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
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
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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.