The highlight of Fukuoka’s Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival in July sees groups of men charging around the streets carrying 1-ton decorative floats.

      RYOKAN AND ONSEN

      An Unforgettable Night at a Traditional Inn or Hot Spring

      More than simply places to sleep or bases from which to explore, Japan’s traditional forms of accommodation represent a chance to go deeper into Japan’s multiple cultural layers.

      Take the ryokan, the traditional Japanese inn, which ranges from modest, family-run affairs to refined five-star luxury, but at its heart shares several core traits. Firstly, a typical stay here means a night sleeping on a futon in a tatami-mat room furnished with low table and defined by traditional design elements that include paper screen doors and calligraphy wall hangings. Then there is the food, usually a stomach-busting multi-dish breakfast that includes rice, fish, pickles and soup, but more importantly a multi-course dinner based around seasonal local produce that’s served on fine ceramics and lacquerware like a succession of miniature art works. On top of that, most ryokan also feature communal onsen (hot spring baths), sometimes inside, sometimes out, sometimes both, which add a soothing touch of pampering. All that, of course, would merely be window dressing if it weren’t for the level of hospitality and attentive service that usually comes with it—although despite rose-tinted reputation, it has to be said that Japan can do inhospitable and poor service, too, especially if you run into someone who behind the smile is terrified of or just plain dislikes foreigners!

      Away from the ryokan come variations on the theme. Minshuku are a homely version of ryokan (like a B&B), without the formal level of service that comes with a ryokan, but in many respects even warmer for it. Then shukubo offer another twist, this time provided on temple grounds and typically being a more Spartan version of a ryokan, with the vegetarian cuisine eaten by monks on the menu and service functional but friendly. Better yet, shukubo offer opportunities to get a deeper look at spiritual Japan, not just by staying in the tranquil surrounds of a temple, but by being able to observe and take part in the temple’s morning rituals.

      Dining at a ryokan is a special experience in and of itself. Taking a couple of hours, the kaiseki dinner generally features beautifully presented dish after dish that utilize regional and seasonal produce. Breakfast, too, can be a big affair, combining rice, fish, pickles, eggs, soup, salad, and plenty more.

      Soaking in a piping-hot onsen (hot-spring bath) is one of the key attractions at most ryokan. Many ryokan will have a mix of indoor and outdoor gender-separated baths (although some still have mixed gender), where the mineral-rich water is said to alleviate not just fatigue but many other ailments. To bath correctly, you just need to remember a few rules: wash and rinse thoroughly by the low showers before getting in the communal water, and make sure you are completely naked.

      Ryokan come in a variety of styles, from swanky contemporary to former samurai houses, but this is the classic guest-room design—a mix of tatami, low table, paper screen doors and views out to nature.

      Okami is the term given to the proprietress or manageress of a ryokan. She will be there to greet you upon arrival, and she oversees the staff as they look after you during your stay. In smaller ryokan, she might even be more hands-on, helping to serve the lavish multi-course meals in your room.

      CHAPTER 1

      TOKYO

      INTRODUCING TOKYO

      Unlike historic Kyoto and Nara, Tokyo only came to prominence in the early 1600s. Then, just little more than a village named Edo, shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu chose to turn the modest fortifications overlooking Edo into a mighty castle from where he would rule his newly unified country. From there, the de facto capital boomed, and by the time of the Meiji Restoration of 1868—when Edo officially took Kyoto’s place as capital, and had its name changed to Tokyo (the Eastern Capital)—the village had transformed into a city of 600,000. It’s not looked back. Today Tokyo is home to almost fourteen million, a number that swells to more than thirty-five million if you include the parts of neighboring prefectures that make up the Greater Tokyo area. With that there are no surprises when it comes to Tokyo’s energy, its crowds, and its color, but they are just a few parts of a metropolis that mixes touches of the old with swathes of the ultra-modern.

      Dressed up for the 7-5-3 festival

      Shibuya Crossing

      Tokyo Skytree

      Shibuya on Halloween

      Harajuku Cosplayers

      Sensoji Temple

      Imperial Palace

      Meiji Shrine

      GINZA AND THE IMPERIAL PALACE

      Tokyo’s Bustling Central Districts

      For generations Ginza has signified Tokyo at its most exclusive. Just drop the name and for many Japanese it will conjure up images of fine dining, plush department stores and boutiques, not to mention the exorbitantly priced hostess clubs that boomed in the 1980s bubble. That’s not a new thing; the area’s connection to wealth goes well beyond recent memory. In its earliest Edo-era days, Ginza was home to a silver mint (gin za, hence the area’s name) created by the first Edo shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who united a war-torn Japan at the turn of the seventeenth century and, with Tokyo (then called Edo) as his new capital, initiated an (almost) isolationist dynasty that would last until the Meiji Restoration of the 1860s.

      In

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