Japan's best travel experiences, from handmade soba to hidden pilgrimage routes

Naoshima – Chichu Art Museum, Benesse House and Yayoi Kusama’s Yellow Pumpkin – is Japan’s most famous art island, but you’ll also find some real gems of experience in some of the other nearby islands. In Ogijima, Miyoko Kobayashi runs a small cafe and hotel on the island, where she introduces guests to organic farming and sustainable lifestyles. When I stopped on a summer evening a few hours before sunset, we quickly went to shore to learn about the different types of shellfish and harvest them for dinner, one of the many components of our meal. At the center of the conversation was Kobayashi’s interest in farming and the beauty of living on a quiet, rural island. We walked into her shop in the morning and she had a delicious breakfast with a view of the sea and set off.

Experience method: Check in or make an appointment at Dorima no Ue.

When it comes to Japanese cuisine, seasonality and quality are at the top of every chef’s mind. From a heartwarming bowl of noodles prepared by an elderly couple at a small farmers’ market in Morioka, to a luxury ryokan , I have eaten something special while traveling across the country. But the most memorable is Den, Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa at

with a modern rendition of cuisine. He’s best known for stuffed chicken wings that come in cartons, which is reminiscent of what you’d get from KFC, but that’s when he runs out of salad Vegetables are the real star. Because if you can turn something considered so mundane into a memorable dish, that’s an automatic victory. And for extra bonus points, the majority of his team are women — a rarity in the hospitality industry, especially in Japan — and his feisty Chihuahuas can often be found there as well.