At the easternmost point of Shikoku’s Kagawa prefecture, the little town of Hiketa retains much of the atmosphere of an old-fashioned fishing port. Although Hiketa merged with two other towns in 2003 to form the city of Higashikagawa, it remains a distinctive community with a wealth of material his...
Nikko is a fairly small city situated at the edge of Nikko National Park. A pilgrimage site for over a thousand years (there may have been a Shinto shrine in the area as early as the 5th century), Nikko’s fate as one of Japan’s most visited towns was sealed when Tokugawa Ieyasu requested on his deat...
During the great Bon Festival, held across Japan in August to honor the spirits of the dead, O-Bon dancing is performed throughout the country. There are many local variants on the dance, but perhaps the best known is Tokushima’s Awa Odori, the “Great Dance of Awa.”
The most widely told story of...
In the Shokawa River Valley northwest of Takayama lies one of Japan’s most iconic sights, the massive thatched farmhouses of Shirakawa-go. The valley regularly experiences some of the heaviest snows in Japan’s main island of Honshu. Largely isolated until after the Second World War, there are thoug...
Located within Hokkaido’s Daisetsuzan National Park, the city of Furano is about as far inland as you can get in Japan. In fact, showing the same civic pluck that drives cities across the country to forge a unique identity, Furano has dubbed itself Heso no Machi, or the Belly Button Town, a name der...
Like so many places in Hokkaido, Japan’s fifth largest city takes its name from the Ainu language. The word Sapporo is the Japanese appropriation of an Ainu place name meaning “large river running through a plain.” For many visitors, expecting a sleepy city far from the heart of things, Sapporo is a...
This large, pleasant park, just west of Ueno Station, was established with an Imperial land grant in 1924. Today, the park is enormously popular with Tokyoites, especially during the spring cherry blossom season. Like most urban parks, it has picnic spaces and walkways, and Shinobazu pond is an annu...
Only about an hour from Tokyo by train, the historic onsen town of Yugawara offers an ideal getaway for travelers looking for a dramatic change of pace. Tucked between Sagami Bay and the Izu-Hakone mountains at the neck of the Izu Peninsula, the town has a large assortment of onsen spas and ryokan ...
Instantly recognizable the world ever, the near-perfect cone of Mt. Fuji, standing astride the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, is both Japan’s tallest mountain and an enduring symbol of the country.
Fujisan (never Fujiyama) is a dormant volcano standing 3,776 meters (12,388 feet) tall...
The oldest known pottery in the world is Japanese, and the craftsmen of Japan have elevated the ceramic arts to a level seldom seen elsewhere. In Kyoto, especially, where the tea ceremony is still a daily presence and elegant cuisine demands a high level of presentation, an appreciation of pottery...
Like Akan ko to the north, Toya ko is a beautiful caldera lake, nearly circular and about ten kilometers across. The lake is graced with four wooded islands, accessible by boat from the hot springs resort town of Toya Ko Onsen. Both the lake and the town are located within the Shikotsu-Toya National...
Visitors to Kawasaki shouldn’t pass up one of Japan’s most interesting museums. Started forty years ago, the Kawasaki Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum preserves more than 25 (they hope to add more) historic buildings moved here from locales across the country. Most of these are houses, representin...
Only twelve of Japan's feudal era castles have survived intact to the present day, and in Matsue you can see the largest of these. Matsue Castle was completed in 1611 for the use of the local lord Horio Yoshiharu. The castle is also called the Plover Castle for its color and proximity to water.
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Most of Onomichi’s temples have a little real estate, but Senkoji, a symbol of the town, clings to the rock like a barnacle. Scarlet-lacquered and by far the most colorful of the temples you’ll pass in Onomichi, the temple is said to date to the year 806.
Senkoji belongs to the Shingon sect, and ...
One of the traditional crafts most closely associated with Kyoto is textile dyeing using the yuzen, or paste resist method. In yuzen dyeing, rice paste is applied to fabrics in whatever pattern is desired. When the cloth is dyed, the areas treated with the paste resist the dye and only untreated are...
