Japan & Asia

Further from the pier, and worth it.

Asia asks more of you than the Mediterranean and gives more back. Japanese ports greet arriving ships with drummers and dancers on the quay, and the send-off at sail-away is often the thing people remember longest. Beyond the terminal you get temple towns, food halls, and cities where a single afternoon barely scratches the surface.

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The main practical difference is distance. Only a handful of ports, Yokohama and Kobe among them, put you in the middle of the city. Elsewhere you dock at a working container port some way out, and the shuttle bus is not optional. Where that's the case we say so, and we give you the station name and the line to take once you're in town, because rail here is fast, punctual and much cheaper than a taxi. Bring some cash: Japan is more card-friendly than it was, but small restaurants and shrines still expect coins, and an IC travel card is the single most useful thing you can buy on day one.

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Spring and autumn are the seasons to aim for. Late March into April brings the blossom and the crowds that follow it; October and November are drier, cooler and easier. Summer is hot, humid and includes typhoon season. Every port page carries the same brief: how to get ashore, what's worth your hours, and when to be back.