1 Tokyo has just become a whole lot more convenient: Haneda Airport is once again serving international routes. Only 30 minutes out of downtown Tokyo and within reasonable taxi distance, Haneda is much closer to the city than Narita, which remains Tokyo’s main international entry point.
SETOUCHI INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL2 First held in 2010, this festival is slated to be held every three years, with the next one coming in 2013 (July to October). Events are centred on the island-cum-art-museum of Naoshima.
EXTENDED SHINKANSEN LINES3 Shinkansen (bullet train) lines have been extended north to the city of Aomori, at the northern tip of Honshū, and south to the city of Kagoshima, in Kyūshū. You can now cross almost all of Kyūshū and Honshū by bullet train.
JETSTAR OPENS JAPAN ROUTES4 Jetstar, Australia’s budget airline, launched service to Japan (Kansai and Narita) in 2007. This makes Japan a much more reasonable destination for Australian backpackers, skiers and families.
LOCAL FOOD MOVEMENT5 Local food is all the rage in Japan and locavores can sample the fare in cities and villages across the archipelago.
LEE UFAN MUSEUM6 Designed by Andō Tadao, this new museum (named after Korean-born artist Lee Ufan) is a great new addition to the museums and galleries on Naoshima.
HIP CAPSULE HOTELS7 Capsule hotels used to be the refuge of sozzled salarymen who missed the last train home. Not anymore. A wave of cool designer capsule hotels has swept the country. A good example of this is the Capsule Ryokan Kyoto.
SKY TREE BLOOMS IN TOKYO8 Scheduled to open in spring 2012, the Tokyo Sky Tree will soar to 634m and feature two observation decks.
NEW BUS ROUTES ON MT FUJI9 New bus routes and more frequent departures make climbing Mt Fuji easier.
KUMANO KODŌ DEVELOPMENT10 Local tourism authorities have been working hard to open the Kumano Kodō pilgrimage trails to foreign tourists and their work has paid off in a big way
Osaka is usually divided into two areas: Kita and Minami. Kita (Japanese for ‘north’) is the city’s main business and administrative centre, and contains two of its biggest train stations: JR Osaka and Hankyū Umeda.
Reading all this, you might think that the Japanese were down for the count. But here’s the surprising part: that’s not the case at all. As shown by the Japanese people’s response to the earthquake and tsunami, when faced with a tough situation they band together, roll up their sleeves and get to work. Let’s not forget that these are the same people who took a country that was little more than rubble in 1945 and turned it into one of the world’s most advanced and efficient countries in just a few short decades.