Japan · Areas
Kansai
The Kinki region of Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. Temples and shrines of the ancient capitals sit beside everyday street food, and the region reaches south to the mountain faith of Kumano and Koyasan and east to Ise Jingu.
Prefectures · Mie · Shiga · Kyoto · Osaka · Hyogo · Nara · Wakayama
City guides
Start with a city
Every city guide has a timeline, stories of local figures, must-see sights, festivals and local etiquette.
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京都 Kyoto
Kyoto
9 places
An imperial capital for over a thousand years: temples, machiya and festivals are the best textbook on Japan
大阪 Osaka
Osaka
7 places
City of merchants and 'Japan's kitchen': eating, shopping and laughing are louder here than anywhere
奈良 Nara
Nara
2 places
Japan's first permanent capital: the Great Buddha, sacred deer and the end of the Silk Road
Places to explore
Kansai
Yoshino Town, Nara PrefectureMount YoshinoAbout 30,000 cherry trees bloom in sequence up the ridge from Shimo-Senbon to Oku-Senbon; "a thousand trees at a glance" means watching not one tree but a whole mountain dye itself from white to pink.
Shirahama Town, Wakayama PrefectureShirahama Onsen and SenjojikiOne of Japan's three ancient hot springs, with a 1,300-year history; after your bath, walk over to watch the sunset over the Pacific from Senjojiki, a rock platform eroded by the sea 18 million years ago.
Wakayama City, Wakayama PrefectureWakayama CastleThe seat of the Kishu Tokugawa, one of the Tokugawa's three collateral houses (Gosanke); the white-walled keep stands on Mount Torafusu, and the 8th shogun, Yoshimune, walked from here into Edo.
Dōtonbori
Under the neon of the Glico Running Man: the ultimate food battlefield for 'eating yourself bankrupt in Osaka'
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Nara Park
An ancient capital where 1,200 sacred deer roam: the thousand-year Heijō-kyō guarded by deer and the Great Buddha
Himeji Castle
'White Heron Castle', spreading its wings: Japan's first castle to become a World Cultural Heritage Site
Ine Funaya boathouses
'Japan's most beautiful village': Kyoto by the sea, with boats on the ground floor and homes above
Amanohashidate
'A dragon soaring to heaven' seen between your legs: the sandbar wonder of one of Japan's three great views
Tamaki Shrine
'You can't get there unless the gods call you': an ancient World Heritage shrine above a sea of clouds
Kiyomizu-dera
The courage of 'jumping off the stage at Kiyomizu', where the ancient capital looks back over a thousand years
Universal Studios Japan
Asia's first Universal Studios, an adrenaline park where 'movies meet games'. Super Nintendo World (a world first in 2021, expanded with 'Donkey…
Mount Kōya (Kōyasan)
The sacred home of Shingon esoteric Buddhism founded by Kōbō Daishi Kūkai: the whole mountain is a temple, and nights in temple lodgings and the…
Kinkaku-ji
A three-storey pavilion clad in gold leaf, a Pure Land reflected in the Mirror Pond
Kumano Nachi Taisha
A site of primal faith where the waterfall itself is the divine body: Japan's highest single-drop waterfall at 133 m, framed with a vermilion th…
Hanamikōji, Gion
A stone-paved geisha district where geiko and maiko brush past, the 'miyabi' (refined elegance) in the glow of machiya lanterns asks every trave…
Nishiki Market
Four hundred years as 'Kyoto's Kitchen': 390 m of arcade packed with Kyoto vegetables, tamagoyaki and the calls of old shops — a living museum o…
Fushimi Inari Taisha
A vermilion tunnel woven from ten thousand torii: the god of commerce, guarded by fox messengers
Yodogawa Fireworks
October 17, 2026
Kansai's most popular water-city fireworks, reflected in the Yodo River; in recent years it has moved to autumn.
Tenjin Matsuri dedication fireworks
July 25, 2026
The climax of Tenjin Matsuri, one of Japan's three great festivals: about 100 boats parade on the Ōkawa while about 3,000 offering fireworks lig…
Ise Jingū Hōnō National Fireworks Festival
July 18, 2026
Japan's only competitive fireworks display offered to Ise Jingū, with about 50 selected fireworks makers from across the country competing on th…
Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
A 'tunnel of light' with sun filtering through the bamboo, its rustling chosen among the '100 Soundscapes of Japan'
Kyoto Gion Matsuri
July 1 – 31, 2026
First among Japan's three great festivals: Yasaka Shrine's festival, going back more than 1,150 years, sees 33 yamahoko floats — 'mobile art mus…
Osaka Tenjin Matsuri
July 24 – 25, 2026
One of Japan's three great festivals, the thousand-year-old festival of Osaka Tenmangū: the 'rikutogyo' land procession by day, about 100 boats …
Osaka Castle
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 'castle of the realm': Sengoku drama beneath roofs with golden shachi
Fukuchiyama Castle
Naiki area, Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture, now Fukuchiyama Castle Park; a hill castle whose present keep, rebuilt in 1986, houses a local h…
Arioka Castle Ruins
Central Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture, now Arioka Castle Ruins Park; Arioka Castle, also called Itami Castle, is a flatland ruin with surviving s…
Hikone Castle
Mount Hikone, Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa; a flatland-hill castle, one of Japan's twelve castles with a sur…
Mount Hiei Enryaku-ji Temple (Otsu)
Sakamoto, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, on Mount Hiei, with the temple site on the Shiga side (the mountain straddles Shiga and Kyoto); divided i…
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Osaka takoyaki
Invented by an Osaka street vendor in 1935, it became synonymous with the 'city of flour foods'.
Kyoto kaiseki
From the simple meal of the tea ceremony to the pinnacle of Japanese cuisine, devoted to the seasons and to tableware.
Nijō Castle
The Tokugawa shogunate's base in Kyoto: the Edo shogunate began here, and ended here.
Tōdai-ji
The Great Buddha cast with the resources of a whole nation by Emperor Shōmu: the world's largest bronze Vairocana, seated in a huge wooden hall.
Ise Grand Shrine
Japan's foremost shrine, dedicated to Amaterasu: cross the Uji Bridge into two thousand years of forest and prayer.