Getting there and around
Japan is easier to cross than it looks.
The country is long, mountainous and organised around its trains. Get the gateways and the rail map straight and the whole calendar opens up.
Arriving
Tokyo has two international airports: Haneda, close to the centre and the better arrival when the schedule allows, and Narita, further out in Chiba with fast trains (the Narita Express and the Keisei Skyliner) and cheap buses into the city. Kansai International serves Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, with the Haruka express running to Kyoto. Chubu Centrair covers Nagoya, New Chitose covers Sapporo and Hokkaido, and Fukuoka's airport is a short subway ride from its centre, the easiest arrival in the country.
The shinkansen map
The bullet trains stitch the calendar together: the Tokaido and Sanyo lines run Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka in one sweep; the Tohoku line runs north to Sendai, Morioka and Aomori, with the Hokkaido line continuing to Hakodate; the Hokuriku line reaches Kanazawa and Toyama; the Joetsu and the Akita and Yamagata branches serve the snow country and the north's festivals. Two to three hours between the big cities is the normal rhythm, and the trains leave on time to the second.
HokkaidoTohokuAkitaYamagataJoetsuHokurikuTokaidoSanyoKyushuNishi Kyushu
The lines are drawn station to station over the real map; the route between stations is simplified. The national Japan Rail Pass covers every line shown; Nozomi and Mizuho trains, the fastest on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines, need a special supplement ticket.
Passes and cards
The Japan Rail Pass is the nationwide pass for visitors, sold for consecutive days across the JR network; whether it pays depends on how many long legs you run, so price your itinerary both ways. Inside cities, an IC card (Suica and Pasmo in Tokyo, Icoca in Kansai, and their regional cousins, all largely interchangeable) handles trains, buses, convenience stores and vending machines with a tap. Load one on arrival and stop thinking about tickets.
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When to fly instead
Hokkaido and Okinawa are flight country: Sapporo is about ninety minutes from Tokyo by air against a long rail day, and the southern islands are air-only. Low-cost carriers cover the domestic map densely; book them like trains, early and light.
The luggage trick
Japan's delivery services (takkyubin) will forward a suitcase from hotel to hotel, or airport to hotel, usually by the next day, for a modest fee. Travelling with a daypack while the big bag moves itself is how the locals do long trips, and it changes what is possible between festival stops.