Japan Moves is a Japan travel guide focused on one thing most guides skip: how you actually get around.
Rural buses that only take cash. Train passes that may or may not be worth it for your route. Domestic flights that save you a day if you know when to use them. Luggage that doesn’t have to travel with you. That’s the territory this site covers.
Who writes this
I’m Wataru Tanaka. I’ve spent years traveling across Japan and abroad — not as a travel-industry insider, but as someone who moves around this country constantly and pays his own way. Rural buses, local trains, the Shinkansen, domestic flights, ferries, and hundreds of nights in hotels and ryokan along the way. When I write “the transfer at this station takes longer than the map suggests,” it’s because I’ve made that transfer.
I have no travel-industry employment background. I consider that a strength: I have no reason to be polite about things that don’t work. What you get here is the judgment of a reader-side traveler, not a brochure.
What you can expect from this site
Practical answers, with numbers. How many minutes, how many yen, which exit, which line. If a route works on paper but falls apart with a suitcase, I’ll say so.
The “why” behind the rules. Japan runs on a lot of unwritten conventions — how bus fares are paid, why the queue forms where it does. I’d rather explain why things work this way than hand you a list of dos and don’ts. Once you understand the reason, the rest takes care of itself.
Less friction, for everyone. A traveler who understands the system has a better trip, and the people around them have a better day. If this site helps you get past the Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka triangle into regions that rarely see foreign visitors, even better.
Value matched to price. Japan Moves is not a “Japan is so cheap” site. I’ll tell you where saving money costs you nothing, and where paying more is genuinely worth it. Good travel should leave both the traveler and the place better off.
What this site is not
- It’s not a travel agency. I don’t plan individual itineraries, make bookings, or arrange travel for readers. The articles give you the judgment tools; the decisions and bookings stay in your hands.
- It’s not a listicle farm. No “Top 10 Hidden Gems.” Fewer articles, more depth.
Independence and disclosure
Japan Moves is an independent travel media project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official partner of any airline, railway company, bus operator, hotel chain, delivery company, or tourism authority.
No hidden press trips. No hidden comped stays. If Japan Moves ever works with a partner or is supported for a specific article, I’ll say so clearly in that article. Some articles contain affiliate links; see the Affiliate Disclosure for how those work.
Japan Moves currently provides editorial travel guides and general information. Paid individual route consultation is being prepared for a future phase.
Questions or corrections? Head to the Contact page.