Japan is a world of stark contrasts like no other; a place where hi-tech futurist cityscapes rub shoulders with undulating green hills of cherry blossom orchards, and rice terraces run down to exotic coastlines laden with coral reefs. It’s also home to the most populous single metropolitan area in the whole world: the city of Tokyo.

The country itself is spread out across an archipelago of more than 6,000 islands, and while the vast majority of its people reside on one of the four largest – Kyushu, Honshu, Hokkaido, or Shikoku – this means there are plenty of little nooks and crannies to explore; from the paradisal beaches of the Satsunan Islands to the historical war sites on Okinawa.
Any Japan tour guide will tell of how first-time visitors are left in awe by the efficiency of Japan’s modern, mechanized society, while a short train ride on the Osaka express will plunge others right into the heart of the country’s rural society, where die hard traditions still reign supreme and the unique and wonderful culinary dishes of the old Japan still linger on the menus.