JAPAN
Japan
From Kyoto’s thousand-year-old festivals to Hokkaido’s flower fields, discover the Japanese respect for manners, seasons and the gods.
City guides
Start with a city
Every city guide has a timeline, stories of local figures, must-see sights, festivals and local etiquette.
東京 Tokyo
Tokyo
11 places
From the fishing village of Edo to a world city: old temples, neon and working-class shitamachi in one city
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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
鎌倉 Kamakura
Kamakura
4 places
The first samurai capital: the Great Buddha, old temples and the Shōnan coast
広島 Hiroshima
Hiroshima
4 places
A city of peace reborn from ruins, and Miyajima out at sea
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福岡 Fukuoka
Fukuoka
4 places
A thousand-year-old port facing Asia: yatai, tonkotsu ramen and the god of learning
長崎 Nagasaki
Nagasaki
3 places
Japan's only window on the West during national seclusion: Dejima, churches and prayers for peace
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金沢 Kanazawa
Kanazawa
2 places
Castle town of the million-koku Kaga domain: a famous garden, teahouse districts and gold leaf
札幌 Sapporo
Sapporo
2 places
A northern new town laid out on Kyoto's grid: the Snow Festival, beer and miso ramen
仙台 Sendai
Sendai
2 places
The 'City of Trees' built by the One-Eyed Dragon, Date Masamune
函館 Hakodate
Hakodate
1 places
One of Japan's first open ports: Western-style slopes, a star fort and a million-dollar night view
Sensō-ji
Beneath the great lantern of the Kaminarimon: where Edo charm meets Tokyo's everyday bustle
teamLab Borderless Azabudai
'A museum without a map': light flowing, merging and being reborn in a borderless space
Shibuya Crossing
Three thousand people cross on a single green light: urban performance art at the world's busiest crossing
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Kamakura-Kōkōmae Station crossing
Straight out of the 'Slam Dunk' opening: a three-panel manga of train, sea, sky and level crossing
Kawagoe 'Little Edo'
'Little Edo, thirty ri away': a kimono stroll through kura-style streets and the Bell of Time
Edo Wonderland Nikkō Edomura
Back to Edo: a day's 'costume life' as a ninja, oiran or samurai
Meiji Jingū
A 700,000-m² 'urban forest' in the middle of the city, a tranquil sanctuary of Shinto culture
Tokyo Tower
The 333-m 'red tower of Shōwa', an undying romantic beacon for generations of Japanese
Akihabara Electric Town
An 'Electric Town' that 'changed careers' from post-war electrical black market to otaku mecca — the spiritual homeland of anime and manga devot…
Yokohama Chinatown
With more than 160 years of history, the largest Chinatown in Japan and Asia, where ten gates hold up a 'little China'. Chinese compradors who c…
Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse
Bonded warehouses from the end of the Meiji era reborn as Minato Mirai's most romantic cultural and shopping landmark. Two red-brick buildings s…
Great Buddha of Kamakura
A giant bronze Buddha that has sat in the open air for more than 700 years — the second-largest Buddha statue in Japan. 11.3 m tall and weighing…
Hase-dera, Kamakura
A 'temple of flowers' facing Sagami Bay, enshrining a 9.18-m Eleven-Headed Kannon. In early summer more than 40 varieties of hydrangea cascade d…
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Enoshima
A sacred island in Sagami Bay, born of the legend of 'the heavenly maiden and the five-headed dragon', with shrines, gardens, a lighthouse, cave…
Ameyoko, Ueno
A downtown Tokyo 'bazaar' that grew out of the post-war black market: 400 shops squeezed under the elevated railway make a street-life symphony.…
Tokyo Disney Resort
Asia's first Disney resort: the classic fairy tales of the 'Land' and the globally unique romance of the 'Sea', with just a wall between them. T…
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Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival
July 25, 2026
Japan's oldest fireworks festival, with about 300 years of history on the river in old Edo: about 20,000 shells light up the night sky over Asak…
Tsuchiura National Fireworks Competition
November 7, 2026
The only one of Japan's three great fireworks competitions held in one of the three big metropolitan areas — an autumn contest where about 800,0…
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Edomae sushi
Today's nigiri sushi began as Edo's street 'fast food'.
East Gardens of the Imperial Palace (site of Edo Castle)
Edo Castle, built by Ōta Dōkan in 1457, later became the residence of the Tokugawa shoguns; today the Honmaru area is open free as a garden.
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Hakone
A natural barrier on the Tōkaidō: the torii in Lake Ashi, the Edo checkpoint, and Mount Fuji when the sky is clear.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū
Where Tokugawa Ieyasu rests: the dazzling Yōmeimon gate, the Sleeping Cat and the Three Wise Monkeys, hidden in a forest of towering cedars.
Kanda Matsuri
One of Edo's three great festivals: a day-long procession of the hōren and mikoshi through Kanda, Nihonbashi and Akihabara, then a weekend of ne…