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Himeji, the
best-preserved castle in Japan... |
A suggested 7-day itinerary
in pictures...
There are many places to see
in Japan, but this is a great itinerary for a first-timer, using a
7-day Japan Rail Pass to visit Tokyo, Kyoto with its temples and Gion geisha district,
Hiroshima with its museum & Peace Park which everyone should see, Himeji with
Japan's best-preserved traditional
castle and Nagasaki, the city in Kyushu which for several hundred years was the
only point of contact between Japan and the outside world. Stopping at Hiroshima on
the way to Nagasaki and at Himeji & Kyoto on the way back breaks up the
journey nicely.
Japan by train: A 7-day itinerary in pictures
Tokyo
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Kyoto
Himeji
Nara & Nikko
How to arrange this itinerary yourself
Practical information on other
pages
Useful country information
How to
check Japanese train times &
fares
How a Japan
Rail Pass works
Where to buy a
Japan Rail Pass
What are
Japanese
trains like?
Luggage, food & Japanese
train travel tips
The obvious place to start is Tokyo, and most people spend a few days
there at the beginning and end of their
trip. You can get your railpass voucher exchanged for the actual
pass while you're here, at any time in the 7 days before you want it to start. We stayed
a night at the
Tokyo Station Hotel, inside the historic 1915 station building itself, although it's not cheap. At the other end of the
price scale, why not stay in a
capsule hotel, at least if you are male and over 10.
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Tokyo station,
opened in 1915. The old station building on the Marunouchi side houses the 5-star
Tokyo Station Hotel. |
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From one extreme to the other... Above left, the luxurious, historic and expensive
Tokyo Station Hotel. And above right, the incredibly cheap
Capsulevalue Kanda,
one stop north of Tokyo station. |
Tokyo to Hiroshima by
bullet train in 4h53 Watch
the video
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Tokyo station is a
rabbit warren, lacking a main concourse and departure board as you'd find at
most large stations. But it's well signed, in English as well as Japanese... |
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Find the entrance to the
Tokaido Shinkansen platforms & go through the ticket gates - or rather, the
staffed side gate, showing your rail pass... |
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The departure boards switch
from Japanese to English & back, so it's easy to find your platform & train.
Platform markings make it easy to stand where your car number will stop.
All very organised! |
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An N700A bullet train whisks
us from Tokyo to Shin Osaka at up to 186mph - these trains are more properly
referred to as shinkansen which simply means new trunk line.
There are direct
trains from Tokyo to Hiroshima, but almost all are classified as Nozomi
which
Japan Rail Pass holders can't use. So we take a semi-fast
Hikari for Osaka where a connecting semi-fast Sakura
connects for Hiroshima. |
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No, it really doesn't look
like the mist-free bright-and-sunny snow-capped PR photos does it? And
what lens makes the shinkansen look much closer than it is? But you can
still sense its vast bulk as its summit emerges from the cloud... |
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...but you might be luckier than
me. Photo courtesy of Peter Owens. |
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Much of the coastal strip is
built up. but there are pockets of
countryside with rice fields in places... |
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A quick and easy change at Shin
Osaka onto a West Japan Railway N700 Sakura service to Hiroshima... |
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Arrival at Hiroshima station and
taxi to our ryokan... |
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Not just a place to stay, but a
chance to experience Japanese-style living... A family room at the
excellent value
Chizuru Ryokan in Hiroshima, just 10 minutes walk from Hiroshima's Peace Park. |
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Wife and kids were tired in the
evening so I wandered out on my own, heading for the Peace Park. The
light of the streetlamps glistened on the wet roads. The ryokan was closer to the Peace Park than I'd thought and I
miscalculated - I ended up on a bridge further to the north. But the
bridge had a connecting span to the tip of the Park, making a T-shape.
As I realised this, a shiver ran down my spine. I now knew where I was.
This was the T-shaped
Aioi Bridge, the distinctive feature used as the aiming point for the
bombardier of the Enola Gay... |
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I was almost the only person in the Peace Park late on a rainy night.
Across the river, the former Industrial Promotions Hall built in 1915 and now
known as the
Peace Memorial or Peace Dome. |
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This old picture of the
Industrial Promotions Hall as it once was (above right) is on a stone marker in the Peace Park,
right where you stand for the best view of the building across the river... |
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The UNESCO-listed Peace Dome by day.
That's the
Aioi Bridge
in the left-hand photo. |
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Hiroshima's Peace Park, seen from
the first floor of the Atomic Bomb Museum... |
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Giving the Peace Bell a good hard
ring... |
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The cenotaph... |
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Museum model showing how the city
was affected. The red ball is the airburst 1 second after detonation... |
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In the museum: A shadow is
all that's left of a man sitting on bank steps waiting for the bank to open... |
Hiroshima to Nagasaki by
shinkansen & limited express in 3h27 Watch
the video
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A West Japan Railway series N700
speeds us from Hiroshima to Shin Tosu on a semi-fast Sakura service... |
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Away from the built-up areas
there are a series of tunnels interspersed by green valleys... |
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We take the shinkansen as far as
Shin Tosu... |
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At Shin Tosu it's an easy change
from the upper level standard gauge shinkansen platforms (above left)
down to the two lower level narrow gauge platforms (above right). |
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We take the Limited Express
Kamome (meaning seagull) from Shin Tosu to Nagasaki.
From late 2022 this Limited
Express route is replaced by the new Hakata-Nagasaki Nishikyushu Shinkansen
(West Kyushu Shinkansen) initially with a change of train at Takeo Onsen, but
eventually it'll run direct between Hakata and Nagasaki. |
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Our green car seats are right at
the front with a view past the driver. Black leather seats & varnished
parquet floors, one swish train. |
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Across Kyushu by train, past rice
field and villages.... |
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...and along the coast. |
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The end of the line, the
bullet-nosed Kamome Limited Express reaches Nagasaki... |
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Nagasaki station.
There are plenty of hotels in Nagasaki, we used the businesslike
JR Kyushu Hotel, a railway-owned hotel right at the station... |
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Take the tram! The
best way to get around Nagasaki's sights is by tram, with a cheap one-day pass
bought from the tourist information kiosk on the station concourse. A
large footbridge links the railway station to the tram platforms. There's
tram information & a tram route map at
http://visit-nagasaki.com. |
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Dejima... Dejima is
an artificial island built in 1634 on what was then Nagasaki harbour front.
It's now a little way from the harbour as the city has expanded onto reclaimed
land. Originally built for the Portuguese, Dejima was used by the Dutch
from 1641 to 1853, and was the sole point of contact between Japan & the outside
world in the Edo period - the only place where foreigners were allowed.
Several 19th century buidling survive, the 17th & 18th century buidlings have
been reconstructed just as they were, including the Opperhoofd's (Chief
Factor's) house with interior set up as it was in the 19th century. Dejima
is a Nagasaki must see. For more information see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima. |
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Main street in Dejima... |
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The Opperhoofd (Chief factor's)
house... |
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Isaac Titsing... My
Dutch mother-in-law's maiden name is Titsing and she has an 18th century ancestor
called Isaac Titzing who we knew worked in Japan in a fairly senior capacity. Incredibly, we
find he was Opperhoofd at Dejima - the head honcho - and his name appears in the
official list as Opperhoofd in 1780 & 1782-84.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Titsingh. |
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Interior of the reconstructed
Opperhoofd's house at Dejima, as it would have looked in the 18th century... |
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Glover Garden...
Another tram ride & a short walk up the hill brings us to the Glover Garden.
Various colonial villas from the 19th & 20th centuries have been moved and
rebuilt here, surrounded by a garden. See
www.glover-garden.jp. |
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Nagasaki atomic bomb...
The frequent number 1 tram takes you from Nagasaki railway station to Matsuyama-Machi
tram stop, a 15 minute ride. From here it's a few minute's walk to the
atomic bomb hypocentre, marked by an obelisk, pictured above right. The
bomb burst some 500m above ground level at 11:02 on 9 August 1945 in the suburb
of Urakami, which is a little way north of central Nagasaki. It has
mountains on either side which contained the blast, and although the damage
spread as far south as Nagasaki railway station, this is why Dejima, Oura Church
and the villas now in the Glover Garden survived. Nagasaki was only ever a
secondary target - the primary target, Kokura, had been obscured by cloud. |
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Nagasaki Peace Statue. It
seems to be a favourite place to have school photos taken... The Atomic
Bomb Museum is nearby, it should not be missed, see
http://nagasakipeace.jp. |
Nagasaki to Kyoto by limited
express & shinkansen in 5h30...
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Limited Express Kamome from
Nagasaki to Shin Tosu, then N700 shinkansen to Shin Osaka and Limited Express
Thunderbird to Kyoto. |
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Lunch on the move... On the
shinkansen from Shin Tosu to Osaka it's ekiben & sake for lunch, rounded off
with strawberry ice cream - all bought from the on-board trolley, which accepts
cards. |
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Thunderbirds are go... Last
lap, a short hop from Shin Osaka to Kyoto on the Limited Express Thunderbird.
In many ways, nicer than the shinkansen with spacious seating and large picture
windows... |
Kyoto was the capital of
Japan from 794AD until 1867, and should be on every first-timer's
itinerary...
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Another chance to stay in
a Japanese-style ryokan. The
Gion Ryokan Q-Beh is just 10-15 minutes walk from the Kiyomizu-dera
temple and 10 minutes walk from the Gion Geisha district. It has
budget dorm rooms and private rooms, and free WiFi. Above left, a
family room with shower & toilet which comes complete with
kimono - or more accurately yukata.
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The famous Kinkaku-ji
temple or Golden Pavilion is on the edge of town, a 45 minute bus
ride from the centre. It looks idyllic - and is - but just out of
shot vast crowds file steadily past it... |
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Gion's geisha district at night.
If you're very lucky you might spot a geisha
hurrying to and from an appointment. But most of the
'geishas' you see in Gion are tourists who've rented a geisha outfit from
a local rental shop. The selfie-sticks and
less-than-perfectly-poised walk are a dead give-away. |
Kyoto to Himeji by limited
express Super Hakuto in 1h25
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Kyoto to Himeji by Limited
Express Super Hakuto, in green car... |
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This part of Japan is
largely built-up, although between Kyoto & Himeji the train skirts the
sea... |
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Himeji is home to the
best-preserved traditional castle in Japan, located right in the centre of the
city. You walk out of the station and the castle is at the far end of the
main street which stretches out in front of you, a 15 minute walk. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle. |
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Inside Himeji castle... |
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View from the top with the
station in the far distance. |
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Himeji castle in all its glory... |
Himeji to Tokyo by sleeper
train Sunrise
Express
We could easily have returned to
Tokyo by shinkansen in just 3h50. But there aren't many sleeper trains
left in Japan and we wanted to try one....
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...so we splurged on two comfy twin-bed
sleepers from Himeji to Tokyo on the Sunrise Express, or rather from Okayama to Tokyo as we doubled back
using our passes to board the sleeper at Okayama at 22:30 rather
than at Himeji at 23:30. It's not cheap - roughly £185 per twin room - but
great fun, bunk beds on a train! |
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But it's possible for passholders
to travel on the Sunrise Express for free:
Japan Rail Pass holders can use these nobinobi carpet berths free of
charge, you just need to make a reservation. |
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Finally, we're back where it all started,
Tokyo station... |
Nikko makes a great day trip
from Tokyo. Nikko's history as a sacred site began in the middle of the
8th century AD. There are many temples and historic buildings spread
through woodland in the hills around this small town, including the famous three
monkeys, See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Frequent trains run by the Tobu Railway
(www.tobu.co.jp) link Tokyo Asakusa station with
Tobu-Nikko station in as little as 1h50 - their Limited Express Spacia
trains are very comfortable indeed. However, Japan Rail Passes don't cover the Tobu Railway
so you'll need to buy a ticket.
If you want to use a Japan Rail
Pass you can do so by taking a shinkansen from Tokyo main station to Utsunomiya
and changing for the local train to Nikko JR station, total journey time also
around 1h50. Check times at
www.hyperdia.com.
A worthwhile
day trip from Kyoto, Nara is home to the Great Hall of the Buddha (Todai-ji), the
world's largest wooden
building, housing the world's largest bronze Buddha, see
www.todaiji.or.jp.
Two train services link Kyoto & Nara:
If you're buying regular tickets
for this trip rather than using a pass, Kyoto to Nara takes just 35 minutes by
Limited Express or 45 minutes by rapid train on the Kyoto-Kintetsu Railway (www.kintetsu.co.jp),
with at two
or three trains an hour to Nara Kintetsu station located close to all the
sights. This is the best route to use.
However, the Kyoto-Kintetsu Railway
isn't covered
by a Japan Rail Pass, if you want to use a pass you can take the JR Nara Line
which takes 44 minutes, running every half hour but to JR Nara station which is
a slightly longer walk from the attractions, check JR train times at
www.hyperdia.com.
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The Great Hall of the
Buddha, Nara. Photos courtesy of David Smith. |
Watch the video:
Tokyo to Hiroshima by shinkansen
Watch the
video: Hiroshima to
Nagasaki by shinkansen & limited express
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Option 1, arrange it
yourself, which is the budget option. Just sort your flights to and
from Japan, arrange hotels or ryokans through
Booking.com
and buy a Japan Rail Pass at
www.jrailpass.com, they'll deliver passes worldwide. For info on Japan
Rail pass and booking Japanese trains,
see the Train Travel in
Japan page.
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Option 2, let train travel
specialist Railbookers arrange it all for you, with trains, hotels, transfer
(and if you want, flights) all sorted as a package, hassle free. I have
arranged for Railbookers to offer this exact suggested itinerary as I think it's
ideal for a first trip to Japan, their Reflections of Japan version is a
10-day tour which includes Nara & Nikko as well, but they can customise it to
shorten or lengthen it to fit your requirements. Railbookers is an ABTA
member and holidays including flights are ATOL protected.
New Zealand call toll-free 0800 000 554 or
see
website.
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