Opening image: a monk crosses the raked gravel of a side hall at Kennin-ji, thought to be Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple. / The Tokyo City View observation deck (atop Roppongi Hills Mori Tower) provides stunning panoramas – especially at dusk. / A lunchtime bowl of shirasu-no kakiage don served at Kinokuniya Ryokan’s restaurant, Enoshima. The whitebait is a local delicacy. / Kamakura town can be reached from Tokyo in about an hour by train. It’s home to lively temples, a buzzing foodie scene (one of its cafés was a favourite of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) and sandy beaches. / Mount Fuji is revered by the Japanese. It often ‘hides it face’ behind cloud cover. Fuji – and the beautiful Shonan coastline – can be admired from Enoshima Island.
Main image: a volunteer staff member at Tateba Chaya teahouse on the Nakasendo trail, which provides free tea to thirsty walkers. Sunbeams shoot through its smoky interior. / A surfer at Sagami Bay. From Kamakura, the Enoden electric railway follows a 10km route along the coastline to Fujisawa, passing surfer beaches and Enoshima island, setting for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics sailing events. / The karesansui (Japanese rock garden) is a place of creativity and meditation. There are three at Kyoto’s 800-year-old Kennin-ji temple. / Stunning bamboo grove at the Kodai-ji temple in Kyoto. / Three-storey Kiyomizu-dera temple is one of Japan’s tallest. In autumn, Kyoto’s leaves seem to burn even redder to match its vermillion lacquer.
Main image: Shōyō-en garden in Nikko, a 1,000-year-old ‘mountain resort’ three hours north of Tokyo by train. / The Great Buddha at Kotoku-in in Hase weighs about 93 tonnes. A 1498 tsunami swept away the temple that housed it. / The central firepit of the Waki-honjin Okuya must be constantly attended to. The honjin is in Tsumago, a post town on the Kiso Valley section of the Nakasendo trail, one of the five great ancient routes that connected Tokyo with Kyoto, Nikko and other main cities. / The Kiso Valley is dotted with post towns, farms and traditional restaurants. / Narai is the route’s northernmost post town. Its wooden machiya houses have been home to merchants, eateries, clothing suppliers, lodgings and teahouses for centuries.
