IDEAS: Deer Train Transports Visitors to the Famous Deer of Nara, Japan

Japan's iconic Mount Fuji is struggling with overtourism.

Scott Pauli. (Photo Credit: Island of Hawai‘i Visitors Bureau)

This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy.

When our iPhones alerted us that the temperature had crept past 37C, we paused. Every sun-drenched step outside felt like we were wagyu steaks sizzling on the grill. Was honeymooning in Japan in July – one of its hottest, most humid months – really a good idea? From Osaka to Kobe to Kyoto, my wife Erin and I planned every day with one goal: avoid melting into puddles. Around us, hordes of tourists were in the same sweaty boat. But a few days in, I noticed something. The locals looked noticeably cooler, less crabby, more comfortable. Why? The answer should come as no surprise. Japan, a nation renowned for its design thinking and innovation, is armed with a fistful of ways to survive punishing heat. While they love air-con as much as the next heat-stricken country, they also find respite in creative remedies, from electrically ventilated clothes to water-based rituals. Solutions like these epitomise a nation where ancient traditions fuse with hyper-modern cities reaching endlessly towards the future. Here's six ways that locals cope with extreme heat.

On a grey, rainy Saturday a steady stream of tour buses arrive at a base station of Japan’s Mount Fuji depositing dozens of lightly dressed foreign tourists in front of souvenir shops and restaurants.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Dr. Londí Cox, an international psychologist and expat therapist who's been living abroad since 2014. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

In-flight disasters are flooding headlines these days as the post-pandemic era prompts a mass return to travel.

The Japan Rail Pass, one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to travel around the country, is going up in price this fall. 

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Renee Marant, a 21-year-old college student attending Temple University at the school's Japan campus. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

In a country revered for its hospitality, nowhere says omotenashi quite like a Japanese ryokan. Ryokan are a type of inn where guests are encouraged to mingle in communal ochanoma (tea rooms) and unwind in onsen baths. While associated with rural destinations in Japan, there is a prevalence of authentic ryokan in Tokyo.

Since 1981, the Japan Rail Pass has provided overseas visitors with budget-friendly access to unlimited rides on the country’s local and regional lines, as well as the famed shinkansen bullet trains, which can reach an operational speed of 200 miles per hour, at prices unchanged in decades. Indeed, visitors to Japan in 2023 pay the same unadjusted amount for a two-week rail pass as they did in 1989.

The Japanese government announced on Friday it’s planning to resume its domestic travel discount program in the new year.