--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Japan (City Guides) Wimup" description: "Browse Wimup's Top 10 guides across Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and more cities, mapped and filmed. When to go, how to get around, and where to start." url: https://wimup.com/country/japan type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-06 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10s across Japan From **Tokyo and Kyoto** to **Osaka, Kanazawa and Naoshima**, Japan city by city, each one distilled to ten things worth your time, mapped and filmed. ## Quick answer First-timers should pair **Tokyo and Kyoto** with a day in **Osaka or Hakone**; repeat visitors trade up for **Kanazawa, Naoshima and the Japan Alps**. The best windows are **late March–April** for cherry blossom and **October–November** for autumn color, both worth booking months ahead. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Mar · May · Oct - **Ideal length:** 10–14 days - **Budget per day:** $120–200 - **Language:** Japanese - **Getting around:** Shinkansen & IC card - **13** Cities - **47** Prefectures - **4** Video guides Top-10 travel guides across Japan. ## 13 Japanese city guides 1. [Tokyo](https://wimup.com/city/tokyo.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 4–5 days 2. [Kyoto](https://wimup.com/city/kyoto.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 3–4 days 3. [Osaka](https://wimup.com/city/osaka.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2–3 days 4. [Sapporo](https://wimup.com/city/sapporo.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2–3 days 5. [Kanazawa](https://wimup.com/city/kanazawa.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2 days 6. [Hiroshima](https://wimup.com/city/hiroshima.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2 days 7. [Naoshima](https://wimup.com/city/naoshima.md): Japan · 10 picks, Day trip 8. [Hakone](https://wimup.com/city/hakone.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 1–2 days 9. [Nikko](https://wimup.com/city/nikko.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2 days 10. [Nara](https://wimup.com/city/nara.md): Japan · 10 picks, Day trip 11. [Naha](https://wimup.com/city/naha.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 3 days 12. [Takayama](https://wimup.com/city/takayama.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2 days 13. [Fukuoka](https://wimup.com/city/fukuoka.md): Japan · 10 picks, stay 2 days ## Know before you go - **Population:** 123.1 million - **Area:** 377,975 km² - **Density:** 325.5 / km² - **Capital:** Tokyo - **Major cities:** Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka - **Currency:** Japanese yen (¥) - **Language:** Japanese Bilingual signage covers stations, airports and the main sights. Outside them, a translation app does the work. - **Calling code:** +81 - **Power:** 100V · Type A Two flat prongs, and the lowest mains voltage in the world. The grid runs at 50Hz east of the Alps and 60Hz west of them, which matters to appliances and not to a phone charger. - **Emergency:** 110 police · 119 fire Dial 119 for fire and ambulance, 110 for police. Both are free from any phone, anywhere in the country. - **Visa:** 90 days, visa-free Japan waives the short-stay visa for 74 countries and regions, at 90 days for most of them. Check the ministry list for your passport. - **Getting around:** Shinkansen High-speed rail links Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka on one spine, and reaches Kanazawa and Sapporo on its northern branches. Reserve a seat in blossom and autumn season. - **Money:** Cards, plus cash Cities are close to cashless, but shrines, small counters and rural buses still want yen. Convenience-store ATMs take foreign cards around the clock. - **Tipping:** Not done Nowhere, for anything. Service is in the price, and money left behind only causes confusion. - **Tourism board:** Official site Japan’s national tourism office: trip planning, regional guides and seasonal events. ## When to visit - **Jan** (good) - **Feb** (good) - **Mar** (best) - **Apr** (peak) - **May** (best) - **Jun** - **Jul** - **Aug** - **Sep** (good) - **Oct** (best) - **Nov** (peak) - **Dec** (good) ## Fun fact Japan counted 6,852 islands for 36 years, from a 1987 Japan Coast Guard survey. A 2023 recount from digital maps, using the same rule of a natural coastline 100 metres or longer, found 14,125. Nothing rose from the sea: sharper imagery split coastlines that older maps had read as one landmass. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** Japan is punishingly expensive **Reality:** The flights and the rail are what cost. Eating is some of the best value in any rich country: a bowl of ramen, a set lunch or a convenience-store breakfast runs to a few dollars, and the quality floor is high everywhere. - **Myth:** Nobody speaks English **Reality:** Stations, signage and ticket machines on the main routes are bilingual, and staff at big stations are used to visitors. Conversational English is rarer once you leave the cities, which a translation app handles. - **Myth:** The whole country is neon and skyscrapers **Reality:** Most of Japan is mountains, rice terraces and small timber towns. Twenty minutes on a local line out of Kyoto puts you in farmland, and two thirds of the land is forested. - **Myth:** You will offend someone by getting the etiquette wrong **Reality:** Visitors are given wide latitude and nobody expects a bow at the right angle. Two habits cover almost everything: take your shoes off wherever the floor level changes, and keep your voice down on trains. - **Myth:** Tipping is an insult **Reality:** It is not an insult, it is simply not done. Leave money on the table and someone will chase you down the street to return it. Service is included in the price and the standard does not move. - Shoes come off wherever the floor level changes: homes, ryokan, temple halls and some restaurants. Slippers are usually waiting. - Trains are quiet by default. Phone calls are not made on board, and headphones stay low. - An IC card (Suica in Tokyo, ICOCA in Kansai) taps you through almost every urban train, bus and convenience store. Carry some cash for small towns and shrines. - At an onsen you wash and rinse at the taps first, then get into the bath with no swimwear. Many baths still turn away visible tattoos, so check before you go. - Public bins are rare. Carry your rubbish until you find one, usually beside a vending machine or inside a convenience store. - Stand on the left of an escalator in Tokyo and on the right in Osaka. Getting it wrong is the most visible mistake a visitor makes and the least important. ## Famous Japanese faces - **Hayao Miyazaki**: Co-founded Studio Ghibli, directed Spirited Away - **Akira Kurosawa**: Director of Rashomon and Seven Samurai - **Haruki Murakami**: Novelist, Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore - **Yayoi Kusama**: Artist of the polka dot and the infinity room - **Katsushika Hokusai**: Printmaker behind The Great Wave off Kanagawa - **Shohei Ohtani**: Baseball player who pitches and hits at the top of the game - **Ryuichi Sakamoto**: Composer, Yellow Magic Orchestra and The Last Emperor - **Tadao Ando**: Self-taught architect of concrete and light, Pritzker laureate - **Toshiro Mifune**: Actor at the centre of sixteen Kurosawa films - **Hirokazu Kore-eda**: Director of Shoplifters, Palme d’Or 2018 - **Takeshi Kitano**: Comedian turned director of Hana-bi and Sonatine - **Ryusuke Hamaguchi**: Director of Drive My Car - **Yasujiro Ozu**: Director of Tokyo Story, filmed from floor height - **Murasaki Shikibu**: Wrote The Tale of Genji in Heian-era Kyoto - **Sei Shonagon**: Wrote The Pillow Book at the same court - **Yasunari Kawabata**: Nobel laureate in Literature, Snow Country - **Kenzaburo Oe**: Nobel laureate in Literature, A Personal Matter - **Banana Yoshimoto**: Novelist, Kitchen - **Matsuo Basho**: Poet who walked the north and wrote The Narrow Road - **Utagawa Hiroshige**: Printmaker of the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido - **Takashi Murakami**: Artist behind Superflat - **Yoshitomo Nara**: Painter of the wide-eyed, unimpressed child - **Joe Hisaishi**: Composer of the Ghibli scores - **Hikaru Utada**: Singer-songwriter, First Love - **Seiji Ozawa**: Conductor who led the Boston Symphony for 29 years - **Naomi Osaka**: Tennis player, four Grand Slam singles titles - **Yuzuru Hanyu**: Figure skater, back-to-back Olympic gold - **Ichiro Suzuki**: Outfielder who hit a record 262 in a single season - **Hideki Yukawa**: Physicist, Japan’s first Nobel laureate - **Shinya Yamanaka**: Nobel laureate for induced pluripotent stem cells - **Katsuko Saruhashi**: Geochemist who traced fallout across the Pacific - **Rei Kawakubo**: Founded Comme des Garcons - **Issey Miyake**: Designer of the pleat, and of clothes made from one cloth - **Yohji Yamamoto**: Designer who dressed a generation in black - **Jiro Ono**: Sushi chef of Sukiyabashi Jiro - **Nobu Matsuhisa**: Chef who took Japanese-Peruvian cooking worldwide ## Must-try Japanese food - **Nigiri sushi**: Fish on a small press of vinegared rice, eaten in one go, ideally at a counter. - **Sashimi**: No rice, no cooking, nowhere to hide. The cut matters as much as the fish. - **Tempura**: Batter thin enough to hear. Order it piece by piece at the counter. - **Tonkatsu**: Breaded pork cutlet, shredded cabbage, rice. The comfort standard. - **Yakitori**: Chicken on skewers over charcoal, salted or glazed. Every part of the bird. - **Karaage**: Marinated fried chicken, crisp and juicy, the default with a beer. - **Gyoza**: Pan-fried dumplings with a lacy crisp base, best beside a bowl of ramen. - **Katsudon**: Cutlet, egg and onion simmered over rice. One bowl, no decisions. - **Unagi kabayaki**: Freshwater eel grilled and lacquered with a sweet soy glaze. - **Shoyu ramen**: The Tokyo original: clear soy-based broth, curled noodles, a slice of pork. - **Tonkotsu ramen**: Fukuoka style, pork bones boiled to opacity, thin straight noodles. - **Miso ramen**: Sapporo’s answer to a Hokkaido winter: fat, corn, butter and miso. - **Soba**: Buckwheat noodles, hot in broth or cold on a bamboo mat with dipping sauce. - **Udon**: Thick wheat noodles with a chew. Sanuki udon from Kagawa is the benchmark. - **Tsukemen**: Noodles and broth served apart. The broth is concentrated on purpose. - **Monjayaki**: Tokyo’s looser cousin to okonomiyaki, scraped off the griddle with a tiny spatula. - **Chanko nabe**: The sumo stable hotpot, eaten in Ryogoku where the wrestlers live. - **Tamago sando**: Convenience-store egg sandwich on crustless milk bread. Far better than it should be. - **Edomae anago**: Sea eel from Tokyo Bay, steamed then grilled, softer than unagi. - **Okonomiyaki**: Osaka’s cabbage-heavy savoury pancake, sauce and bonito flakes on top. - **Takoyaki**: Octopus batter balls, molten inside. Wait longer than you want to. - **Kushikatsu**: Deep-fried skewers from Shinsekai. One dip in the shared sauce, never two. - **Kaiseki**: Kyoto’s seasonal tasting menu, built around what is at its peak this fortnight. - **Yudofu**: Tofu simmered in hot water, eaten near the temples of northwest Kyoto. - **Obanzai**: Kyoto home cooking, small vegetable dishes served side by side. - **Kaisendon**: Hokkaido seafood bowl: crab, scallop, uni and salmon roe over rice. - **Jingisukan**: Sapporo lamb grilled on a domed iron plate, named after Genghis Khan. - **Motsunabe**: Fukuoka offal hotpot with garlic, chives and cabbage. - **Hiroshima okonomiyaki**: Built in layers, with a nest of fried noodles inside. - **Goya champuru**: Okinawan stir-fry of bitter melon, tofu, egg and pork. - **Okinawa soba**: Wheat noodles in pork broth, topped with stewed belly. Not soba at all. - **Hoba miso**: Takayama miso and mountain vegetables grilled on a magnolia leaf. - **Matcha**: Whisked powdered green tea. Uji, south of Kyoto, is where the good leaf grows. - **Daifuku**: Pounded rice cake around sweet bean paste, sometimes a whole strawberry. - **Dorayaki**: Two small pancakes with red bean between them. - **Taiyaki**: Fish-shaped batter cake filled with bean paste or custard, eaten walking. - **Kakigori**: Shaved ice so fine it collapses. A summer institution, not a snow cone. - **Warabimochi**: Bracken-starch jelly dusted with roasted soybean flour. - **Sake**: Brewed from rice. Ask for junmai to taste it dry, and try it cold. - **Shochu**: Distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Kyushu is its heartland. - **Umeshu**: Green plums steeped in spirit and sugar. Sweet, and dangerous over ice. - **Japanese whisky**: Built on the Scottish model since the 1920s, now scarce and sought after. - **Highball**: Whisky and soda, very cold, poured everywhere from izakaya to vending machine. ## By theme - [Hidden gems in Japan](https://wimup.com/hidden-gems.md) - [Michelin tables in Tokyo](https://wimup.com/michelin-cities.md) - [Cherry blossom cities](https://wimup.com/themes.md) - [Powder skiing in Hokkaido](https://wimup.com/skiing.md) - [Hike the Nakasendo trail](https://wimup.com/hiking.md) - [Onsen ryokan escapes](https://wimup.com/honeymoon.md) ## Films - [Tokyo: 101 Things to Do](https://wimup.com/watch/tokyo-top-10.md), 1:20:07 - [Kyoto Temple Route](https://wimup.com/watch/kyoto.md), 1:35:44 - [Osaka on Foot](https://wimup.com/watch/osaka.md), 1:14:10 - [Hokkaido Powder](https://wimup.com/watch/hokkaido.md), 13:40 ## FAQs ### How many days do you need in Japan? Ten to fourteen for a first trip: four or five in Tokyo, three in Kyoto, then one of Osaka, Hakone or Kanazawa. The Shinkansen makes a two-base trip easy, and trying for more cities than that spends the holiday on platforms. ### When is the best time to visit Japan? Late March into April for cherry blossom and late October into November for autumn colour, both of which need booking months ahead. May and early October give you the same weather with far fewer people. June is the rainy season and August is hot and humid. ### Is the Japan Rail Pass worth buying? Only on a long multi-city loop. Since the 2023 price rise a straightforward Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka trip usually costs less on single tickets. Price your actual route both ways before you buy, and remember the pass does not cover the fastest Nozomi trains. ### Do you need to speak Japanese? No. Signage, ticket machines and station announcements on the main routes are bilingual, and a phone camera translates a menu in seconds. A few words of greeting still change the temperature of an exchange. ### Should you start with Tokyo or Kyoto? Tokyo, and give it the jet lag. It absorbs a disoriented first two days better than anywhere, and arriving in Kyoto after it makes the shift in pace land. On a second trip, reverse it and fly into Osaka. ## Related countries - [South Korea](https://wimup.com/country/south-korea.md) - [China](https://wimup.com/country/china.md) - [All of Asia →](https://wimup.com/asia) Part of [Asia](https://wimup.com/asia.md) ## Sources - [Visa](https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/short/novisa.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Tourism board](https://www.japan.travel/en/us/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.