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Cherry blossoms at Takato Castle Ruins Park in Nagano.
TITLE PAGE: The Hanagasa Odori, a local community dance in Yamagata.
JAPAN
TRAVELER’S COMPANION
ROB GOSS
TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore
CONTENTS
INTRODUCING JAPAN
TIMELESS JAPAN
NOW AND FUTURE JAPAN
WASHOKU: JAPANESE CUISINE
JAPAN’S COLORFUL MATSURI
RYOKAN AND ONSEN
1 TOKYO
GINZA AND THE IMPERIAL PALACE
ASAKUSA, UENO AND THE EAST END
AKIHABARA
OMOTESANDO, HARAJUKU AND SHIBUYA
SHINJUKU
ROPPONGI
SOUTHERN TOKYO
2 SIDETRIPS FROM TOKYO
YOKOHAMA
KAMAKURA
MOUNT FUJI AND HAKONE
NIKKO
THE JAPAN ALPS AND KANAZAWA
3 KYOTO AND THE KANSAI REGION
KYOTO
NARA
OSAKA
HIMEJI
KOYASAN
4 WESTERN HONSHU AND SHIKOKU ISLAND
HIROSHIMA
MIYAJIMA ISLAND
JAPAN’S INLAND SEA
SHIKOKU
5 KYUSHU AND OKINAWA
FUKUOKA
NAGASAKI
BEPPU HOT SPRINGS
YAKUSHIMA ISLAND
NAHA AND OKINAWA
6 NORTHERN HONSHU AND HOKKAIDO
TOHOKU
SAPPORO AND OTARU
WESTERN HOKKAIDO
SHIRETOKO AND THE KUSHIRO WETLANDS
PHOTO CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Billboards at Kabukicho in Shinjuku.
Japanese maple trees in a peaceful setting.
The sparrow dance, first performed to celebrate the completion of Sendai Castle.
The biggest of Japan's eleven Pokémon Centers is in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.
A pretty confectionery purse.
Some of the best things to do in Tokyo include having beer and yakitori chicken skewers at Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane) (top left), enjoying awesome views from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (middle left) or Tokyo Tower’s observation deck (top right), and visiting the iconic Sensoji Temple (center).
Taking a rickshaw ride could be a fun way to see the sights.
INTRODUCING JAPAN
It has become something of a cliché to talk about Japan in terms of contrasts, but Japan really is a country defined by juxtapositions. For all of Japan’s technological advances, not to mention the unquenchable thirst for the new and the next you see in cities like Tokyo, Japanese society is still rooted deep in tradition. Timeless and cutting edge comfortably sit side by side, as do the sacred and the cute. Japan prides itself on an appreciation of nature, yet nowhere seems safe from concrete, a vending machine or a gaudy pachinko parlor. No wonder the country can bemuse first-timers just as much as it can keep surprising old hands.
Nagoya City Science Museum
Sensoji Temple
Nara Park
Hachimangu Shrine
Fushimi Inari Shrine
Ginkakuji Temple
Umeda Sky Building
Traditional Restaurant
TIMELESS JAPAN
A Modern Nation That Still Values its Traditional Past
Progress is unrelenting and rapier in many fields and facets of Japan, yet there’s no shortage of areas where the country happily stands firm against the drifting sands of time. Just cast your eyes over a typical tourist brochure, where kimono-clad geisha shuffle between appointments in Kyoto’s Gion district, Mount Fuji stands capped in white and