Kamakura, Nikko, Hakone and beyond
For about six weeks each winter, spring water seeping out of a cliff above the Arakawa freezes into a wall of ice roughly ten metres high. Half of what you see is natural and half is made on purpose — and the difference is worth knowing before you go.
The Chichibu Railway runs a steam locomotive built in February 1944, rescued from a school playground, along 56.8 km of river valley. Here is what it is, how to book it, and why the ordinary trains on the same line are worth a look too.
Ninety minutes from Ikebukuro, a river runs across a pavement of grey stone that formed twenty to thirty kilometres underground. Japanese geology began here. You can walk on it, ride a wooden boat past it, and still be back in Tokyo for dinner.
109.5km from Tokyo, and 49 minutes by shinkansen — yet you will barely see another foreign visitor. A brand-new light rail line opened in 2023, a city that argues about dumplings, shaved ice made from natural Nikko ice, and a stone gyoza statue with an unlucky history.
A boat leaves the Red Brick Warehouse at dusk and turns away from the pretty side of Yokohama, into the canals of the Keihin industrial belt. Ninety minutes of refineries, flare stacks and steam. Here is what it costs, when it sails, and what to expect.
Kawagoe is called Koedo, "Little Edo," and its dark warehouse street looks four hundred years old. Most of it was built after 1893 — because in the fire of that year, the warehouses were the only buildings left standing. Fifty minutes from Shinjuku.
A walled school of thatched halls and old pines, called the oldest in Japan and recognised as Japan Heritage. It is twenty minutes from Ashikaga Flower Park — so if you are going to see the wisteria, go here first.
A single wisteria more than 150 years old, trained into a floating canopy of flowers — and at night, an illumination that feels like stepping into the world of Demon Slayer. Here is how to visit Ashikaga Flower Park, and why you must check the bloom before you go.
A moving restaurant with just 52 seats, gliding from Tokyo into the mountains of Chichibu while chefs cook beside you. Here is how the "52 Seats of Happiness" works — and how to reserve, because you must.
Kusatsu is often called the finest hot spring town in Japan — a steaming yubatake at its heart, deep snow all around it in winter. Here is how to get there by direct bus from Tokyo, and how the ¥100 town bus works.
Open-air art, a smoking volcanic valley, a lake with a floating torii gate, and a hot spring before the train home. Hakone has a little of everything.
Golden shrines deep in a cedar forest, a sacred red bridge, and one of the most famous waterfalls in Japan. Nikko feels much further from Tokyo than it really is.
The Great Buddha, bamboo groves, seaside temples, and excellent matcha. Kamakura is a wonderful day trip from Tokyo, and this guide shows you how to enjoy it well.