Two weeks in Japan is Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and a day trip. Four weeks is a different country: the Alps, the Inland Sea, Kyushu’s volcanoes, and the north, where the population thins and the food changes completely.
This route assumes a month on the ground and uses the rail network throughout. It runs south-west then north, which suits most flight routings into Tokyo and out of Osaka or the reverse.
Week one: Tokyo and around
Tokyo, 5 nights. Plan by district rather than by attraction — two or three adjacent stops on the Yamanote per day, and never cross the city twice. Shinjuku and Shibuya for the modern city, Yanaka and Asakusa for what survived, Shimokitazawa for where people actually go out.
Nikkō, 1 night. Two hours north. Tōshō-gū is the most elaborately decorated shrine complex in Japan, in cedar forest, and it is a complete contrast to Kyoto’s restraint.
Hakone, 1 night. Hot springs, a lake, and Fuji if the mountain is out, which it is about half the time in winter and rarely in summer.
Week two: the Alps and the Sea of Japan
Matsumoto, 1 night. One of twelve original castles, black and severe, with the Alps behind it.
Kamikōchi, 1 night (mid-April to mid-November only). A high valley in the Northern Alps closed to private cars, with the best mountain walking that requires no equipment.
Takayama, 2 nights. A preserved Edo-period merchant town, morning markets, and superb beef. Day trip to Shirakawa-gō, the steep-thatched farmhouse village.
Kanazawa, 2 nights. Kenroku-en, one of the three great gardens; a surviving samurai district and two geisha districts; and the 21st Century Museum, which is excellent.
Week three: Kyoto and the Inland Sea
Kyoto, 4 nights. Early starts, and pick the temples that are not on every list alongside the ones that are. Day trips to Nara and to Osaka for the food.
Naoshima, 2 nights. An island in the Inland Sea given over to contemporary art — Chichū Art Museum, Benesse House, Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins on the pier. Book accommodation early; there is very little.
Hiroshima, 1 night. The Peace Memorial Museum, which is unflinching and necessary, and Miyajima, where the torii stands in the sea.
Week four: Kyushu or Hokkaido
Two options, and they are opposite in every way.
Kyushu, south, if it is winter or spring: Fukuoka for the street-food stalls; Beppu and Yufuin for hot springs; Mount Aso, one of the largest calderas in the world; Nagasaki, whose history is more layered than the one thing everyone knows; and Yakushima, an island of thousand-year-old cedars and constant rain.
Hokkaido, north, if it is summer or deep winter: Sapporo; Daisetsuzan for hiking; Shiretoko for brown bears; and in February, the Sapporo Snow Festival and the best powder skiing on earth at Niseko and Furano.
Rail
The Japan Rail Pass rose sharply in price in 2023 and is no longer the automatic buy it was. For this itinerary it is probably still worth it, because the long Shinkansen legs are what it is for — but do the arithmetic against individual fares before committing.
Regional passes — JR West Kansai-Hiroshima, JR Kyushu, JR Hokkaido — are frequently better value if your month is concentrated in one area.
Reserve Shinkansen seats, which is free with a pass, and be aware that the Nozomi and Mizuho fastest services are excluded from the national pass unless you pay a supplement.
Luggage forwarding — takkyūbin — sends your bag ahead to your next hotel overnight for a small fee. It is one of the best things about travelling in Japan and almost no visitor uses it.
Seasons
Late March to mid-April: cherry blossom, moving north over about six weeks. Extraordinary, extremely busy, and every hotel in Kyoto is booked six months out.
October–November: autumn colour, moving south. Equally beautiful, marginally less frantic.
June: the rainy season on most of the country.
July–August: hot and very humid, and the season for mountain hiking and for Hokkaido.
December–February: cold, clear, cheap in the south, and the best snow in the world in the north.
Practical
Cash still matters more than you expect, though this is changing.
An IC card — Suica or Pasmo, on your phone — covers trains, buses and convenience stores nationwide.
Accommodation is small and spotless. Stay in a ryokan with a kaiseki dinner and an onsen at least once; it is a different category of experience from a hotel.
Tattoos still bar entry to many public onsen. Private baths and increasing numbers of tattoo-friendly places exist; check before you travel with expectations.
What a month leaves out
Shikoku and its 88-temple pilgrimage circuit. Okinawa, which is subtropical and culturally distinct. The Japan Sea coast north of Kanazawa. The Kiso Valley’s post towns. Most of Tōhoku.
Japan rewards return visits more than almost any country in this guide, partly because the seasons change it so completely that the same route in April and November is two different trips.