The route everyone does, done right
There is a reason ninety percent of first trips to Japan follow this line down the Pacific coast: it compresses an absurd amount of country into two weeks and the trains make it effortless. The trick in 2026 is the rail pass maths. The nationwide JR Pass now costs around 50,000 yen for seven days, which no longer pays off on this route; buying individual shinkansen tickets, or a regional pass for the Kansai-Hiroshima leg, works out cheaper for almost everyone. Run the numbers before you buy anything.
Tokyo, four nights
Land, get a Suica card into your phone wallet, and let Tokyo happen to you. Alternate the big-ticket neighbourhoods, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asakusa, with the small ones: Yanaka's old shopping street, Shimokitazawa's second-hand shops, Koenji's tiny bars. Convenience-store breakfasts for 500 yen are genuinely good, a bowl of ramen runs 900 to 1,300 yen, and standing sushi counters will feed you well for 2,000. Hostel dorms cost 3,500 to 5,000 yen; capsule hotels are only slightly more and worth one night for the experience alone. Teamlab and the Ghibli Museum need advance tickets weeks out; the 5 am tuna auction era is over, but Toyosu market's rooftop is free.
Hakone, the mountain interlude
Two hours southwest, Hakone is the traditional Fuji-viewing stop, and the Hakone Free Pass (about 6,000 yen from Shinjuku) covers the wonderful loop of switchback railway, cablecar over the sulphur vents of Owakudani, and the frankly ridiculous pirate ship across Lake Ashi. Stay one night in a hostel with its own onsen, around 5,000 to 7,000 yen, and soak while the steam drifts through cedar trees. Fuji hides in cloud more often than not; your best odds are early morning between November and February.
Kyoto, three or four nights
The old capital is crowded and still magic if you invert your day. Fushimi Inari's ten thousand vermilion gates at 6:30 am is a walk through a myth; at 11 am it is a queue. Same rule at the Arashiyama bamboo grove. Fill middles of days with the quieter northern temples, the Philosopher's Path, and Nishiki market food stalls. From Kyoto, Nara is a 45-minute, 720 yen local train: give it a full day for the giant bronze Buddha in Todai-ji and the sacred deer, who bow for crackers and mug you if you dawdle.
Osaka, eat everything
Thirty minutes onward, Osaka is Kyoto's loud sibling and the best food city on the route. Dotonbori at night is sensory overload in the best way, but the eating is better in Tenma and Fukushima, where yakitori grills and standing bars pack the alleys under the train lines. Takoyaki from a street window costs 600 yen; a full okonomiyaki feast with beer runs 2,000. Dorms 3,000 to 4,000 yen, noticeably cheaper than Kyoto.
Hiroshima and Miyajima
The Sanyo shinkansen reaches Hiroshima in 90 minutes from Osaka, about 10,600 yen unreserved, or covered by the excellent-value Kansai-Hiroshima area pass. Give the Peace Memorial Museum the unhurried morning it demands; it is devastating and essential, and the park outside, with the skeletal A-Bomb Dome across the river, is one of the quietest places in urban Japan. Then take the local train and 10-minute ferry to Miyajima, where the great torii gate stands in the sea and the maple-leaf momiji manju cakes are fried to order. Stay on the island after the day-trippers leave if the budget allows one splurge night.
Costs and season
Budget 9,000 to 13,000 yen a day plus intercity trains. Late March and early April bring cherry blossom and peak prices; late October and November bring autumn colour and cooler queues. June is rainy and cheap, and honestly, Kyoto's temples in the rain have their own argument.
