Japan by train in 21 days
A first trip you could take for real without a car, day by day from Shibuya Crossing by bullet train, mountain railway, bus and ferry to a live volcano at the bottom of Kyushu, with a question at every stop. Answer as you travel and get your score at the end.
Some 123 million people live in Japan, and its bullet trains have carried them since 1964 without a single passenger killed in a derailment or collision. You never need a car here.
This is a first trip you could book as it stands: 21 days from Tokyo up into the Alps and over to the Sea of Japan, then down through the old capitals and along the Inland Sea to Kyushu. It rides four Shinkansen lines, a mountain railway, a ropeway, buses and three boats. Each stop ends with a question, and your score is waiting at the end.
Land in Tokyo, the capital since 1868, where some 37 million people live across the greater city. Load an IC card such as Suica or PASMO: one tap pays for local trains, subways and city buses all the way to Kyushu. The green Yamanote Line loops the whole center every few minutes.
At Shibuya Crossing the lights stop every car at once, and as many as 3,000 people cross from all sides in a single change. Walk up through Harajuku to Meiji Shrine, in a forest of about 100,000 trees donated from all over Japan. Keep a morning for Senso-ji in Asakusa, the oldest temple in the city.
Question 1 of 12
Outside Shibuya Station stands a bronze statue of Hachiko, Tokyo’s favorite meeting point. Who was Hachiko?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
From Shinjuku, the Romancecar runs out to the hot spring town of Hakone-Yumoto. A mountain railway takes over there, climbing the gorge in three switchbacks to Gora. A cable car and then the Hakone Ropeway carry you on, over the steaming vents of Owakudani. If volcanic gas closes the ropeway, a replacement bus runs.
A sightseeing ship built to look like a pirate galleon crosses Lake Ashi to Moto-Hakone, where the red Peace Torii of Hakone Shrine stands in the water. On a clear day Mount Fuji rises over the far shore. Sleep in a ryokan with its own hot spring bath, and the Hakone Free Pass covers every ride of the loop.
Question 2 of 12
At Owakudani, eggs boiled in the volcanic springs come out with black shells. What does local legend say each one does?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
A bus takes you down to Odawara for the Tokaido Shinkansen, the first bullet train line, opened in 1964. Only the Hikari and Kodama stop here, so take the hourly Hikari to Nagoya. There, change to the Hida limited express, which climbs up the Hida River gorge into the Japanese Alps.
Takayama kept its old merchant quarter, Sanmachi Suji, where sake breweries hang a ball of cedar over the door that browns as the new sake ages. Walk the Miyagawa Morning Market along the river, visit Takayama Jinya, the only shogunate government office still standing in Japan, and try Hida beef.
Question 3 of 12
Riding the Shinkansen west out of Odawara, which side of the train should you sit on to see Mount Fuji?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
Book the Nohi Bus ahead, and ride north under the mountains to the village of Ogimachi in the valley of Shirakawa-go. Its farmhouses are built in the gassho style, named for hands pressed together in prayer, with thatch roofs steep enough to shed the deep winter snow. Together with Gokayama, it was named a World Heritage Site in 1995.
Stay the night in a farmhouse inn. The day-trip buses leave in the late afternoon, and in the evening you have the lanes almost to yourself. Look inside Wada House, the largest farmhouse in the village, then climb to the observation deck above the village for the view over the rooftops.
Question 4 of 12
Under their steep thatch, the farmhouses of Shirakawa-go have two or three floors of attic. What were the attics used for?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
The bus continues north to Kanazawa on the Sea of Japan coast. The city was never bombed in the Second World War, so its samurai lanes and the wooden teahouses of Higashi Chaya still stand. In the mornings, Omicho Market sells crab and sea urchin straight off the boats.
Kenroku-en is one of the three great gardens of Japan. It was laid out over almost two centuries by the lords of Kanazawa, whose castle stands across the road. Find the Kotoji lantern, with two stone legs of different lengths, and come back in winter to see the pines tied up with ropes against the snow.
Question 5 of 12
Kanazawa makes nearly all of one Japanese craft material, and you can eat it on ice cream. What is it?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
The Hokuriku Shinkansen has run on to Tsuruga since March 2024. Change there to the Thunderbird, which runs down the west shore of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. Kyoto was the emperor’s capital for more than a thousand years, from 794 to 1869. Its temples and shrines make up 17 World Heritage sites.
The main hall of Kiyomizu-dera stands on a wooden stage jutting out over the hillside, high above the maples. Walk down the stone lanes past the Yasaka Pagoda into Gion at dusk, and climb the gates of Fushimi Inari at dawn, before the crowds. With three days, add the golden Kinkaku-ji and the bamboo grove at Arashiyama.
Question 6 of 12
Fushimi Inari, south of Kyoto, has thousands of orange torii gates winding up its mountain. Who gave them?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
Ride the Kintetsu line south from Kyoto Station to Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan from 710. From the station it is a short walk into Nara Park, where the deer wander free among the temples. Buy a stack of shika senbei, the deer crackers, and some of the deer will bow before they eat.
At Todai-ji, the Great Buddha Hall was for centuries the largest wooden building in the world. Inside sits a bronze Buddha 15 meters tall, cast in the 700s. One pillar has a hole at its base the size of the Buddha’s nostril, and crawling through it is said to bring enlightenment.
Question 7 of 12
More than a thousand deer wander Nara Park and bow for crackers. In local tradition, what are they?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
The Kintetsu train runs west under Mount Ikoma straight into Namba, in the heart of Osaka. Merchants made the city rich, and it was long called the nation’s kitchen. The local motto is kuidaore, to eat until you drop. The castle stands on its hill to the east.
At night, walk the canal of Dotonbori under the neon, and wave to the Glico Running Man from Ebisu Bridge. Eat takoyaki from a street stall and okonomiyaki cooked on a griddle at your table. In the morning, graze your way through Kuromon Market.
Question 8 of 12
Osaka’s most famous street food, takoyaki, is a ball of batter cooked in a dimpled iron pan. What is inside?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
Take the Midosuji subway north to Shin-Osaka and ride the Sanyo Shinkansen west for half an hour. Leave your bags in a coin locker at Himeji Station, and walk the straight avenue north. The castle fills the far end of the street.
Himeji Castle is the finest castle left in Japan, its main keep standing since 1609. Climb the steep wooden stairs inside to the top floor. Walk the nine small gardens of Koko-en next door, then ride on to Hiroshima in the evening.
Question 9 of 12
Himeji Castle has a nickname for the way its white walls seem to spread like wings. What is it?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
The Shinkansen runs on along the Inland Sea to Hiroshima, rebuilt after the atomic bomb of August 6, 1945 as a city of wide avenues and rivers. Its streetcars are a museum in motion, and two of the cars still in service lived through the bombing.
In Peace Memorial Park, the ruined Atomic Bomb Dome has been kept exactly as the blast left it, a few hundred meters from the hypocenter. The Peace Memorial Museum is hard and essential. For dinner, try Hiroshima’s own okonomiyaki, layered on the griddle with noodles and cabbage.
Question 10 of 12
Paper cranes are left at the Children’s Peace Monument because of Sadako Sasaki, who fell ill with leukemia ten years after the bomb. How many cranes did she set out to fold?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
A local train runs west along the shore to Miyajimaguchi, and from there the JR ferry takes ten minutes across to the island. The ferry passes close by the Great Torii. Visitors pay a small island tax of 100 yen on the way over, and the deer meet the boats.
At high tide the torii and Itsukushima Shrine seem to float, and at low tide you can walk out across the sand to the gate. Ride the ropeway up Mount Misen for the view over the islands of the Inland Sea. Stay the night on the island, when the last day-trippers have gone.
Question 11 of 12
Itsukushima Shrine stands on stilts over the tide, so at high water it seems to float. Why was it built over the sea?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
Take the ferry back and change in Hiroshima for a direct Mizuho or Sakura. It runs under the Kanmon Strait to Kyushu, through Hakata, and on down the Kyushu Shinkansen to Kagoshima, at the southern end of the line. The city faces a live volcano across its bay, and the lookout on Shiroyama hill takes it all in.
The Sakurajima Ferry runs around the clock and crosses in 15 minutes. On the far side, walk the lava trails and soak your feet in the hot spring footbath on the shore. Sengan-en, the garden of the old Shimazu lords, borrows the volcano as part of its view.
Question 12 of 12
Sakurajima’s great eruption of 1914 poured out so much lava that it changed the map of Japan. What did it do?
Pick an answer to see how you did.
That was 21 days from Shibuya to Sakurajima without getting in a car. The snows of Hokkaido and the beaches of Okinawa are still waiting for the next trip.
Time to see how you did.
0 of 12
You have not answered any questions yet. Scroll back up, and there is one waiting at every stop.
- Shibuya CrossingDays 1–3 · TokyoNot answered yet
- Lake AshiDay 4 · HakoneNot answered yet
- Sanmachi SujiDays 5–6 · TakayamaNot answered yet
- Gassho farmhousesDay 7 · Shirakawa-goNot answered yet
- Kenroku-enDays 8–9 · KanazawaNot answered yet
- Kiyomizu-deraDays 10–12 · KyotoNot answered yet
- Todai-jiDay 13 · NaraNot answered yet
- DotonboriDays 14–15 · OsakaNot answered yet
- Himeji CastleDay 16 · HimejiNot answered yet
- Atomic Bomb DomeDays 16–17 · HiroshimaNot answered yet
- Great ToriiDay 18 · MiyajimaNot answered yet
- SakurajimaDays 19–21 · KagoshimaNot answered yet
Day by day
The whole trip on one page, with the train, bus or boat to each stop and how you get home. Tokyo has a Worldly city guide to go deeper.
- Days 1–3TokyoShibuya CrossingFly into TokyoCity guide
- Day 4HakoneLake AshiRomancecar from Shinjuku, 1 h 30 min
- Days 5–6TakayamaSanmachi SujiBus, Shinkansen and the Hida, 5 h
- Day 7Shirakawa-goGassho farmhousesNohi Bus, 50 min
- Days 8–9KanazawaKenroku-enBus to Kanazawa, 1 h 15 min
- Days 10–12KyotoKiyomizu-deraShinkansen and the Thunderbird, 2 h
- Day 13NaraTodai-jiKintetsu train, 45 min
- Days 14–15OsakaDotonboriKintetsu train, 40 min
- Day 16HimejiHimeji CastleSubway and Shinkansen, 1 h
- Days 16–17HiroshimaAtomic Bomb DomeShinkansen, 1 h
- Day 18MiyajimaGreat ToriiTrain and ferry, 45 min
- Days 19–21KagoshimaSakurajimaFerry, train and Shinkansen, 4 h
- Day 21Fly homeFrom FukuokaMizuho to Hakata, 1 h 20 min, then two subway stops to Fukuoka Airport
Before you go
- Rail passesThe Japan Rail Pass costs much more since its prices rose in 2023, and the Romancecar, the Nohi Bus and the Kintetsu trains are not JR at all. Price the trip in single tickets before you buy one, since they often come out cheaper.
- Big suitcasesOn the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen, a bag over 160 cm in length, width and height combined needs a reserved seat with luggage space. Or send it ahead from Tokyo to Kyoto by luggage delivery, and travel light through the mountains.
- Book the busesSeats on the Nohi Bus to Shirakawa-go and Kanazawa sell out in busy seasons, and so do the farmhouse inns. Book both as soon as your dates are fixed.
- Fuji from the trainFuji hides behind cloud on many days, so check the morning forecast in Hakone. A clear sky makes the bus and train day to Takayama the best view of the whole trip.