☼ Where this stands
Four rough route shapes, nothing more. Pick one, a season and a length, and it becomes a full guide like Italy. Settle the season early — it decides which airports you can fly into.
✈ Getting there · nonstops only
| From | Tokyo Haneda | Tokyo Narita | Osaka Kansai |
|---|---|---|---|
| YVR | Air Canada, ANA | Air Canada, JAL, ZIPAIR (budget) | Air Canada, seasonal — about March to November |
| SEA | Delta, ANA | JAL, Alaska | none |
Tokyo works year-round from either city. Osaka works only from Vancouver, and only in season — which is why each route below has an in and an out. Haneda is about 30 minutes from central Tokyo; Narita about an hour. Checked October 2026; schedules change.
① The classic
Tokyo → Kyoto → Osaka
In / outIn to Tokyo from YVR or SEA · out of Osaka (Kansai → YVR), or back via Tokyo
ShapeTokyo 4–5 nights · Hakone 1–2 (Fuji views, a ryokan, onsen) · Kyoto 4 · Osaka 2
DantoA day trip from Osaka or Kobe — about an hour by highway bus over the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge.
WhyThe best first trip to Japan, and the most to see per day of travel.
② Kansai and the Seto Inland Sea
The Danto route
In / outOsaka (Kansai), from YVR in season · from SEA, fly into Tokyo and take the bullet train, 2½ hours to Kyoto
ShapeKyoto 4 · Kobe 1 · Awaji 2 · the Naoshima and Teshima art islands 2 · Okayama 1, with a side trip to the Bizen pottery villages · Hiroshima and Miyajima 2 · Osaka 1
DantoCentral, not a detour. Danto's Fukura factory is at Awaji's southern tip, by the port for the Naruto whirlpool boats. The Inland Sea is Danto's home water.
WhyIslands, contemporary art and ceramics, without the big-city crush.
③ Tokyo and the mountain craft towns
Kanazawa, Takayama, the Nakasendō
In / outIn to Tokyo · out of Osaka (from YVR) or back to Tokyo (from SEA)
ShapeTokyo 4 · Kanazawa 2 (Kutani porcelain, gold leaf, a great food market) · Takayama and Shirakawa-go 2 · walk the old Nakasendō post road from Magome to Tsumago 1 · Kyoto 4
TilesThis line passes Tajimi, home of the Mosaic Tile Museum. Danto is a day from Kyoto at the end.
WhyRural Japan, crafts, autumn colour — and the easiest place for a tile pilgrimage.
④ Shikoku and the Shimanami Kaidō
The road less travelled
In / outOsaka (Kansai) · or Tokyo plus the bullet train, looping back
ShapeOsaka 1 · Awaji 1, then over the bridge to Naruto · Iya Valley 2 (gorges, vine bridges) · Kotohira 1 · Matsuyama and Dōgo Onsen 2 · cycle the Shimanami Kaidō across the islands to Onomichi 1–2 · Hiroshima 2 · Kyoto 3
DantoOn the way: Awaji is the island you cross to reach Shikoku.
WhyThe fewest tourists of the four, plus onsen, cycling and sea. Best as a second trip, or if you'd rather skip the famous circuit.
⚑ If it's a winter trip
Air Canada starts YVR → Sapporo nonstop on 17 December 2026, three a week until March — the only nonstop from North America. That opens a fifth, snow-and-onsen Hokkaido option, and rules out flying into Osaka, whose flight is seasonal.
★ Wish list
Danto, Awaji Island
One of Japan's oldest tile makers. Founded in 1885, it still has its headquarters on the original factory site. In 1901 it made Japan's first domestically produced interior tiles, as good as the imported ones. Two plants on Awaji today, at Ama and Fukura. Its contemporary design line is A.a. Danto — "Alternative Artefacts" — creatively directed by Teruhiro Yanagihara Studio.
Getting in: I couldn't find a public showroom, factory shop or tour, so plan on writing ahead — a design or architecture angle will help — through the A.a. Danto contact page.
If tiles become a theme: the Mosaic Tile Museum in Tajimi (route ③) and the INAX Museums in Tokoname, near Nagoya.