Osaka
The 70m-tall Tower of the Sun was created by Japanese artist Okamoto Tarō for Osaka's Expo '70. While the curious three-faced creature (there's one face…
Must-see attractions in Kansai
Osaka
Osaka's landmark Sky Building (1993) resembles a 40-storey, space-age Arc de Triomphe. Twin towers are connected at the top by a 'floating garden' (really…
Osaka
This tiny temple hidden down a narrow alley houses a statue of Fudō Myō-ō (a deity of esoteric Buddhism), covered in thick moss. It's a favourite of…
Osaka
An Osaka landmark for over a century, this 600m-long market is in equal parts a functioning market and a tourist attraction. Vendors selling fresh fish,…
Kii Peninsula
This amazing natural rock formation is a line of about a dozen spire-like boulders extending 900m into the water like the supports of a bridge. It's…
Osaka
In the middle of Ame-Mura is Triangle Park, an all-concrete 'park' with benches for sitting and watching the fashion parade. Come night, it's a popular…
Kansai
The most notable feature of Hase-dera, a Shingon temple founded in the 8th century, is its 11th-century, 399-step noborirō (climbing corridor); it…
Kōbe
For generations of Japanese tourists, this pleasant, hilly neighbourhood is Kōbe, thanks to the dozen or so well-preserved homes of (mostly) Western…
The Museum, Archaeological Institute of Kashihara
Kansai
This museum and research centre is an important visit for students of ancient Japanese history. Artefacts come from various archaeological sites in the…
Kansai
Amanohashidate means 'bridge to heaven' and this narrow sandbar covered in some 5000 pine trees has long inspired poets and painters. It's also billed as…
Momofuku Andō Instant Ramen Museum
Osaka
From its humble invention in 1958 by Andō Momofuku (1910–2007; later chair of Nissin Foods), instant rāmen has become a global business and one of Japan's…
Kansai
Ōmiwa-jinja is thought to be one of Japan's oldest Shintō shrines. It was built to worship Mt Miwa behind it and is rare in that it has no honden (main…
Kii Peninsula
In the town believed to be the first place in Japan to produce soy sauce (shōyu in Japanese) – some 750 years ago – this factory lets visitors in on both…
Kōbe
You'd never guess that such a beautiful natural sanctuary could sit so close to the city. This revered waterfall in four sections (the longest is 43m tall…
Kōbe
Hakutsuru is a major sake brewer in Kōbe's Nada-gogō district, a major sake-brewing centre. The self-guided tour through the old wooden brewery (the…
Kansai
Considered the first Buddhist temple in Japan (founded 596), Asuka-dera houses Japan's oldest existing Buddhist statue, the Asuka Daibutsu (Great Buddha),…
Kansai
This kofun was discovered by accident in the 1960s, painstakingly excavated in the 1970s and then sealed for preservation. What you'll see is a grassy…
Kansai
This Shingon-sect temple, founded in the 8th century, has a lot going for it, including Japan's oldest pagoda (the Tahōtō, built in 1194) and an…
Kansai
It may not look like much, but this shrine, founded roughly 1300 years ago, has a serious historic pedigree: it has harboured general Minamoto Yoshitsune …
Kii Peninsula
This wooden temple, absent of colour and next to the Shintō shrine Kumano Nachi Taisha, was last rebuilt in 1590, making it the oldest building in Kii …
Osaka
Hiding in plain sight amid the skyscrapers of Umeda, this 1300-year-old shrine owes its fame to one of Japan's best-known tragic plays (based on true…
Kii Peninsula
Several important artworks from Kōya-san's temples are collected here, most notably some Heian-era wooden sculptures of the Buddha and Fudō Myō-ō…
Kansai
This street approaching Naikū was developed in the Edo period (1603–1868), when pilgrimages to Ise-jingū were at an all-time high, to provide visitors…
Kansai
Temples are great repositories of artwork, though most only allow visitors in a few times a year (if at all) to see them. This isn't the case at Daitsū-ji…
Kansai
Popularly known as Ishigami-san, this humble shrine is dedicated to the goddess Tamayori-hime and has long been a place for the area’s ama (traditional…
Port of Kōbe Earthquake Memorial Park
Kōbe
At 5.46am on 17 January 1995 the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck this region. It was Japan's strongest since the Great Kantō Quake of 1923 devastated…
Kii Peninsula
According to the Kumano faith, this large boulder, wedged on the side of Gongen-yama, was where the three principal gods descended to earth. It was the…
Kii Peninsula
This is the final bridge inside Oku-no-in before Kōbō Daishi's mausoleum. It crosses the Tama-gawa, which runs down from Yōryū-san, the mountain behind…
Osaka
This museum has one of the world's finest collections of Chinese and Korean ceramics, with smaller galleries of Japanese ceramics and Chinese snuff…
Kansai
Though other kofun remain covered in earth, Japan's largest stone burial chamber is laid bare and you can walk inside. The tomb was looted centuries ago,…
Nara
Kōfuku-ji's northern octagonal hall was first built in 721. The current reconstruction is c 1210, making it the second-oldest structure at Kōfuku-ji.
Kansai
Miyama’s star attraction is this hamlet, home to some 50 farmhouses with traditional kayabuki-yane (thatched roofs) in the local Kyoto Kitayama style (a…
Kii Peninsula
Inside Oku-no-in and just past Gobyō-bashi is a wooden building the size of a large phone booth, which contains the Miroku-ishi – a stone said to weigh as…
Kansai
On the eastern side of the Tango Peninsula, Ine sits along the beautiful Ine-wan. The village's signature houses, called funaya, are built right over the…
Kansai
A quiet option, this temple is just down the path west of the entry gate to Shōrin-in. The main tatami room offers a view of a bamboo garden and the…
Kii Peninsula
The Garan's kondō is the temple's main hall and enshrines Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine and healing. First constructed in the early 9th century,…
Kii Peninsula
This large hall at the northern end of Oku-no-in is full of lanterns, which cover the walls and ceiling. Two of the large ones, at the back of the hall,…
Kii Peninsula
In 2000 this giant torii (entrance gate to a Shintō shrine) – 33.9m tall and 42m wide, made out of steel, painted dramatic black and the largest in Japan …
Osaka
Japan's tallest Ferris wheel (123m), and the fifth tallest in the world, opened in 2016 and offers sweeping views over Expo Park and the Tower of the Sun…
Kansai
At the entrance to Gekū, this museum illustrates Shikinen-Sengū, the ceremonial reconstruction of the buildings of the Ise shrines and the transfer of the…
