Japan overland travel guide

Japan packs a hell of a lot in to its available space – hiking opportunities abound in the beautiful mountain ranges covering most of the country, the subarctic winter conditions in the north bring epic snowfalls which are the stuff of snowboarder fantasy, and the south boasts subtropical beaches and ‘best-kept-secret’ scuba diving.

Atmospheric temples and shrines can be found tucked away along hiking trails in the forest, commanding views from the hillsides above Kyoto, or hiding down the back streets of Osaka or Tokyo, while medieval castles and manicured gardens have pride of place at the hearts of many towns and cities – cities which offer up the chance to explore to your heart’s content and eat, shop, or drink till you drop.

See my quick guides to the main Japanese cities:
Tokyo
Kyoto
Hiroshima
Osaka
Sapporo
Yokohama
Kobe
Nagoya
Fukuoka

Japan surely has something for everyone, and while the location means it isn’t the most obvious country to include on overland routes, with a little effort it’s perfectly possible to do so from any of China, Korea, or all the way from Europe via Russia:

How to travel to and from Japan overland (sea)

As an island nation with no land borders, overland travel to Japan is by sea. There are two weekly ferries each way between Japan and China, and multiple daily sailings between Japan and Korea. There are no ferries to Russia any more, so you have to go via Korea/China.

China – Japan by ferry

The Suzhou Hao does weekly runs each way between Shanghai and Osaka, taking two days. They have a good English website, and you can search and book online with Direct Ferries.

The Utopia IV does two round trips per week between Taicang (Suzhou) and Shimonoseki, taking 33 or 40 hours. Their website is only in Japanese and Chinese; you can see the schedule (Japanese) here. 下関港 is Shimonoseki Port, 太倉港 is Taicang Port; the days are 日曜日 Sunday, 月曜日 Monday, 水曜日 Wednesday, 金曜日 Friday; 出港 is departure, 入港 arrival.

This ferry is usually called the Suzhou – Shimonoseki Ferry, as Taicang Port is officially part of the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. However, Taicang is a long way from Suzhou City itself; it’s located near the mouth of the Yangtze, just upriver from Shanghai, in between Shanghai and Suzhou cities. You can see a map here; note that the Japanese name for Taicang is Taisou, and the Chinese name for Shimonoseki is Xiaguan. Shimonoseki’s ferry terminal is a short walk from JR Shimonoseki Station.

(You may read about other Japan – China routes e.g, Kobe – Tianjin, but they have all been discontinued; notably, the Wikitravel page is out of date in this regard)

Russia – Japan by ferry

DBS ferries runs a weekly ferry (the Eastern Dream) from Sakaiminato (Tottori prefecture) to Donghae (on Korea’s east coast) and Vladivostok. DBS has an English website, and this Japanese tourist site’s page (in English) is also useful. Passage between Sakaiminato and Vladivostok involves two overnight sailings, with a half-day spent in port at Donghae.

DBS Ferry stopped service in 2019.

In the north, a ferry used to operate in the summer months (the sea is frozen in winter) between Wakkanai (at the northern tip of Hokkaido) and the Russian port of Korsakov, Sakhalin island. However, this ferry ceased operating in 2015; in summer 2016, a new passenger catamaran service had a successful 6-week trial period (with two runs per week in either direction) and this was supposed to be a full regular service from 2017. The summer of 2017 did indeed see a full schedule, but 2018 hasn’t gone so smoothly (see updates below). In short, this route can’t be considered 100% reliable.

Update (May 2018): the new service has also been discontinued, announcement here (Japanese) Update (August 2018): a belated 2018 schedule has been confirmed after all, for 3 sailings per week each way in August & September as per here. Update (2019): passenger service discontinued. The same company still operates a ship, but it’s a freight only operation from 2019 onwards.

Korea – Japan by ferry

The main route (for those without vehicles) is the JR Beetle hydrofoil between Fukuoka and Busan, with several sailings per day in each direction. These boats are fast and get across in just a few hours; if seasickness is an issue or you have wheels to transport, you can take one of the slower car ferries between Busan and Shimonoseki, Sakaiminato, or Osaka.

For full details on all these ferry routes, see my Korea – Japan ferry guide.

Overland from Seoul to Osaka / Tokyo in one day via JR Beetle

Using the JR Beetle it’s possible to travel overland between Seoul and Osaka (or even Tokyo) in one day. I’ve done so between Seoul and Osaka on several occasions, and it clocks in at 11 – 12 hours; see my JR Beetle guide for full details.

Overland travel within Japan

The classic way to see Japan, and the one I absolutely recommend, is with a JR Pass. This gives you unlimited countrywide travel on (most) trains operated by the Japan Railways Group (JR), including the Shinkansen bullet trains. A few services aren’t included, for example the Nozomi from Tokyo to Osaka which only makes a couple of stops and is therefore the fastest service; with a JR Pass you can ride the next fastest, Hikari. Apart from that and a couple of others, you’re good for all JR trains and can just rock up at the station, flash your pass at the manned ticket gate and get on the train; this is perfect for completely winging it if you’re so inclined, and you can also make seat reservations at the ticket office if you want to be sure of seats (this is required for some trains that are reservation only, such as the Komachi Shinkansen to Akita).

The price for a 7-day pass is roughly the same as a round trip between Tokyo and Osaka, so if you’re doing anything more than that it’s good value; if you really get your money’s worth and do, say, Tokyo to Kyushu, then back to Tokyo with stops in Hiroshima, Osaka, and Kyoto, then it’s absolutely amazing value.

These passes aren’t available to residents of Japan; you have to be there with ‘temporary visitor’ status (that’s the stamp you’ll get in your passport when arriving as a tourist). Also be aware that the JR Pass doesn’t work on the plethora of regional private lines operated by other companies (bar a few exceptions by special agreement), including the city subway systems. But apart from that, it’s a really convenient and affordable way to cover a lot of ground.

It’s now possible to buy the JR Pass in person at a handful of major stations in Japan, but it’s cheaper to pre-order it online e.g. a 7-day pass is ¥33,000 when purchased in Japan, but if you buy it online here it’s only ¥28,000 (and a small cut of that goes to 4corners7seas, so we both win!)

An essential site to be familiar with while travelling by train in Japan is Hyperdia. You just tell it your departure and arrival stations and date & time of travel, and it gives you a range of options – you can tell it to rank them by speed, price, or even by the routes with the best transfers, and you can also specify certain stations that you want the route to pass through. If using a JR Pass you can set it to only show JR trains, and you can block services like the Nozomi which aren’t covered on the pass. The only minor thing to be aware of with it is that sometimes the station name is slightly different on Hyperdia due to a hyphen being included, a space not being included, etc, for example Okutama is Oku-tama. For more detail on using Hyperdia, see here.

Trains aside, Japan also has excellent roads and buses run everywhere. Slower than the trains of course, but significantly cheaper and usually pretty comfortable; they tend to run overnight on long-distance routes which I basically hate but it is convenient and I used them many times, especially when living in Tokyo and volunteering in Tohoku. You can usually find bus stations attached to the major JR hub stations, and it’s possible to just turn up and buy a ticket for the next available bus (but don’t try this during the three main Japanese holiday periods) or you can book online to be sure of a ticket at your preferred time. Willer Express is cheap, comfortable, has good route coverage centred on Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto, and is easy to use with a fully-functioning English website. They also have discount passes available (Japan Bus Pass) which are a pretty good deal. The main bus station in Tokyo is at Shinjuku Station, located above the south part of the station (make your way to the South Gate and follow the signs).

Finally, ferries are an interesting option if you want to hop a long distance without flying and have plenty of time to do it. They’re cheap and comfortable, they give you the opportunity to take in the views of ocean and coastline, and you pass through random port towns that you’d otherwise never see but which are such a historically important side to this island nation. I’ve used Tomakomai (Hokkaido) – Sendai both ways, Niigata – Tomakomai, Maizuri (Kyoto) – Otaru (Hokkaido) both ways, and Naha – Ishigaki (Okinawa) continuing to Taiwan (sadly no longer possible). It’s a nice way to travel if the schedule suits, although I did once have an issue with a cancelled ferry (rough seas) from Tomakomai leading to an encounter with a scary woman wielding a pair of kitchen scissors and then a punishing 2-day local train journey from Hokkaido to Kyoto… in other words, ferry travel perhaps isn’t the best idea if you can’t be flexible with your dates!

You can search and book the long-distance domestic ferry routes online here; it’s also perfectly fine just to rock up at the port a few hours before sailing and buy your ticket at the counter. If you want to take the ferry to Hokkaido, see my post here. There are also many more shorter ferries operating throughout the archipelago e.g. Hiroshima-Matsuyama (a pleasant journey and a great way to visit Shikoku) and to myriad minor islands, for which you can just turn up and buy your ticket on the day.

For advice on navigating within Tokyo and other big cities see here

Some Japan Highlights

Japan has the best skiing I’ve done outside North America and Europe – the northern island of Hokkaido is especially good due to the amazing quality and quantity of the powder.

Go hiking – the country is mostly mountainous, and with the well-developed transportation network those mountains are very accessible; add in the rick folklore of forest spirits and mountaintop temples, and Japan is a bit of a hiker’s paradise. Fuji is of course the most famous, but my favourite hiking lies in the mountains around Kyoto which are steeped in legend. Despite being the largest city on Earth, Tokyo has some surprisingly good hiking too.

Festivals. Coming in all shapes and sizes, from bonkers fire festivals to local shrine combat festivals to dance festivals to the solemn Gion Festival, matsuri are a brilliant way to see the living traditions of Japan. Often baffling (as in “why are naked men climbing poles and beating each other with sticks?”), usually lots of fun (though some are quite serious), and always fascinating, if you have the chance to attend one you should go for it.

Should you be lucky enough to visit while the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom, you’re in for a treat; see my favourite cherry blossom spots in Tokyo and Kyoto.

Likewise, autumn is a spectacular time to visit; see my guides to the best autumn colour spots in Tokyo and Kyoto, and this list of good spots around Japan.

Eat. You can blow hundreds of dollars a head on kaiseki ryori (fine dining) or the best sushi you’ll ever eat, or just a few dollars for a hearty bowl of noodles in a noisy little ramen joint with fogged up windows. The range and quality of the food should keep your taste buds happily exploring for as long as you’re there. I’m a massive fan of ramen, and Tokyo has two joints serving Michelin star ramen (if you have time to line up for 2 hours); another great food experience in Tokyo is Tsukiji fish market.

Drink. Whisky and beer have replaced Nihonshu (sake) as the main tipples; but whatever your poison, Japan likes to drink. A typical Saturday night itinerary might go izakaya, karaoke, then wherever the night takes you.

Explore Kyoto. Very possibly my favourite city; it can be a bit of a slow-burner and certainly didn’t grab me on my first visit, but over time it really got its claws into me. The city’s standout highlights, such as Fushimi Inari, can be rushed around in a few days; but you could spend your whole life there and never explore every last alleyway, see every little tucked-away neighbourhood temple, or visit every last mountain shrine. The longer you give it, the more she will reveal. (To avoid getting ‘templed out’, pick & choose your temples & shrines)

Get stuck in to Tokyo. Another amazing city, though in quite different ways. Something it shares in common with Kyoto is that there’s just so much exploring to do you could never exhaust it. From the cityscapes and neon lights of Shinjuku and Shibuya (where you can live out your Ghost In The Shell and Blade Runner fantasies) to the pokey little noodle stands under the railway tracks in Shitemachi, the old-time alleyways like Golden Gai and Memory Alley to the varied neighbourhoods out beyond the Yamanote line, from the specialised niche shopping districts to the maid cafes to all the random quirky corners, Tokyo will keep you entertained.

Visit the Yuzawa Snow Country.

Get a JR Pass and ride the shinkansen (bullet train) here, there, and everywhere. The islands of Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido are all gorgeous and justify thorough explorations in their own right (is the JR Pass worth it?). See my suggested Japan sightseeing highlights.

Visit Nagasaki and Hiroshima, two cities that have come bouncing right back from the rubble of the atom bombs but which maintain poignant memorials and museums to those events.

Tohoku, the mostly rural region of the main island (Honshu) to the north of Tokyo, is both a beauty and a treasure-trove of traditional Japanese culture. Tohoku got battered by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, they’re pulling through, and they’d love to see you up there. See here for some regional highlights, and my post here about volunteering in Tohoku after the disaster.

Resources and Useful Links for Visiting Japan

All my Japan posts here

Buy a JR Pass here. Is the JR Pass worth it?

Search for hotel deals in Japan. Also see my Tokyo page for the best areas to stay in Tokyo.

Airbnb’s a great option in Japan, if you’ve never used it before you can get a 30 dollar discount if you sign up with this link

If you want to get a SIM card with a Japanese phone number (rather than just a data SIM) your only option is Mobal. They’re an absolute godsend to be honest, and I always get one if I’m in Japan for more than a week or 2. For more on staying connected in Japan see here

Flexible travel insurance from World Nomads, especially useful if you’re already overseas (this is an important point, as I once learned the hard way in Bangkok). For those hitting the slopes, check out their winter sports cover.

Lonely Planet Japan

For hiking inspiration, check out my pages on hiking in Kyoto and Tokyo, see Ridgeline Images for some seriously awesome & in-depth hiking in the mountains near Tokyo (with great photos), and Hiking In Japan for the best mountain hikes nationwide.

For the ski bums, my skiing in Japan pages.

Japan Guide, a really thorough and useful website for destination & transport information, and Tokyo Cheapo for seeing the capital on a budget.

Hyperdia for train timetables (guide to using Hyperdia here)

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