the most out of your visit the Hamamatsu Matsuri, a spectacular traditional kite festival, turns into a kite-fight. Participants´ kites battle to cut the strings of other kites, mid-flight ´Character dolls´, the giant, cartoon-like statuettes that sit out the front of Japan´s stores, are now being abducted in broad daylight and sold on the black market for up to USD3000 Japan received an honourable mention at the Pacific Asia Travel Association´s 2004 Gold Awards

Let the bullet train whisk you from futuristic Tokyo to Kyoto´s most exquisite temples. Join a sake-filled cherry blossom party or the drum beat of a local matsuri. Pick your own way through sophisticated mega-cities packed with world-class museums. Then meet the wild snow monkeys of Chūbu. How could one country offer so much? This bestselling guidebook explains it all.


GET MORE FOR YOUR YEN - insider´s budget tips and smart accommodation options mean you can do what you want, whatever your budget

KNOW THE ROUTE - packed with over 150 maps, more than any other guide to Japan

FEAST LIKE AN EMPEROR - our Food & Drink chapter and mouth-watering restaurant listings dish up the best sushi and sashimi on the archipelago

ESCAPE THE CROWDS - comprehensive coverage of Mt Fuji, Okinawa and the Southwest Islands, Kyūshū and Hokkaidō, written by the experts

POINT IT OUT - Japanese script throughout means you´ll always find what you want