Best Tour of Japan with Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Andrew Sean Greer

"We arrive at the Hoshinoya Fuji at night, taxiing through village streets to stop at a small outpost in a parking lot where we are shown a wall of colored backpacks and invited to choose one. Then we are taken by shuttle, through the rain, up a hillside to a set of concrete cubes — a kind of James Bond villain’s lair — one of which belongs to us, and to us alone. There is blond wood, a sumptuous bed, a balcony with a gas fireplace, and a heated table with a quilt attached called a kotatsu. A woman from Hokkaido helps us cook a seasonal meal of venison and mushrooms. The next morning, we enjoy a backpack-delivered breakfast with a view that includes a lake and a red maple, though Mount Fuji remains hidden by fog." - Travel + Leisure Editors