Tokyo has no single centre but a chain of station districts, each the size of a city. For a first stay, allow three to four full days before considering day trips. A 72-hour metro pass covers the Tokyo Metro and Toei lines. The eastern imperial gardens, free, open at 9 a.m. except Mondays and Fridays; the loop around the palace is 5 km with no traffic lights, popular with runners at dawn. Do not plan a major visit on a Monday, when most museums close. The Marunouchi district, between the red-brick Tokyo Station and the palace, holds the galleries and the end-of-day cafes.
The western side of the Yamanote loop line holds the youth culture and the nightlife. The Shibuya crossing sees up to 3,000 people per light cycle at rush hour. In Shinjuku, the Gyoen garden, entry around 3 euros, offers the best contrast between skyscrapers and cherry trees; the Golden Gai district packs 200 tiny bars into six lanes. Harajuku and Takeshita street are best in the morning, before the afternoon crush. Allow a full day for this strip. The Meiji-jingu shrine, on the edge of Harajuku, closes at sunset and is better visited in the morning, when the forest is quiet.
East of the Sumida, pre-war Tokyo survives. Asakusa and the Senso-ji temple, the city's oldest, are packed by day but calm after 6 p.m., once the Nakamise street shops close. The Yanaka district, spared by the bombing and the great 1923 earthquake, is walked on foot between temples, wooden houses and a leafy cemetery. In Ryogoku, you can watch a morning sumo practice in some stables by reservation, or visit the Edo-Tokyo museum. The Kyu-Yasuda garden and the Sumida art museum round off a morning on this bank, before crossing to the Asahi brewery and its golden flame.
Thirty minutes south of Tokyo, Yokohama was the first Japanese port opened to foreigners in 1859. The Chinatown, the largest in Japan, has over 200 restaurants; the Minato Mirai waterfront lines up museums and a big wheel. The Sankei-en garden, once a silk merchant's estate, has gathered historic buildings moved from across the country over 175,000 square metres. Half a day is enough, as a round trip from Tokyo, without staying the night. The playful Cup Noodles Museum and its instant-ramen workshop appeal to families on a rainy day.
Two hours north, Nikko combines a UNESCO-listed group of shrines and a national park. The Tosho-gu, the mausoleum of the first Tokugawa shogun, is buried in gilded carvings, including the three wise monkeys. A second day allows the climb to Lake Chuzenji via the 48 hairpins of the Irohazaka road and the Kegon Falls, a 97 m drop. Buses to the top thin out in the afternoon: leave early. A night on the spot beats a same-day round trip. The nearby Futarasan shrine and the Tamozawa imperial villa, less visited, are each worth an hour if time allows.
Hakone, on the route between Tokyo and Kyoto, is the most accessible hot-spring resort in the region. The classic loop combines a switchback train, a funicular, a ropeway over the Owakudani fumaroles and a boat on Lake Ashi, where Mount Fuji stands out when the sky is clear, about one day in three. A regional pass covers all of it. The open-air museum, with its Moore sculptures and a Picasso pavilion, is best visited late morning, before the groups. The Hakone shrine, with a red torii standing in Lake Ashi, is photographed early before the queue that forms from 9 a.m.
The military capital of Japan in the 12th and 13th centuries, Kamakura keeps some sixty temples and shrines in a bowl of hills open to the sea. The bronze Great Buddha of Kotoku-in, cast in 1252, is 13 m tall and can be entered. The Hase-dera temple is known for its June hydrangeas. The Enoden tram runs along the coast to Enoshima island; the hiking trails between temples, such as the Daibutsu course, take half a day. The Zeniarai Benten shrine, where you wash your money in a spring to multiply it, is tucked into a hillside cave.
West of Tokyo, the Chichibu-Tama-Kai national park rises above 2,000 m with the megacity never far away. You hike up Mount Buko or on the 34 Kannon temple circuit, and soak in a hot spring on the way back. In winter, the frozen Onouchi Hyakkei falls are lit on some evenings. Further south, the town of Kawagoe keeps a whole street of Edo-era clay warehouses, hence its nickname Little Edo. For real high mountains, you need to look further, towards
Chubu. The Mitsumine shrine, at 1,100 m, is served by a ropeway and keeps a sacred-mountain feel, with stone wolves as guardians.
