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More recently, Japan has been facing a new set of problems, including a series of accidents at nuclear reactors. These have forced the government to revise its safety guidelines for the nuclear-power industry. Meanwhile, Japanese automakers have led international efforts to develop and popularise energy-saving vehicles such as hybrid cars.

Since the nation’s largest nuclear-power plant was deactivated following a quake in 2007, fossil fuel use has risen, and overall carbon emissions are expected to have increased in 2009. While businesses are not legally compelled to cut emissions, the government has suggested upping Japan’s solar-power generation capacity 10 times by 2020 and 40 times by 2030. But as the prolonged global recession bites hard into the Japanese economy, environmental initiatives may be put on the back burner.

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Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan pledged to cut emissions by 6% from 1990 levels, but emissions to 2007 rose by 8%. The government lets companies implement voluntary environmental action plans.

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The Onsen

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BEST ONSEN EXPERIENCES

ONSEN ETIQUETTE

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Japan is in hot water. Literally. The stuff percolates up out of the ground from one end of the country to the other. The Japanese word for a hot spring is onsen, and there are more than 3000 of them in the country, more than anywhere else on earth – it’s like Iceland on steroids. So if your idea of relaxation involves spending a few hours soaking away your aches and cares in a tub of bubbling hot water, then you’ve definitely come to the right place.

With so many onsen, it’s hardly surprising that they come in every size, shape and colour. There is an onsen on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. There are onsen high up in the Japan Alps that you can only get to by walking for a full day over high mountain peaks. There are onsen bubbling up among the rocks on the coast that only exist when the tide is just right.

Some Japanese will tell you that the only distinctively Japanese aspect of their culture – that is, something that didn’t ultimately originate in mainland Asia – is the bath. There are accounts of onsen bathing in Japan’s earliest historical records, and it’s pretty certain that the Japanese have been bathing in onsen as long as there have been Japanese.

Over the millennia, they have turned the simple act of bathing in an onsen into something like a religion. And, for the average modern Japanese, making a pilgrimage to a famous onsen is the closest he or she will come to a religious pilgrimage.

Today, the ultimate way to experience an onsen is to visit an onsen ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn with its own private hot-spring bath on the premises. At an onsen ryokan you spend all day enjoying the bath, relaxing in your room and eating sumptuous Japanese food.

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SO CLOSE TO HEAVEN Chris Rowthorn

Takama-ga-hara is a natural sanctuary in the heart of the northern Japan Alps. The name means ‘high heaven plain’ and it’s very apt. Most people take at least two days to walk here from the nearest trailhead. But I had only three days to spend in the mountains, and I wanted to check out the sanctuary and then make it all the way down to Yari-ga-take, a fine peak two days’ walk south of there, so I rushed things a bit.

I climbed from the Oritate trailhead, over Taro-san, and walked down the lovely Yakushi-zawa valley. I made it to Yakushi-koya, a hut located at the bottom of the valley. It was already about 2pm. I asked the hut owner if he thought I could make it to Takama-ga-hara and he looked at me like I was mad. Nonetheless, I set out.

Turns out the hut owner was right. The light was fading and I was completely exhausted as I finally arrived at Takama-ga-hara-koya hut. I could barely walk, but I knew the onsen was only another 20 minutes’ walk into the forest.

I dropped my bag and made my way along the trail in the fading light. Finally, I heard the sound of