Best Places in Japan
5 Complete Guides

Ancient Ceremony and Futuristic Technology in Perfect Coexistence

Japan is unique among major world cultures in having simultaneously preserved its pre-modern traditions with extraordinary fidelity and embraced modernity at the highest technological level — without the one appearing to threaten or diminish the other. Kyoto's 1,600 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines exist within 30 minutes of Osaka's neon-lit entertainment districts; Tokyo's world-leading technology industry operates within walking distance of the 400-year-old Senso-ji complex.

The precision, aesthetic refinement and hospitality culture (omotenashi) that characterise every Japanese experience — from a convenience store breakfast to a multi-course kaiseki dinner, from a community festival to the morning ceremony at a major shrine — create a quality of experience that visitors consistently describe as unlike any other country on earth. Japan is the world's most consistent over-deliverer against pre-trip expectations.