Autumn colours were just starting to turn during our Kyoto stop, making Fushimi Inari's vermillion gates look even more striking against the reds and golds. My husband and I walked the whole trail hand in hand and it remains our favourite memory from twelve nights in Japan.

Both Kinkaku-ji and Fushimi Inari were the two stops that stayed with us longest, quietly spectacular in completely different ways. Only wish the Osaka leg had a little more breathing room since Dotonbori and the surrounding food streets deserved more than the single evening we had.

Moving between Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo across twelve nights gave this couple's trip a really nice rhythm of history, food and modern city buzz. Dotonbori was more crowded than we anticipated on a Saturday evening, which made it hard to properly enjoy the street food stalls.

Miyajima's floating torii gate lived up to the hype completely and the Fushimi Inari walk was as spiritual as promised. That said, Dotonbori on our visit was so packed with tourists that simply moving through the street took real effort, and one of our transfers between cities ran nearly two hours behind schedule.

Twelve nights across four cities gave my partner and me reason after reason to fall harder for Japan.

Miyajima's floating gate and the Fushimi Inari walk were as spiritual as promised, but the ferry across to Miyajima ran late and packed, eating into our time on the island.