Attractions & Natural Wonders · Japan

Japan: Fifteen Attractions and Natural Wonders

Neon Tokyo and the temple city of Kyoto, a tunnel of vermilion gates, a perfect volcano, thatched farm villages, and a castle that looks like a white heron in flight

By Worldlore Editorial · 19 September 2026

A massive pedestrian intersection packed with crowds crossing in all directions, ringed by video screens — The Shibuya scramble crossing in Tokyo, one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world. (Benh LIEU SONG / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0)

An old country that moves fast

Japan is an archipelago of nearly 7,000 islands off the east coast of Asia, with about 124 million people concentrated on four main islands and a landscape that is three-quarters mountain. It combines a very deep traditional culture — Shinto and Buddhism, tea, gardens, crafts, an unbroken imperial line — with the world's most efficient trains, robot everything, and pop culture exported worldwide. It is safe, clean, punctual, and, for first-time visitors, endlessly surprising.

The fifteen below run from Tokyo down through the classic Kansai region and out to the mountains and the north. Cherry blossom (late March to April) and autumn colours (November) are the famous seasons and the most crowded; winter brings snow festivals and superb skiing, and early summer is green and quiet before the rains.

1. Tokyo

A large red temple gate with a giant paper lantern, crowds passing beneath — The Kaminarimon gate of Sensō-ji temple in Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest temple. (Zairon / Wikimedia Commons)

Tokyo is less a single city than a collection of centres: the crossing and youth fashion of Shibuya and Harajuku, the electronics and anime of Akihabara, the skyscrapers and nightlife of Shinjuku, the old temple district of Asakusa, the imperial palace gardens, the fish and food of Toyosu and Tsukiji, and the calm of Meiji Shrine and Yoyogi Park. It has more Michelin stars than any other city.

Four days barely scratches it; the trains and metro make everything reachable.

2. Kyoto: the eastern temples

A large wooden temple on tall pillars projecting over a hillside blazing with autumn colour — Kiyomizu-dera in eastern Kyoto, its main hall built on a platform over the slope, in autumn. (Martin Falbisoner / Wikimedia Commons)

Kyoto was the imperial capital for over a thousand years and kept more than 1,600 temples and 400 shrines, largely spared in the war. The eastern Higashiyama district is the best walking area: the hillside Kiyomizu-dera and its wooden stage, the lantern-lit lanes of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka, the silver pavilion Ginkaku-ji, the Philosopher's Path, and the geisha quarter of Gion, where you may glimpse a maiko hurrying to an appointment.

Go early — the famous temples fill by mid-morning.

3. Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji and Arashiyama

A path running through a dense grove of towering green bamboo stalks — The bamboo grove at Arashiyama, on the western edge of Kyoto. (Basile Morin / Wikimedia Commons)

West and north Kyoto hold the postcard sights: the Golden Pavilion Kinkaku-ji, its top floors covered in gold leaf and mirrored in a pond; the raked gravel Zen garden of Ryōan-ji; and Arashiyama, with its tall bamboo grove, the moss and gardens of Tenryū-ji, the Ōkōchi villa, and a river gorge crossed by the Togetsukyō bridge.

These are on the opposite side of the city from Higashiyama — plan them as a separate half-day.

4. Fushimi Inari Taisha

A tunnel-like path formed by hundreds of closely spaced vermilion torii gates — The torii tunnels of Fushimi Inari Taisha, climbing the hillside south of Kyoto. (Basile Morin / Wikimedia Commons)

Fushimi Inari, on the southern edge of Kyoto, is the head shrine of Inari, the Shinto deity of rice and prosperity, and is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates — each donated by a business — that form winding tunnels up the wooded slopes of Mount Inari. The full loop to the summit takes two to three hours; most people turn back part way.

It is open 24 hours and free; before dawn or after dark you can have the gates almost to yourself.

5. Nara

Tame deer wandering in front of a huge wooden temple hall — Sika deer roam freely around Tōdai-ji in Nara, considered messengers of the gods. (Guilhem Vellut / Wikimedia Commons)

Nara, Japan's capital before Kyoto, holds Tōdai-ji — one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, housing a 15-metre bronze Great Buddha — plus the lantern-lined Kasuga Taisha shrine and the five-storey pagoda of Kōfuku-ji, all set in a park where over 1,000 tame deer bow for crackers. Its monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It is a 45-minute train ride from Kyoto or Osaka and easily done in a day.

6. Mount Fuji and Hakone

A five-storey red pagoda on a hillside with a snow-capped symmetrical volcano behind — Mount Fuji (3,776 m) framed by the Chūreitō Pagoda near Fujiyoshida. (Stjepko Krehula / Wikimedia Commons)

Mount Fuji, the near-perfect cone that has been the subject of Japanese art for centuries, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a "sacred place and source of artistic inspiration". You can climb it in the July–August season (a strenuous overnight to catch sunrise from the summit), or simply view it — from the Fuji Five Lakes, the Chūreitō Pagoda, or the hot-spring resort area of Hakone, where a boat on Lake Ashi and a ropeway over the sulphurous Ōwakudani valley frame the mountain.

Fuji is famously shy of cloud; clear mornings in winter give the best odds.

7. Hiroshima

The skeletal ruin of a domed brick building preserved beside a river — The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, left as it stood after the bombing of 6 August 1945. (Dan Smith / Wikimedia Commons)

Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb used in war, on 6 August 1945. The Peace Memorial Park, on the wide open ground near the hypocentre, holds the preserved skeletal Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the cenotaph and eternal flame, the children's monument hung with paper cranes, and a museum that is difficult and essential. The rebuilt city around it is green, lively, and known for okonomiyaki.

Miyajima (below) is a short train-and-ferry trip from here.

8. Miyajima

A large vermilion torii gate standing in the sea at sunset, a shrine on the shore behind — The 'floating' torii of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima, near Hiroshima. (Jakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons)

The island of Itsukushima, universally called Miyajima ("shrine island"), is famous for its great vermilion torii that stands in the sea and appears to float at high tide, with the stilt-built Itsukushima Shrine behind it — a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wild deer wander the streets; a ropeway and a hike lead up sacred Mount Misen for views over the Inland Sea.

Time your visit to see the gate at both high and low tide if you can.

9. Himeji Castle

A large white multi-tiered castle keep with sweeping roofs on a stone base — Himeji Castle, the finest surviving original Japanese castle, nicknamed the 'White Heron'. (Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons)

Himeji, between Osaka and Hiroshima, has the largest and best-preserved of Japan's original castles — a brilliant-white complex of interlocking keeps, gates, and walls completed in 1609, which survived both the feudal era and wartime bombing intact. It was Japan's first UNESCO World Heritage Site and the setting for several films.

It is right by the station and takes two to three hours to visit properly.

10. Osaka

A green-and-white castle tower with gold trim rising above a broad stone moat — Osaka Castle, a 20th-century reconstruction of the stronghold of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. (663highland / Wikimedia Commons)

Osaka, Japan's brash "second city", is the country's food capital — the birthplace of takoyaki and okonomiyaki, best eaten amid the neon and giant signs of Dōtonbori. Its rebuilt castle sits in a large park; Shinsekai and the Tsūtenkaku tower keep an old-Osaka feel; and Universal Studios Japan and the Kaiyūkan aquarium draw families. It is also the gateway to Nara, Kyoto, Kobe, and Kōya-san.

Osaka has a distinct dialect and a reputation for being funnier and more direct than Tokyo.

11. Kanazawa and Kenroku-en

A classical landscape garden with a stone lantern, curved pine, and pond — Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, ranked among the three great gardens of Japan. (sergejf / Wikimedia Commons)

Kanazawa, on the Sea of Japan coast, came through the war undamaged and keeps one of Japan's three most celebrated landscape gardens, Kenroku-en; a restored castle; the preserved Higashi Chaya geisha district and Nagamachi samurai quarter; a gold-leaf craft tradition (it makes nearly all of Japan's); and a lively covered seafood market. The bold 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is the modern counterpoint.

The shinkansen from Tokyo now reaches it in about 2.5 hours.

12. Shirakawa-go and the Hida region

A village of steep thatched-roof farmhouses deep under snow, mountains behind — Shirakawa-go in winter, its gasshō-zukuri farmhouses built to shed heavy snow. (雷太 / Wikimedia Commons)

Shirakawa-go and neighbouring Gokayama, in the mountains of central Japan, preserve villages of gasshō-zukuri houses — huge thatched roofs pitched steeply like "hands in prayer" to survive metres of winter snow — a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some are guesthouses where you can sleep by an irori hearth. Nearby Takayama has an atmospheric old merchant quarter and a famous spring and autumn festival.

It is reached by bus from Takayama or Kanazawa; winter is the picture-book time, autumn the mildest.

13. The Japanese Alps and Nagano

A clear river winding through a valley beneath jagged, partly snow-covered peaks — Kamikōchi, a highland valley in the Hida Mountains — the 'Japanese Alps' of Nagano. (Raita Futo / Wikimedia Commons)

The central mountains around Nagano — which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics — hold the country's best alpine scenery and hiking. Kamikōchi is a car-free valley of clear rivers and 3,000-metre peaks; the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route crosses the range past a huge dam and 20-metre snow walls in spring; and Jigokudani has the famous "snow monkeys" — Japanese macaques that bathe in a hot spring. The old post town of Narai and the Nakasendō trail between Magome and Tsumago are nearby.

Snow-monkey visits and the Alpine Route are seasonal; check dates.

14. Nikkō

An elaborately carved and gilded shrine gate in a forest of tall cedars — The Yōmeimon gate at Nikkō Tōshō-gū, the ornate mausoleum of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. (Koichi Sato / Wikimedia Commons)

Nikkō, in the mountains a couple of hours north of Tokyo, is where the first Tokugawa shogun is enshrined in a riot of gold leaf and carving — including the famous "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys and the "sleeping cat" — set among towering cedars, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Beyond the shrines, Lake Chūzenji, the Kegon Falls, and the Senjōgahara marsh make a scenic day.

It can be done as a long day trip from Tokyo, but an overnight is more relaxed.

15. Hokkaidō and the north

An aerial view of Odori Park filled with snow sculptures and crowds during the festival — Odori Park during the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaidō, held every February. (Eckhard Pecher / Wikimedia Commons)

Hokkaidō, the big northern island, is Japan's wild frontier — wide farmland, volcanoes, and national parks (Daisetsuzan, Shiretoko), the powder-snow ski resorts of Niseko and Furano, the lavender fields of summer, drift ice off the north coast, and the February snow festival in the city of Sapporo. It is also the homeland of the indigenous Ainu.

At the country's other end, the cedar forests of Yakushima (a UNESCO site) and the coral and distinct culture of Okinawa are Japan's subtropical extremes.

Japan runs on the rail pass and the shinkansen. A first trip of 10–14 days typically links Tokyo, Hakone or Fuji, Kyoto, Nara, and Hiroshima; a second adds Kanazawa and the Alps, Hokkaidō, or the southern islands.

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