Tokyo’s most famous food market buzzes from early morning. Wander its lanes with a local guide for the freshest sushi, sweet tamagoyaki, grilled scallops, and steaming bowls of seafood over rice, then browse stalls selling knives, ceramics, and dried bonito.

Slip into a cotton yukata, soak in a steaming onsen as the evening settles over the mountains, and sit down to a kaiseki dinner served course by course, each dish a reflection of the season.

In the mountains of Nagano, wild Japanese macaques soak in steaming natural pools while snow falls around them. Winter brings the most magical scenes, with frost-tipped fur and drifting steam.

Kneel on tatami in a centuries-old teahouse as a tea master whisks matcha with graceful, deliberate movements. Every gesture carries meaning, and the ritual draws you into the beauty of simplicity.

The world’s first cultured pearl was grown in the sheltered bays of Ise-Shima in 1893, and pearl rafts still dot the water today. Watch the ama, women free divers who have harvested the sea here for generations, then join them in a seaside hut for freshly grilled shellfish and stories of a tradition passed from mother to daughter.

Thousands of vermilion torii gates wind up the forested slopes of Mount Inari. Arrive at first light, when the paths are still and the gates glow in the rising sun.

In Japan’s first permanent capital, more than a thousand wild deer wander freely among the temples. Bow to them and they’ll often bow back, then step inside Todai-ji to stand before its colossal bronze Buddha.

Nearly all of Japan’s gold leaf is made in Kanazawa. Visit an artisan’s workshop, learn how the gold is pounded thinner than paper, and apply it to a lacquered keepsake of your own.

For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have walked these trails through towering cedar forests on the Kii Peninsula. Hike between ancient shrines by day and rest each night at a family-run inn with a riverside onsen.

One of Japan’s three great gardens blazes red and gold each November. Wander past ponds, stone lanterns, and centuries-old pines, where gardeners tie the branches with delicate rope canopies called yukitsuri to protect them from winter snow.

Spend the night with Buddhist monks atop this sacred mountain. Savor shojin ryori, a beautiful vegetarian temple cuisine, join the morning prayers, and walk the lantern-lit paths of Okunoin cemetery beneath ancient cedars.

Steep-roofed farmhouses, built like hands pressed together in prayer, sit in a mountain valley recognized by UNESCO. In winter, snow blankets the rooftops and the village glows on select illuminated evenings.

Each winter, red-crowned cranes gather in the snowy fields of eastern Hokkaido to perform their courtship dances. Watch with a naturalist as pairs leap, bow, and call against a landscape of pure white.

For a few fleeting weeks each spring, Kyoto turns soft pink. Walk the canal-side path beneath arching sakura, join locals for a hanami picnic under the blossoms, and return after dark when the trees glow beneath lantern light.

Join a small group at a Tokyo sumo stable to watch wrestlers train at dawn. The thunder of the clash, the salt-throwing rituals, and the discipline of each bout offer a rare glimpse into Japan’s national sport.

On Naoshima and its neighboring islands, world-class museums sit among fishing villages and quiet coves. See works by Monet and Yayoi Kusama in architecture designed to frame the sea and sky.

Okinawa is famous for having some of the longest-living people on Earth. Join a local family to cook with purple sweet potato, bitter melon, and fresh seaweed, and hear how the island’s way of eating and gathering together has nourished generations.