Tokyo to Seward (Anchorage

Lights, sushi, manga! Sprawling, frenetic, and endlessly fascinating, Japan’s capital is a city of contrasts. Shrines and gardens are pockets of calm between famously crowded streets and soaring office buildings. Mom-and-pop noodle houses share street space with Western-style chain restaurants and exquisite fine dining. Shopping yields lovely folk arts as well as the newest electronics. And nightlife kicks off with karaoke or sake and continues with techno clubs and more. Whether you seek the traditional or the cutting edge, Tokyo will provide it.

Dense and delightful, there’s nowhere else like Japan’s kinetic capital - a city where ancient traditions blend seamlessly with a relentless pursuit for the future’s sharpest edge. See the city from above, as elevators rocket you up to towering viewing platforms, from which you can survey a vast urban ocean, interspersed with sky-scraping needles. Look out as far as the distant loom of Mount Fuji’s cone on clear days. Futuristic – second-accurate - transport seamlessly links Tokyo’s 14 districts, while the glow of flashing advertisement boards, clanks of arcade machines, and waves of humanity flowing along its streets, adds to the sense of mesmerising, dizzying and glorious sensory overload. One of Tokyo’s most iconic sights, don’t miss the flood of people scrambling to cross Shibuya’s famous intersection. Join the choreographed dance, as crowds of briefcase-carrying commuters are given the green light to cross at the same time – bathed in the light of massive neon advertisements. The culture is immensely rich and deep, with 7th-century, lantern-decorated temples, stunning palaces and tranquil scarlet shrines waiting below cloaks of incense and nestling between soaring skyscrapers. Restaurants serve up precisely prepared sushi, and wafer-thin seafood slivers, offering a unique taste of the country’s refined cuisine. Settle into traditional teahouses, to witness intricate ceremonies, or join the locals as they fill out karaoke bars to sing the night away. In the spring, cherry blossom paints a delicate pink sheen over the city’s innumerable parks and gardens.

Aomori's main event is its Nebuta Matsuri Festival,held August 2 to 7. People come to see illuminated floats of gigantic samurai figures paraded through the streets at night. Aomori's festival is one of Japan's largest, and is said to celebrate the euphoria of post-battle victory, and is thus encouraged to be noisier and livelier than you may have been exposed to in other Japanese festivals. Dancers, called heneto, run alongside the floats, dancing crazily, and you're encouraged to join in. Throughout the year you can enjoy delicious seafood from Aomori Bay, including Oma no Maguro (tuna of Oma), as well as delicious fruits and vegetables (particularly garlic). And come every summer, the town cuts loose to throw the decidedly wild Nebuta Matsuri festival, a frenzied, utterly unaccountable period when normal gets thrown to the wind.

From fiery festivals to spectacular mountain scenery soaring temples to castles surrounded by cherry blossom blooms Aomori is one of Japan’s most enchanting destinations. While there are gorgeous pink tinted parks tiered castles and towering Buddha statues to explore the Aomori Prefecture’s capital is perhaps best known for the summer festival of fire that lights it up each year. Lavish illuminated floats fill the streets during Nebuta Matsuri festival as dancing locals wave flickering lanterns through the night sky - and drummers pound out pulsating rhythms. Nebuta Matsuri has a euphoric and energetic atmosphere which makes it stand out as an unmissable experience compared with some of Japan’s more restrained festivals. At other times of the year places like the stunning Hirosaki Castle bloom with rose-pink cherry blossom as spring’s sunshine clears away winter’s plentiful snowfall. Extraordinary prehistoric Jomon period history is waiting to be unearthed at the living archaeological site Sannai-Maruyama Ruins. Or the untouched wilderness of UNESCO World Heritage Site Shirakami Sanchi is within reach. This sprawling mass of beech trees covers a third of the Shirakami mountain range and the dense forestry once blanketed the majority of northern Japan’s land. Visit to scratch the surface of this untamed landscape’s beauty and see sprawling waterfalls cascading down mountainsides in a beautiful off-bounds landscape where black bears roam freely.

Facing out on two bays, Hakodate is a 19th-century port town, with clapboard buildings on sloping streets, a dockside tourist zone, streetcars, and fresh fish on every menu. In the downtown historic quarter, a mountain rises 1,100 feet above the city on the southern point of the narrow peninsula. Russians, Americans, Chinese, and Europeans have all left their mark; this was one of the first three Japanese ports the Meiji government opened up to international trade in 1859. The main sights around the foot of Mt. Hakodate can be done in a day, but the city is best appreciated with an overnight stay for the illumination in the historic area, the night views from either the mountain or the fort tower, and the fish market at dawn. City transport is easy to navigate and English information is readily available. Evening departure trains from Tokyo arrive here at dawn—perfect for fish-market breakfasts.

Gaze down over Hakodate, from the heights of its namesake peak - Mount Hakodate - to see the city stretching out spectacularly, with back-to-back twin bays splitting the ocean. Hakodate port was one of the first to open Japan up to the world, and to international trade in 1859 - a fact reflected in the architecture, with its influences from the West and beyond. The port area is a redbrick wash of warehouses turned shopping malls, all observed by the onion domes of the city's Russian Orthodox church. Elsewhere, the star-shaped Goryokaku fortress glows with natural colours and a beautiful haze of cherry blossom during the season. Goryokaku Tower, which rises up beside it, offers a sweeping bird's eye view of the green fortress and mountain backdrop. Buses trundle up the 335-metre incline to the top of Mount Hakodate, but the best way to reach the views is to jump on the ropeway, which swings high above downtown's buildings, over a carpet of pine trees. Head up to the mountain's heights as sunset approaches. With darkness sweeping in, and the lights flickering to life, the panorama is one of Japan's most spectacular. Soak it all in, and look out to the horizon, dotted with the shimmering lights of ships hauling in harvests of the city's renowned squid. The plankton-rich waters attract a delicious variety of feasting sea life to Hakodate's coast, which is then plated up in the city's numerous, skilled restaurants. For an eye-opening, whirring morning, see the freshest produce being doled out at Hakodate Morning Market – amid a cacophony of noise and activity.

Today, commercial fishing is king in Kodiak. Despite its small population—about 6,475 people scattered among the several islands in the Kodiak group—the city is among the busiest fishing ports in the United States. The harbor is also an important supply point for small communities on the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula.Visitors to the island tend to follow one of two agendas: either immediately fly out to a remote lodge for fishing, kayaking, or bear viewing; or stay in town and access whatever pursuits they can reach from the limited road system. If the former is too pricey an option, consider combining the two: drive the road system to see what can be seen inexpensively, then add a fly-out or charter-boat excursion to a remote lodge or wilderness access point.Floatplane and boat charters are available from Kodiak to many remote attractions, chief among them the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge , which covers four islands in the Gulf of Alaska: Kodiak, Afognak, Ban, and Uganik.

The domain of grizzlies, brown and black bears, Kodiak Island is a raw, wild, and utterly authentic Alaskan wilderness. The Emerald Isle is the USA's second-largest island, and with a wilderness stretching out over 3,670 square miles, it's a thrilling voyage into the Alaskan unknown. The weather may get a little cloudy at times, but the locals actively welcome a covering of cloud – perhaps partly because the clouds and fog are said to have deterred Japanese attacks during World War II's hostilities. Be sure to bring your camera with you; it's nigh on impossible to take a bad photo of these irresistible vistas - and you'll quickly see why Kodiak Island is the destination of choice for wildlife documentary producers. Cinematic setpieces regularly play out, as eagles soar over expansive sweeps of fir-tree forested mountains and still lakes, releasing occasional piercing calls. Some of the animal kingdom's most feared and revered creatures call Kodiak Island home, and your first sight of a bear reaching a massive paw into the water, or treading through a gently burbling stream, will live with you forever. Soar in a seaplane to track the bears with an expert guide. Masters of disguise, it often takes a trained eye to spot the bears in their natural habitats. Brush up on the skills you'll need in advance, with a read of our bear watching blog. [Insert blog: 7 tips for bear watching in Alaska]. The waters of Kodiak Island are also home to some of the world's most productive fishing. Try out your own skills, or accompany a seafaring fishing vessel, to witness life on the waves first-hand, as they plunder the depths of the ocean.

It is hard to believe that a place as beautiful as Seward exists. Surrounded on all sides by Kenai Fjords National Park, Chugach National Forest, and Resurrection Bay, Seward offers all the quaint realities of a small railroad town with the bonus of jaw-dropping scenery. This little town of about 2,750 citizens was founded in 1903, when survey crews arrived at the ice-free port and began planning a railroad to the Interior. Since its inception, Seward has relied heavily on tourism and commercial fishing. It is also the launching point for excursions into Kenai Fjords National Park, where it is quite common to see marine life and calving glaciers.

Monumental scenery surrounds you in this remote corner of the world, where glaciers calve and whales cruise through inky waters, before an immense mountain backdrop. Almost totally submerged by the colossal landscapes around it, Seward - and the wonders of Kenai Fjords National Park - offer some of astonishing Alaska's most thrilling scenery. Located in a deep gash in the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is a place to immerse yourself in nature's majesty. Fjords carve into the landscape, while the Harding Icefield - which caps Kenai Fjords National Park - reaches out its icy fingers, with glaciers spilling down between mountain peaks. Head to Holgate Glacier, to come face to face with a breathtaking stack of intense blue and white ice. Get up close in a kayak or boat ride, to slalom through the discarded confetti of ice chunks, and perhaps even witness the powerful spectacle of an ice ledge creaking and groaning, before plunging to the waters below. The city of Anchorage is easily within reach from here, offering an incongruous contrast to the wild wonders of Alaska. A place where deep-sea fishermen bump shoulders with businesspeople on the 9-5, it's a fascinating, remote city. Home to almost half of the Alaskan population, Anchorage and its humble skyline is dwarfed by the snowy peaks of the wilderness beyond. Don’t miss the opportunity to immerse yourself in the unique culture, traditions and heritage of the First Nation people of these lands too.