For every couple like Slover and Featherstone, there are those who came to the destination slightly less pointedly—yet, after winnowing their choices down, Japan took the cake.
“We didn’t want a traditional honeymoon, so before we decided on Japan, we were also considering far-flung destinations that have cultural aspects beyond the beach like Madagascar, Fiji, Oman, and Zambia,” says Lindsay Stein, a travel writer and director of media relations at The Decker/Royal Agency. Her honeymoon trip, which spanned 10 days in Tokyo and Kyoto during cherry-blossom season last April, ended up being exactly that. Between nights at Hoshinoya hotels and Garrya Nijo Castle in Kyoto (where they say the hotels were a highlight), they tapped into every cultural touchstone in different districts of the two cities: Tokyo’s Akihabara (also known as ‘electric town’, “it felt like we were in a video game”) and Harajuku neighborhoods, plus the izakaya-filled Golden Gai; then Kyoto’s Gion Higashiyama geisha district and Nishiki market.
“I was super surprised by the amount of people messaging me during my honeymoon to tell me they were also doing a Japan honeymoon this year,” says Stein. “Social media likely plays a big role in this.” (For the record, her feed has been filled with TikToks about reasons to visit Japan this year.)
The more intimate version of that has been a whole lot of word of mouth, expanding exponentially as more travelers follow the trend. Japan-for-your-honeymoon is going through a major game of telephone, which was part of what inspired Ashley Phillips Aghajanian, an attorney in Los Angeles (whom I went to college with). “My sister and her husband also did their honeymoon in Japan, so our decision was slightly influenced by how much they enjoyed their trip,” says Phillips Aghajanian.
She and her husband Mark ultimately chose Japan over other contenders like an African safari, Italy, and France. They spent four days in Tokyo and three in Kyoto last November, with a hit of beach time via a stopover in Hawaii en route from the West Coast. They bedded down at the Hoshinoya in Tokyo, then the Kanamean Nishitomiya Ryokan in Kyoto. Glitzy bars in Ginza, lunch at Gyukatsa Motomura, and the Hunter X Hunter exhibit at the Mori Art Museum (the manga series if the couples’ favorite TV show) convinced Phillips Aghajanian. “More people should look into Japan as a honeymoon destination,” she says.
Doing it right
With so much to offer, pinning down the exact route and flavor of a Japan honeymoon is an art—but travel specialists like Zuleta and deBell have learned a thing or two from the diversity of clients they’ve worked with.
