Japan Map Update: 100 New Places, Season Tags and Cleaner Pins
The Japan travel map just had its biggest update yet: 100 new destinations across all nine regions, refreshed coordinates, and best-time tags for every place. The full collection now covers 215 spots, from Shibuya Crossing to Ishigaki Island.
The Japan Map Now Covers 215 Places β Here's What Changed
TL;DR: The Japan map just had its biggest update yet. 100 new destinations have been added across all nine regions β including Okinawa for the first time β bringing the total to 215. Every place now carries a best-time tag so you can match spots to your travel dates, and the location coordinates have been refreshed so pins land exactly where they should.
When I launched the map in May, it was a collection of the lesser-known spots I kept recommending: over a hundred hidden valleys, art islands, and small towns that never make the standard itineraries. That was the point β most Japan guides repeat the same twenty places.
But those twenty famous places are famous for a reason, and a planning tool that skips them is only half useful. So the map now brings both collections together in one place.
What's New
The update adds 100 destinations, taking the full collection to 215 places. Alongside the hidden gems you'll now find the icons:
- Shibuya Crossing and Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo
- Tokyo Tower and teamLab Planets
- Yokohama Minato Mirai 21
- Shuri Castle and the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
- Kabira Bay and Taketomi Island, out on Ishigaki
The map now covers all nine regions β Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa for the first time. If you're building a first-timer route, you can plan the classics and the detours from the same map instead of flipping between guides.
Every Place Now Tells You When to Go
Each location carries a best-time tag, and this update tightened that up across the board. Seasonal spots are tagged by the windows they're actually worth visiting β Spring/Autumn, Winter, Late Winter, Early Spring β while places that don't depend on season are tagged Year-round.
Evening-focused spots get their own tags too: Night, Evening, Sunset. Tokyo after dark and Kyoto's illuminated shrines are a different trip from the daytime version, and the map now reflects that. If your trip is fixed to two weeks in February, filter your shortlist down to what's actually good in February.
Cleaner Coordinates
Location data across the collection has been reviewed and refreshed, so what you see on the map is where you'll actually be standing. When a spot looks good, you can click through to Google Maps for turn-by-turn directions.
Browse by What It's Best For
Every place is categorized, so you can filter the map by what you're in the mood for:
- Art & Culture
- City Views
- Coastal Towns
- Food & Dining
- Gardens
- Hiking & Outdoors
- History & Castles
- Hot Springs
- Nature
- Shrines & Temples
- Wildlife
Between the category filters, region filters, and the best-time tags, the map works as a trip-builder: pick your dates, pick your regions, and work outward from the icons to the quieter places nearby.
What's Next
The collection keeps growing as I research and film new places. If there's a region you want covered in more depth, let me know β the gaps I fill next depend on what people are actually planning.