last section of the book is Chapter 3, Author’s Recommendations. Here, we present some of Japan’s better known hotels and restaurants, top kid-friendly activities, must-do activities in the great outdoors, must-see galleries and museums, and more. Lastly, the Travel Tips section presents all you need to know before you go, including the lowdown on visas, health and safety advice, important points of etiquette, essential Japanese, and much more to help take the stress out of your trip.
While all information is correct at time of print, do make sure to check ahead if you plan to visit any of the venues listed in this guide, as some places frequently change management, especially in cities that change as often and as rapidly as Tokyo and Osaka. Prices change, too, and occasionally senior discounts are available. Repair work may necessitate closing a venue. It is advisable to ask your hotel to check. As such, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors that may be contained within the Travel Pack.
CHAPTER 1
JAPAN’S “Don’t Miss” Sights
Ask anyone who has visited Japan to recommend a “must see” or “must do” list for your trip and you will get a variety of responses that underscores the diversity of the country. Some will tell you to go straight to the ancient temples of Kyoto or lace up your walking boots for the breathtaking natural scenery of the Japan Alps. Others will suggest you dive head first into Tokyo’s old east end. The 18 listings that follow are a selection of Japan’s “Don’t Miss” Sights, chosen to offer a mix of the traditional and the ultramodern, the tranquil and the intense, the sacred and the cutting edge–components that combine to make Japan such a wonderfully distinctive and indelibly memorable experience.
2 Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown
4 The Great Buddha at Kamakura
7 Traditional Houses of Shirakawa-go
8 Kanazawa Castle and Kenroku-en
14 Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park
15 The Holy Mountain of Koya-san
17 Niseko Ski Resort, Hokkaido
18 The Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa
Kenroku-en, Kanazawa
Tosho-gu Shrine, Nikko
Shirakawa-go, Japan Alps
1 Senso-ji Temple, Tokyo
A journey to the heart of Old Tokyo’s Asakusa district
Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa splits opinion. For some it’s a tourist trap, for others it’s the highlight of a visit to Tokyo. In truth, it can be both. The colorful Nakamise-dori, the shop-lined street that forms the main approach to Senso-ji, is as touristy as it gets in Tokyo with its plastic samurai swords, trinkets and slow-moving horde of tourists. The rest of the Senso-ji Temple complex is simply magnificent.
According to legend, there has been a temple here since the 620s, when two brothers snagged a golden image of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, in their nets while fishing in the nearby Sumida River. Awestruck by the tiny statue, they were inspired to build a temple in which to enshrine it, and Senso-ji was born. As Senso-ji’s power grew over the centuries with the support first of the Kamakura imperial court and later of the Tokugawa shogunate, so too Asakusa grew around it, expanding from an insignificant fishing village to a thriving merchant town and then the city’s premier entertainment district in the prewar years (page 29). Throughout, Senso-ji has always remained at Asakusa’s heart and it’s not hard to see why.
Senso-ji greets visitors with the great Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate), a roofed gate standing almost 12 meters (39 feet) high and 12 meters wide under which hangs a 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) red paper lantern that itself measures some 4 meters (12 feet) in height. Protected on either side by the menacing bronze statues of Raijin and Fujin (the gods of thunder and wind), Kaminari-mon is the first of several imposing structures in the complex. At the other end of Nakamisedori, the two-story Hozomon Gate stands 22 meters (72 feet) high and is decorated with three giant lanterns and two 800-pound (362-kilogram) straw sandals. Used to store many of Senso-ji’s most precious relics, it is guarded by two identical 5-meter (16-foot)-tall statues of Nio, the guardian deity of the Buddha–two statues that make Raijin and Fujin look positively friendly. Beyond that, in air heavy with pungent incense, comes a five-tiered pagoda and the larger, albeit less ornate main building, in front of which visitors pray and wave incense smoke over themselves for its supposed curative powers.
Is it touristy? In parts, yes. But in the middle of a city as modern and short on space as Tokyo, it’s a combination of tradition and scale that you shouldn’t miss.
Opening Times Open all year round. Getting There Senso-ji is several minutes walk from Asakusa on the Asakusa and Ginza subway lines. Contact Senso-ji Temple: senso-ji.jp Admission Fee Free.
2 Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown
The capital at its most modern and most stylish
Not much more than two decades ago, Roppongi was the preserve of late night drinkers and restaurant goers, just another drab piece of urbanity that would come to life (often raucously so) after dark. How things have changed! Today, with two of the city’s most fashionable urban redevelopments, it’s the