Fast train to Japan - The Jewish Chronicle

While all eyes are on the football for Euro 2016, it's Japan which will be stepping into the sporting spotlight shortly, with the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games, both in Tokyo.

And with a weaker yen and cheaper flights cutting the cost of this traditionally expensive destination, now is the time to visit, ahead of the crowds.

There's plenty to discover outside Tokyo as well. A whistle-stop two weeks could pack in Hiroshima and Western Honshu, Kyoto and Shikoku, smallest of Japan's four main islands. One must-see is Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain and iconic landmark.

But the capital is the first stop for most. The Imperial Palace is the prime attraction - or rather its vast ornamental gardens, as the palace opens just a few days a year. The imposing Meiji-jingu Shinto shrine and Senso-ji, the city's oldest Buddhist temple, are next.

The frantic flurry of Tsukiji, the world's biggest fish market, greets early risers while night owls target Roppongi and bars in the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku. Ginza is designer brand alley compared to Akihabara's gadget central. Crossing so-modern Shibuya's matrix of pedestrian crossings takes so long you'll have done your exercise for the day.

Getting there

The Japan Rail Pass is available for 7, 14 or 21 days and can be purchased online through Japan Experience. Prices start from £178 for a 7 day pass.
A 14-night Best of Japan self-guided adventure costs from £2,210 including flights.

We also pass through Gifu, birthplace of Chiune Sugihara, "Japan's Schindler". During the Second World War, the diplomat helped 6,000 Jews escape Lithuania by issuing them transit visas for Japan. Many travelled to Kobe, south Honshu, where there was a Jewish community. It's estimated that 40,000 descendants of those Jewish refugees Sugihara helped are alive today because of his actions. A memorial hall in Gifu is dedicated to him and a recent film, Persona Non Grata, chronicles his story.

Another moving memorial lies 500 miles further south in Hiroshima. The best and easiest way to eat up the distance is by shinkansen. Long-snouted and super-sleek, these marvels of engineering speed along at up to 200mph - hence the nickname bullet train. A Japan Rail Pass, which must be bought in the UK, saves a fortune.

But first to Fuji. A source of inspiration and fascination to artists, you can visit as a day trip from Tokyo, but climbing it - official season is July to mid-September - requires six hours each way, and a night's stopover at the Fuji Five Lakes.

Mountain town Hakone is ideal, despite Fuji staying enigmatically hidden by thick cloud throughout my stay. Still, there was boating on Lake Ashi, walks in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, and my ryokan - a traditional Japanese inn from the Edo period (1603-1868) - had a delightful onsen, a volcanic hot spring bath.

By contrast Hiroshima is so modern and vibrant it's difficult to imagine the original city being devastated by atomic bomb attack on August 6, 1945. Reminding us what Hiroshima suffered, and honouring its 140,000 victims, is the work of the Peace Memorial Museum, where Barack Obama laid a wreath as the first serving US president to visit the city, the Peace Park, Atomic Bomb Dome, Pond of Peace, and Flame of Peace, set to burn until all the world's nuclear weapons are destroyed.

The area around Japan's Inland Sea is less well-known than this moving site but you'll find some of the best views in the country from the top of Misen mountain on pretty Miyajima island. Take the cable car to the summit, then wander the streets along with tame deer or discover the vermilion torii, a Shinto shrine gate built on the shore.

Naoshima island is unmissable for contemporary art lovers as well as for its gorgeous natural setting. Thirty years ago Benesse, owned by Berlitz guides, started building art galleries here and on Teshima and Inujima islands. The sites now contain Chichu Art Museum, which has a permanent collection of Monet's Water Lilies paintings, and artists such as Warhol, Hockney, Jasper Johns, James Turrell, and Yayoi Kusama, whose fun Yellow Pumpkin sits surreally on a jetty. Its big arts event, Setouchi Triennale, runs three times a year.

For many, the 'real' Japan is in Kyoto, an hour's train ride from Osaka. The old capital city blooms with luscious gardens, shrines and more than 1,600 Buddhist temples, the most famous being the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji. Its historic downtown area, Gion, is a matrix of cobbled lanes and ancient wooden houses, where Geisha teeter on wooden clogs, with coiffed hair, white faces, crimson lips, and elaborate costumes. How to distinguish them from those only dressed for a fee by "henshin' kimono shops? You won't catch real Geisha taking selfies.

You could spend all day in Higashiyama, Kyoto's main sightseeing area, walking from Kiyomizu-dera temple to Yasaka Shrine, especially if you go via shops selling Kiyomizu-yaki pottery and crafts. Nishiki market's extensive arcade is a foodie's dream selling sencha tea goods, yakitori (charcoal-grilled chicken and vegetables) and sweets (wagashi).

My only regret in Japan was missing the 'unmissable' mountain. But then, 50 miles outside Tokyo, there she was in plain sight from the train - Mount Fuji, in all her snow-capped, immortal glory.