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
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'A museum without a map': light flowing, merging and being reborn in a borderless space
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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
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Kawaguchiko Lawson photo spot
A convenience store framed with Mount Fuji: the most magical-realist 'Japanese postcard'
Fuji Dream Bridge (Yume no Ōhashi)
Steps that seem to lead straight to Mount Fuji: a road bridge 'to the sky'
Shirakawa-gō Light-Up
Warm lights in a gasshō village on a snowy night: a fairy tale on just four nights a year
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
Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine
An approach of mossy stone lanterns: one step into the otherworld of 'Hotarubi no Mori e'
Chichibugahama Beach
'Japan's Uyuni': a sky mirror on the tidal flats at low tide
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Jigokudani Monkey Park
Snow monkeys in hot springs: the world's only 'monkey spa'
Tadami Line · First Tadami River Bridge
A railway poem of snow country: the postcard view of a train crossing the Tadami River
Blue Pond, Biei
Cobalt-blue water and dead trees: a dreamscape chosen as a Mac wallpaper
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Kouri Island: Heart Rock
The heart-shaped rock of the 'Island of Love' and Kouri blue
Naoshima
An art island in the Seto Inland Sea: Tadao Andō's architecture, Monet's water lilies at the Chichu Art Museum, and light on the sea.