On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO - the last great conurbation before the yawning chasm of the Pacific Ocean - is one of the world's most perplexing cities. On the one hand, gaudily hung about with eyeball-searing neon and messy overhead cables, plagued by seemingly incessant noise, often clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic and packed with twelve million people squashed into minute apartments, it can seem like the stereotypical urban nightmare.

Yet behind the barely ordered chaos lie remnants of a very different way of life. Step back from the frenetic main roads and chances are you'll find yourself in a world of tranquil backstreets, where wooden houses are fronted by neatly clipped bonsai trees; wander beyond the high-tech department stores, and you'll find ancient temples and shrines.

In this city of 24-hour shops and vending machines, a festival is held virtually every day of the year, people regularly visit their local shrine or temple and scrupulously observe the passing seasons. And, at the centre of it all, is the mysterious green void of the Imperial Palace - home to the emperor and a tangible link to the past.

In many ways Tokyo is also something of a modern-day utopia. Trains run on time; the crime rate is hardly worth worrying about; shops and vending machines provide everything you could need (and many things you never thought you needed) 24 hours a day; the people wear the coolest fashions, eat in fabulous restaurants and party in the hippest clubs.

It's almost impossible to be bored here and first-time visitors should be prepared for a massive assault on the senses - just walking the streets of this hyperactive city can be an energizing experience. You'll also be surprised how affordable many things are. Cheap-and-cheerful izakaya (bars that serve food) and noodle shacks far outnumber the big-ticket French restaurants and high-class ryotei , where geisha serve minimalist Japanese cuisine, while day-tickets for a sumo tournament or a Kabuki play can be bought for the price of a few drinks.

Many of the city's highlights are even free: a stroll through the evocative Shitamachi (low city) area around Asakusa and the major Buddhist temple Senso-ji ; a visit to the tranquil wooded grounds of Meiji-jingu , the city's most venerable Shinto shrine, and the nearby teenage shopping mecca of Harajuku ; the frenetic fish market at Tsukiji ; the crackling, neon-saturated atmosphere of the mini-city Shinjuku - you don't need to part with lots of cash to explore this city.

The capital of Japan for more than a thousand years, KYOTO is endowed with an almost overwhelming legacy of ancient Buddhist temples, majestic palaces and gardens of every size and description, not to mention some of the country's most important works of art, its richest culture and its most refined cuisine.

For many people the very name Kyoto conjures up the classic image of Japan: streets of traditional wooden houses, the click-clack of geta on the paving stones, geisha in a flourish of brightly coloured silks, and the inevitable weeping cherry. While you can still find all these things, and much more, first impressions of Kyoto are invariably disappointing. For the most part it's a sprawling, overcrowded city with a population of 1.5 million and a thriving industrial sector.

The die-straight streets certainly simplify navigation, but they also give the city an oppressive uniformity which you won't find among the tortuous lanes of Tokyo. And, perhaps not surprisingly, Kyoto is a notoriously exclusive place, where it's difficult for outsiders to peek through the centuries-thick layer of cultural refinement into the city's secretive soul.

However, there's plenty for the short-term visitor to enjoy in Kyoto. In fact, the array of top-class sights is quite mind-boggling: more than 1600 Buddhist temples, hundreds of Shinto shrines, two hundred classified gardens, a clutch of imperial villas and several first-rate museums. With so much choice, the biggest problem is where to start, but it's perfectly possible to get a good feel for Kyoto even in a couple of days.

Top priority should go to the eastern, Higashiyama district, where you can walk from the famous Kiyomizu-dera to Ginkaku-ji , the Silver Pavilion, taking in a whole raft of interesting temples, gardens and museums on the way. Or you could head for the northeastern hills to contemplate the superb Zen gardens of Daitoku-ji and Ryoan-ji , and then gorge on the wildly extravagant Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji . With more time, you can visit some of the central sights, of which the highlight is Nijo-jo , a lavishly decorated seventeenth-century palace, while nearby Nijo-jin'ya is an intriguing place riddled with secret passages and hidey-holes.

Try also to visit at least one of the imperial villas, such as Shugaku-in Rikyu or Katsura Rikyu , or the sensuous moss gardens of Saiho-ji , all located in the outer districts. And it's well worth making time to wander off the beaten track into Kyoto's old merchant quarters. The best of these, surprisingly, are to be found in the central district north of Shijo-dori and across the river in Gion . Here you'll find the traditional crafts shops and beautiful old ryokan for which the city is justly famous.

As the passage into the harbour widened we had our first glimpse of Nagasaki town in the haze of the morning, nestled in a most beautiful inlet at the foot of wooded hills .

Although few visitors these days arrive by boat and the woods are diminished, many would agree with British landscape painter Sir Alfred East, who came here in 1889, that NAGASAKI is one of Japan's more picturesque cities, gathered in the tucks and crevices of steep hills rising from a long, narrow harbour supposedly shaped like a crane in flight.

It's not a particularly ancient city, nor does it possess any absolutely compelling sights. Instead, Nagasaki's appeal lies in its easy-going attitude and an unusually cosmopolitan culture, resulting from over two centuries of contact with foreigners when the rest of Japan was closed to the world, and cemented by its isolation from Tokyo.

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