https://mad-traveller.com/tags/japan/ Recent content in Japan on Mad Traveller Hugo -- gohugo.io en Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/a-romantic-evening-in-kyoto-planned-right/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/a-romantic-evening-in-kyoto-planned-right/?v=1 Kyoto’s temples close by late afternoon, and the city’s actual romantic hours start after that, once the tour groups have gone back to their hotels. Dinner over the water first Kyoto’s version of a romantic evening usually starts by the river. Central restaurants along the Kamo’s Pontocho side run summer platform dining, kawadoko, roughly May through September, and further north Kibune’s take on the same idea puts diners on wooden platforms built directly over the cooler Kibune River, a higher-register version that books out at the better spots. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-extensions-to-hiroshima-and-kanazawa/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:24:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-extensions-to-hiroshima-and-kanazawa/?v=1 Nara, Osaka, Uji and Himeji are day trips and already treated as such in this site’s Kyoto day trips guide . Kanazawa and Hiroshima are close enough to tempt the same treatment and wrong enough to try it on that both deserve a real overnight instead. Kanazawa, since the 2024 rail extension A Thunderbird limited express to Tsuruga, about 45 minutes, connects to the Hokuriku Shinkansen for roughly another hour, putting Kanazawa about 2 hours from Kyoto since the Hokuriku extension reached Tsuruga in March 2024, a genuine change from the longer, more roundabout route the trip used to require. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-for-families-trains-fish-and-fur/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:51:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-for-families-trains-fish-and-fur/?v=1 Kyoto’s temple circuit tests a child’s patience faster than an adult’s, so the family value here sits in four specific, non-temple places, each one built around something to touch, watch or feed rather than a hall to walk quietly through. A hillside of wild macaques Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama sits at the top of a short, uphill walk from the bamboo grove, home to wild Japanese macaques and real views over the city. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/walking-kyoto-from-temple-to-canal/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:18:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/walking-kyoto-from-temple-to-canal/?v=1 One route covers more of Kyoto’s best walking on foot than a whole day of bus transfers between the same stops. Kiyomizu-dera to the canal, as a single walk Start at Kiyomizu-dera and go down through Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka to Yasaka Shrine, then on into Gion until the Shirakawa canal, willow trees over stone bridges with machiya backing onto the water. Treated as one continuous route rather than separate bus trips to each stop, it’s the most atmospheric stretch in the city. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/nara-uji-and-kyotos-quieter-day-trips/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/nara-uji-and-kyotos-quieter-day-trips/?v=1 Four names dominate every Kyoto day-trip list, and two more genuinely deserve a spot next to them once the first four stop feeling novel. Nara and Uji, the pair most visitors already know Nara is a half day, not a full one, if Todai-ji and the deer park are the goal: JR’s rapid service takes about 45 minutes for 720 yen, Kintetsu’s limited express 35 minutes for around 1,280 yen with a shorter walk to the deer. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-by-guide-train-and-dinner-show/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:12:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-by-guide-train-and-dinner-show/?v=1 The Sagano Romantic Train is worth booking soon rather than later: this is both its 35th anniversary season and its last, with a replacement planned for spring 2027. Everything else in this category is a guided or vehicle-based product of one kind or another, distinct from either a hands-on activity or a walk-up ticketed sight. A train on a countdown The current trolley train runs about 25 minutes over 7km through the Hozugawa river valley between Arashiyama and rural Kameoka, 880 yen adult and 440 yen child, hourly departures 9am to 4pm and occasionally later. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-sightseeing-and-what-it-costs/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:39:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kyoto-sightseeing-and-what-it-costs/?v=1 Kyoto’s landmark list splits cleanly into free and paid, and content gets that split wrong often enough that it’s worth stating plainly before anything else. Free, no ticket, no closing time Fushimi Inari Taisha is free, unticketed and open 24 hours; the torii tunnel is genuinely walkable before dawn or after 6pm without the crowd that builds from around 7am. The Sagano Bamboo Grove in Arashiyama is the same deal, free and always accessible. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tea-kimono-and-kyotos-sake-district/?v=1 Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:06:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tea-kimono-and-kyotos-sake-district/?v=1 Say “Fushimi” in Kyoto and most visitors picture the shrine’s torii tunnel. A few kilometers away, a second Fushimi is a historic brewing district with a walkable canal-side quarter and several breweries pouring tastings, easily worth a half day on its own and easy to conflate with the shrine if nobody tells you they’re different places. The sake district, distinct from the shrine That distinction matters because it’s the kind of detail a rushed itinerary erases entirely: one Fushimi is a religious site with no fee, the other is a food-and-drink neighborhood built around brewing rather than worship. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/a-romantic-night-out-in-tokyo/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 19:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/a-romantic-night-out-in-tokyo/?v=1 A restaurant that also happens to be a boat solves a specific date-night problem: a view that keeps changing without either of you having to move from the table. Dinner, on the water The Symphony departs from the Hinode Pier area for a Tokyo Bay cruise tiered by course: roughly 9,000 yen for a lunch sailing, 11,000 yen for sunset dining, and 14,000 yen or more for a full dinner course, up to around 30,000 yen for a premium menu, running about 2. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-multi-day-trips-to-fuji-and-nikko/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 17:54:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-multi-day-trips-to-fuji-and-nikko/?v=1 Toshogu Shrine alone needs three to four hours to see properly. Add a two-hour train ride each way and a Nikko day trip stops being a day trip in any relaxed sense of the word. Hakone and Fuji, given a second day An overnight in Hakone, ideally at an onsen ryokan, turns the ropeway ride, the Lake Ashi cruise and a Fuji-view afternoon into an unhurried two-day loop instead of a single rushed one. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/family-trips-from-tokyo-done-right/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 16:48:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/family-trips-from-tokyo-done-right/?v=1 Tokyo Disneyland is not actually in Tokyo, and that one geography fact changes how a family day around it should be planned. The Disney correction Both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea sit in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, a separate prefecture from Tokyo proper, reachable but not a Tokyo neighborhood the way Shibuya or Asakusa are. A 1-Day Passport runs 7,900 to 10,900 yen for adults and 4,700 to 5,600 yen for children aged 4 to 11, with variable date-based pricing. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/a-self-guided-walking-tour-of-tokyo/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 15:09:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/a-self-guided-walking-tour-of-tokyo/?v=1 The forest around Meiji Shrine looks old enough to have grown on its own. It did not; it was planted, tree by tree, about 100 years ago as a deliberate landscaping project, and walking through it is still the calmest fifteen minutes most visitors spend in Tokyo. Harajuku Station to Meiji Shrine The approach walk from Harajuku Station through the shrine’s forested grounds is worth treating as its own short outing, separate from the shrine visit at the end of it. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-day-trips-to-the-coast-and-market/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 13:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-day-trips-to-the-coast-and-market/?v=1 Not every day trip from Tokyo climbs anything. Two of the best ones stay flat and end at the water. Kamakura, then keep going to the coast The classic version stops at Kamakura, about an hour from Tokyo or Shinjuku via the JR Yokosuka Line, for the Great Buddha at Kotoku-in and Hase-dera Temple. The version worth planning is longer: continue to Enoshima, reachable in about an hour from Shinjuku direct on the Odakyu line, or via JR Tokaido Line to Fujisawa in roughly 50 minutes with a local transfer. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-hop-on-tours-and-market-visits/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 11:51:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-hop-on-tours-and-market-visits/?v=1 Some cities have three competing hop-on-hop-off companies fighting over the same route. Tokyo has exactly one, which makes the choice simpler than usual. The only hop-on-hop-off in the city Sky Hop Bus Tokyo runs three color-coded routes: Red covers Asakusa and Skytree, Blue covers Tokyo Tower, Tsukiji and Ginza, and Green covers Shinjuku and Shibuya, nineteen stops total with buses every 30 to 60 minutes. Check current 1-day and 2-day pass pricing before booking, since a second Tokyo hop-on-hop-off operator does not exist and any listing claiming otherwise is worth double-checking. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-sightseeing-and-when-to-book/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 10:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/tokyo-sightseeing-and-when-to-book/?v=1 Two Tokyo sights need a plan weeks out. Most of the rest can wait until the morning of. Here is which is which. Book weeks ahead Shibuya Sky releases tickets two weeks before each date, roughly at midnight, and sunset slots have sold out globally within sixty seconds to two minutes of release. Check the release calendar and set a reminder rather than checking the week of your trip. Ghibli Museum works on a similar clock but a longer cycle: tickets go on sale at 10am on the 10th of each month for the following month, first-come-first-served through Lawson Ticket, not a lottery despite what older guides claim, and they are gone within minutes. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hands-on-things-to-do-in-tokyo/?v=1 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 09:06:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hands-on-things-to-do-in-tokyo/?v=1 Sightseeing tells you what Tokyo looks like. This page is about the version where you leave with sore hands, a full stomach, or both. Taste your way through an evening Small operators across Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ginza run sommelier-led sake tastings and guided izakaya crawls, usually building the night around three or four stops rather than one long sit-down. These pair naturally with an evening food walk rather than working as a standalone booking, so treat a tasting as the anchor for a night out and add the walking route around it. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/walk-osaka-without-paying-for-a-tour/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 18:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/walk-osaka-without-paying-for-a-tour/?v=1 None of these three routes need a guide with a flag A paid walking tour buys you commentary, not access. Every street below is public, every stop is free to look at, and you can read the same three facts a guide would tell you before you even leave the hotel. Do it yourself and pocket the fee. Tenjinbashi-suji, the full 2.6 kilometers Japan’s longest covered shopping arcade runs 2.6 kilometers through roughly 600 independent shops: knife sharpeners, tea merchants, kimono tailors, the works. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kamakura-workshops-whats-actually-real/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 18:25:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kamakura-workshops-whats-actually-real/?v=1 The pottery workshop with the Hase address, the bamboo weaving studio on Komachi, the calligraphy workshop by appointment only: none of them check out. Addresses like that are easy to publish and hard to verify, and in this case they don’t hold up. Here’s what’s actually real. Zazen at Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji Kencho-ji, founded in 1253, is Japan’s oldest Zen training monastery, and Engaku-ji, founded in 1282, houses a Buddha tooth relic. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kamakura-sightseeing-5-sites-no-filler/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 17:10:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kamakura-sightseeing-5-sites-no-filler/?v=1 Kamakura is not a city with over a hundred temples you need to work through, whatever a previous guide told you. Five sites carry the entire sightseeing case here, and padding the list past that just wastes your one day. Kotoku-in’s Great Buddha The 11.4-meter bronze Amida Buddha has sat outdoors since a 1498 tsunami destroyed the hall that used to shelter it, which is the whole reason it looks the way it does now, weathered, exposed, a National Treasure standing in the open air. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-sightseeing-beyond-the-checklist/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-sightseeing-beyond-the-checklist/?v=1 The checklist isn’t wrong, it’s just incomplete Castle, Dotonbori, maybe USJ if there’s time: that’s the itinerary most visitors run, and none of it is a bad choice. The problem is stopping there, because two of Osaka’s best sights don’t make the shortlist and cost less time than the queue for a theme park ride. Osaka Castle Main Keep Reconstructed in 1931, the five-tier, eight-story keep is crowned with golden eaves, tiger reliefs, and golden shachihoko on the roofline. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-shows-are-not-what-you-expect/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 16:15:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-shows-are-not-what-you-expect/?v=1 Sumo is not a year-round option, and neither is the festival everyone photographs The most common mistake in planning around Osaka’s “shows and events” is assuming everything runs on a loop, like a theme park schedule you can catch whenever you happen to show up. Two of the city’s biggest draws are fixed, single-window annual events. Get the dates wrong and you don’t get a rain check. Sumo only happens here in March https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kamakura-outdoors-skip-the-fake-beaches/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:55:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kamakura-outdoors-skip-the-fake-beaches/?v=1 Kamiyama Beach and Ashigarashi Beach do not exist. Neither does a 300-island nature reserve off the Kamakura coast. If you’ve read about them anywhere, including in an earlier version of this page, that’s fiction dressed up as a travel tip. Here’s what Kamakura’s outdoors scene actually offers. Yuigahama Beach This is Kamakura’s real beach, full stop, a curved stretch of sand a short walk from the station. It’s built for morning strolls, sea glass hunting, and sunbathing, with lifeguards on duty during July and August. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-romance-beyond-the-hotel-view/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-romance-beyond-the-hotel-view/?v=1 The suite with the skyline view is not the romantic part of the trip Every big city sells the same fantasy: book a high floor, get a view, call it romance. Osaka can absolutely sell you that view. But the two things that actually make a trip here feel romantic, rather than just expensive, are a shared soak in yukata robes and a small counter where a chef cooks for no one but your table. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-group-trips-without-the-tour-bus/?v=1 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/osaka-group-trips-without-the-tour-bus/?v=1 You don’t need a coach booking to keep six people entertained here The instinct with a group is to book something organized, a guided walk, a chartered bus, a fixed itinerary that keeps everyone together on rails. Osaka doesn’t need that. The city’s actual group strength is street food, karaoke, and a retro arcade, all of which work better self-directed than scheduled. Run your own street food crawl Split the group into pairs, pick three stops, and let people order different things to share. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/time-your-trip-around-this-workshop/?v=1 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/time-your-trip-around-this-workshop/?v=1 Search “Fujiyoshida workshops” and most results treat every option as equally available on any given day. One of the best isn’t. Kai-ki, the region’s Edo-period silk-weaving tradition, opens its heritage mills to the public through Open Factory events held only on the third Saturday of every month. Build your dates around that Saturday if silk weaving is the reason you’re coming, because there’s no walk-in equivalent the rest of the month. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/fire-festival-nights-beat-any-group-tour/?v=1 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:15:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/fire-festival-nights-beat-any-group-tour/?v=1 A booked “group activity package” in Fujiyoshida usually means a minivan, a fixed itinerary, and a guide keeping everyone on schedule. Skip it during the last week of August, because the city itself puts on something better for free, and no tour company controls the schedule. The Fire Festival is the real group event The Yoshida Fire Festival, one of Japan’s three “unique festivals,” marks the ceremonial close of the Mount Fuji climbing season every year on August 26 and 27. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kawaguchikos-crowded.-try-this-instead/?v=1 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/kawaguchikos-crowded.-try-this-instead/?v=1 Every Fujiyoshida day-trip list leads with Lake Kawaguchiko, and it’s a reasonable pick: museums, a ropeway, lakeside cycling, all ten minutes west by train or bus. But it’s also the single most crowded stop in the Fuji Five Lakes, and treating it as the whole day wastes what’s actually closest to Fujiyoshida itself. What Kawaguchiko gets right The Kubota Itchiku Art Museum and the Kawaguchiko Music Forest are genuinely worth a stop, and the lake’s cycling path gives you Fuji views without a queue. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/skip-the-bus-tour-ride-these-instead/?v=1 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/skip-the-bus-tour-ride-these-instead/?v=1 Most “Fujiyoshida bus tour” listings bundle the same three or four stops into one long day and charge extra for a guide reading from a script you could get off a signboard. You can ride the same routes yourself, on the same public buses, for a fraction of the price. Getting here from Tokyo Highway coaches from Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal, Tokyo Station’s Yaesu exit, and Shibuya Mark City run direct to Fujisan Station and Fuji-Q Highland, taking about 100 to 120 minutes for roughly ¥2,000 to ¥2,500 one way. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/the-fuji-q-coaster-that-no-longer-exists/?v=1 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/the-fuji-q-coaster-that-no-longer-exists/?v=1 Old write-ups about Fujiyoshida still send visitors looking for Do-Dodonpa, the coaster that once hit 180 km/h in under two seconds. It is gone. Fuji-Q Highland pulled it from service and dismantled it in March 2024 after riders suffered neck and spine injuries, and nothing has taken its place. If a listing still calls it “Japan’s fastest coaster,” that listing is years out of date. What’s actually running at Fuji-Q Fujiyama, the park’s veteran ride, still tops 130 km/h across a 2,045-meter track. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-tips-locals-wish-you-knew/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 11:15:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-tips-locals-wish-you-knew/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Most Shizuoka tips lists are generic Japan etiquette filler about bowing and chopsticks. The ones that actually save you money or a wasted morning are about trains, permits, and one outdated fact half the internet still repeats. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-where-to-actually-stay/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-where-to-actually-stay/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Shizuoka is a big, elongated prefecture, and where you sleep depends entirely on which part of it you came for. There’s no single base that puts Fuji, Izu, and the city core equally close, so pick by what you’re actually doing that night, not by habit. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-photo-spots-worth-the-trip/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-photo-spots-worth-the-trip/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Shizuoka’s photography is mostly about one mountain and the timing needed to see it clearly. Fuji is famously shy about clouds, so every spot below comes with the season or hour that actually gives you a shot at seeing the summit, not just the base. https://mad-traveller.com/famous-places/hiroshima-the-a-bomb-dome/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/famous-places/hiroshima-the-a-bomb-dome/?v=1 The A-Bomb Dome stands today almost exactly as it was left on the morning of 6 August 1945, and that is the whole point of it. At 8:15am, a US B-29 dropped the uranium bomb “Little Boy,” which detonated roughly 600 metres above the city, the first use of a nuclear weapon in war. The building beneath it, the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in 1915, stood almost directly under the blast. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-nature-spots-worth-it/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-nature-spots-worth-it/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Not every good view in Shizuoka needs a trail. These five reward standing still, all reachable without hiking boots, and most of them frame Mount Fuji rather than requiring you to climb it. Five spots at a glance Spot Where Best time Miho no Matsubara Shizuoka City Any time, clearer air in autumn/winter Obuchi Sasaba tea rows Fuji City Late April-May Nihondaira / Yume Terrace Shizuoka City Clear mornings Shiraito Falls Fujinomiya Any time Makinohara Plateau Central Shizuoka Spring shincha harvest, late April-May Miho no Matsubara, the pine grove ukiyo-e prints painted Miho no Matsubara is a roughly 7km crescent pine grove on Suruga Bay, framing Mount Fuji in the same alignment centuries of ukiyo-e prints used, tied to the Hagoromo feather-robe legend and recognized as a genuine UNESCO Fujisan component, not a roadside add-on. https://mad-traveller.com/locations/hiroshima-is-it-worth-visiting/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:25:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/locations/hiroshima-is-it-worth-visiting/?v=1 Yes, and the honest answer is that most visitors underestimate how much time it deserves. Hiroshima isn’t only the Peace Memorial Park, a huge amount of the city’s story since 1945 is about how completely it rebuilt, not just how it was destroyed. Two days lets you do the Peace Memorial sites properly and add the living city around them; three makes room for Miyajima as its own day rather than a rushed half-day tacked onto the end. https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-7-day-itinerary/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:20:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-7-day-itinerary/?v=1 Seven days is enough to slow down completely: the city core, Miyajima as its own day, and five distinct day trips, without repeating a single kind of day twice. Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the city core Morning at the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park, with proper time in the Peace Memorial Museum (admission commonly cited around ¥200, confirm at the gate). Afternoon at Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden. https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-6-day-itinerary/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:15:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-6-day-itinerary/?v=1 Six days adds one more day trip to the five-day plan, plus a slower final day before departure. Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the city core Morning at the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park, with proper time in the Peace Memorial Museum (admission commonly cited around ¥200, confirm at the gate). Afternoon at Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden. Okonomimura for dinner. Day 2: Miyajima Ferry from Miyajimaguchi (around ¥200 one-way, plus the roughly ¥100 visitor tax). https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-hikes-worth-the-climb/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:15:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-hikes-worth-the-climb/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Shizuoka’s hiking splits cleanly into two categories: the mountain everyone comes for, and the Izu Peninsula trails almost nobody plans around in advance. Both are worth the effort, on very different scales. Three hiking areas at a glance Area Effort Season Mt Fuji (Fujinomiya, Subashiri, Gotemba) A full climbing day, overnight hut Jul 10-Sep 10 (Subashiri from Jul 1) Amagi wasabi-terrace trails, Izu Half day, easy-moderate Year-round Jogasaki coast + Nanadaru falls, Izu Half day each, easy Year-round, falls pair with Feb cherry blossoms Mount Fuji, the Shizuoka side of it Shizuoka holds three of Fuji’s four trails: Fujinomiya, the shortest; Subashiri; and Gotemba, the longest and hardest, with a loose-gravel “Great Sand Run” descent. https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-5-day-itinerary/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:10:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-5-day-itinerary/?v=1 Five days gives you the same core as the four-day plan, plus a full day in Hiroshima’s sake country before you leave. Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the city core Morning at the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park, with proper time in the Peace Memorial Museum (admission commonly cited around ¥200, confirm at the gate). Afternoon at Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden. Okonomimura for dinner, roughly ¥1,000-1,500 for a plain okonomiyaki. https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-4-day-itinerary/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:05:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-4-day-itinerary/?v=1 Four days adds a second day trip to the three-day plan, without feeling rushed on any single day. Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the city core Morning at the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park, with real time in the Peace Memorial Museum (admission commonly cited around ¥200 for adults, confirm at the gate). Afternoon at Hiroshima Castle and Shukkeien Garden. Dinner at Okonomimura for layered okonomiyaki, roughly ¥1,000-1,500 for a plain version. https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-3-day-itinerary/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-3-day-itinerary/?v=1 Three days lets you add one proper day trip beyond the city core and Miyajima, rather than treating Hiroshima as a rushed overnight stop between Kyoto and Fukuoka. Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the city core Spend the morning at the A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park, giving the Peace Memorial Museum real time (admission has long been kept deliberately low, commonly cited around ¥200 for adults, confirm at the gate). https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-the-overlooked-corners/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-the-overlooked-corners/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Every Shizuoka list runs through Miho no Matsubara and Sumpu Castle, and both deserve it. These six don’t get the same billing, most of them free or close to it, and none of them require fighting a Fuji-viewpoint crowd for a photo. https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-2-day-itinerary/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:55:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/itinary/hiroshima-a-2-day-itinerary/?v=1 Two days is enough to do Hiroshima’s core properly if you split it the obvious way: the Peace Memorial sites and the living city on day one, Miyajima as its own full day on day two. Don’t try to compress both into one day, each deserves its own pace. Day 1: Peace Memorial Park and the living city Start at the A-Bomb Dome, then walk into Peace Memorial Park for the Cenotaph, the Flame of Peace, and the Children’s Peace Monument. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-travel-tips-that-matter/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:50:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-travel-tips-that-matter/?v=1 Most travel-tips lists for Japan are generic. These are the ones that actually matter for Hiroshima specifically. Money Japan uses the yen (JPY), not euros or dollars, and despite its high-tech reputation the country is still comparatively cash-reliant, plenty of okonomiyaki stalls and smaller shops don’t take cards. Seven-Eleven ATMs (Seven Bank) reliably accept foreign cards for yen withdrawals and are everywhere, as are Japan Post ATMs at post offices. An IC card like ICOCA is worth buying on arrival, it taps onto the Hiroden trams, buses, the Miyajima ferry, and most convenience stores, saving you from buying individual tickets constantly. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-where-to-stay/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-where-to-stay/?v=1 Hiroshima is compact enough that no area leaves you cut off from the rest of it, so the choice is mostly about what trade-off you’d rather make, not about being stuck somewhere inconvenient. Around Hiroshima Station This is the shinkansen and tram hub, so it’s the most convenient base if you’re arriving late, catching an early train onward, or planning day trips to Miyajima, Onomichi, or Iwakuni. Expect larger, business-style hotels here rather than boutique options. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-events-worth-planning-around/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:45:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-events-worth-planning-around/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. A lot of “Shizuoka festivals” lists pad out with vaguely-dated events nobody can actually confirm. Here’s what’s genuinely on the 2026 calendar, plus the seasonal windows worth building a trip around even when they aren’t a single fixed date. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-best-photo-spots/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:40:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-best-photo-spots/?v=1 Hiroshima photographs well, but a few of its best-known images come from places that deserve a different approach than a typical photo stop. The A-Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park The Dome, viewed from across the Motoyasu River, is Hiroshima’s most recognizable image, and it’s worth saying plainly: photograph it as you would any memorial to mass death, documentary and respectful, not as a backdrop for a posed shot. Early morning, before the crowds and with soft light, is both the most practical time to shoot and the quietest, most appropriate one to be there. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-best-nature-spots/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:35:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-best-nature-spots/?v=1 Hiroshima isn’t primarily a nature destination, but between the Ōta River delta, Miyajima, and the hills inland, there’s real greenery worth building into a visit. Miyajima’s forests and Mount Misen Beyond the torii gate and the shrine, most of Miyajima is forested hillside, and Mount Misen, reachable by ropeway with a roughly 30-minute hike to the actual summit, gives sweeping views over the Seto Inland Sea’s scatter of islands. Sika deer wander freely through the town and the lower trails, genuinely unafraid of visitors, and autumn brings strong maple color to Momijidani Park partway up the mountain. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-best-hikes-nearby/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/hiroshima-best-hikes-nearby/?v=1 Hiroshima itself is a flat delta city, so proper hiking here means getting out to Miyajima or a little further afield. Here’s what’s actually worth lacing up boots for. Mount Misen, Miyajima The obvious pick, and for good reason. A ropeway carries most of the elevation gain, leaving a roughly 30-minute hike to the 535-metre summit, with sweeping views over the Seto Inland Sea’s islands in every direction. If you’d rather skip the ropeway, a hiking trail runs from near the base up to the summit; it’s steeper and takes considerably longer, but it passes through genuinely quiet forest that the ropeway crowd never sees. https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-what-to-actually-eat/?v=1 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0000 https://mad-traveller.com/posts/shizuoka-what-to-actually-eat/?v=1 Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Shizuoka’s food scene is dish-first, not restaurant-first: several of the things worth eating here exist commercially nowhere else in Japan, and you’re better off knowing what to order than which door to walk through. Here’s what to actually eat, by dish.