Feel Japan
Illustration: the site's guide — a young Japanese woman in a coral-vermillion furisode kimono with long swinging sleeves and a sakura pattern — welcoming visitors, with Mt Fuji and a river plain behind her

Japan, first in your heart — then in your calendar.

Photo-led stories to make you want the trip, and practical guides with every price cited to make the trip work. Start dreaming; the planning is one click below.

Layer 1 · Inspiration — feel Japan

The visual layer: trains, shelves and flavours. Every piece ends with a path down to the practical guides.

Illustration: the Guide on the Sumida River Walk, Tokyo Skytree ahead across the river
Walking Tokyo

Asakusa to the Skytree: The River Walk Your Map App Skips

Same start, same destination, same hour — a hidden river bridge, melonpan and matcha under the railway arches, and the tower earned on foot.

Illustration: the Guide on Meiji Jingu's gravel approach, a great wooden torii behind her in the forest
Walking Tokyo

Harajuku to Shibuya: The Forest Walk Your Map App Skips

Same two stations — a planted shrine forest, an Olympic park and a café lane over a buried river, with crepes, matcha and doughnuts on the way.

Illustration: the Guide at the top of the Yuyake Dandan steps, looking down over Yanaka Ginza at sunset
Walking Tokyo

Nippori to Sendagi: The Old-Town Walk Your Map App Skips

Same two stations — a fabric district's edge, a cherry-lined cemetery avenue, a postwar shopping street and a tunnel of shrine gates, with menchi-katsu and taiyaki on the way.

Illustration: a sightseeing train over a turquoise gorge in autumn colour
Scenic Japan

Four Train Windows You Will Never Forget

Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen, a gorge in full maple, the Pacific beside a seaside line, and a valley remade by snow.

Illustration: a souvenir shelf with daruma, fan, maneki-neko, ceramics and kokeshi
Souvenirs · Omiyage

Bring Japan Home: A Souvenir Guide by Where You Live

Objects and flavours that keep Japan in the room — with the import rules for the US, the EU and Australia checked against official sources.

Illustration: a bright Japanese drugstore aisle of colourful unbranded boxes and jars, a paper shopping bag in front
Souvenirs · Drugstore Shelf

The Drugstore Shelf — Beloved, and the One Place to Be Careful

Why the medicine aisle is famous with visitors — and the per-product border verdicts (US / UK / EU / Australia) that decide which classics can fly home and which are a “use it in Japan” purchase.

Layer 2 · Practical — plan Japan

The planning layer: one problem per guide, every price and rule cited to its source with the date we checked it.

Illustration: a shinkansen beneath Mt Fuji
Connectivity

Japan eSIM Compared: Prices, Data and Coverage

Airalo, Ubigi, Holafly and Klook side by side — fixed data, unlimited plans and their fair-use fine print, checked November 2026.

Illustration: the Guide presenting a Hikari shinkansen at a station platform at golden hour
Rail Money

JR Pass Break-Even: The Arithmetic, Route by Route

One Tokyo–Kyoto round trip no longer pays for the pass. Worked break-evens for four classic itineraries, computed from published JR fares — checked November 2026.

Illustration: the Guide pointing at a shinkansen crossing a river bridge, Mt Fuji behind it
Rail Know-How

Enjoying the Shinkansen: Mt Fuji Seats, Ekiben and the Art of the Ride

Seat E for Mt Fuji, an ekiben from the station shop, and the three minutes around Shin-Fuji when the mountain fills the window.

Illustration: the Guide waiting inside a painted queue line on a platform as a train arrives
Rail Know-How

Train Manners in Japan: The Rules Operators Publish — and the Ones Nobody Announces

Phones on silent, queues at the markings, backpacks off in the crowd — the shared script that makes Japan's trains the easiest part of the trip.

Illustration: the Guide presenting a large suitcase with a tape measure resting on top
Luggage

Luggage in Japan: The 160 cm Rule, Forwarding Prices and Coin Lockers

When a big suitcase needs a special reserved seat, what hotel-to-hotel forwarding costs, and when a coin locker beats both.

Illustration: the Guide presenting a bright Japanese drugstore shelf of colourful unbranded boxes
Drugstore Shelf

Eight Classics of the Japanese Drugstore Shelf — and Which Ones Can Fly Home With You

Salonpas, Oronain, Muhi, Ryukakusan, Seirogan, Rohto, Eve A and Pabron — each checked against the official border rules of the US, UK, EU and Australia. Three all-clear, four with catches, one hard stop.

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