Travel

Okay, look. As a company that also runs tours, we publish a lot of "here's why you should come to Japan" content. And why not? We love Japan! That's why we live here and started this site! But we also recognize the responsibility to go further.

Japan receives tens of millions of visitors a year, and the story of that tourism - where people go, how they get there, what they find, and what they cost the places they visit - is one of the most consequential ongoing stories in the country. This category covers *everything* about travel to and within Japan: destinations, logistics, policy, and the social dynamics that shape what it actually means to be a visitor here.

We write about travel the way we write about everything else: with an eye on the underlying tensions, not just the itinerary. That means reporting on dual-pricing debates at heritage sites alongside the local governments and community groups navigating visitor overload. It means covering transportation options and safety risks from a perspective rooted in Japanese-language sources and on-the-ground reporting, not tourism board releases.

The themes we keep harping on reflect the reality of Japan's post-pandemic tourism boom: the friction overtourism is generating in residential neighborhoods and at sacred sites; the quiet emergence of cities like Fukuoka and overlooked regions like Shikoku and Suwa as serious alternatives to saturated corridors; the practical concerns facing particular kinds of travelers, including women traveling alone and visitors contending with summer heat that has become a genuine safety issue. We track the cultural phenomena that blur tourism and daily life (from convenience-store pilgrimages to kissaten hanging on in a changing landscape) alongside the policy moves that will shape who can visit, and where, in coming years.