Saidai-ji
Three Minutes from Yamato-Saidaiji Station, a Temple Where Tea Is Passed Round in a Giant Bowl
Once the western counterpart of Todai-ji, now a set of Edo-period halls three minutes from a busy...
Shimoguri no Sato
Shimoguri no Sato: A Hamlet on 38-Degree Slopes Above the Toyama Valley
A farming hamlet in the Toyama valley of southern Iida, its houses and potato fields spread over ...
Shokasonjuku Academy
The Two-Room Village School in Hagi Where Yoshida Shoin Taught Ito Hirobumi
A small wooden schoolhouse in the grounds of Shoin Shrine in Hagi, where Yoshida Shoin taught for...
Takamatsu Castle
Takamatsu’s waterfront castle survives as Tamamo Park, where seawater fills the moats beside orig...
Tokugawa Art Museum
Owari Tokugawa Treasures and the Genji Scrolls, Shown Each November
The collection of the Owari Tokugawa family, more than 10,000 items including nine National Treas...
Yamanobe-no-michi
The Old Road Along the Foot of the Hills, 16 km from Tenri to Sakurai via Isonokami Shrine and Omiwa Shrine
A walking route along the western foot of the hills east of the Nara basin, often called Japan's ...
Yoshimizu Shrine
The Yoshino Shoin Where Yoshitsune Hid, Go-Daigo Held Court and Hideyoshi Came for the Cherries
A small shrine on Mount Yoshino that was Yoshimizu-in, a monks' lodging of Kimpusen-ji, until the...
Yoshino Mikumari Shrine
Hideyori's 1604 Shrine to the Water God and Guardian of Children, High on Mount Yoshino
A shrine to the god who shares out the water, in the upper reaches of Mount Yoshino and part of t...
Doai Station
Doai Station: 462 Steps Up from a Platform Inside a Mountain Tunnel
An unstaffed JR Joetsu Line station whose down-line platform sits inside the Shin-Shimizu Tunnel,...
Dorogawa Onsen
A Mountain Inn Town at the Foot of Omine, Where Pilgrims Still Set Out
A street of old wooden inns at about 820 meters in the Omine mountains, built to lodge pilgrims h...
Fukagawa Edo Museum
A Full-Size 1840s Fukagawa Street You Can Walk Into, for 400 Yen
A city museum that rebuilds a corner of Fukagawa Saga-cho as it looked in the Tenpo era (1830s to...
Goshono Site
A Jomon Village With Earth-Roofed Pit Houses, Across a Covered Wooden Bridge in Ichinohe
The site of a Jomon village on a plateau above the Mabechi River in Ichinohe, northern Iwate, liv...
Hoshi Onsen Chojukan
A One-Inn Hot Spring Where the Water Rises Through the Bath Floor, Four Buses a Day from Sarugakyo
Hoshi Onsen is a single wooden inn, Chojukan, at the foot of the Mikuni Pass. Its big bath, Hoshi...
Iki
An Hour from Hakata: Barley Shochu, a Monkey Rock and a Yayoi Capital
A low, green island in the strait between Fukuoka and Tsushima, about 17 km from north to south. ...
Kijima Kogen Park
Japan's first wooden roller coaster, on a plateau above Beppu
A highland amusement park on the road from Beppu to Yufuin, best known for Jupiter, the wooden co...