Country guide
Around three quarters of Japan is mountain and forest, which pushes almost everyone onto the eastern coastal plains and makes the country far narrower in practi...
Photograph · Midori · CC BY 3.0
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Around three quarters of Japan is mountain and forest, which pushes almost everyone onto the eastern coastal plains and makes the country far narrower in practice than 377,975 km2 suggests. Forty-seven prefectures, eight traditional regions and more than 14,000 smaller islands, and yet a first visit usually runs along a single rail corridor with Tokyo at one end and Kyoto and Osaka at the other. Tokyo is the capital and largest city of a country of almost 123 million people. Hokkaido in the north and Okinawa in the south are different climates rather than day trips, and both need their own week.
Checked 2026-08-25
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Morio · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photograph · Martin Falbisoner · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Martin Falbisoner · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
36 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
Cup Noodles Museum Osaka Ikeda is an interactive museum dedicated to the history of instant noodles and the legacy of Momofuku Ando, inventor of Chicken Ramen and Cup Noodles.
東京国立博物館
Tokyo National Museum stands as Japan's oldest and largest museum. Established in 1872, it occupies grounds within Ueno Park in the Taito ward.
国立科学博物館
The National Museum of Nature and Science is a major museum in Tokyo dedicated to natural history and scientific research. Its local name is 国立科学博物館.
国立西洋美術館
The National Museum of Western Art, known in Japanese as 国立西洋美術館, is an art museum in Tokyo dedicated to Western art. It is located in Ueno Park, a cultural district in the northern part of central Tokyo.
京都国際マンガミュージアム
Kyoto International Manga Museum is a cultural institution devoted to manga, Japan’s influential form of comics and graphic storytelling. It occupies a former elementary school building, giving the visit an architectural layer alongside the collection.
京都国立博物館
The Kyoto National Museum is one of Japan's major national museums, established to preserve and exhibit cultural properties connected to Kyoto's long history as the former imperial capital.
Ten to fourteen days supports four or five days in Tokyo, three or four in Kyoto, and two or three in Osaka. Add Nara or Himeji only after those bases have enough time, and avoid turning every rail stop into a hotel change.
Japan's visa exemption or visa requirement depends on passport and travel purpose. Confirm the current rule through Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the embassy responsible for the traveller's residence.
The Tokaido Shinkansen links Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, while local rail and buses cover city travel. An IC card simplifies many local journeys but does not replace every reserved long-distance ticket, and luggage forwarding can reduce friction between bases.
March to May and October to November are broad options for the main-island route, with blossom and autumn periods creating concentrated demand. Confirm regional weather and reservations for the exact cities rather than assuming one national season behaves uniformly.
Japan uses the yen (JPY). Electronic payment is common but not universal, so carry some yen for smaller businesses, ticket machines, or rural transport without assuming that one stored-value card works for every purchase.
Japan's emergency numbers are 110 for police and 119 for fire or ambulance. Type A sockets operate at 100 V, which is lower than in the other wave-A countries, and mains tap water is recorded as safe.
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