Japan: Getting there & around
Getting There
While most people fly via Tokyo, there are several other ways of getting to and from Japan. For a start, there are many other airports in Japan, some of which make better entry points than Tokyo’s somewhat inconvenient new Tokyo international airport (commonly known as Narita international airport). It’s also possible to arrive in Japan by sea from a number of nearby countries, particularly South Korea.

Getting Around
Flying is an efficient way to travel from the main islands to any of the small islands, and is often not much more expensive than going by rail. Check whether you qualify for discounts – there are some weird and wonderful ones (for example JAL offers discounts for three or more women travelling together, or for a husband and wife if their combined age totals 88 or more). Train is the way to travel in Japan. The trains are fast, frequent, clean, comfortable and often very expensive. Services range from small local lines to the shinkansen super-expresses, or ‘bullet trains’, which have become a symbol of modern Japan. Shinkansen reach speeds of up to 300km/h (186mi/h), are spookily efficient and can be travelled on with one of Japan’s few travel bargains, the Japan Rail Pass. Japan Rail Passes must be pre-purchased overseas and are valid for almost all Japan Rail services. Intercity buses are generally slower than trains, but they are markedly cheaper. Also, unless you’ve got a sleeper, travelling overnight in a reclining bus seat can be preferable to sitting upright on the train. Check out the Japan Rail Pass if you are going to be a frequent rail user.

Driving in Japan is much more feasible than it’s normally made out to be. You wouldn’t want to get behind the wheel in Tokyo, but in other urban centres the roads are fairly well signposted in English, other drivers are mostly considerate and cautious, petrol, while expensive, is not prohibitively so, and parking is not as difficult to find as popular mythology suggests. Motorcycling can be a great way of getting around Japan; 50cc ‘step-thrus’ are often available for local sightseeing, and you don’t need a motorbike licence to drive one. Traffic in Japan moves on the left.

Exploring Japan by bicycle is perfectly feasible. The secret of enjoyable touring is to get off the busy main highways and onto the minor routes. Ferries are an excellent way of seeing parts of Japan you might otherwise miss. The most dense network of ferry routes connects Kyūshū, Shikoku and the southern coast of western Honshū, across the waters of the Inland Sea. Ferries also connect the mainland islands with the many smaller islands off the coast and those dotted down to Okinawa and beyond to Taiwan.

Local transport is generally efficient. The largest cities have subway systems, which are the fastest and most convenient way to get around. Almost every Japanese city will have a bus service, but many foreigners find buses difficult to use. Trams, which operate in a number of cities, are easier to negotiate. Taxis are convenient but (what a surprise!) expensive.

Japan: History
Pre-20th-Century History
Japan’s earliest settlers were fishers, hunters and gatherers who slogged over the land bridges from Korea to the west and Siberia to the north. It’s also thought that seafaring migrants from Polynesia were part of the ethnic blend. By AD 300, the fierce Yamato kingdom had loosely unified the nation through conquest and alliance. Buddhism was introduced from China in the mid-6th century and soon became the state religion. Rivalry between Buddhism and Shintō, the traditional religion of Japan, was diffused by presenting Shintō deities as manifestations of Buddha.