Tourist attractions in Japan: profiles, services and practical information.
The Yamato Museum, the popular name for the Kure Maritime Museum, tells the story of a city that grew around its shipyards and former naval district. Its best-known obje…
View profile →Atami Castle stands above the Nishikigaura cliffs as if guarding the bay, but expectations need adjusting: it is neither a feudal castle nor an original surviving keep.…
View profile →Gassho-mura gathers ten gassho-zukuri houses on a hillside near central Gero, relocated from Shirakawa-go and elsewhere in Hida. Their steep thatched roofs resemble hand…
View profile →Onsenji stands on the hillside above Gero’s hot-spring district. The best-known approach climbs 173 stone steps from the central streets; at the top, the temple grounds…
View profile →Chusonji stands on a wooded slope above Hiraizumi, a town that became a cultural centre of the Northern Fujiwara in the late Heian period. Its origins are linked to the…
View profile →Motsuji offers a different way to read Hiraizumi from Chusonji. Instead of a long cedar-lined climb, the visit unfolds around a pond garden designed to evoke the Buddhis…
View profile →Kasamatsu Park overlooks Amanohashidate from the north side of the bay, near Motoise Kono Shrine and the Ichinomiya pier. Visitors ascend by cable car or chairlift from…
View profile →Amanohashidate View Land sits at the southern end of the sandbar, a few minutes’ walk from Amanohashidate Station. You cannot walk or drive up a road to the summit: admi…
View profile →Iwakuni Castle stands on Mount Shiroyama, across from Kintaikyo Bridge and above the Nishiki River. The feudal lord Kikkawa Hiroie ordered the original fortress in 1608,…
View profile →Kintaikyo crosses the Nishiki River on five wooden arches that seem to rise straight from the water. The city dates the first bridge to 1673; it was rebuilt after a floo…
View profile →Juan Teradaya is near the far end of the approach to Dazaifu Tenmangu, at 4-6-15 Saifu. Its own website identifies the shop as 寿庵寺田 and publishes access, hours and conta…
View profile →Kasanoya stands midway along Tenjin-sama-dori, the shopping street that guides visitors from Dazaifu Station to the shrine. The prefecture dates the business to 1922, wh…
View profile →Kii-Tanabe is a rail gateway to the Kii Peninsula and the pilgrimage routes of the Kumano Kodo. From this Kisei Line station, buses connect to Takijiri-oji, Hongu and th…
View profile →Kumano Hongu Taisha stands on a wooded ridge surrounded by cedar and cypress, at the top of a long stone staircase. It is one of the Kumano Sanzan, the Three Grand Shrin…
View profile →Perry Road follows a stream and links central Shimoda with Ryosenji. Across roughly 400 metres, cobblestones, willows and namako façades—dark walls crossed by white latt…
View profile →Ryosenji is connected with a decisive moment in Shimoda’s history. After the 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa opened Japanese ports to the United States, representatives from bot…
View profile →Himeji Castle announces itself from a distance: the white keep crowns the avenue linking the station with the historic centre. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, th…
View profile →Koko-en opened in 1992 on grounds connected with the former western residence of Himeji Castle, as part of the modern city’s centenary. Rather than one large park, it br…
View profile →Tsumago-juku lies beneath the Kiso Mountains in Nagiso, Nagano Prefecture. Its main street gathers wooden houses, former inns and historic buildings on a quieter scale t…
View profile →Aoyagi Samurai House lets visitors read the hierarchy of old Kakunodate through the gates, gardens and buildings of a samurai residence. The main house stands within a b…
View profile →On the northern stretch of Bukeyashiki-dori, behind a black fence and a gabled gate, Ishiguro-ke offers a more intimate visit than the neighbourhood’s larger museum comp…
View profile →Magome-juku climbs a hillside in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, making the geography of historic travel tangible: walkers moved slowly among inns, workshops and resting p…
View profile →Yoyogi Park offers an unusually large pause in central Tokyo. Its 54.4 hectares include lawns for sitting, paths beneath trees and open plazas, with Harajuku and Meiji J…
View profile →Approaching from Harajuku, the pace changes within a few steps: after the large torii gate, the avenue fades and a broad path begins beneath tall trees. Meiji Jingu was…
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