After visiting Japan for the first time in 2018 with a group of college friends, I was excited to return in September as a travel writer. Having ruthlessly researched everything to do, brushing up on ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I specialize in luxury hotels, Latin America and adventure travel. If tropical heat is a top item on your vacation checklist, ...

Forming part of the Kii Peninsula, and just a few hours south of Osaka, Wakayama invites travellers to slow down and reconnect — not just with Japan, but with themselves. Mount Kōya (Kōyasan): ...

A new high-speed train stop unlocks Kaga, a destination for onsen, nourishing food and traditional crafts, as an easy-to-reach getaway from Japan’s capital. A riverside cafe pops up from spring ...

Soak in the three-Michelin-starred baths of Hyotan Onsen. Learn more about the craft of traditional bamboo weaving by taking a class at the Bamboo Cultural Center. Take a thermal sand bath while ...

Tucked into the forested hills of Kumamoto Prefecture is Kurokawa Onsen, a small hot spring village that feels like it’s been preserved in time. Compared to more well-known Kyushu onsen towns like ...

“Come, I’m going to take you on a tour of hell,” my guide explained as we climbed into her van. With our hotel far behind us, the entire town of Beppu suddenly came into view through the windshield; ...

It was a cold February day in northern Japan, snow piled high outside the onsen locker room windows as I slipped out of my clothes. Nervously, I stepped into the plumes of steam wafting from the next ...

The Japanese region of Oita on the island of Kyushu is renowned for its hot springs. Far more than just natural baths, however, they’re places of healing and of community, linking the generations, ...