One of the most photogenic countries in the world, you will be filling your camera with both natural and man-made sights.
Japan has a unique, fascinating, and sophisticated culture. It is extremely safe and offers world-famous cuisine as well as many fun activities, sights, and great shopping. In winter it lives up to its reputation for having the best and most snow in the world.
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For one week in February (around the 4th to 10th) you can visit 6 different Hokkaido winter festivals that showcase some of the most impressive snow and ice buildings and sculptures in the world: Sapporo Snow Festival (3 locations), Lake Asahikawa Winter Festival, Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival, Otaru Snow Path Light Festival, Lake Akan Ice Festival, and the Sounkyo Ice Fall Festival.
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One of the most fun and unique activities you can do in Tokyo is to drive a go-kart through its city streets dressed in a onesie of your favorite character! Not only is it an absolute blast, but you will feel like a celebrity as people on the street wave and take photos of you. Be sure to wave back! Also be sure to get an international license before your trip, as many miss out on the opportunity because it’s too late once in Japan.
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There are many ski resorts in Japan but only one with famous “snow monsters”. During the same Hokkaido winter festival week Hokkaido, Zao Onsen Ski Resort hosts a Zao Snow Monster Festival and 1,000 Torch Run. Every night its snow monsters are illuminated with multicolored lights which can be viewed from a snowcat or gondola, and one night around February 3rd 1,000 skiers ski down the mountain holding multicolored LED lights as torches with a big fireworks display at the end.
The ski resort offers not only big mountain skiing among snow monsters but also is in a ski town with many ‘onsen’ (natural hot springs) to enjoy after skiing.
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If you’re lucky enough to be in Tokyo during a sumo tournament, try to get tickets. Sumo wrestling is exciting to watch and an underrated sport. It takes not just size but technique to flip large bodies or to push them out of a ring. It’s a lot more fun than you’d expect watching the matches and joining in with the crowd’s chants and cheers.
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Before leaving for Japan: (1) download a translation app, either DeepL or Google Translate, (2) reserve a portable wifi online for 20% off at NinjaWifi.com for pickup at your Tokyo airport, (3) choose Pasmo or Suica and reserve the physical card for airport pickup (load and reload with cash) or download the app which uses MasterCard only, (4) buy a JR Rail Pass on jrpass.com, (5) download the GO Taxi app, and (6) order your international driving license.
DAY 0
Catch a flight to one of Tokyo’s International Airports. Try to fly into Haneda vs. Narita Airport as it is faster and cheaper to get to Tokyo since it’s closer.
TOKYO
DAY 1
Once through Customs and Immigration at the airport, head to the JR East Travel Service Center to pick up your JR Pass and reserved Ninja Wifi. If your JR Pass was mailed to your home prior to travel, they will give you the required date stamp to activate it. At Haneda it’s in Terminal 2F next to the large ‘International’ sign. You can take the free airport bus shuttle to get to Terminal 2. From Haneda’s Travel Service Center take the elevator across the hall down to the Keikyu Tourist Information Center and purchase a Pasmo Passport IC Card (cash or Mastercard only). Both airports sell an equivalent Welcome Suica IC Card (cash or Mastercard only) at their Monorail stations. Use your free Maps app on your iPhone and choose the train icon to get detailed directions (including platform and train car number) on how to get to your hotel. The first step will be taking the Monorail (free with JR Pass), and a common connection is to take it to the end of the line at Hamamatsuchoo and then switch to the JR Yamanote (free with JR Pass) which does a loop around Tokyo. If you're not tired, walk around your hotel’s neighborhood – Tokyo is safe anywhere and anytime! To get a sense of Tokyo’s safe and neon-lit nightlife, walk or take the subway to Shinjuku station – the busiest train station in the world! – and walk down the pedestrian street of Godzilla Road. You’ll have a lot of fun crowd-watching and checking out restaurants, shops, and nightclubs.
DAY 2
For an ‘only in Japan’ experience, head to Tsukiji Fish Market to have sushi for breakfast! The best sushi we ever had in Japan was at one of the most popular restaurants here, Sushizanmai. You will be busy taking lots of photos of all the exotic seafood for sale. If you arrive by 9 or 9:30 am you can beat the lines which start early here.
After breakfast, use your Google Maps app and your JR Pass or IC Cards to go to Harajuku and check out the iconic pedestrian way of Takeshita Street. Enjoy rainbow grilled cheese at Le Shiner, 3D latte art at Harajuku’s Reissue Café, and conveyor belt sushi at Misakiko. Then take the train to Meiji Jingu which is set in a beautiful expansive old forest park and explore for an hour.
Then take the train to Ryoogoku Station to watch a sumo tournament! While you could just buy a ticket, we highly recommend you go with a guide to explain each wrestler’s story and the meaning behind the Shinto rituals. Our guide was fantastic and a true sumo fan, so we are delighted to recommend Takuzo Muneshige (Japan.guide.takuzo@gmail.com).
The station has handprints on the wall of the Yokozuma (Grand Champions) you can compare against your own hand size, and there are often sumo athletes walking around the station who give autographs and take pictures with fans. You can’t miss them – they have distinctive hairstyles, wear kimonos, and are huge!
They sell only deep-fried foods at the tournament, so buy your own snacks to bring in which they allow, and plan to have lunch before. Across from the west entrance of the station only a few steps away still in the attached pedestrian mall is an excellent fast and cheap soba restaurant with nice bathrooms. There’s an automated ordering machine outside and they’ll have your bowl ready for you by the time you walk inside! The tournament days end at 6:00 pm after which you can head out to dinner.
A thrilling match!
DAY 3
In time for morning rush hour, head to the most famous street crossing in the world: the Shibuya Scramble Crossing, which can be viewed from the 2nd floor Starbucks as you enjoy a coffee and their delicious doughnuts though there’s an extra ‘room’ charge for the view! Their food quality in Japan is much better and food offerings more extensive than in their US locations. Then join the Scramble Crossing and walk across the street to Shibuya Sky for your 10:00 am reservation when they open (line
will start to form at 9:30 am).
On a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji and their rooftop is open for you to walk around the grass turf helicopter pad and lie out on their hammock beds. Be sure to bring sunglasses!
After your time in the sun, it’s a short 10-minute walk to get to the Shinjuku Street Kart course. This will be one of the highlights of your trip! As your group dressed in funny onesies drives through the Scramble Crossing numerous times, you will be spreading joy as people along the street stare, point, take photos, smile, and laugh!
On the way back stop by the giant Godzilla head that is animated every hour outside Shinjuku’s Gracery Hotel’s 8th floor, the larger of the two Godzilla statues in Tokyo (other is full body in front of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya). If not under construction, the Terrasse Bonjour Café allows you to get a photo beside it.
Also near Shinjuku next to the Shinokubo (Koreatown) stop on the Yamanote line is 2D Café, which is a very clever theme café that looks two-dimensional and serves an iconic 2D cake that is even more delicious than it is fun to look at!
After that stop head to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Your camera will love the serene Japanese gardens and ponds with impressive skyscrapers in the background.
DAY 4
Your outfit this morning should not be tight pants you can’t roll up or a dress, because you’ll be wading through water and there are mirrored floors at TeamLab Planets (but they do sell black shorts on site for people who forget!). In the morning head to Tokyo’s most popular and photogenic Buddhist shrine, Sensoji in Asakusa where it’s common to see many men and especially women in kimono. On the walk from its subway stop there are many places that will rent kimonos, and lots of people will be posing in them using the beautiful shrine as the setting of their photos. There are lots of souvenir and snack shops lining the walk to the shrine as well as restaurants, so it also attracts lots of schoolchildren.
You’ll want a quick lunch at one of the many ramen or okonomiyaki vendors in order to leave plenty of time to get to TeamLab Planets in Tokyo’s warehouse district. Lines start at least 30 minutes ahead of each entry time, but fortunately they handle crowds well so you won’t be crowded once you go inside. It’s an extraordinary sensory experience, and you will enjoy all the different environments in each room. You will want to take your time here so plan for about two hours.
When finished, take the train next to TeamLab Planets to Tokyo Station and walk 10 minutes to the Imperial Palace. For lunch try one of the theme cafes. We recommend Haute Couture with over-the-top seasonal flower displays, Pokemon Café if you’re a fan, or the Harry Potter Café if you can snag reservations. Another great lunch option is one of the food courts in a top department store like Takashimaya or Isetan. In the afternoon you could experience one of the animal cafes like Café Hoot Hoot, or visit the Ota Museum with its famous Hokusai woodblock “floating world” prints including the iconic tsunami wave woodblock print. If you’re up for a splurge sushi dinner, we highly recommend the omakase (chef’s choice) menu at Manten Sushi Hibiya Okuroji. It’s located in the Ginza neighborhood which is famous for top restaurants and shops, and it’s part of a collection of restaurants in a renovated warehouse.
YAMAGATA
DAY 5
Early morning! Arrange for a 4:30 am taxi to arrive at Shijomae Station for a 5:30 am start (6:30 am finish) to watch the world’s most famous tuna auction at Toyosu Market from the upper observation deck. They allow in the first 27 people without a reservation. Take public transportation back to your hotel, and then take the subway to Tokyo Station for an early afternoon bullet train (JR Yamagata Shinkansen) to Yamagata Station (free with your JR pass). If you have reserved seats stand next to the car number on the platform that is listed on your ticket. The train leaves every hour and it’s a pleasant 2.5-hour ride. Upon arrival take a photo in front of the “snow monster” statues under the “Welcome to Yamagata!” sign.
While there is a nearby Yamagata Castle, it is
not large and is a reproduction. Take the escalator down to the taxi stand and take a 30-minute cab ride to your Zao Onsen hotel. We highly recommend the Zao Kokusai Hotel which has every possible amenity you could dream of for a Japanese ski hotel: ideal location for true ski in and out, best private and public onsens, really charming modern take on traditional Japanese style rooms, impressive food, and ski rentals and lockers on site.
When checking into the hotel pick up the reservation slip for your ski equipment and reserve one of their charming private baths if you prefer it to the public bath (traditional Japanese style - gender separated with no bathing suits allowed).
DAY 6
Take the free shuttle from the hotel to the Zao Onsen Bus Station, and then take the bus (use ticket machine in station) for the 40-minute ride to Yamagata Station. Take a 15-minute train ride to Yamadera Station and walk 7 minutes to the lower temples of Yamadera Temple (Risshakuji) dating from 860 AD. To the left of Yamadera’s main hall is the oldest building at 1356 AD, which hosts the eternal flame at the base of Mt. Hoju, and next to it is a collection of mini statues poignantly donated to ‘water babies’ that died in utero.
Walking left toward the admission gate and where the steps to the upper temples start is a statue of Basho, the 17th-century itinerant haiku master. Across from him is the treasure hall built in 1976 that hosts its holiest objects.
Then start the 30-minute vertical journey up 1,015 steps to the famous upper temples, enjoying the cedar forest and amusing statues placed along the route along with the stone lanterns. In front of the large temple called Okuno-in is one of the largest stone lanterns in all of Japan.
Don’t miss the uppermost Godai-doo, a sheltered wooden terrace built in the 17th century that is suspended from a cliff that offers a panoramic vista of the small town below and its river and endless peaks in the distance. When returning, consider a stop at the Basho Museum located not far from the train station.
Once back at the hotel enjoy the impressively presented ‘kaiseki’ multi-course dinner in your yukata (cotton kimono), hanten (yukata jacket), and slippers, and following dinner enjoy a soak in one of the hotel’s onsen (hot spring bath).
DAY 7
Wake up and hit the slopes early! Zao Kokusai Hotel makes it easy. After your extensive free breakfast buffet overlooking the slopes, get in your ski gear but wearing slippers bring your rental slip to the ski locker room just off the lobby. After getting outfitted, just outside its door are convenient black mats to walk on for the very short walk to the slope. Ski down to the Ropeway (large gondola) station, as for your first day you will have to pick up your ski lift tickets here. Join the line (it’s already fairly long 30 minutes before it opens) and then enjoy the truly impressive journey halfway up the mountain. You’ll exit for the short walk to the second Ropeway station which will take you to the top to meet the famous snow monsters!
The run straight down from the top is truly epic and unforgettable, lined with snow monsters on both sides and is very easy for all ski levels.
After skiing relax in the onsen of your choice at the hotel and enjoy another kaiseki dinner in your yukata, hanten, and slippers. If you have extra energy you could book an evening tour through the colorfully illuminated snow monsters at night, or if lucky enough to be there on the right day, join the crowds watching the 1,000-person torch light ski parade and fireworks.
DAY 8
Another day of waking up and hitting the slopes early! Ski with the snow monsters and then stop for lunch on the mountain. For non-skiers, Yamagata Castle is a 15-minute walk from Yamagata Station, or you could visit Kaminoyama Castle. Both are handsome reconstructions in traditional style. Enjoy another kaiseki dinner and onsen soak this evening. There are self-service laundry facilities at the hotel if needed.
SAPPORO
DAY 9
Check out of the hotel and catch the free shuttle to Yamagata Station. Then take a bus to Yamagata Airport where you can catch an early afternoon flight to Sapporo’s Chitose Airport. Welcome to Hokkaido, the Alaska of Japan, and Sapporo which is the snowiest city in the world!
We recommend ordering a car service to meet you at the airport and take you to the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival where at 4:30 pm multicolored lights come on to illuminate the amazing number of tunnels, towers, ramparts, and other buildings all made out of ice.
Then head to your Sapporo hotel. We recommend the Sapporo Grand Hotel which is conveniently located next to the major subway line and a few minutes’ walk from the snow sculptures in Odori Park. At night the newly built impressive snow sculptures are lit up and it's a lively scene with lots of fellow pedestrians enjoying the music, shows, and food stalls.
DAY 10
After breakfast at either Starbucks or the pastry shop in the hotel, walk a few minutes to the Sapporo subway stop and take the Takino subway line 20 minutes to the Makomanai station at the end of the line, and then hop the # 108 Chuo Bus for another 20 minutes to the Makomanai Takino Cemetery that opens at 10:00 am. It has a replica of Stonehenge, 40 Easter Island moai, many Bodhisattvas, and a large
Buddha whose head protrudes out of its rotunda room. It’s a fun place for photos, and its setting in the middle of expansive snow fields is very peaceful.
Upon returning to Sapporo for lunch, head to either the famous and photo worthy Ganso Ramen Alley or if you prefer sushi it’s only another 10-minute walk to Sapporo’s famous seafood Nijo Market.
Both these options are very popular so they have very long lines at peak lunch hour times. After a rest back at the hotel, take the subway one stop or walk 12 minutes (above or underground) to Susukino’s ice sculptures. While the location is not attractive – partially blocked by fences on a traffic median with cars going by on both sides – the ice sculptures are world-class and most impressive. Every night they are lit up in a White Illumination until 10:00 pm.
A must-do dinner while in Sapporo is to join the happy crowds at one of the four beer halls of the Sapporo Beer Museum and Garden and enjoy a delicious Genghis Khan-style unlimited BBQ dinner with their namesake beer – served by impressive robots!
DAY 11
After breakfast – and the hotel has a large and excellent breakfast buffet - take the subway to Maruyamakoe station (via Tozai line) and walk 15 minutes through a beautiful park to Hokkaido Jingu, the largest temple in Hokkaido. Walking through the snowy park is part of the enjoyable experience of visiting this temple. We saw clever snow sculptures by residents on trees and railings, children going down a snow slide on free public tubes, Hokkaido indigenous squirrels with their adorable tufted ears, large woodpeckers and other indigenous birds (birders toting large cameras are a frequent sight here), and a tea house along with various food stalls. The shrine’s temples are tucked among the trees and photographic opportunities abound. After walking through the spacious park and temple grounds you will be ready to hop the train back to Sapporo center for lunch.
In the afternoon take a bus or train about 25 minutes from the Sapporo station to the Snow Festival’s Tsudome site. The site has winter games and family activities including ice slides, tubing, ice mazes, and banana boat rides (riding on top of an inflatable kayak being pulled in circles by a snowmobile).
For a special and fun dinner go to the original (it also has a popular location in Tokyo) Kumachan Onsen (Baby Bear Hot Springs) restaurant opposite Nijo Seafood Market; reservations are recommended. The restaurant serves shabu-shabu (swish-swish hot pot), and the different soup stocks to choose from come in the shape of an adorable baby bear with a towel on his head!
As the congealed soup stock melts the bear’s body first, it has the appearance of the baby bear slowly sinking into and enjoying his hot bath.
The restaurant is delightfully decorated as a forest with twinkling lights overhead and lots of bear and bath-themed items sprinkled around. All the customers are given bear ears to wear (and they do!), and the bear theme is carried through the dishes and murals. You will find yourself irresistibly won over!
HOKKAIDO
DAY 12
After breakfast, check out of your hotel and wait outside for your car service driver. The first stop after two hours will be the Asahikawa Zoo which has the best showcase of native species in Hokkaido. Be sure to arrive before 11:00 am when they have an Emperor Penguin parade that is deservedly popular.
While they have hippos, giraffes, and polar bears, you’ll want to focus on their Hokkaido animal section. You’ll see the giant Ezo (former name of Hokkaido) brown bear, male and female Ezo shika deer, red-crowned cranes, Ezo flying squirrels, and numerous local owl species.
After lunch head to the Asahikawa Winter Festival which every year has the largest snow castle in Japan.
After walking around its snow sculptures and watching the winter activities there, it will be back to the car to drive 1.5 hours to the Sounkyo Ice Fall Festival. It is a remote rugged area with deep gorges, waterfalls, and ski resorts. We highly recommend Sounkyo Onsen Choyo Hotel which is only a few minutes’ walk from the spectacular festival grounds with its many ice buildings that are colorfully illuminated. Enjoy their extensive and high-quality dinner buffet in your yukata, slippers, and fleece jacket. The traditional Japanese tatami rooms here are very large in size, and they have private as well as public onsens to enjoy at the hotel.
DAY 13
After their excellent breakfast buffet featuring both Japanese and Western cuisine, meet your driver to head to the Kita Kitsune Fox Farm, about 1.5 hours away which opens at 9:00 am. Enjoy watching different colored foxes climbing trees(!) and playing with each other in a spacious enclosure. It’s a rare chance to see them close up without fences.
Then drive an hour to Abashiri where a stop at the Lake Tofutsu Waterfowl and Wetlands Center might give you a chance to see Red-Crowned Cranes as well as some of the 2,000 whooping swans who migrate here in winter from Siberia. A really terrific place for lunch is Sushi Dining TSUKI in Abashiri which has an extensive menu and offers fresh seafood from this famous coastal town. Its tatami room features a real creek running through and has attractive low tables with footwells that make for a very comfortable lunch.
Then you will be driven 2 hours to Lake Akan to stop at Ainu Kotan Village, which has the highest Ainu population per capita in Japan. The Ainu were the indigenous people of Japan and Siberia, and while persecuted over the centuries there are still about 80,000 today maintaining their language, culture, and religion.
Check into the most ‘wow’ hotel of your stay, the Akan Tsuruga Besso Hina No Za, and enjoy your room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows over Lake Akan.
The hotel even has a yukata room filled with yukata and obi of various colors and patterns for you to choose among! It also has a heated footbath in a converted teahouse overlooking the lake. If you can tear yourself away from your comfortable with “tatami room with its own onsen(!), the nearby Lake Akan Ainu Theater has live performances of Ainu dancing and singing as well as showing the Ainu movie ‘Lost Kamui’. After enjoying a beautifully presented kaiseki dinner in a private dining room wearing your provided yukata, hanten, and socks made for geta sandals, at 8:00 pm is a fireworks show over Lake Akan that you can enjoy from the comfort of your room. The fireworks show was truly spectacular, with especially huge chrysanthemums that will be eye-level to you in your room.
DAY 14
Have your free breakfast, then drive 1.5 hours to Kushiro to the world-famous Akan International Crane Center, which is the only place in the world where you are guaranteed to see these beautiful symbols of Japan because in winter they feed them here before they head back to Siberia. Very serious photographers from around the world come here, so it is worth trying to arrive at close to its opening time at 9:00 am as possible for the best viewing spot. That spot is to the far right as you exit the back of the building to the cranes, and is on a rise in front of benches.
You will then want to make a 45-minute stop at the Kushiro City Museum which has an excellent Ainu and crane display, as well as a chance to see the indigenous rare marimo, a spherical green algae that can be hundreds of years old. Their stuffed large animal collection and WWII displays are also very interesting. For lunch don’t miss the famous Washo seafood market next to Kushiro Station, which is one of the top 3 sushi markets in Hokkaido. We saw whale meat for sale, which clearly looked like red meat rather than fish! You can pay for a bowl of rice at a central station and then walk around the market and put your favorite sashimi or cooked fish on top and eat at one of the many tables in the center.
After lunch drive 2.5 hours to the ski resort of Tomamu and check into The Tower Hoshino Resort. Like Niseko, it attracts skiers from all over Asia and Australia so English is commonly spoken here. It offers many different restaurants serving different international foods, and after dinner, you can take a walk through long corridors to the outdoor Ice Village which features all-ice buildings that are actually functioning including a movie theatre (ice screen and ice chairs!),
chapel, café, bar, convenience store, as well as a skating rink and ice slides. Every night there is a fireworks show, and it was magical to watch it while it was snowing. It was hard for us to believe it when we saw that it’s common for skiers to leave their skis overnight on racks next to the lift here as there is no fear of them being stolen!
Fireworks at Tomamu's Ice Village
DAY 15
After breakfast, drive 3 hours to Otaru and stop at our favorite gift shop in Japan: the Music Box Museum which is in a beautiful historic building with a steam-powered grandfather clock outside. Enjoy walking through its many rooms, some of which have museum items and others which have beautiful and charming souvenirs for sale of all types. For their custom music boxes, they allow you to choose the music from a wall of CDs! Opposite the Museum is the Hello Kitty Café and Shop which is another fun stop.
Then drive 30 minutes to Yoichi to view its photogenic torii on impossibly balanced two large rocks named Ebisu and Daikoku. Then head back to have lunch in Otaru, known as Japan’s sushi town due to its plentiful and delicious cold water fish from the “heart” of the Pacific, the Sea of Okhotsk. We recommend finding a place along Otaru’s Sushiyadori (Sushi Bar Street). If you still have the energy, stop at the Otaru Stained Glass Museum (closes at 4:00 pm) to view its stunning stained glass collection, and then have drinks at Kitaichi Hall, with over 150 lamps in a high ceilinged hall (closes at 5:30 pm). Then it will be time to check into your hotel and say goodbye to your driver. Have a casual dinner in one of the many restaurants around the Canal, and around 7:00 pm head out for a walk along the Canal to enjoy the lovely Otaru Snow Light Path Festival which has 100,000 candles lit along its canals.
DAY 16
Take an early morning bullet train to Sapporo Station (breakfast at either the excellent French pastry store in the station or the surprisingly excellent Mister Donut directly across from the station) and then change to the JR train to the New Chitose Airport. Then take an early afternoon flight to Tokyo. For your second stay in Tokyo, we recommend the Tokyo Prince Hotel which has an excellent location only 10
minutes’ walk from the monorail station, is next to the beautiful grounds of the 1622 Zoojooji Temple and has great views of its neighbor Tokyo Tower. There are a number of excellent restaurants in this popular neighborhood of Minato.
DAY 17
For your last day in Tokyo be sure to visit anything you missed. We highly recommend the new TeamLab Borderless exhibit which opened in February 2024 in the Azubudai Hills Mori JP Tower, the tallest building in Tokyo. When it’s time for the airport, hop the convenient monorail to Haneda or Narita Airport and fly home.
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