First-timer's ten days in Japan

The trick to beating jet-lag isn't sleep timing. It's daylight and walking. Drop bags in Asakusa, head to Sensō-ji as the lights come up, eat at a counter near the hotel, and try to make it to 22:00 before the body collapses. Resist the temptation to plan anything else.

Skyliner from Narita

The Skyliner is the fastest train from Narita to central Tokyo. 41 minutes, all-reserved, ¥2,520 one-way. Buy at the dedicated counter just before security after baggage claim. The JR Pass doesn't cover it. And don't activate the Pass on Day 01 anyway, you won't use it again for four days.

Drop bags, walk to Sensō-ji

Asakusa hotels won't take you until 15:00. Leave the bags at the desk and walk to Sensō-ji. Fifteen minutes from any Asakusa address. The temple lights come on around 18:00; that's the photograph. Nakamise-dōri closes its shutters at 19:00. Walk it first.

Fuji Ramen for the first bowl

Walk five minutes from the hotel to Fuji Ramen. Counter seating, ten seats, no English menu. The shōyu is the order on Day 01, light enough that the jet-lag stomach doesn't revolt. Save the heavier Hakata-style for later in the trip. The ¥1,200 bowl + a tea makes the whole first dinner about ¥1,500.

Jet-lag is a daylight problem, not a sleep problem. Day 01 · arrival

The day Tokyo earns its reputation. A forest shrine before the crowds, a long walk through Aoyama and Harajuku, the city seen from above at sunset, and the smallest bars in Asia after dark. In roughly that order, because the city peaks west-side and the body is still recovering.

Meiji-jingū at opening

Get to Harajuku Station for the 06:00–06:30 shrine opening (varies by month, sunrise-tied). The path through the forest takes ten minutes, and the inner shrine is empty until 08:30 when the office-worker route through Yoyogi starts. Worth doing once on Day 02 specifically. By Day 03 the body won't allow it.

Aoyama-Omotesandō, then Cat Street

Walk south through Aoyama. Nezu Museum has a garden that opens at 10:00, and the Watari-um art space sits a block off. Cat Street is the calmer Harajuku: vintage stores, coffee, the kind of stops that don't trend on social. Skip Takeshita-dōri unless the goal is the chaos.

Shibuya Sky at sunset

Book the slot online. About 30 minutes before sunset, exact time varies by month. Buy at the website, not at the door. The on-site queue can be 90 minutes. ¥2,500. The point is the transition: city in daylight, then the lights coming up. The 19:00 post-sunset slot misses it.

Shinjuku evening: Omoide → Golden Gai

Eat skewers in Omoide Yokochō before crowds peak (around 19:00 already; by 20:30 it's shoulder-to-shoulder). Then walk eight minutes east to Golden Gai for one drink in one bar. Most bars have a ¥500–1000 seating cover; pay it, drink one drink, move on. Golden Gai is touristic now. That's honest, and the architecture still earns the visit.

Tokyo from above costs ¥2,500 and an hour. Skip it only if the body's already done. Day 02 · Shibuya

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen is the spine of any first Japan trip, 555 km from Tokyo to Kyoto, with Mt Fuji passing on the right side of the train about forty minutes in. The trip-defining detail is which Shinkansen: the Nozomi is fastest (2h 15) but the JR Pass doesn't cover it. The Hikari does. Same train manufacturer, same Fuji, twenty-five minutes more.

JR Pass activation, Hikari over Nozomi

Activate the JR Pass at the JR Ticket Office on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. Opens 07:00, queue is shortest before 09:00. Reserve a Hikari, not a Nozomi. The Hikari takes 25 minutes longer and the Pass covers it; the Nozomi requires a separate ticket. Same Fuji, same comfort. Most first-timers don't realise the Hikari exists and pay twice.

Right side, Fuji at 40 minutes

Reserve seats D or E on the right side (in the direction of travel). Fuji appears between Mishima and Shin-Fuji, roughly 40 minutes after Tokyo Station, weather-dependent. Have the camera ready. The view lasts ninety seconds.

Drop bags in Kyoto, walk Higashiyama

Kyoto Station to most hotels is 10 minutes by Karasuma Line subway. Hotels won't check in until 15:00 but will hold bags from the moment of arrival. The right first walk is Higashiyama. Up the slope past Yasaka Pagoda, into the stone-paved Ishibei-kōji alley, then down through Gion before the dinner crowd builds.

The Hikari is the right Shinkansen. The Nozomi is the expensive one. Day 04 · Tōkaidō

Kyoto's east side rewards the morning walker. Kiyomizu-dera at the 06:30 opening is empty; the same deck at 11:00 is a queue. The whole eastern spine — from Kiyomizu down through Sannen-zaka, past Yasaka Pagoda, into Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park — is walkable in a slow morning if started before eight. Pace the afternoon down: lunch, the Philosopher's Path, a quiet temple, an early dinner in Pontochō.

Kiyomizu-dera at opening

Be at the Niōmon gate by 06:25. The deck opens at 06:30 (varies by month, earlier in summer). At 07:00 the first tour buses arrive; by 09:00 the place is shoulder-to-shoulder. ¥500 entry. Don't book the night-illumination tickets. They're only worth it in November during the maple peak.

Sannen-zaka, Ninen-zaka

Walk down the slope. The two cobbled streets are at their best between 07:30 and 09:00. The shops aren't open yet, which means no impulse stops, and the morning light catches the upper machiya facades. Skip the matcha soft-serve queue at the Sannen-zaka top. Same product is sold without a line at Kasagiya halfway down.

Yasaka Shrine + Maruyama Park

Yasaka Shrine is free, open 24/7, and a useful pivot between Higashiyama and the Gion grid. Maruyama Park behind it is the city's sakura-viewing centre in spring. Outside of those weeks, it's just a quiet park with a 200-year-old weeping cherry. Lunch in Gion or Higashiyama before pushing north.

Philosopher's Path + Ginkaku-ji

The Philosopher's Path is 2 km along a canal, ending at Ginkaku-ji. Walking it after lunch is exactly the right pace. Ginkaku-ji entry is ¥500. Modest compared to Kinkaku-ji's gold-leaf set piece, but the moss garden is the real reason to come. Worth detouring to Hōnen-in on the path. Free, almost always empty.

Pontochō for dinner

Pontochō is a 500-metre alley between Sanjō and Shijō, lit by red lanterns. Most of the high-end yakitori and kaiseki places require reservations. For first-timers: walk the alley once at 18:00 before crowds peak, then pick a place with a window menu and an empty counter seat. Around ¥4,000 covers a decent counter dinner with one drink.

Kyoto east rewards the morning walker. Eight is the new ten. Day 05 · Higashiyama

Hiroshima is 1h 25 from Shin-Osaka by Sakura Shinkansen, ¥10,420 each way (JR Pass covered). The day has weight. Peace Memorial Museum is the centre, not a sidebar. Plan around it: early train, museum before the crowds, lunch on Hiroshima okonomiyaki, ferry to Miyajima only if there's energy left. Back to Osaka by 19:00.

Sakura Shinkansen out, museum first

Book the 07:30 Sakura from Shin-Osaka. Reserved seat ¥10,420, JR Pass covers it. You arrive Hiroshima Station 08:55, then a 15-minute tram (line 2 or 6, ¥220) puts you at the Peace Memorial Park gates at 09:30. The Museum opens at 08:30; arriving by 09:30 is twenty minutes ahead of the school-group wave.

Hiroshima okonomiyaki, layered not mixed

Hiroshima okonomiyaki is different from Osaka's. Layered, not mixed. The base is a thin crêpe, then cabbage, noodles, egg, pork, sauce, all in stacked order on the teppan in front of you. Okonomi-mura is the famous four-floor okonomiyaki building near Peace Park. Touristy but every stall is honest. About ¥1,500 a plate.

Miyajima. Only if there's energy

Miyajima is iconic but it's a 90-minute round trip just to reach the ferry, plus 30 minutes by boat. If the museum took longer than planned, skip it without guilt. The day already worked. If you go: the Itsukushima Shrine torii is best at high tide, when it appears to float. Check the tide chart before you commit to the ferry.

Back by 19:00, Dotonbori is waiting

Last sensible Sakura is the 17:30 from Hiroshima Station, arriving Shin-Osaka 18:55. Walk back to the hotel, eat a real dinner in Dotonbori. The day was emotionally long; a takoyaki-and-beer evening is the right close.

You don't visit Hiroshima for the photo. You visit for the silence afterward. Day 08 · Hiroshima

Ten days in and the return Hikari is the same train as Day 04. The difference is the eye. Mt Fuji passes on the left side this time, about 1h 50 before Tokyo. Reserve seats A or B for the view. Most of Day 10 is a single transit plus a short Tokyo afternoon — a walk through one neighbourhood the trip missed, a counter meal, then the NEX or Limousine to the airport. The trick is timing the train so the airport leg lands comfortably for an evening flight.

Reverse Hikari, left side this time

The 10:00 Hikari from Shin-Osaka arrives Tokyo Station 12:40. Same train as Day 04 in reverse; the JR Pass still covers it. Reserve seats A or B (left side in the direction of travel). Mt Fuji passes about 1h 50 after departure, around 11:50, weather-dependent. The view lasts ninety seconds.

Drop bags at Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station has hundreds of large coin lockers across the Marunouchi and Yaesu exits, but they fill by 11:00. The reliable option is Crosta Tokyo, a paid baggage service near the central passage, ~¥1,000 per piece for the day. Bags out by 19:00. From there the NEX to Narita is one platform away.

One last walk — Marunouchi or Ginza

The contrast with Asakusa is the point. Marunouchi is the city's polished face: red-brick station facade, glass towers, Imperial Palace gardens. Walk it slowly. Ginza is the same idea with shopping. Skip Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku — those were Day 02, and the body is now planning for an eleven-hour flight, not a return-trip dopamine hit.

Counter meal, then NEX to Narita

Eat at one of the basement restaurant floors of Tokyo Station's Daimaru or Marunouchi Building. Counter sushi, tonkatsu, or unagi. ~¥2,500–4,000. The Narita Express runs every 30 min from Tokyo Station, 60 min to Narita Terminal 1/2/3, ¥3,070. JR Pass covers it. Allow 2h 30 from "leave the counter" to "at the gate" for a comfortable Narita departure.

Mt Fuji from the right on Day 04, from the left on Day 10. Same volcano. Different eye. Day 10 · the return