Tourist attractions in Japan: profiles, services and practical information.
The approach to Aoshima begins before the shrine: a pedestrian bridge links the coast to an island only about 1.5 kilometres around, ringed by ridged rock formations the…
View profile →A short walk from the sea, the botanical garden adds another landscape to an Aoshima visit: palms, warm-climate flowers and glasshouses with tropical fruit trees. Admiss…
View profile →Fushimi Inari Taisha is not simply a photogenic corridor but a mountain shrine whose official history dates to 711. It is the head shrine of a network of around 30,000 I…
View profile →Tōfuku-ji was conceived by regent Kujō Michiie, who took the characters for “east” and “fortune” from Nara’s great temples Tōdai-ji and Kōfuku-ji. Construction began in…
View profile →Amaterasu Railway turns part of a disused railway into a short scenic experience. Its open-air Super Cart covers about five kilometres on a roughly 30-minute round trip,…
View profile →A boat lets visitors look up at a geological formation that appears from the trail as a corridor of rock. The Gokase River cut through volcanic deposits associated with…
View profile →Sasanuma Goro Shoten, home of Mito Tengu Natto, is a direct-sales shop from a natto maker founded in Mito in 1889. Its second floor houses the Natto Museum, known in Jap…
View profile →Arita Será brings together about 22 porcelain specialists on a hillside in Arita, across roughly 66,000 square metres. It is neither a museum nor a single shop but a ded…
View profile →Arita is one of the key places for understanding the beginnings of Japanese porcelain. The local tourism association describes a tradition of more than four centuries an…
View profile →Founded by Zen master Dōgen in 1244, Eiheiji remains a Sōtō training monastery rather than a museum set. The visitor route passes through seven essential buildings linke…
View profile →Beside the dunes, The Sand Museum turns sand into temporary architecture. Each season brings together scenes and landmarks from a country or region; the current, 17th ex…
View profile →Before climbing the dunes, this centre offers a useful pause to understand the landscape. Its displays explain topography, geology, plants and wildlife, and the relation…
View profile →*Masuzushi*—pressed trout or cherry salmon with vinegared rice, traditionally wrapped in bamboo leaves—is one of the flavours Toyama turned into a travel companion: its…
View profile →At Shoningahama, the walk leaves Beppu’s centre behind and opens onto a coast where geothermal heat is part of the landscape. The former municipal beach sand bath was re…
View profile →Onomichi makes more sense when you account for its slopes: the station and channel lie below, while Senkoji Temple, other shrines and old houses cling to the hillside. T…
View profile →In central Beppu, Takegawara Onsen retains the scale of a neighbourhood bathhouse and a façade that seems to belong to another era. The establishment dates to 1879; its…
View profile →About 100 metres from the Honkan, Asuka-no-Yu offers a different way to experience Dōgo Onsen. Rather than imitate an old bathhouse, it reinterprets the past through loc…
View profile →The Honkan is the best-known face of Dōgo’s hot-spring district, but its importance goes beyond the timber-and-tile façade. Designated an Important Cultural Property of…
View profile →Taihoan is a municipal tea house opposite Byodoin, beside the Uji River. Its sukiya-style architecture and combination of tatami and table seating make the tea ceremony…
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