Bloom time.

THERE is something uniquely spiritual and otherworldly about Japan, and it hits you the minute you step off the plane: a Zen garden awaits in arrivals at Tokyo''s Narita airport. Encased in a glass shell, and so unassuming you would miss it if you hurried past, lies a carpet of carefully raked gravel and delicate foliage, designed to soothe the weary traveller.

Unlike other airports, Narita doesn''t feel hectic. There are people heading in all directions, but it''s a very ordered bustle. And this is also true of Tokyo.

From Shinjuku, the city''s skyscraper district, to the trendy shopping streets of Shibuya, you rarely feel harried as you might in London or New York. With its towering neon signs and hi-tech industries lying side-by-side with rice fields and ancient temples, Japan has long fascinated tourists.

Part of its charm is bound up in the Zen Buddhist philosophy of "Ichi go, ichi e", which means "One chance, one meeting". It''s the spirit of the tea ceremony: as we have only fleeting encounters with others as they pass through life, those moments we spend together must be exquisite.

And this is the spirit in which I am welcomed. My host for the next few days, the soy sauce giant Kikkoman, is celebrating its 30th anniversary of trading in Europe with a tour for 30 guests.

The trip has been carefully timed to coincide with cherry blossom season in early April, and from the bus our guide Akiko gleefully points out the trees that are 80% in bloom. To the Japanese, the cherry blossom, like the seasons, represents the transience of life and should be celebrated as long as it''s there.

Our first taste of Japan is an evening of shabu-shabu at Seryna, a traditional restaurant tucked beneath Tiffany''s in Tokyo''s chic shopping district Ginza.

Shabu-shabu, which describes the sound raw beef makes as you waft it through boiling water to cook it, is an event in itself. Like many Japanese meals, it''s very hands-on and requires good chopstick control as you cook a thin slice of beef and then dip it in sauce.

Before dawn next morning we head to Tsukiji fish market, arriving just in time to catch the tuna auction. It''s a crazy place, with hundreds of mini trucks zooming around a network of some 1,700 tiny stalls. The auction is held in the market''s inner sanctum, where row upon row of enormous whole frozen tunas sell for as much as pounds 90 a kilo.

Later, we drive past the vast landscaped grounds of the Imperial Palace to Senso-ji, Tokyo''s most sacred temple with its iconic huge red lantern hung beneath the entrance gate. In AD 628, so the tale goes, two fishermen fished a small gold statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, from Tokyo''s Sumida river, and the temple was built to enshrine it.

Dinner that evening at the Michelinstarred Sens et Saveurs restaurant on the 35th floor of Tokyo''s Marunouchi Building gives us a view over the ancient Imperial Palace grounds. Built in 1590, the white palace is protected by moats and connected to the city by elegant bridges.

The next day we head to the hillside hot spring resort of Hakone, via the pretty seaside town of Kamakura. Here we gaze at the Daibutsu (Great Buddha), a 13mhigh seated bronze statue cast in 1252.

Hakone sprawls across the collapsed remains of a huge volcano, which has left a legacy of hot springs and steam vents. We take a boat trip across Lake Ashi and a cable car takes us up a hill to Owakudani, where sulphurous steam vents belch out of the ground. Here, you can try the local speciality: eggs boiled in the bubbling springs until their shells turn black from the minerals.

Arriving at The Prince Hotel on the lake''s edge, we brave the rain to indulge in the onsen (hot spring). It''s a soothing end to a busy day.

Next morning the sun comes out and we glimpse ice-capped Mount Fuji in all its glory. There''s time for a photo shoot before we''re whisked off to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto.

There, a Buddhist monk gives us a guided tour of Kinkakuji, the temple of the golden pavilion, and then we visit Kiyomizudera, a wooden temple perched on stilts overlooking the city.

At the Kobu Kaburenjo theatre in Gion we are treated to a tea ceremony, matcha green tea with a sweet bean-paste bun. And then 30 maiko and geiko take to the stage in a flourish of multi-coloured kimonos for the annual Miyako-odori.

After several graceful dances depicting the seasons we file out into Maruyama Park, where the cherry blossom parties are in full swing. As families gather under the trees, sharing gossip and bottles of sake with strangers, it''s clear this is the real Japan.

Ginza district in Tokyo (above), cherry blossom in bloom on one of the city's lakes (below left) and Kinkakuji temple, Kyoto (below right)

TRAVEL INFORMATION . Inside Japan (0870 120 5600, insidejapantours.com) seven-night B& B package from pounds 600 - three nights in Tokyo, one in traditional accommodation with hot spring baths in Hakone National Park, and three in Kyoto.

Flights extra