<Kappabashi Kitchenware Town>
The 800-meter-long Kappabashi Kitchenware Town houses hundreds of stores specializing in a variety of kitchenware, from hand-crafted knives and cast-iron teapots to cutlery, crockery and giant-sized rice cookers. Some stores specialize in the resin-based food replicas that are displayed outside restaurants throughout Japan. Although the street is primarily for industry professionals, in recent years it has garnered a growing interest among foreign visitors.

<Sushi experience>
The Roppongi district of Tokyo is known for its vibrant nightlife, but it also offers excellent dining. It also is well known for its wonderfully fresh sushi and even allows visitors the opportunity to dress in a traditional happi coat and try their hand at making sushi under the guidance of one of the restaurant’s own itamae, as sushi chefs are traditionally called. It’s great fun and a real insight to Japan’s best-known cuisine, which one of the chefs, Hiroyuki Ogino, says started in Edo — the former name for Tokyo — in the 1820s as a form of fast food.

<Ameyoko>
Ameyoko is a bustling market district next to Ueno Station that sells everything from pickled octopus and green tea-flavored Kit Kats to colorful parasols and bargain sneakers. It also hosts a variety of food stalls and ad hoc auctions.

<Asakusa>
About 1,400 years ago Asakusa was just a fishing village on an estuary of Tokyo Bay, but when fishermen Hamanari and Takenari Hinokuma netted a statuette of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, in the nearby Sumida River, they inadvertently gave birth to Sensoji, which is today the capital's oldest temple complex. It is also one of the most popular and throngs of visitors pose for photos beneath giant red lanterns hung at the ornate Kaminarimon and Hozomon gates, or peruse rows of stores lining the lively approach road.

<Dinner: Kamiya Bar>
A short walk from Kaminarimon (lightning gate) is another long-standing Asakusa institution that is equally electrifying. Kamiya Bar offers a unique atmosphere, hearty meals and a homemade brandy-based cocktail called “Denki-bran” that is guaranteed to warm the cockles. While there’s a sit-down restaurant upstairs, the first floor houses a friendly no-frills bar that was founded in 1880.

<Stay: Asakusa View Hotel>
The Asakusa View Hotel is a comfortable hotel a short walk from Kitchen Town. Though essentially Western in style, it also offers hinoki (Japanese cypress) communal baths and some of the suite rooms on the 25th floor offer views over the pagoda at Sensoji, the 634-meter-high Tokyo Skytree and, on a clear day, guests can even see Mount Fuji.

<Haneda airport>
Tokyo’s international airport at Haneda also caters to domestic flights and is extremely user-friendly. There are no long waits either — passengers are requested to pass through security 15 minutes before boarding.Ｌike other modes of public transportation in Japan, JAL domestic flights are normally very punctual.

<Kitsuki >
Kitsuki is just a 90-minute flight followed by a 20-minute drive from Tokyo, but seems centuries away from the modernity of the capital. This old feudal town, often referred to as little Kyoto, offers a glimpse into old Japan, when Daimyo（feudal lord） and their loyal samurai ruled the land. Additionally, visitors can see it all while dressed in traditional attire, with Warakuan offering both women’s and men’s kimono for rent. There are over 150 patterns to choose from and just being dressed up in these elegant garments by highly trained professionals is in itself a fun experience.

<Lunch: Wakaeya Ureshino meal>
Wakaeya’s speciality is “Tai Chazuke Ureshino,” strips of sesame sauce-marinated sea bream on rice that is cooked for exactly three seconds in steaming green tea. It dates back over three centuries and was originally prepared for feudal lords at nearby Kitsuki Castle. Gentaro Goto, the 16th-generation owner of Wakaeya, says the name of the dish originated from one such feudal lord, who was feeling unwell, eating the Tai Chazuke and proclaiming "ureshii no", which roughly translated means “this makes me happy.” It’s a wonderful dish — a kind of Asian risotto — where the green tea enhances the flavor of the sesame sauce, which is concocted according to an secret age-old recipe.

<Usa Jingu Shrine>
Usa Jingu Shrine is one of the most important places of worship in Japan, indicated by its status as the head shrine of the Hachimangu Shinto sect, which has some 40,000 member shrines throughout Japan, each devoted to Hachiman — the god of archery and war. The shrine was established in 725 and is dedicated to the deities Hachiman-Okami, Hime-Okami and Jingu Kogo, while the guardian deity of children, Gankake Jizo, and a huge camphor tree known as Kusuno-ki are purported to impart special powers. In addition to the striking orange-red shrine buildings, the vast grounds of this well-known power spot offer relaxing walks along leafy pathways that pass by ponds and sumptuous bridges, one of which, Kurehashi, is only opened every 10 years.

<Walking around Beppu>
Beppu maintains an old-world charm, with narrow lanes leading past cozy eateries and bustling bathhouses. The Beppu Hatto Walk offers a guided walking tour through parts of old Beppu that are conducted by local volunteers, offering an insight not into touristy spots, but places of significance to local residents. One such place is the Takegawara Onsen, a public bath house set in a classic wooden building that one of the guides says is often mistaken for a temple.

<Dinner: Robata-jin>
Robata-jin is an izakaya, which is commonly translated as pub, and while there is a pub-like atmosphere here, the fare served goes way beyond any standard pub grub. Particularly good are the charcoal-grilled Yamaga beef, yellowtail sashimi with a local citrus fruit called kabosu, and another Oita delicacy, toriten, which are tempura-battered chicken fillets.

<Stay: Hanabeppu>
Hanabeppu is a graceful hotel that combines all the hominess of traditional Japanese ryokan inns with the modern comfort of classy hotels. Hanabeppu’s stylish approach is summed up by the wonderful sitting area overlooking a lovely Japanese garden that is closed in by a partition-cum installment made from bamboo — from which many Beppu crafts are made. Bamboo is a key feature throughout the well-appointed rooms and soothing hot spring baths.

<Beppu>
Beppu is often called the onsen (hot spring) capital of the world and it’s easy to see why. There are 2,000 hot spring sources in the city, whose onsen water consumption is second only to Yellowstone National Park. Seen from an elevated location, the steam billowing from the hundreds of spa facilities gives the impression of a city under siege.It is also home to a place called hell — a collective name for a group of scorching hot springs whose mineral content makes each unique in coloration and viscosity. Visitors can see each one on the “jigoku-meguri” (hell circuit) tour.

<Lunch: Kirakuan Pufferfish>
The specialty served at Kirakuan in Usuki is one of Japan’s great delicacies: fugu — wafer-thin slices of blowfish sashimi that is wrapped around chives and dipped in a soy-sauce-based dip and a dash of kabosu citrus fruit.

<Cycling the town>
Usuki’s old teramachi (temple town) area features rows of beautifully preserved wooden houses and temples situated along narrow ambling lanes and high stone walls. One of the best ways to explore the town is by bicycle and the visitor center just below the ruins of Usuki Castle rents electric and conventional bicycles.

<Usuki stone Buddhas>
About 20 minutes from downtown Usuki, a series of Buddhist statues carved into volcanic rock can been found peeping out of a forested escarpment. Each one has its own unique features and were carved in the Heian and Kamakura eras between 794 and 1333, though by whom and for what purpose remains a mystery. Depsite their age, the majestically executed reliefs remain surprisingly clear, in particular the Amida-san-son-zou (three Amidas) and Furuzono-Sekibutsu (Furuzono stone Buddhas), with Dainichi Nyorai at its center — regarded as the finest of its kind in Japan.