Day by Day Japan plans a first trip to Japan the way a friend who lives here would: one day at a time, with the trains and the prices written down.

Each route is a real day or weekend: where to go first, how long the walk or the train takes, what the ticket costs and where to eat on the way. Every price names who published it (the operator, the place itself, or the magazine or guide that printed it) and the date; where nobody printed a price, the route says so instead of guessing. Where a stop closes on set days, the route says what to do instead.

Around the routes sits the week in Japan. Every few hours the site reads the Japanese city and food press and the English-language desks in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Fukuoka, and puts the places they name on one map. Headlines stay in the language they were written in, every story links to its source, and we quote no more than a line.

The routes and notes are written by one editor under a pen name, Sora Nakamura, drafted with AI assistance from checked material and read before they go out. Day by Day Japan is independent: no advertisers, no affiliate links, no bookings.

← Day by Day Japan Archive

The Japan Times LifeTokyo

Toyota’s car sales decline for seventh month as Chinese market favors EVs

September 29

Toyota- and Lexus-brand sales fell 23% in the world's biggest auto market in August on weak demand for gasoline and hybrid vehicles, Toyota has said.

Festivals & matsuri BUSINESS

Read at The Japan Times Life ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Toyota’s car sales decline for seventh month as Chinese market favors EVs

Related

Kansai大阪駅に「スタンダードドーナツ」店舗限定オールドファッションも梅田経済新聞

Hokkaido札幌で「ほっかいどう秋の大収穫祭」道産グルメの販売や農業体験も札幌経済新聞

TokyoHibiya Park is hosting a Taiwanese night market-themed festival for the first time this September Time Out Tokyo

Tokyo5 art festivals to catch in Japan this autumn Time Out Tokyo

Tokyo5 of the best music festivals in and around Tokyo this September and October Time Out Tokyo

KansaiThe best fireworks festivals in and near Osaka in 2026 Time Out Osaka

Latest

Toyota’s car sales decline for seventh month as Chinese market favors EVs

Related

Kansai大阪駅に「スタンダード ドーナツ」 店舗限定オールドファッションも 梅田経済新聞

Hokkaido札幌で「ほっかいどう秋の大収穫祭」 道産グルメの販売や農業体験も 札幌経済新聞

TokyoHibiya Park is hosting a Taiwanese night market-themed festival for the first time this September Time Out Tokyo

Tokyo5 art festivals to catch in Japan this autumn Time Out Tokyo

Tokyo5 of the best music festivals in and around Tokyo this September and October Time Out Tokyo

KansaiThe best fireworks festivals in and near Osaka in 2026 Time Out Osaka

Kansai大阪駅に「スタンダードドーナツ」店舗限定オールドファッションも梅田経済新聞

Hokkaido札幌で「ほっかいどう秋の大収穫祭」道産グルメの販売や農業体験も札幌経済新聞