Japan's Golden Route: 10 Days, Tokyo to Osaka by Bullet Train

Tokyo's oldest and most beloved temple, approached through the giant red Kaminarimon 'Thunder Gate' and a long lantern-lined arcade of snack and souvenir stalls. It's free, open and magical in the evening once the day crowds thin and the pagoda lights up — the perfect gentle first taste of Japan.

The tallest tower in Japan at 634m, a short walk across the river from Asakusa, with a glittering night view over the endless city from its observation decks. An easy, awe-inducing first-night option if you're not too jet-lagged.

Return to the great temple in morning light to see it properly — the incense cauldron, the five-story pagoda, the fortune papers, and the old artisan backstreets of Asakusa around it where Tokyo still feels like the old shitamachi 'low city'. The spiritual heart of working-class Tokyo and an essential first morning.

A huge park of museums, shrines and a famous cherry-blossom avenue — home to the Tokyo National Museum (the world's greatest collection of Japanese art), a zoo, lotus ponds and the atmospheric Ameyoko market street alongside. Pick one museum and wander the rest. In blossom season it's the city's biggest hanami party.

The public gardens of the old Edo Castle at the dead centre of the city — massive stone ramparts, moats, and the foundations of the great keep, set in immaculate landscaped grounds. Free and tranquil, a green pause beneath the skyscrapers and the seat of power that ran Japan for 250 years.

The blazing centre of anime, manga, gaming and electronics — multi-floor arcades, retro game shops, gachapon halls and maid cafés. A sensory overload that's pure modern Tokyo, whether or not you're into the culture.

Tokyo's grandest Shinto shrine, hidden inside a vast man-made forest beside Harajuku — you pass through towering wooden torii and an avenue of sake barrels into sudden, deep quiet at the heart of the city. Dedicated to the emperor who modernised Japan; you may catch a traditional wedding procession. An essential, serene counterpoint to the neon.

The capital of Japanese youth culture and street fashion: the candy-coloured chaos of Takeshita Street on one side, the tree-lined designer boulevard of Omotesando on the other, and the backstreets of Ura-Harajuku between. Crêpes, vintage shops, cutting-edge architecture and the best people-watching in Tokyo.

The busiest pedestrian crossing on earth — a thousand people surging across from every direction on each light change, beneath wraparound video screens. Watch the scramble from the Starbucks window or the Shibuya Sky rooftop, pay respects to the Hachiko dog statue, and dive into the surrounding warren of shops and izakaya. Tokyo at its most iconic.

One of Tokyo's grandest gardens — English, French and Japanese landscapes in one vast walled park, glorious in cherry-blossom and autumn-colour season and a peaceful break between the western districts.

The famous fish market's outer lanes still teem with stalls and tiny counters serving the freshest sushi, grilled scallops, tamagoyaki and tuna of your life — a sensational street-food breakfast. The wholesale auctions moved to Toyosu, but the outer market is where the eating is.

An immersive digital-art museum where you wade through water full of projected koi, lose yourself in infinite mirrored lantern rooms and walk through fields of light — utterly unlike anything else and a highlight of many people's whole trip. teamLab Planets (Toyosu) and teamLab Borderless (Azabudai) are the two Tokyo venues; both need timed tickets booked ahead.

Tokyo's futuristic bay island — a giant Gundam robot, a replica Statue of Liberty against the Rainbow Bridge, waterfront malls and onsen, reached by the driverless Yurikamome train with skyline views. A fun, breezy half-day by the water, especially at sunset.

A last Tokyo night-view — the open-air Shibuya Sky deck or the retro red Tokyo Tower, both glittering after dark before you leave the capital tomorrow.

A hillside sculpture park dotting Picassos, Mirós and Henry Moores across mountain lawns, with a stained-glass tower and a free hot-spring foot bath fed by the local springs. A genuinely lovely, only-in-Hakone blend of art and landscape on the way up the valley.

Ride the ropeway high over a steaming, sulphurous volcanic valley where you can eat a black egg boiled in the hot springs (said to add seven years to your life), with Mt Fuji floating beyond on a clear day. The most dramatic leg of the Hakone loop.

Cruise Lake Ashi on a (gloriously kitsch) pirate ship to the vermilion 'Torii of Peace' standing in the water below Hakone Shrine, with Mt Fuji reflected behind on a clear day. Climb the cedar-lined shrine steps to the gate — the iconic Hakone photo.

The heart of the night — soak in your ryokan's hot-spring bath (private or gender-separated), change into a yukata, and sit down to a multi-course kaiseki dinner of seasonal mountain and sea delicacies. The most quintessentially Japanese evening there is.

The most famous shrine in Japan — thousands of vermilion torii gates winding up a sacred mountain in endless glowing tunnels, dedicated to Inari, the god of rice and prosperity. The full loop to the summit takes 2–3 hours; even the first 20 minutes are unforgettable. It's free, never closes, and is at its most magical at dusk or dawn when the day-trippers are gone.

Kyoto's famous geisha district — lantern-lit wooden teahouses along Hanami-koji and the willow-lined Shirakawa canal, where you may glimpse a geiko or maiko hurrying to an appointment at dusk. Atmospheric and beautiful; wander respectfully (photography is restricted on the private lanes).

A lantern-lit sliver of an alley between downtown and the river, packed with tiny restaurants from yakitori counters to kaiseki — Kyoto's most atmospheric place for a first dinner, many with summer terraces over the Kamo River.

Kyoto's most beloved temple — a vast wooden hall on stilts jutting over the hillside, with a sweeping view across the city, a love shrine, and a sacred waterfall you drink from for luck. The approach climbs through the preserved lanes of Higashiyama; magical early or at the seasonal night illuminations.

The most perfectly preserved old streets in Kyoto — stone-paved, sloping lanes of wooden machiya, teahouses, sweet shops and the Yasaka pagoda framed at the top. The dreamiest stroll in the city, best in early-morning light.

The 'Silver Pavilion', a refined Zen retreat above a sea of raked sand and a moss garden, reached along the Philosopher's Path — a canal-side walk under cherry trees linking a string of quiet temples. The contemplative heart of eastern Kyoto.

A grand Zen temple complex with a giant wooden gate you can climb, serene sub-temple gardens, and a surprising Roman-style brick aqueduct running through the grounds. Peaceful and often missed.

A towering green cathedral of bamboo stalks creaking in the wind on the city's western edge, beside the superb Zen garden of Tenryu-ji with its borrowed-scenery mountain view. Add the Togetsukyo Bridge over the river and the hillside monkey park, and it's a magical morning — go at opening before the grove fills.

The famous golden temple floating on its mirror pond, its top two floors covered in gold leaf and blazing in the sun — perhaps the single most iconic image of Kyoto. The viewing circuit is short but the sight is unforgettable; pair it with the nearby Zen rock garden of Ryoan-ji.

The shoguns' Kyoto stronghold — a moated palace of 'nightingale floors' that chirp to warn of intruders, gorgeously painted screens and a strolling garden. The seat from which the Tokugawa ruled and, in 1867, handed power back to the emperor. A grand, historic counterpoint to the temples.

The most famous Zen rock garden in the world — fifteen stones in raked gravel that you can never quite see all at once, a short walk from the Golden Pavilion. A few minutes of pure contemplation that pairs naturally with Kinkaku-ji.

A walled compound of two dozen Zen sub-temples in northwest Kyoto, several with exquisite raked-gravel and moss gardens (Daisen-in, Ryogen-in) — a serene, near-empty counterpoint to the Golden Pavilion nearby, and the spiritual home of the tea ceremony.

The great rebuilt castle of warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified Japan — a soaring white-and-gold keep on massive stone ramparts, set in a moated park that's a riot of blossom in spring. The museum inside climbs to a top-floor view over the city. Osaka's grandest sight and a fine first stop.

'Osaka's Kitchen' — a 600m covered market of stalls grilling scallops, torching fatty tuna, frying takoyaki and slicing fresh sashimi to eat on the spot. The best grazing lunch in the city, and the embodiment of Osaka's kuidaore ('eat till you drop') spirit.

Osaka at full neon roar — the canalside canyon of giant moving billboards (the running Glico man, the mechanical crab), street-food stalls of takoyaki and okonomiyaki, and the lantern-lit lanes of Hozenji Yokocho just off it. The most exuberant night out in Japan; eat your way along the canal.

A futuristic 'floating garden' observatory linking two towers by a sky-bridge, with one of the best sunset panoramas in Japan over the sprawl to the mountains and sea.

Back to the market for a last grazing breakfast — grilled seafood, fresh fruit, a final takoyaki — before you pack up. The tastiest possible send-off.

Japan's oldest official Buddhist temple, founded in 593 — a calm, spacious complex with a five-story pagoda and a serene garden, an easy and uncrowded last stop near the centre.