Japan — Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto & Osaka

Twin towers in Shinjuku with observation decks on the 45th floor, open to the public at no charge. On a clear winter evening Mount Fuji is visible to the south-west.

• Look for Fuji on the horizon
• Watch the city lights come on
• Get your bearings for the days ahead

The oldest temple in Tokyo, founded in the seventh century and rebuilt after the war. You enter under the Kaminarimon gate and its enormous red lantern, then walk the Nakamise shopping street to the main hall through stalls selling rice crackers, fans and sweets.

• Photograph the Kaminarimon lantern
• Walk the Nakamise stalls
• Draw an omikuji fortune at the main hall

A broadcasting tower across the Sumida river from Asakusa and the tallest structure in the country. Two decks, the higher one reached by a second lift, with a glass floor section on the way round.

• Go up to the Tembo Deck
• Stand on the glass floor panel
• Browse the aquarium and shops in the base

A Shinto shrine set in a planted forest of over a hundred thousand donated trees, built for Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The gravel approach under the huge cypress torii is the quietest place in central Tokyo, and weekend mornings often bring a wedding procession.

• Walk the forest approach
• Rinse your hands at the temizuya
• See the barrels of sake and wine offerings

The scramble crossing outside Shibuya station, where every direction walks at once when the lights change. The Hachiko statue by the station exit remembers the dog that kept returning to meet an owner who had died.

• Cross with the scramble at least once
• Watch it from a first-floor window
• Find the Hachiko statue

The highest point on the mountain reachable by road, at around 2,300 metres on the Subaru Line. The road closes in winter and in bad weather, in which case the day shifts to the Fuji viewpoints lower down and the Chureito pagoda.

• Walk the observation terrace
• Buy a stamp or charm at the shrine
• Photograph the cloud line below you

The most accessible of the five lakes at the northern foot of Fuji, and the one where the mountain reflects in still water on a calm morning. A ropeway runs up Mount Tenjo from the eastern shore for the wider view.

• Ride the Kachi Kachi ropeway
• Walk the northern lakeshore path
• Lunch with the mountain in view

A cable car strung across a live volcanic valley in the Hakone hills. Steam vents through the yellow rock below, and the stall at the top sells eggs boiled black in the hot springs. The line closes without notice when gas readings rise.

• Ride the ropeway over the vents
• Try a black egg at the summit stop
• Look back for Fuji from the cable car

Several blocks of multi-storey electronics shops, hobby stores and arcades north-east of the Imperial Palace. The upper floors of the big retailers are where the model kits, retro games and camera gear live.

• Work up through a multi-floor hobby store
• Play a round in an arcade
• Look for duty-free electronics with your passport

Room-scale digital installations where the projections respond to where you stand. Entry is by timed ticket booked well in advance and is not included in the package. At the Toyosu site you walk part of it barefoot through shallow water, so wear clothing you can roll up.

• Book a timed slot in advance
• Wear shorts or rollable trousers
• Allow two hours inside

A shrine to the rice deity Inari, with thousands of vermilion torii gates lining the paths up Mount Inari. Each gate was paid for by a business, whose name is inked on the back. The full loop to the summit takes two to three hours; most people turn back at the Yotsutsuji junction for the view over the city.

• Walk the Senbon Torii tunnels
• Climb as far as the Yotsutsuji viewpoint
• Spot the stone foxes guarding the shrine

A Zen temple pavilion covered in gold leaf on its upper two floors, standing at the edge of a pond that mirrors it. The present building is a 1955 reconstruction after an arson attack. The route through the garden is one-way, so take your time at the near shore.

• Photograph the reflection from the pond edge
• Walk the garden path uphill
• Stop for matcha at the tea house

A walled path through tall bamboo on the western edge of the city, beside Tenryu-ji temple and its garden. The Togetsukyo bridge over the Katsura river is a short walk south, and the monkey park sits on the hill above it.

• Walk the bamboo path early
• See the Tenryu-ji pond garden
• Cross the Togetsukyo bridge

The old entertainment district east of the Kamo river, with wooden machiya townhouses along Hanamikoji and the canal at Shirakawa. Geiko and maiko still work here and are on their way to appointments — photographs on the private lanes are restricted and the rules are enforced.

• Walk Hanamikoji after dark
• Follow the Shirakawa canal
• Climb to Yasaka Shrine at the top of the street

Over a thousand sika deer roam the park freely and are treated as messengers of the local deity. Vendors sell plain crackers to feed them. They are wild animals, so keep food out of sight until you are ready and do not tease them with it.

• Feed the deer their crackers
• Walk up to Kasuga Taisha through the stone lanterns
• See the five-storey pagoda at Kofuku-ji

The Great Buddha Hall, one of the largest wooden buildings anywhere, sheltering a bronze Buddha over fifteen metres tall cast in the eighth century. A pillar at the back has a hole cut through it the size of the Buddha's nostril, which children squeeze through for luck.

• Stand under the Great Buddha
• Walk round the guardian statues
• Pass through the pillar hole if you fit

A sixteenth-century stronghold rebuilt in concrete in the 1930s, with a museum inside covering Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the sieges. The moats, the enormous cut stones in the walls and the surrounding park are the better part of the visit.

• Go up to the top-floor viewing deck
• Walk the inner moat
• See the giant Tako-ishi stone in the wall

A canal-side street in Namba lined with mechanical signs, the running Glico man among them, and the densest run of cheap food in the country. Shinsaibashi's covered shopping arcade runs north from the same corner.

• Photograph the Glico sign from Ebisu bridge
• Eat takoyaki from a street stall
• Walk the Shinsaibashi arcade