brewers are transforming the industry.
Fashion designer Tomo Koizumi pauses from his breakout year to share some of his favorite places to shop in the Japanese capital, stops that inspire him every day.
T+L’s monthly selection of trip-worthy places, experiences and events.
Co-founder Livesey and company take a traditional German gose (a salty/sour beer) and mix in sake ingredients and local peach to create a distinctly Japanese beer rooted in German traditions.
Asia’s craft suds scene keeps getting better. Craig Sauers checks in with six exciting breweries using local flavors and ingredients to push beer boundaries.
Japan’s most northerly island isn’t just for thrill-seekers. Julian Ryall bypasses the ski slopes for three distinct tastes of the prefecture’s best booze.
On the way to Nagano and far from the metropolis that is Tokyo, there’s a new address that’s meant to stir your creative juices. At the very least, it will calm your day.
From the owners of Setouchi Seaplanes and luxury cruise ship Guntû, this superbly located resort overlooking the Seto Sea regales its guests with the wonders of the great outdoors.
Marriott hits a millennial home run with this new 155-room Moxy property, which opened last year. The hotel occupies a former 11-story undergarment warehouse in Osaka’s shabby-chic Honmachi district, minutes away from the station and chock-a-block with izakaya and kushikatsu joints.
Opened last autumn, this elegant 32-room newcomer overlooks Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi Prefecture, just two hours from Tokyo.
Low-budget, high-design, next-gen hotels have begun to sweep Asia, an on-trend fit for digital nomads, flashpackers and aesthetes alike.
It takes an expert to find some of Tokyo’s finest restaurants, which is why we asked photographer Shinsuke Matsukawa to take us on a visual tour of covert izakayas and tempura speakeasies.
From a former royal guesthouse to a room with sweeping Mount Fuji views, these intimate, extravagant and picturesque resorts are just the spots to celebrate those once-in-a-lifetime moments.
A night in a ryokan is already a singular experience, but a new, unconventional accommodation concept in Kyoto provides a stay that’s truly immersive.
With designer digs and creative spaces, a new crop of hotels is making it easier than ever to ditch the nine-to-five and embrace the digital nomad lifestyle.
Whether they’re served in a bar, a humble street restaurant or a Michelin-worthy gastronomic temple, some specialties are worth seeking out no matter where in the world they may be.
The surrounding Chinzanso Garden has 20 varieties of sakura trees and a 1,000-year-old pagoda.
For more than a century, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo has been a meeting place for the world’s glamorous and powerful.
Located in the stylish Shinjuku neighborhood, Hyatt Regency Tokyo is a short walk from the serene Meiji Shrine, as well as the more earthly delights of the fashion-forward Shibuya area.
