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TOP DESTINATION IN JAPAN
Tokyo Disneyland is a 115-acre (47 ha) theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu Chiba, Japan. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside the United States, and it opened on 15 April 1983. The park was constructed by Walt Disney Engineering in the same style as Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. It is owned by The Oriental Land Company, which licenses the theme from The Walt Disney Company. Tokyo Disneyland and its companion park, Tokyo Disney Sea, are the only Disney parks not wholly owned directly by the Company. The park has seven themed areas: the World Bazaar; the four classic Disney lands: Adventure land, Western land, Fantasy land and Tomorrow land; and two mini-lands: Critter Country and Mickey's Toontown. Many of the games and rides in these areas mirror those in the original Disneyland as they are based on American Disney films and fantasies. Fantasy land includes Flight, Snow, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, based on classic Disney films and characters. The park is noted for its extensive open spaces, to accommodate the large crowds that visit the park. In 2013, Tokyo Disneyland hosted 17.2 million visitors, making it the world's second-most visited theme park behind the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.
Odaiba is a popular shopping and entertainment district on a manmade island in Tokyo Bay. It originated as a set of small man made fort islands (daiba literally means "fort"), which were built towards the end of the Edo Period (1603-1868) to protect Tokyo against possible attacks from the sea and specifically in response to the gunboat diplomacy of Commodore Perry. More than a century later, the small islands were joined into larger islands by massive landfills, and Tokyo began a spectacular development project aimed to turn the islands into a futuristic residential and business district during the extravagant 1980s. But development was critically slowed after the burst of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s, leaving Odaiba nearly vacant. It was not until the second half of the 1990s, when several hotels, shopping malls and the Yurikamome elevated train line were opened, that Odaiba developed into one of Tokyo's most popular tourist attractions and date spots with a wide selection of shopping, dining and leisure options. Despite the initial setbacks, several lavish development projects did materialize, including some of Tokyo's boldest architectural creations, such as the Fuji TV Building, Telecom Center and Tokyo Big Sight. Modern city planning furthermore provides Odaiba with plenty of green space and a pleasant division of motorized and pedestrian traffic using elevated walkways and the like.
Tokyo Tower (Tōkyō tawā) is a communications and observation tower located in the Shiba-koen district of Minato Tokyo, Japan. At 332.9 meters (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. Built in 1958, the tower's main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower since its opening. Foot Town, a four-story building located directly under the tower, houses museums, restaurants and shops. Departing from there, guests can visit two observation decks. The two-story Main Observatory is located at 150 meters (490 ft), while the smaller Special Observatory reaches a height of 249.6 meters (819 ft). The tower acts as a support structure for an antenna. Originally intended for television broadcasting, radio antennas were installed in 1961, but the tower is now used to broadcast signals for Japanese media outlets such as NHK, TBS and Fuji TV. Japan's planned digital television transition by July 2011 was problematic, however; Tokyo Tower's height, 332.9 m (1,092 ft) was not high enough to adequately support complete terrestrial digital broadcasting to the area. A taller digital broadcasting tower, known as Tokyo Sky tree, was completed on February 29, 2012.
Kyoto, once the capital of Japan, is a refined city on the island of Honshu with thousands of classical Buddhist temples, as well as gardens, imperial palaces, Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses. It’s also known for formal traditions such as kaiseki dining, consisting of multiple courses of precise dishes, and geisha, female entertainers often found in the Gion district.
Kyoto has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the Imperial capital of Japan for more than one thousand years, it is now the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture located in the Kansai region, as well as a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Kyoto is also known as the thousand-year capital.
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Japan. It is the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and the largest component of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Japan and among the largest in the world with over 19 million inhabitants. Situated at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, Osaka is the second largest city by the daytime population after Tokyo's 23 wards and the third largest city by the nighttime population after Tokyo's 23 special wards and Yokohama in Japan, serving as a major economic hub.Historically a merchant city, Osaka has also been known as the "nation's kitchen" and served as a center for the rice trade during the Edo period.
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is Japan's third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area. It is located on the Pacific coast on central Honshu. It is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Kitakyushu. It is also the center of Japan's third-largest metropolitan region, known as the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area. As of 2010, 2.27 million people lived in the city, part of Chūkyō Metropolitan Area's 9.10 million people. Nagoya, is a modern manufacturing and shipping hub in central Honshu. The city’s Naka ward is home to museums, pachinko (gambling machine) parlors and the Sakae entertainment district, filled with shops and attractions such as the 42m-tall Sky-Boat Ferris wheel. In northern Naka is Nagoya Castle, a partly reconstructed 1612 royal residence displaying Edo Period artifacts.
Fukuoka is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan. It is the most populous city on the island, followed by Kitakyushu. It is the largest city and metropolitan area west of Keihanshin. The city was designated on April 1, 1972, by government ordinance. Greater Fukuoka with 2.5 million people (2005 census), is part of the heavily industrialized Fukuoka–Kitakyushu zone as well as Northern Kyushu. As of July 2011, Fukuoka is Japan's sixth largest city, having passed the population of Kyoto. Since the founding of Kyoto in 794, this marks the first time that a city west of the Kinki region has a larger population than Kyoto. In ancient times, however, the area near Fukuoka, the Chikushi region, was thought by some historians to have possibly been even more influential than the Yamato region. Fukuoka Is known for its ancient temples, beaches and modern shopping malls, including Canal City. Its expansive Fukuoka Art Museum lies within tranquil Ohori Park, and neighboring Maizuru Park contains ruins of the 17th-century Fukuoka Castle. The city is also renowned for tonkotsu ramen, offered at street stalls.
Sapporo (Sapporo-shi) is the fourth-largest city in Japan by population, and the largest city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Located in Ishikari Sub prefecture, it is the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture, and an ordinance-designated city of Japan. Sapporo is known outside Japan for having hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, the first ever held in Asia, and for the city's annual Yuki Matsuri, internationally referred to as the Sapporo Snow Festival, which draws more than 2 million tourists from around the world. The city is also home to Sapporo Brewery and the white chocolate biscuits called shiroi koibito (“white sweetheart") Sapporo, capital of the mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, is famous for its beer, skiing and annual snow festival featuring enormous ice sculptures. The Sapporo Beer Museum traces the city’s brewing history and has tastings and a beer garden. Ski hills and jumps from the 1972 Winter Olympics are scattered within the city limits, and Niseko, a renowned ski resort, is nearby.
Hiroshima (Hiroshima-shi) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The city's name, means "Wide Island" in Japanese. Hiroshima gained city status on April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1980, Hiroshima became a designated city. As of 2006, the city had an estimated population of 1,154,391. Kazumi Matsui has been the city's mayor since April 2011. Hiroshima is best known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces(USAAF) dropped an atomic bomb on the city at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. Today, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park commemorates the 1945 event; on-site is Genbaku Dome, the surviving portion of a structure that crumbled in the explosion. Other prominent sites include Shukkei-en, a formal Chinese-style garden, and Hiroshima castle, a fortress surrounded by a moat and a park.
Hakone (Hakone-machi) is a town in Ashigarashimo District in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of June 2012, the town had an estimated population of 13,492 and a population density of 145 persons per km. The total area was 92.82 km². Hakone has been designated as a Geopark by UNESCO.Hakone, in Japan's Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park west of Tokyo, is a mountainous town known for hot springs resorts and Mt. Fuji views. It also encompasses Hakone Jinja, a Shinto shrine with a red “torii” gate; Lake Ashi, which can be toured by boat; and the boiling sulphur springs of Owakudani valley, seen from the Hakone Ropeway cable car.
Kobe (Kōbe-shi) is the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is located on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay and about 30 km (19 mi) west of Osaka. With a population around 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto. The earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201. For most of its history, the area was never a single political entity, even during the Tokugawa Period, when the port was controlled directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889. Its name comes from "kanbe"), an archaic title for supporters of the city's Ikuta Shrine. Kobe became one of Japan's 17 designated cities in 1956. Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1853 end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city. While the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of Kobe's prominence as a port city, it remains Japan's fourth busiest container port. Companies headquartered in Kobe include ASICS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Kobe Steel, as well as over 100 international corporations with Asian or Japanese headquarters in the city such as Eli Lilly and Company, Procter & Gamble, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Nestlé. The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef, as well as the site of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen.
Nara is the capital of Japan’s Nara Prefecture, in south-central Honshu. The city has significant temples and artwork dating to the 8th century, when it was Japan’s capital. Deer freely roam in Nara Park, site of Todai-ji temple. At Todai-ji, Daibutsu, a 15m-high bronze Buddha, is displayed in a grand, wooden hall. The Shinto shrine Kasuga-taisha, founded in 768 C.E., has 3,000-plus lanterns. Nara occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, bordering Kyoto Prefecture. Eight temples, shrines and ruins in Nara remain: specifically Tōdai-ji, Saidai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Kasuga Shrine, Gangō-ji, Yakushi-ji, Tōshōdai-ji, and the Heijō Palace, together with Kasugayama Primeval Forest, collectively form "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara", a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Nagasaki (Nagasaki-shi) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became a center of Portuguese and Dutch influence in the 16th through 19th centuries, and the Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki have been proposed for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Part of Nagasaki was home to a major Imperial Japanese Navy base during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War. Its name means "long cape".During World War II, the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made Nagasaki the second and, to date, last city in the world to experience a nuclear attack. As of 1 January 2009, the city has an estimated population of 446,007 and a population density of 1,100 persons per km². The total area is 406.35 km. Nagasaki is a set on a large natural harbor, with buildings on the terraces of surrounding hills. It is synonymous with a key moment during WWII, after suffering an Allied nuclear attack in August 1945. The event is memorialized at the city’s Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park.
Kamakura (Kamakura-shi) is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south-south-west of Tokyo. Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the Kamakura Period. Kamakura was designated as a city on November 3, 1939.
As of June 1, 2012, the modern city has an estimated population of 174,412 and a population density of 4,400 persons per km². The total area is 39.60 km2 (15.29 sq mi). Kamakura has a beach which, in combination with its temples and proximity to Tokyo, makes it a popular tourist destination.
Kamakura is a seaside Japanese city just south of Tokyo. The political center of medieval Japan, modern-day Kamakura is a prominent resort town with dozens of Buddhist Zen temples and Shinto shrines. Its most recognizable landmark is the Kotoku-in Temple’s Great Buddha, a roughly 13m-high bronze statue still standing after a 15th-century tsunami. Yuigahama Beach on Sagami Bay is a popular surfing spot.
Yokohama (Yokohama-shi) officially the City of Yokohama, is the largest city in Japan by population, and most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area. Yokohama, a Japanese city south of Tokyo, was one of the first Japanese ports opened to foreign trade in 1859. It contains a large Chinatown with hundreds of Cantonese restaurants and gift shops. It’s also known for Sankei-en Garden, a botanical park containing preserved Japanese residences from different eras, and the seaside Minato Mirai district, site of the 296m Landmark Tower.
Matsumoto (Matsumoto-shi) is a Japanese city in the Chūbu region on the island of Honshu. It is a city located in Nagano Prefecture. Matsumoto is designated as a Special City.
As of July 1, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 243,571 and a population density of 250 persons per km². The total area is 978.77 km². Matsumoto is a mountain city on Japan’s main island, Honshu. It’s known for Matsumoto Castle, a 16th-century stronghold nicknamed “Crow Castle” for its distinctive black walls. Nearby Nakamachi Street is lined with old merchant houses reminiscent of a bygone Japan. The Japanese Alps loom overhead, with hot springs, ski runs and hiking trails. In summer, a road to Mount Norikura is carved through deep walls of snow.
Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture Japan, and the largest city in the Tōhoku region, and the second largest city north of Tokyo. In 2010, the city had a population of one million, and was one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the daimyo Date Masamune, and is nicknamed the City of Trees there are about 60 zelkova trees on Jōzenji Street and Aoba Street. In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the Pageant of Starlight lasting through most of December. On March 11, 2011, coastal areas of the city suffered catastrophic damage from a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake which triggered a destructive tsunami.
Kagoshima is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the south western tip of the island of Kyushu in Japan, and the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern world" for its bay location (Aira Caldera), hot climate, and emblematic stratovolcano, Sakurajima. The city was officially founded on April 1, 1889.Kagoshima Is best known for Sakurajima, an active volcano that faces Kinko Bay. At its base, the Nagisa Lava Trail leads to lava boulders and pine trees. Once set on an isolated island, the volcano became connected to the Osumi Peninsula after an eruption in 1914.
Nikkō is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. As of May 2015, the city had an estimated population of 84,197 and a population density of 58.1 persons per km². Its total area was 1,449.83 km². it is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists. Attractions include the mausoleum of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu(Nikkō Tōshō-gū) and that of his grandson Iemitsu , and the Futarasan Shrine, which dates to the year 767. There are also many famous hot springs in the area. Elevations range from 200 to 2,000 m. The Japanese saying "Never say 'kekkou' until you've seen Nikko"—kekko meaning beautiful, magnificent or "I am satisfied"—is a reflection of the beauty and sites in Nikkō. Nikko is a small city in Japan’s , in the mountains north of Tokyo. It’s the site of Toshogu, the famed Shinto shrine established in 1617 as a lavish memorial for Tokugawa Ieyasu, founding ruler of the Tokugawa shogunate, or Edo Period. The shrine comprises the gilded Yomeimon Gate, the main sanctuary set in a cedar grove and the tomb itself
Hakodate (Hakodate-shi) is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households and a population density of 412.83 persons per km2 (1,069.2 persons per sq. mi.). The total area is 677.77 km2 (261.69 sq mi). The city is now the third biggest in Hokkaido after Sapporo and Asahikawa. Hakodate is a Japanese city and a gateway to Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. Looming over the town is 334m-high Mt. Hakodate. The mountain's summit, reachable by cable car, offers dramatic nighttime views. At its base is Motomachi, a neighborhood of steep streets with Western-style, early-20th-century buildings. A notable structure is the grand, circa-1910 Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward..
Otaru is a city and port in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces the Ishikari Bay, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tourist destination. Because it is a 25-minute drive from Sapporo, it has recently grown as a bedroom community. As of 31 July, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 131,706 with 67,308 households and a population density of 541.71 persons per km² (1,403.0 persons per sq. mi.). The total area is 243.13 km2 (93.87 sq mi). Although it is the largest city in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, the subprefecture's capital is the more centrally located Kutchan. Otaru, a port city on Hokkaido (Japan’s northernmost island), lies northwest of Sapporo on Ishikari Bay. Completed in 1923, the Otaru Canal, running through the city’s center, is lined with cafes and shopping centers in converted old warehouses. Nearby, Sakaimachi Street offers seafood restaurants as well as glass and sweet shops. The city is known for glassworks, music boxes and sake distilleries.
Yamanashi Prefecture (Yamanashi-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the main island of Honshu.The prefecture is landlocked, featuring a fertile central valley, the Kōfu Basin, surrounded by many of the highest mountains in Japan including the highest, Mount Fuji located on the southern border with Shizuoka. Mount Fuji from the Misaka Pass, Yamanashi
The capital of the prefecture is the city of Kōfu. Yamanashi encompasses the northern part of Mount Fuji, where hundreds of thousands of visitors climb to the summit every year. In the Fuji Five Lakes area, resort towns surround the lakes created by the iconic mountain’s eruption.The region is renowned for hiking, climbing, fishing and skiing.
Takayama is a city located in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. As of July 2011, the city has an estimated population of 92,369 and a population density of 42 persons per km². The total area is 2,177.67 km². Takayama was settled as far back as the Jōmon period. Takayama is best known for its inhabitants' expertise in carpentry. It is believed carpenters from Takayama worked on the Imperial Palace in Kyoto and on many of the temples in Kyoto and Nara. The town and its culture, as they exist today, took shape at the end of the 16th century, when the Kanamori clan built Takayama Castle. About a hundred years later the city came under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. However, the high altitude and separation from other areas of Japan kept the area fairly isolated, allowing Takayama to develop its own culture over about a 300-year period. The narrow streets of its Sanmachi Suji historic district are lined with wooden merchants’ houses dating to the Edo Period, along with many small museums. The city is famed for its biannual Takayama Festival, going back to at least the mid-1600s, celebrating spring and fall with parades featuring ornate, gilded floats and puppet shows.
Karuizawa is a resort town in the mountains near Nagano, Japan. It's known for mild summers conducive to outdoor recreation like golf. Forests in the surrounding area offer cycling and walking paths along with sites like Kumoba Pond and Shiraito Falls. Skiing and hot springs are popular in the winter. Kyu-Karuizawa, the old town center, is the site of a pedestrian shopping strip. As of January 1, 2008, the town has an estimated population of 17,833 and has a total area of 156.05 square kilometres (60.25 sq mi). Karuizawa is a popular tourist spot for people from Tokyo, who travel to Karuizawa to get away from the city especially in summer. The town is accessible via the JR East Nagano Shinkansen, and has a large outlet store shopping mall. It is also known for its historic shopping street known as "Ginza dōri" or "Kyū-dō" (Ginza Street, or the Old Road). Karuizawa hosted equestrian events in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The town also hosted curling in the 1998 Winter Olympics. To date, it is the only city in the world having hosted both Summer and Winter Olympic events
Atami is a seaside city on Japan’s Izu Peninsula, in the Shizuoka Prefecture southwest of Tokyo. It’s set on volcanic hills within the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, also home to Mount Fuji. A prominent resort for centuries due to its numerous natural hot springs, it has several public onsen baths and an artificial sand beach on Sagami Bay. As of September 2015, the city had an estimated population of 37,287 and a population density of 603 people per km2. The total area was 61.78 km2 (23.85 square miles).
Awaji Island is an island in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 km², and is the largest of the Inland Sea's islands. . The island has an area of 592.17 km², and is the largest of the Inland Sea's islands. As a transit between those two islands, Awaji originally means "the road to Awa", the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait, now part of Tokushima Prefecture.
Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. As of September 2015, the city had an estimated population of 288,029 and a population density of 349 persons per km².. As of September 2015, the city had an estimated population of 288,029 and a population density of 349 persons per km2. The total area of the city was 824.61 square kilometres (318.38 sq mi).