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Cruise Roadtrip Walking & Cycling Train AirThe Travel Club Show : Japan for first-timers
The first-time visitor to Japan arrives with a lot of baggage, including the cultural variety. All those preconceptions we have about a place like Japan which, from a distance, can seem intense yet calm, modern yet traditional, compact yet spacious.
Maybe it's all these. Just think: Boys Love Manga and woodblock prints. Maid cafes and geisha tea houses. Anime and kabuki. Bullet trains and rickshaws. Crowded cities and serene villages. Hamburgers and sushi.
But the biggest thing confronting the first-time visitor is the unknown...
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BETHANY HIATT has a taste of traditional Korean culture
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IAN NEUBAUER hops on a dirt bike and bypasses Bali’s touristy attractions for a very different view of the popular locale
Travel Story: Khmer treasures beyond Angkor Wat
RONAN O'CONNELL discovers five overlooked ancient temples
Arrivals & Departures: Peace or party: the choice is yours in gorgeous Gili
SARAH ISON finds a sort of paradise, sort of easily
TRAVEL GUIDE Japan: Enlightened by rising sun
Our latest Japan guide offers some top tips while taking you from Tokyo to Takayama...
TRAVEL GUIDE Japan: Contrasts add to Sumida's charms
SUZANNE MORPHET explores the old and the new in a rapidly gentrifying district of Tokyo.
TRAVEL GUIDE Japan: Museums to lose yourself it
SUZANNE MORPHET explores Tokyo's arts scene.
TRAVEL GUIDE Japan: Consideration for all integral to culture
It's about attention to detail, writes RICHARD PENNICK.