Kamakura
Founded in 1283 by Hojo Morotoki, Jōchi-ji is the fourth of Kamakura’s five great Zen temples. The main gate’s bell, on the second floor of the bell tower…
Must-see attractions in Japan
Tokyo
This wide grassy expanse, in the southeast corner of Kōkyo-gaien, has roughly 2000 immaculately maintained Japanese black pine trees that were planted in…
Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) Memorial Museum
Western Honshū
This memorial museum has displays on the life and work of former Matsue resident Lafcadio Hearn, as well as some of the writer's personal effects –…
Western Honshū
This temple is notable for its simple, stone-dotted Zen garden, Sesshutei, designed by the painter Sesshū. From the garden, a trail leads uphill through…
Ikebukuro Life Safety Learning Center
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
This public safety centre has a room that simulates a real earthquake and it's not for the faint of heart (literally): what you experience is a level…
Tokyo
Housed in a handsome reproduction of the area’s first office building (designed in 1894 by English architect Josiah Conder), this museum showcases…
Matsumoto Open-Air Architectural Museum
Matsumoto
Adjacent to the better-known Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, amid fields and rice paddies beneath the gaze of the Alps, stand these five examples of striking late…
Tokyo
Meaning 'Eyeglass Bridge', this stone bridge from 1888, which can be viewed from the Kōkyo-gaien Plaza, is so nicknamed because its support arches…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
This small gallery on the ground floor of the Tokyo Midtown West Tower is a fascinating look at the history of cameras, from 18th-century camera obscuras…
Ueno & Yanesen
Part of the Tokyo National Museum, this building houses the Japanese Archaeological Gallery, full of pottery, talismans and articles of daily life from…
Kyūshū
This workshop of the Sakaida family (artist name: Kakiemon) is one of Arita's top sights. Now in its 15th generation and featured in its own exhibit at…
Naha
The excellent Tsuboya Pottery Museum houses some fine examples of traditional Okinawan pottery. Here you can also inspect potters' wheels and arayachi …
Harajuku & Aoyama
The asymmetrical, geometric shape of architect Maki Fumihiko's Spiral Building (1985) may not look very sinuous on the outside, but the name will make…
Kansai
Miyama’s star attraction is this hamlet, home to some 50 farmhouses with traditional kayabuki-yane (thatched roofs) in the local Kyoto Kitayama style (a…
Central Honshū
On the grounds of Gifu-kōen is this quirky collection of more than 300,000 beetle, butterfly, moth and other insect specimens. It's the personal…
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ueno & Yanesen
This museum hosts blockbuster shows with art on loan from local and international museums (such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art); you could be…
Northern Honshū (Tōhoku)
This popular manga museum's other-worldly spaceship structure survived the tsunami largely intact, while the collection has since been restored and…
Kanazawa & the Hokuriku Coast
One of the few survivors of the Taira clan, Taira Tokitada was exiled to this region in 1185. His ancestors eventually divided and established separate…
Hiroshima
Mazda is popular for the chance to see the impressive 7km assembly line. English-language tours (90 minutes) are available at 10am weekdays, but it's best…
Kii Peninsula
Inside Oku-no-in and just past Gobyō-bashi is a wooden building the size of a large phone booth, which contains the Miroku-ishi – a stone said to weigh as…
Northern Honshū (Tōhoku)
Halfway up Iimori-yama, Sazae-dō is a weird and wonderful hidden gem in a Buddhist temple complex. Built in 1796 the 16.5m-high hexagonal wooden structure…
Nagasaki
Parallel to Teramachi, the Nakashima-gawa is crossed by a picturesque collection of 17th-century stone bridges. At one time each bridge was the distinct…
Western Honshū
Hagi-yaki (Hagi ceramic ware) is noted for its fine glazes and delicate pastel colours, and connoisseurs of Japanese ceramics rank it as some of the best…
Ginza & Tsukiji
Studio Ghibli's animation director Miyazaki Hayao collaborated with sculptor Kunio Shachimaru on this fantastic, steampunk-style timepiece beside the…
Nagasaki
The best known of several bridges that cross the Nakashima-gawa, the Spectacles Bridge is so called because the reflection of the arches in the water…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
A major exhibition space, smaller art galleries and creative studios now occupy this former high school, which has evolved into a forward-thinking arts…
Iriomote Wildlife Conservation Center
Yaeyama Islands
If you are at all intrigued by the yamaneko (Iriomote's endemic wildcat), whose critically endangered population hovers around 100, it's worth stopping by…
Kansai
On the eastern side of the Tango Peninsula, Ine sits along the beautiful Ine-wan. The village's signature houses, called funaya, are built right over the…
Tokyo
Stately wood panelling surrounds a small collection of traditional Japanese art and artefacts, including ceramics, paintings and nō (stylised dance-drama)…
Tokyo
This metal bridge, built in 1888 and within the grounds of the Imperial Palace, was formerly a wooden bridge with two levels, from which its name (meaning…
Tokyo
The hub of Ningyōchō, Amazake Yokochō is a delightful shopping street lined with age-old businesses, including several good craft shops. It's named after…
Western Honshū
For an oddly fascinating and unique museum experience, visit this 'heartbeat archive' on a small bay near the Karato Port area. There are tens of…
National Film Archive of Japan
Tokyo
Here you'll find an archive of Japanese and foreign films, as well as books, periodicals, posters and other materials. There are daily screenings of…
Ueno & Yanesen
Take a stroll down the causeway leading to the island on which Benten-dō stands. The temple is dedicated to Benzaiten, the Buddhist goddess of the arts,…
Asakusa & Sumida River
Asakusa-jinja was built in honour of the brothers who discovered the Kannon statue that inspired the construction of Sensō-ji. Deep red in colour, the…
Kyūshū
This attractive, lodge-like tourist centre has information, maps, models of the area's wildlife, topography and nature (in easily understandable English)…
Around Tokyo
One of the chief attractions on Takao-san is this temple near Takaosanguchi Station, best known for the Hi-watari Matsuri (Fire-crossing Ceremony), which…
Ueno & Yanesen
Looking like something straight from a woodblock print, this gorgeous pocket park is worth the stroll from the Sendagi end of Yanaka to view its brilliant…
Izu Peninsula
Ten kilometres south of Itō is this dormant rice-bowl volcano, a perfectly smooth, steep-sided grassy mound. Ride the chairlift to the 580m summit where…
Yaeyama Islands
This modest museum has exhibits on the culture and history of the island, which are quite well presented with English explanations. Notable among the more…
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