Japan: Bullet train passengers treated to wrestling match onboard, in world first

It's been just a year since Japan reopened its borders to international travel after the pandemic. But tourism has rebounded in ways almost no one could have predicted, setting up a potentially record-breaking 2024.

Demand for luxury train travel has surged in the wake of the pandemic. The leisurely pace and atmosphere of Old-World glamour that define these voyages appeal to travelers seeking time for reflection and deeper connections to the people and places encountered along the way. While Europe boasts the Orient Express, Japan’s Seven Stars in Kyushu represents the pinnacle of luxury rail travel in Asia. Newly renovated last year—and a reader favorite—the Seven Stars celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. With only 10 cabins and a maximum of 20 guests, the deluxe liner elevates the art of omotenashi (Japanese hospitality) to new heights.

The first thing to know about sake is that describing it can be as difficult as deciphering the label. It very much stands alone in terms of production style and flavour, meaning comparisons fall short. It’s often described as rice wine — rice is one of its key ingredients and it has a similar alcohol content to its grape-based cousin, but tastes nothing like it and is actually brewed more like a beer. Despite looking and tasting a little like a spirit, its typical alcohol content of 18% to 20% means it isn’t categorised as one. Even if you speak Japanese, its description is vague. Sake, or o-sake as it’s also called, simply means ‘alcohol’. What we in the West know as sake is called nihonshu (Japanese alcohol) in Japan, but is also labelled as seishu. It’s a complex lexicon that adds to sake’s seemingly undefinable intrigue.

A time-out-of-mind atmosphere pervades the mountain town of Magome, a centuries-old staging post on the eastern border of Gifu Prefecture. On the main street, stone steps ascend alongside a trickling stream, where a wooden waterwheel ticks around slowly like a sleepy clock, setting the town’s somnolent tempo as it has for some 300 years. Houses line the road, old but beautifully preserved, shuttered with wooden screens and hung with swaying lanterns. Gingko and maple leaves crown the street in a blaze of saffron and cardinal red.

Have you heard? Atlantic City is making an astonishing comeback. Need proof? Look no further than the highly anticipated Nobu Hotel Atlantic City, which is now accepting reservations for stays starting on January 2, 2024.

OK, so I cheated. But with a panorama like this, can you blame me? Our yogic sensei (master) is counting us through meditative breathing — inhale ichi, ni, san; exhale ichi, ni, san — and despite her instruction to keep eyes closed, I’ve cracked open my right lid. Beyond the deck where 20-odd people are breathing serenely in unison, I spy a rambling green expanse of forest stretching to meet the Seto Inland Sea. I feel suspended above the foliage, weightless in space. This definitely beats meditating in a packed London studio.

From harbor-front Hong Kong glam to old-school European luxury, a just-released list of the best hotels on the planet offers a handy guide to traveling the world in high style – or at least assembling a list of dream accommodations. 

In every corner of Japan, there are echoes of Ghibli film settings. The country’s most successful anime studio launched in 1985, and its films have become emblematic of Japan’s offbeat, inventive character. It’s no surprise the opening of the Ghibli Park in November 2022 proved so popular. Tickets are released three months in advance but, almost a year on, they’re still like gold dust due to high domestic demand. There are no rides at the park either. Instead, it’s been designed as a place to “take a stroll, feel the wind, and discover the wonders”, according to its founders.

There was a time when accommodation options in Japan tended to fall into three categories: glossy international chains, dull homegrown business hotels and basic ryokan (traditional inns), which despite their atmospheric tatami mats and wooden sliding doors were often light on comfort and mod cons. But new options abound, particularly for the cultural traveller. 

Traveling this summer often came with major sticker shock, especially for international getaways. But with the fall travel season upon us, both temperatures and prices are mellowing out, as a mix of global cities—some surprising—are arising as choice destinations.

Japan welcomed more than 2 million visitors for a third straight month in August, recovering to more than 80% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time, official data showed on Wednesday.

A Japanese resort company is converting an iconic former prison into a 48-room luxury hotel.