Travel Guide to Japan
Japan is a country of extraordinary contrasts – a place where you can watch a thousand-year-old temple ritual in the morning and stand under the neon of the world’s busiest crossing the same night. It stretches almost 3,000 kilometres from the coral reefs of Okinawa to the snowfields of Hokkaido, which is why it can offer cherry blossom and ski season in the same week. Add some of the finest food anywhere, the fastest and most punctual trains on earth, and a standard of hospitality – omotenashi – that has no real equivalent, and you have a destination that rewards a first visit and then quietly insists on a second. Get the most out of your trip to Japan with this travel guide. Find out more about:
Best time to visit
Japan has four genuinely distinct seasons, and the difference between them matters more here than in most destinations:
- Spring (late March through May): the most sought-after season. The cherry blossom – sakura – sweeps north from Kyushu in late March, reaches Tokyo and Kyoto in early April, and arrives in Hokkaido in early May. Days are mild at 15 to 22°C and the whole country is outdoors. It is also the busiest and priciest window, so book well ahead, and be aware of Golden Week (29 April to 5 May) when domestic travel peaks and trains and hotels fill up.
- Summer (June through August): begins with tsuyu, the rainy season, which runs from early June to mid-July across most of the country – Hokkaido largely escapes it. What follows is hot and very humid, with Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka sitting between 30 and 35°C. In return you get festival season, the long daylight hours of the mountains, and the only window in which Mount Fuji can be climbed (early July to early September). Typhoons are most likely between August and September.
- Autumn (late September through November): the connoisseur’s choice, and in our experience the most comfortable time to travel. Skies are clear, temperatures sit in the high teens and low twenties, and the koyo – autumn foliage – moves south from Hokkaido in late September to reach Kyoto in the second half of November. Crowds and prices are gentler than in spring.
- Winter (December through February): crisp and dry in the cities, spectacular in the mountains. Tokyo averages a sunny 5 to 12°C, while Hokkaido and the Japan Alps receive some of the most reliable powder snow on earth. It is also the best season for an onsen, and the quietest time at the major temples.
If you are travelling from the UAE, it is worth knowing that the long summer break falls in Japan’s most humid months. Late October to early December, and the second half of March, are far more comfortable windows and usually better value. For a detailed month-by-month breakdown of weather across the different regions, we recommend this website.
How to get there
Japan is exceptionally well connected to the Gulf, with non-stop flights from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi and a flying time of roughly nine and a half to ten and a half hours.
- Emirates flies non-stop from Dubai (DXB) to Tokyo Narita (NRT), Tokyo Haneda (HND) and Osaka Kansai (KIX).
- Etihad Airways flies non-stop from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Tokyo Narita (NRT).
Which airport you choose shapes the whole trip:
- Tokyo Haneda (HND) is the closest to the centre – around 30 minutes by monorail or train – and the easiest arrival if Tokyo is your first stop.
- Tokyo Narita (NRT) sits further out, 60 to 90 minutes from central Tokyo on the Narita Express or the Keisei Skyliner.
- Osaka Kansai (KIX) is the gateway to Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Hiroshima, and is about 75 minutes from Kyoto by direct train.
One of the most efficient ways to see the country is an open-jaw ticket – flying into Tokyo and home from Osaka, or the reverse – so that you travel in one direction and never retrace your route. Once you are in Japan, ANA and Japan Airlines cover the longer domestic hops, while the Shinkansen handles almost everything else.
The easiest way to create your itinerary is to talk to one of our travel gurus who will happily assist you plan the perfect trip.
Travel Requirements
Requirements for entry into Japan differ from country to country, and are subject to change. Prior to departure, always check with your government and your nearest Japanese embassy or consulate what documents you need for travel to Japan.
- UAE citizens do not need a visa. Holders of an ordinary UAE biometric (IC) passport may enter Japan visa-free for tourism, business, or visiting friends and family. The permitted stay was extended to 90 days in 2025, up from the previous 30.
- UAE residents of other nationalities should check their own passport separately – many nationalities do still require a visa, applied for through the Consulate-General of Japan in Dubai or the Embassy of Japan in Abu Dhabi. We can help you assemble the paperwork.
- Your passport should be valid for the duration of your stay. Japan does not impose the six-month rule used by many other countries, but airlines occasionally apply their own.
- Complete Visit Japan Web before you fly. It handles immigration and customs declarations online and issues QR codes that make arrival considerably faster.
- Check your medication. Japan’s rules on bringing in medicines are stricter than most travellers expect – some ordinary cold and allergy remedies containing pseudoephedrine or codeine are prohibited outright, and larger quantities of prescription medicine require a Yakkan Shoumei import certificate arranged in advance. This catches people out every year, so check before you pack.
Getting around
Japan has arguably the best public transport in the world, and on a first visit you will not need a car at all:
- The Shinkansen – the bullet train – is the backbone of the country. Tokyo to Kyoto takes 2 hours 15 minutes, Osaka 2 hours 30, and Hiroshima under 4 hours. Services are frequent, immaculate and famously punctual, and every seat has a view.
- The Japan Rail Pass covers most JR services including the majority of Shinkansen. At the time of writing an ordinary pass costs ¥50,000 for 7 days, ¥80,000 for 14 and ¥100,000 for 21, with an increase scheduled for 1 October 2026. Since the 2023 price rise it is no longer automatically good value – for a straightforward Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka trip, individual tickets usually work out cheaper. It earns its keep once you add long distances such as Hiroshima or Hokkaido. Note that the fastest Nozomi and Mizuho services require a supplement.
- IC cards – Suica, PASMO or ICOCA – are rechargeable smart cards that work on subways, buses and local trains nationwide, and in convenience stores and vending machines. They can be added to an iPhone or Apple Watch, which saves queueing.
- City metros in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo are clean, cheap and signposted in English throughout.
- Domestic flights are worth it for the long hops – Tokyo to Okinawa or Sapporo is far quicker by air than by rail.
- Taxis are spotless, safe and honest, but expensive by regional standards. Useful late at night, when the trains stop running around midnight.
- Driving only makes sense for rural touring – Hokkaido, the Japan Alps, or Okinawa. You will need an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention; permits issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention are not accepted in Japan, so confirm the format when you apply. Carry your home licence and passport alongside it. Japan drives on the left.
Inspiration, highlights, & travel tips
There are so many reasons why you should put Japan on top of your bucket list. Here are just a few of them:
- Tokyo: Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, the Shibuya scramble crossing, the backstreets of Shinjuku after dark, and the view from the Skytree
- Kyoto: walk the torii tunnels of Fushimi Inari at dawn, see Kinkaku-ji mirrored in its pond, and spend an evening in Gion
- Arashiyama: the bamboo grove, best reached before the coaches arrive
- Osaka: eat your way along Dotonbori, then see Osaka Castle floodlit after dark
- Nara: meet the free-roaming deer and stand beneath the Great Buddha at Todai-ji
- Hakone & Mount Fuji: the lake, the ropeway, the torii standing in the water, and a night in a ryokan with a private onsen
- Miyajima: the floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine at high tide
- Hiroshima: the Peace Memorial Park and the Genbaku Dome
- Kanazawa & Shirakawa-go: Kenroku-en garden and the steep-thatched farmhouses of the mountains
- Okinawa: white sand, coral reefs and a culture quite distinct from the mainland
- Hokkaido: powder snow in winter, lavender fields and seafood in summer
And a few things worth knowing before you go:
- Carry some cash. Japan is exceptionally safe but still surprisingly cash-based once you leave the big cities. ATMs in 7-Eleven and Japan Post branches reliably accept foreign cards.
- Do not tip. It is not practised and can cause genuine confusion. Excellent service is simply the standard.
- Halal dining is increasingly easy in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and most major stations and airports now have prayer rooms. Tell us it matters and we will build the list around your itinerary.
- Use luggage forwarding. Takkyubin services will send your suitcase on to your next hotel overnight for a modest fee – a superb trick when you are changing cities by train.
- Sort connectivity before you fly – a pocket Wi-Fi router or an eSIM costs little and makes navigating far easier.
Suggested Itineraries
It’s impossible to suggest one itinerary for Japan, but the following two-week route takes in the classic highlights and is the one we are asked for most often:
- Day 1, 2, 3 & 4: Tokyo – Asakusa and Senso-ji, Shibuya and Shinjuku, Ginza, the Skytree, with a day trip to Nikko or Kamakura
- Day 5 & 6: Hakone or Kawaguchiko – Mount Fuji views, the lake, and a night in a ryokan with an onsen
- Day 7, 8, 9 & 10: Kyoto – temples, gardens and Gion, with a full day in Nara
- Day 11: Osaka – Dotonbori, the food, and Osaka Castle
- Day 12 & 13: Hiroshima and Miyajima
- Day 14: back to Osaka or Tokyo for your flight home
If you have more time, we suggest adding Kanazawa and the mountain villages of Shirakawa-go, the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails, Hokkaido in either winter or summer, or a week on the beaches of Okinawa.
For planning your own route we recommend the excellent resources from the Japan National Tourism Organization, japan-guide.com and the Lonely Planet.
Good to Know
Read the basic info and also some fun facts about Japan!
Ready for your next trip?
Japan is one of those rare places that turns out to be better than you imagined it. Ancient and relentlessly modern at the same time, endlessly polite, and impossible to see in one visit – which is precisely the point. Whether you are picturing cherry blossom and temples, powder snow, a fortnight of trains and hot springs, or simply the best meal of your life, let us build it around you.
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