Curated routes
Days we put in order
Eight days, one area each — first light to last train, in a sequence that actually connects by train and on foot. We walked the order, not just the places.
The list is open to everyone. The full route — the order, what to look for at each stop, and the whole day handed to Google Maps — comes with Field Pass.
- 01
Kyoto
Kyoto Before the Crowds
Four of the most photographed places in Kyoto, taken in the order that keeps you ahead of the day — starting at a mountain of torii gates that never closes, finishing in a bamboo corridor before eight.
- 02
South Kyoto
The Tea Valley Line
South of the city, where the tea actually grows: terraced hillsides, the only village in the prefecture, the documented birthplace of sencha, and a temple with a heart-shaped window.
- 03
North Kyoto
North of Kyoto, Into the Hills
Up into the hills north of the city — a moss garden you walk onto, a thousand-year nunnery, a forest onsen, and the original shrine of the water god at the top of the valley.
- 04
Kamakura
Kamakura on Foot
Kamakura on foot, from the Zen temple beside the north station down to the sea — ending at the level crossing where the little Enoden train meets the bay.
- 05
Okutama, Tokyo
Tokyo's Wild West
Still Tokyo, at its far western end: an emerald gorge with a footbridge, a fish ladder you can walk inside, and the oldest sake brewery in the city, on the riverbank.
- 06
Hakone
The Hakone Round
The Hakone circuit in one day — the torii standing in the lake, a steaming volcanic valley, a sculpture park in the open air, and a hot spring at the end of it.
- 07
Osaka
Osaka, Morning to Neon
Osaka from its oldest shrine at first light to the most famous sign on the canal — with a lantern-lit stone lane and a retro tower in between.
- 08
Kobe
Kobe Between Mountain and Sea
Kobe reads as one slope: Western merchant houses on the hill, a Chinatown you cross in minutes, a herb garden reached by ropeway, and the harbour tower at the bottom of it.