Tabi Notes · 旅ノート
Japan, one backroad
at a time.
Road trips, ryokan nights and honest budgets from someone who keeps going back. Hokkaido, Tohoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and the onsen towns in between.
First trip? Start here Browse by regionI first came to Japan for a few weeks. Then I kept coming back.
Each trip went a little further off the usual route: road trips to onsen villages few visitors have heard of, and slow loops through Tohoku, Shikoku and Kyushu, the parts of Japan most people never see. Along the way I picked up a favourite konbini order and strong opinions about Shinkansen seats (heading west from Tokyo, book seat E for Mount Fuji).
Tabi Notes is where I write those routes down. 旅 (tabi) means journey, and these are my notes: day by day, with real driving times, the ryokans worth the splurge, the business hotel that saves you money on night two, and budgets you can switch between yen, dollars and euros.
I write from Germany, usually with the next trip already half planned.
New to Japan? · はじめて
Start here: your first trip
Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto and Osaka in 14 days, or with Himeji, Hiroshima and Miyajima in 21. Plus the basics everyone asks about first.
Where to?
Pick a region. Each itinerary is filed under the region where most of it happens, and some routes also cross into neighbouring regions.
Honshu 本州
All Honshu →North Honshu 東北
TohokuTohoku: mountain onsen villages, gorges that turn red and gold in October, samurai towns and some of the best ryokans in the country. Few foreign visitors, endless backroads.
18 days · road tripBest: mid–late OctTohoku · Niigata
Steam, sake & scarlet maples: 18 autumn days through southern Tohoku and Niigata
Gas-lit Ginzan Onsen, 2,446 cedar-lined steps on Mount Haguro, crater lakes and a pagoda in the forest. Japan's best onsen region, in peak autumn colour.
Read the guide →
19 days · camper vanBest: early–mid OctTohoku · Aomori · Akita
Home is where the van parks: a camper loop to the top of Tohoku
A camper loop from Sendai up to Aomori and back via Akita: Oirase Gorge, Lake Towada, an apple-themed ryokan, samurai towns, then a milky-white onsen in the Fukushima mountains.
Read the guide →Central Honshu 関東・中部
Kanto & ChubuKanto & Chubu: Tokyo and its day trips, Mount Fuji and the Five Lakes, the Japan Alps, Kanazawa and Niigata's sake country.
South Honshu 関西・中国
Kansai & ChugokuKansai & Chugoku: Kyoto, Osaka and Nara, Hiroshima and Miyajima, the quiet San'in coast and the Seto Inland Sea shore.
14 or 21 days · by trainBest: late Mar–May · Oct–NovTokyo · Mount Fuji · Kyoto · Osaka · Himeji · Hiroshima
Start here: your first trip to Japan in 14 or 21 days
The classic first route, done properly: Tokyo, a night under Mount Fuji, Kyoto with Nara, and Osaka in two weeks, or add Himeji Castle, Hiroshima and Miyajima in three. Plus the basics: what the trip costs, whether the JR Pass is worth it, eSIM, cash and IC cards.
Read the guide →
18–21 days · by trainBest: late Mar–May · Oct–NovTokyo · Kanazawa · Shirakawa-go · Kyoto · Osaka
From gold leaf to neon: the Golden Route, rerouted through Kanazawa
The classic first trip to Japan, rearranged: Tokyo, then the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa and the thatched farmhouses of Shirakawa-go, Kyoto's temples, Osaka's food streets with Kobe and Arima Onsen, and an optional stop at Mount Fuji or Kamakura on the way back.
Read the guide →
17 days · train or carBest: Apr–May · Oct–NovOsaka · Onomichi · Hiroshima · Yamaguchi · Izumo · Kinosaki
Peace, pedals & a thousand torii: Hiroshima and the secret San'in coast
West along the Seto Inland Sea to Kurashiki, Onomichi and Hiroshima, with the Shimanami Kaido by bike as an option. Then back east along the quiet San'in coast: a torii path to the sea, a karst plateau, Japan's oldest shrine, an original castle, a temple on a cliff, the onsen town of Kinosaki and the boathouses of Ine.
Read the guide →Hokkaido 北海道
All Hokkaido →
14 days · road tripBest: Jun–OctSapporo · Shiretoko · Akan · Noboribetsu
Lavender, bears & boiling lakes: Hokkaido's wild north by car
From Sapporo to the lavender hills of Furano, Japan's first autumn colours on Asahidake, the bears and cliffs of Shiretoko, caldera lakes and Ainu culture at Akan, then Noboribetsu's Hell Valley and Lake Toya.
Read the guide →
13 days · by train & busBest: Jan–FebSapporo · Niseko · Noboribetsu · Furano
Powder, ice & hot water: a Hokkaido winter by rail
Snow sculptures in Sapporo, lantern-lit Otaru, four days of Niseko powder, a snowy Hell Valley in Noboribetsu and a second ski base in Furano. Everything by train and bus.
Read the guide →Shikoku 四国
All Shikoku →Kyushu 九州
All Kyushu →
16–21 days · by trainBest: late Oct–NovKyushu · Tokyo
From tonkotsu to Tokyo: three weeks of hells, volcanoes & hot springs
Fukuoka's yatai food stalls, a ryokan night in Yufuin, the steaming hells of Beppu, Mount Aso and Nagasaki's night view. Kyushu by train and bus, with Tokyo as the finale.
Read the guide →
18 days · by trainBest: Mar–May · Oct–NovFukuoka · Beppu · Kagoshima · Yakushima · Nagasaki
Ramen to rainforest: Kyushu by rail, all the way to Yakushima's ancient cedars
The whole of Kyushu without a car: yatai in Fukuoka, a ryokan night in Yufuin, Beppu's hells, the smoking volcano of Sakurajima, three nights in the ancient cedar forests of Yakushima, a hot-sand bath in Ibusuki and Nagasaki's night view.
Read the guide →
15 days · road tripBest: Apr–May · Oct–NovSaga · Unzen · Kirishima · Miyazaki · Aso · Oita
Back roads of the fire island: hidden gorges, smoking volcanoes & lantern-lit onsen
A loop from Fukuoka through the Kyushu most visitors never see: a sea-torii beach, steaming Unzen, the volcano plateau of Kirishima, a shrine in a sea cave, Takachiho at dawn, Kurokawa's lantern-lit onsen village and a tunnel a monk dug by hand.
Read the guide →Okinawa 沖縄
All Okinawa →
Topic section
Transport 交通
Japan's transport is famously good, but the choices can be overwhelming. Bullet trains, local lines, highway buses, rental cars: here's how each one works, what it costs and when it's the right call.
Transport guideHigh-speed trains
Shinkansen: how to ride Japan's bullet trains like a local
Lines, train names, travel times and prices, how to book, whether the JR Pass is worth it, the luggage rule that catches everyone, and which seat gets you the view of Mount Fuji.
Read the guide →
Transport guideTrains
Regular trains in Japan: local lines, limited expresses, IC cards & rail passes
JR vs private railways, which train types to take, how Suica and other IC cards work, rural one-person trains, scenic lines worth a detour, and the regional passes that actually save money.
Read the guide →
Transport guideBuses
Buses in Japan: city buses, highway buses & overnight buses
How to pay on city and rural buses, booking highway buses, what overnight buses are really like (seats, toilets, arrival at 6 am), and the bus passes that make Kyushu cheap.
Read the guide →
Transport guideRental cars
Renting a car in Japan: licence, booking, tolls, rules & fuel
The paperwork you need, which car to book, insurance that's worth it, ETC cards and expressway passes, the road rules that differ from home, fuel colours, parking and winter driving.
Read the guide →Why 旅 notes?
Most first trips follow the Golden Route: Tokyo → Kyoto → Osaka.
These notes are about everything else.
That classic line on the map is a fine start. But some of Japan's best moments happen elsewhere: an open-air bath above a mountain river, a gas-lit onsen street at dusk, an empty road through red maples. Those are the places I go back to, and the ones I write about.
Read my story
Interactive map
Every place on one map
All my restaurants, sights and shops, plus every route, on one map of Japan. Filter by category or by trip, e.g. just the Kyushu trip with its restaurants.
Open the map
Seasons · 四季
When to go
Cherry blossom and autumn colour maps by region, the rainy season, summer heat, typhoons, snow and the holiday weeks to avoid. Month by month, with the best time for every route.
See the seasonsGuides
Planning guideShikoku · Tohoku
Shikoku or Tohoku in October? An honest comparison
Two of Japan's least-visited regions, two great road trips, one October. Autumn colours, onsen, weather, food and crowds compared side by side.
Read the guide →
Practical guideAll of Japan
Japan road trip & ryokan essentials: everything I wish I'd known
Driving licence rules, ETC cards and expressway passes, sleeping at michi-no-eki, bears, booking ryokans, onsen etiquette and tattoos, all in one place.
Read the guide →
Coming soon
Walking the Shikoku pilgrimage
A walking and logistics guide to the 88-temple Shikoku pilgrimage: temples 1–23 through Tokushima and 41–64 through Ehime, combined with a camper van from Kochi.