Japan

Japan runs about three thousand kilometres from the subtropics to the subarctic and holds a hundred and twenty-four million people, most of them along one side of one island. For your first trip, almost none of that matters. The Japan you’re going to fall for is a corridor between Tokyo and Kyoto with a bullet train down the middle of it, and honestly, that corridor is one of the most rewarding stretches of travel anywhere in the world.

What I’ll gently push you towards is adding one place that isn’t on it. The small cities, Kanazawa, Takayama and Nara, are where a trip stops being a greatest-hits tour and turns into an actual holiday. They’re also, happily, where the crowds aren’t.

So this is my whole Rolodex for you: where to base yourself, what to eat and how to get a table at the good places, what to do in each city, and the handful of things worth going properly out of your way for. The practical side, from seasons and trains to cash and luggage, lives in the Primer.