The day, hour by hour

I meet you in the lobby and we take the train together. I'll show you how to use an IC card for the whole day.

We climb through the tunnels of red torii to the Yotsutsuji viewpoint, where most people turn back. Photos without the crowds.

The wooden stage over the hillside, built without a single nail. We walk down the stone slopes of Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka.

Tofu, soba or a noodle set in a wooden house. If you need halal or vegetarian food, I choose the place with that in mind.

The teahouse district, Yasaka Shrine and the Shirakawa canal, the most photographed corner of Kyoto.

Taxi or bus up to the north. In the afternoon light the gold is reflected in the pond. It closes at 17:00.

I put you on the right train, or we travel back together to your hotel.

I pick you up and we go by metro. Osaka makes more sense on foot and hungry.

The moats and giant stone walls, the park and, if you like, the museum inside the keep with views from the top.

"Osaka's kitchen": seafood skewers, Japanese fruit, sweet omelette. You eat standing up, stall by stall.

The retro-feeling district under Tsūtenkaku Tower. Kushikatsu and old-fashioned games.

A temple hidden in a stone alley between restaurants, with a statue covered in moss.

The canal and the giant illuminated signs. Freshly made takoyaki and a walk along the river as the lights come on.

I drop you at your hotel or at the restaurant you have chosen for dinner.

I pick you up and we take the Kintetsu train, which stops five minutes from the park.

The five-storey pagoda and the entrance to the park. This is where the deer start to appear.

More than a thousand free-roaming deer that bow if you give them deer crackers. I'll show you how, so they don't chase you.

The 15-metre Great Buddha inside one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. And the pillar with the hole to squeeze through.

The old merchants' quarter. Noodles, kakinoha-zushi (sushi wrapped in persimmon leaf) or whatever you fancy.

The path of moss-covered stone lanterns among cedars, and the bronze lanterns hanging in the shrine.

A Japanese garden with Mount Wakakusa behind it (closed on Tuesdays). Then the train back.

I pick you up and we take the rapid train or the shinkansen, depending on the group's budget.

The "White Heron": we climb the six floors of original wood from 1609. I'll tell you how it was defended and where the archers hid.

Nine gardens at the foot of the castle, with carp ponds and a teahouse.

Anago (conger eel) or the local oden with ginger sauce. There are places with pork-free options.

Ropeway and forest up to a thousand-year-old wooden monastery on the mountain, where "The Last Samurai" was filmed.

Or a stop in Kobe to see the harbour lit up, if you still have the energy.

I leave you in the lobby.

I pick you up and we take the train to Sannomiya.

Built in 1935, the oldest in Japan: it survived the war and the 1995 earthquake. It can be visited respectfully, outside prayer times.

The 19th-century houses of European merchants on the hillside, with views over the bay.

Chinatown: steamed buns and street food to eat as you walk.

The red port tower and the earthquake memorial, a section of the quay left exactly as it was in 1995.

A walk along the waterfront at sunset with the city and the mountains behind.

Up to the Nunobiki Herb Gardens with the bay lit up at dusk. Then back to Osaka.

We meet at the station or at your hotel and take the shinkansen. I'll show you how to reserve seats.

The Atomic Bomb Dome, the cenotaph and the peace flame. Then the Memorial Museum: hard, but essential.

The local version, layered with noodles. We order it without pork if needed: it is cooked in front of you.

Tram or train to the port and ten minutes on the ferry watching the great torii come closer.

The shrine on stilts and the torii in the sea. At low tide you can walk to it; at high tide it floats.

The shopping street with momiji manjū (little cakes shaped like maple leaves) and the island's deer.

Ferry and shinkansen back: in Osaka around 19:30.

I pick you up at your hotel in Tokyo and we take the Romancecar train to Hakone-Yumoto.

A small train that zigzags up the mountain (in June, among hydrangeas), then a cable car to Sōunzan.

Ropeway over the volcanic valley: steam vents, the smell of sulphur and black eggs boiled in the hot spring water. On a clear day, Fuji straight ahead.

On the lakeshore. There is curry, noodles and pork-free options.

About 40 minutes to Moto-Hakone, with Fuji reflected in the water on clear days.

The red torii standing in the lake and the avenue of centuries-old cedars on the old Tōkaidō road.

Bus and Romancecar back to Shinjuku, around 18:30.

Market breakfast: sweet omelette, fruit, seafood. I pick you up at your hotel in Tokyo.

The Kaminarimon gate with its giant lantern, Nakamise street and the oldest temple in Tokyo.

Tempura, noodles or sushi. If you need halal, Asakusa is one of the areas of Tokyo with the most certified restaurants.

A forest of around 100,000 trees in the middle of the city and the great wooden torii.

Takeshita Street, youth fashion and the architect-designed shops of Omotesandō.

Optional: Japan's largest mosque, in Ottoman style, ten minutes from Shibuya.

The world's most famous crossing as the lights come on, and the statue of Hachikō.

I pick you up and we take the shinkansen to Nagano.

The temple that welcomes everyone. We go down into the completely dark corridor under the altar to feel our way to "the key to paradise".

Nagano is buckwheat-noodle country. There is a vegetarian version of the broth.

Train and bus to Yudanaka, then a thirty-minute walk along a flat path among cedars.

Japanese macaques bathe in the hot spring and groom each other a metre away from you. No touching and no staring.

A bathing village with Edo-period wooden streets and lanterns at dusk.

Bus and shinkansen back to your hotel.

We meet at the station, or at your hotel in Fukuoka if you are staying there.

Hakata's shrine, with the giant floats of the Yamakasa festival on display all year.

Thirty minutes by train. The shrine of the god of learning, with its plum garden and shopping street.

Freshly made umegae-mochi (rice cake filled with sweet bean paste) and udon noodles.

A walk around the lake and up onto the walls of the old Fukuoka Castle.

The shopping centre with a canal running through it and, as night falls, the yatai: food stalls by the river.

Shinkansen back to Osaka, or to your hotel in Fukuoka.