Travel in Japan

It's normal for airlines to lose some of our bags in transit—about 7.6 pieces per every 1,000 travelers on average. One airport, though—Japan's Kansai airport—has not lost anyone's bags in the last 30 years, and the airport handled 10 million bags in 2023 alone.

The world’s top 10 cleanest airports have been announced - and only one hub in Europe features on the list.

A Japanese town, known for its near-perfect views of the iconic Mount Fuji, is fighting back against hordes of tourists.

Airbnb execs have used the phrase “expanding beyond the core” to mean launching new products and services for guests and hosts, and also their hope to lift growth beyond the company’s main five markets: The U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and France.

Longtime food writer Priya Krishna’s latest offering is a very different kind of cookbook. Aimed at kids ages 8 to 11, Priya’s Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids is a collection of recipes organized by some of the countries Krishna was able to visit in her own childhood thanks to her mother’s career in the travel industry. “Every country starts with a little narrative from my younger self about my experiences of the countries, and I mined my old diaries to get a lot of that content,” she says.

A brand new helicopter and hiking tour has launched in Shizuoka, exploring Japan’s captivating Southern Alps. Offering exhilarating views of majestic Mt. Fuji and its surrounding peaks, the tour includes stops at a rejuvenating mountain onsen, a traditional ryokan and Japan’s most remote whisky distillery.

One of Marriott's newest and most affordable brands is slated to grow in one of the world's most-visited countries.

A Japanese convenience store in the northern foothills of Mount Fuji has turned into an unlikely tourist attraction in recent years thanks to a popular viewpoint of the iconic volcano.

Oahu is getting its first adults-only hotel when the Romer House Waikiki opens on June 1, 2024. 

Michelin revealed its top picks for hotels in Italy, using its new hotel “key” system. Only a small number of hotels made the grade.

A flight to Germany had to be met by emergency services after dozens of passengers started vomiting, the German outlet Bild reported.

Flying on Japan Airlines has always been, well, delightfully Japanese. Think of it as an introduction—or if departing from Tokyo, a bid farewell—to the country’s characteristic tenets of respectful, nearly differential service; seafood-forward and fresh cuisine; and commitment to cultural traditions. (Onboard oshiburi, anyone?) Add in comfortable seats across all cabins—yes, even decent economy ones with 34 inches of recline—and you have an experience worth writing home about. Or at least not complaining to someone about.

While neon-lit Tokyo moves ahead at hyperspeed, Kyoto ambles along at a leisurely pace. During its thousand-year reign as Japan’s imperial city, artisans from around the country flocked here to hone their skills in nishijin-ori silk weaving and kyo-yaki pottery. Today, in its traditional machiya town houses, ceramicists and woodworkers still produce the same fine wares as their ances- tors. But a group of younger makers is shaking up the scene, opening next-gen ateliers, teahouses, and concept stores that swap the sometimes-intimidating rules and rituals of traditional crafts with modern designs and easygoing retail spaces. Whatever the approach, one thing is for sure in Kyoto: The handmade reigns supreme.

A Taliban-run institute is training tourism and hospitality professionals to attract visitors to Afghanistan.

Peering up at the snow-laced peaks hemming in the mountain town of Crested Butte, Colorado, it's hard to believe more than 1,400 people once crowded into this long narrow valley 8,885 feet up in the Colorado Rockies in the mid-1800s, weathering the winter in tents and shanties.

It’s been a year since we sat down with Daniel Calvert, the executive chef behind SÉZANNE in the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi. And what a year, at that. Last May he shared secrets on how to pair wine with his award-winning cuisine. Now his esteemed French-inspired dining room has been named the best restaurant in all of Asia. The recognition came by way of World’s 50 Best Restaurants, which delivers its annual Asia-specific rankings each spring.

I pulled into the tiny hamlet of Hirase, in Japan’s Gifu prefecture, at the peak of the day’s heat. I’d just climbed several thousand feet through Hakusan National Park, on a twisting, waterfall-lined road, before eventually descending into the shimmering fantasy landscape of Shirakawa-go, an almost Tolkien-esque small village—and UNESCO heritage site—comprised of centuries-old thatched, peaked-roof farmhouses in the gassho-zukuri style. Replenishing myself with a black-sesame ice cream cone, I made the last push towards my destination. My cycling computer eventually told me “destination reached,” but all I could see was a succession of closed businesses lining a small street. Seeking shade, I flopped against a security gate.

It would be easy to read Evil Does Not Exist as being anti-travel—or, at the very least, anti-glamping. The new film from Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is set in the tranquil (and fictional) village of Mizubiki some two hours outside of Tokyo. Locals live in deference to the nature that surrounds them, collecting water from the forest’s crystal-clear spring with quiet care. But, when COVID-era economic incentives drive a Tokyo consulting firm to erect a glamping site upstream of the village, without considering the environmental consequences on the community, a high-drama town meeting ensues, wherein villagers poke hole after hole in the hastily-drawn plan. Over the course of the film's two hours, it continues to meditate on topics of man and nature, framing stunning countryside scenery for so long, and with such focus, that you emerge refreshed as though from a cold plunge.

Skift Research’s latest reading on the Skift Travel Health Index reveals a softening trend in global travel. This is due to the seasonality of demand: Our index dropped 4 percentage points to 105 in March 2024, which mirrors a slowdown we saw this time last year.

It's a big, big day for Cunard, the storied cruise brand that once operated such legendary ocean liners as the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth 2.

I grew up vacationing in a beach town called Nags Head on the Outer Banks, the string of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. My parents did, too — they were high school sweethearts — and their stories about hitchhiking to Nags Head as teenagers in the 1960s and seeing bands like the Drifters perform at the local dance hall were the stuff of legend in my mind. As a kid in the ’80s, I loved climbing the massive sand dunes at nearby Jockey’s Ridge State Park and fishing at Cape Hatteras. So I was excited to learn that this month, Steidl will publish a book of images the photographer Joel Sternfeld took in Nags Head in the summer of 1975. Sternfeld’s weatherworn cottages and roadside snack bars bring back memories real and imagined, and I’ll enjoy reliving them with my mom. The book is currently available for preorder, so, in the meantime, I’m eyeing some other ’70s-inspired gifts for Mother’s Day. Vacation’s Orange Gelée sunscreen is reminiscent of the vintage tanning staple Bain de Soleil, and this portable wine chiller designed in 1978 by Richard Carlson is easy to find on eBay. It fits two bottles of wine. Alternatively, Cann Social Tonic’s zero-proof Roadie pouches, infused with 2 milligrams of THC, travel easily to the beach. And for a nostalgic summer pants set, turn to the Rockaway Beach-based Zingara Vintage. The designer Erin Silvers custom makes her ZingaraTerry loungewear from vintage YSL towels produced in the 1960s and ’70s.

Tokyo’s Haneda Airport has managed to snag the top spot as world's most cleanest airport.