NZ is stunning! Highly recommend going to look at rocks and ride trains over there. I flew into Wellington, caught a train up to Auckland and then drove back to Wellington over a week and a half and was just in constant awe of the country. Did so many typical tourist things and just loved it! I’d never had much interest in going, but have already been back.

However, Japan is also stunning! And fascinating! And like Dumble said, cheaper to be in - food and transport is way less than AU and NZ.