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.
288 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
水の科学館
The Tokyo Water Science Museum is a public educational facility in Tokyo’s Koto ward operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Waterworks. It explains how water is supplied, purified, and distributed across a vast urban area.
尼崎市総合文化センター
Amagasaki Cultural Center, known locally as 尼崎市総合文化センター, is a municipal cultural facility serving Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture, within the greater Osaka metropolitan area. The center brings public performance, arts activity, and community gathering into one civic venue.
化野念仏寺
Adashino Nenbutsu-ji is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto’s western Saga-Arashiyama area, known for its memorial field of stone figures.
法楽寺
Hōraku-ji Temple, written 法楽寺 in Japanese, is a Buddhist temple in Osaka. It provides a place for contemplation within the city and belongs to Osaka’s wider religious and cultural landscape.
難波神社
Namba Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Osaka's Namba district, where traditional religious architecture stands among shopping, dining and entertainment streets. Known locally as 難波神社, it offers a quieter cultural pause within one of the city's most active urban areas.
圓徳院
Entoku-in is a Rinzai Zen sub-temple within the wider Kodai-ji complex in Kyoto’s Higashiyama district.
本興寺
Honkō-ji Temple, written 本興寺 in Japanese, is a Buddhist temple in Osaka. It is an active religious place as well as a point of interest for travelers interested in the city’s temples, architecture, and spiritual landscape.
蕪村公園
Buson Park, known locally as 蕪村公園, is a public park in Osaka named after Yosa Buson, the celebrated Edo-period poet and painter. The park belongs to Osaka’s network of urban green spaces and offers a quieter setting within the city.
宝泉院
Hosen-in is a Buddhist temple in Ohara, a rural valley northeast of central Kyoto. The temple belongs to the Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism and is known for a garden centred on a prominent pine tree.
法善寺
Hozenji Temple is a compact Buddhist temple located in Osaka's Namba district, immediately adjacent to the famous Dotonbori entertainment area. The temple is best known for its moss-covered statue of Fudō Myōō, a wrathful deity in Japanese Buddhism.
赤山禅院
Sekizan Zen-in is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto and a place to include when your itinerary calls for religious heritage away from the city’s most familiar landmark circuit.
すみだ水族館
Sumida Aquarium is a contemporary urban aquarium inside Tokyo Skytree Town in Sumida Ward. It forms part of the Oshiage destination alongside Tokyo Skytree and the Solamachi shopping complex.
Suita City Cultural Hall Meishiya Theater is a municipal performing-arts venue in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture. It supports the area’s cultural life through theater, music, dance, and community events.
今熊野観音寺
Imakumano Kannon-ji is an active Shingon Buddhist temple in Kyoto, dedicated to Kannon, the bodhisattva associated with compassion.
鶴満寺
Kakuman-ji Temple, known in Japanese as 鶴満寺, is a named Buddhist temple in Osaka. The mapped way identifies a specific local place of worship, not a generic category label.
サンシャイン国際水族館
Sunshine Aquarium is an urban aquarium located within the Sunshine City complex in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo. The facility is operated as a commercial attraction within a major shopping and entertainment destination.
teamLab Borderless Museum
teamLab Borderless is a digital art museum in Tokyo created by the interdisciplinary art collective teamLab. The permanent installation occupies a substantial indoor space and presents immersive artworks that dissolve boundaries between visitor and art, and between individual works.
東京ドームシティ
Tokyo Dome City is a large entertainment complex in Bunkyo Ward, central Tokyo, built around the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium. The site combines sports facilities, amusement attractions, dining, shopping, and accommodation in one district.
大物公園
Omono Park, written 大物公園 in Japanese, is a public green space in Osaka. It offers a simple outdoor pause within the city, giving residents and visitors room to walk, rest, and experience a neighborhood park atmosphere.
大阪ふれあいの水辺（砂浜ゾーン）
Osaka Fureai no Mizube is an urban waterside recreation area whose local name identifies a sandy beach zone: 大阪ふれあいの水辺（砂浜ゾーン）. It brings a beach-like setting into Osaka’s city environment and gives visitors a place to pause beside the water.
アメヤ横丁
Ameya-Yokochō, known locally as アメヤ横丁, is an open-air market district situated near Ueno Station in Tokyo. The area occupies space beneath the elevated Yamanote Line tracks and extends across multiple streets and alleys.
祇王寺
Gio-ji is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto’s Arashiyama district, associated with the Shingon school of Buddhism. Its character comes from scale and setting: the grounds sit within a quiet wooded landscape, away from the busiest paths of western Kyoto.
鈴虫寺
Suzumushi-dera is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Its name translates to Bell Cricket Temple, derived from the insects kept on the grounds. The temple belongs to the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.
錦市場
Nishiki Market is a covered shopping street, not a building and not an attraction with a gate.
樂美術館
The Raku Museum in Kyoto is devoted to the Raku tradition of Japanese ceramics.
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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