Manpuku-ji
Ming Chinese Zen in Uji, With a Monks' Vegetarian Lunch by Booking
Head temple of the Obaku school of Zen, founded in 1661 by the Chinese monk Ingen and built in la...
Sunshine City
Ikebukuro's Observatory, Rooftop Aquarium and Pokemon Center in One Complex
A big Ikebukuro complex built around the Sunshine 60 tower, with two shopping malls, the Sunshine...
Toyokawa Inari
A Zen Temple Where Over 1,000 Stone Foxes Crowd the Back Hill
Despite the name and the red banners, this is a Soto Zen temple, Myogon-ji, founded in 1441. Behi...
Azuchi Castle Ruins
Oda Nobunaga’s short-lived castle survives as a wooded ascent of stone steps, walls and foundatio...
Battleship Mikasa
Togo's 1905 Flagship, Set in Concrete at the Edge of Yokosuka
The British-built battleship that carried Admiral Togo Heihachiro at the Battle of Tsushima in 19...
Imai-cho
A Moated Temple Town Turned Merchant Town, Where People Still Live in the Edo-Period Houses
An old merchant town in Kashihara where roughly 1,500 buildings fill an area about 600 m by 310 m...
Jakko-in
The Nunnery Where the Heike Story Ends
The small Ohara nunnery where Kenreimon-in retired after the Heike were destroyed at Dannoura. Th...
Kasugayama Primeval Forest
The Old Shrine Forest Behind Kasuga Taisha, and a Stone Road to the 12th-Century Cave Buddhas
The forest on Mount Kasuga behind Kasuga Taisha, kept as the shrine's sacred ground since hunting...
Ryusendo Cave
Clear Blue Underground Lakes in a Limestone Cave Deep in the Iwate Hills
A limestone cave in Iwaizumi with about 700 meters open to visitors and three lit underground lak...
Shirahama Onsen
A Seaside Hot Spring Town Where the Oldest Bath Is a Rock Pool at the Waterline
The hot spring side of Shirahama, apart from the beach. Its best-known bath is Sakinoyu, open-air...
Tokugawa-en
A Daimyo Stroll Garden with a Waterfall, Ten Minutes from Ozone
A 2.3-hectare pond garden on the site of an Owari Tokugawa lord's retirement residence from 1695,...
Tsukiji Hongan-ji
An Indian-Style Temple with a Pipe Organ and an 18-Dish Breakfast
A Jodo Shinshu temple whose 1934 main hall, designed by Ito Chuta, looks like ancient Indian Budd...
Ueno Toshogu
A Gold-Leaf Shrine to Ieyasu That Survived War, Quake and Air Raid
Tokugawa Ieyasu's shrine in Ueno Park, founded in 1627; the gold-leaf Konjiki-den and its gates w...
Aoni Onsen
Aoni Onsen: The Lamp-Lit Inn at the Bottom of a Snowbound Valley
A single inn deep in the Aoni valley east of Kuroishi, lit at night by oil lamps instead of elect...
Asuka Palace Site
The Field in Asuka Where Soga no Iruka Was Killed in 645, with a Restored Stone Pavement and Well from Emperor Tenmu's Palace
The spot in the middle of Asuka where several 7th-century rulers built their palaces one on top o...