Asia Travel Guides

Points of interest

Kyoto Imperial Palace Park

The Kyoto Gosho is surrounded by the spacious Imperial Palace Park, which is planted with a huge variety of flowering trees and open fields. It's perfect for picnics, strolls and just about any sport you can think of. The park is most beautiful in the plum- and cherry-blossom seasons (March and April respectively).

Take some time to visit the pond at the park's southern end, which contains gorgeous carp.

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Daisetsuzan National Park

Sometimes spelled 'Taisetsuzan', this is Japan's largest national park, consisting of several mountain groups, volcanoes, hot springs, lakes and forests. It also includes Asahi-dake, at 2290m (7557ft) Hokkaidō's highest peak. The park is spectacular hiking and skiing territory, but bear in mind that a few days are needed to get away from tourist areas.

If you have limited time, Asahidake Onsen is a good spot for a quick look at the park. Tokachidake Onsen is more remote and may be good for those wanting to escape the crowds (a key consideration in summer and early autumn). There are a couple of hikes on the more well-trodden trails here, but there are also many more routes leading to more remote regions if you have several days, or even a week, to spare.

Hiking and other information with some English-language text is available at tourist information offices in the larger towns and destinations.

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Mt Fuji

Japan's highest mountain stands 3776m (12,388ft) high. When it's capped with snow, it's a picture-postcard perfect volcanic cone. Fuji-san last blew in 1707, covering the streets of Tokyo with volcanic ash. On an exceptionally clear day, you can see Mt Fuji from Tokyo, 100km (62mi) away, but on many days it's wreathed with clouds.

Your best chance of seeing the notoriously shy mountain is in the late autumn, winter and early spring when the air is fairly clear. Even during these times, the mountain may only be visible in the morning before it retreats behind a curtain of haze or clouds.

You can get a classic view of Mt Fuji from the shinkansen (bullet train) as it passes the city of Fuji (sit on the northern side of the train). But the best and closest views are from the Fuji Go-ko region where, on a clear day, the hulking presence of the mountain seems to fill the sky.

Officially, the climbing season on Mt Fuji is from 1 July to 31 August. Actually, you can climb Mt Fuji at any time of year, and it may be preferable to do so just outside the official season to avoid the crowds, but keep in mind that transport services may be less frequent and some of the huts may be closed. Of course, any time there's snow on the mountain you'll need the proper equipment and experience to climb Mt Fuji, and a midwinter ascent is strictly for expert mountaineers.

You want to reach the top at dawn - both to see goraiko (sunrise) and because early morning is the time when the mountain is least likely to be shrouded in cloud. Sometimes it takes an hour or two to burn the morning mist off, however. You do not want to arrive on the top too long before dawn, as it's likely to be very cold and windy, and if you've worked up a sweat during the climb, you'll be very uncomfortable.

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Iriomote-jima

Dense jungle blankets much of Iriomote-jima, an island that could well qualify as Japan's last frontier. Trekking through the interior, you may find leeches, which in Japan is probably good enough to merit the 'wilderness' tag. The island's major attractions are beaches, rivers and waterfalls, and the rarely seen Iriomote yamaneko (wildcat).

Much easier to find are the curious sakishimasuo trees, with their twisting, ribbon-like root buttresses. You'll find them all over the island, but particularly along the coast north of Ōhara.

Iriomote-jima has several small towns and a perimeter road that runs about halfway around the coast. No roads run into the interior, which is virtually untouched.

The island's number-one attraction is a trip up the Urauchi-gawa, a winding brown river a lot like a tiny stretch of the Amazon. From where the boats stop, it's a half-hour walk to the spectacular waterfalls, Mariyudō-no-taki, and long, rapids-like Kampirē-no-taki. There are some good swimming holes around the falls.

There are some great walks in Iriomote-jima's jungle-clad interior. To get to the falls you wade across the shallow lagoon from the causeway, plod through the mangroves behind the lagoon and then follow the river up to the base of the falls. At high tide, you can rent a kayak and paddle across. A path branches off from the river and climbs to the top of the falls, from where there are superb views down to the coast.

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Kamakura Daibutsu

The Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha) was completed in 1252 and is Kamakura's most famous sight. Once housed in a huge hall, the statue now sits in the open, its home having been washed away by a tsunami (tidal wave) in 1495. Cast in bronze, the statue is 11.4m (37.4ft) tall.

Its construction is said to have been inspired by Yoritomo's visit to Nara (where there is another, even bigger, daibutsu) after the Minamoto clan's victory over the rival Taira clan. Even though Kamakura's Daibutsu doesn't quite match Nara's in stature, it is commonly agreed that it is artistically superior. The Buddha itself is the Amida Buddha ( amitābha in Sanskrit), worshipped by the followers of the Jōdo (Pure Land) school as a figure of salvation.

To get to the Daibutsu, take a bus from the No 2, 7 or 10 bus stop in front of Kamakura station and get off at the Daibutsu-mae stop. Alternatively, take the Enoden Enoshima line to Hase station and walk north for 10 minutes.

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Attractions

Kyoto

Kyoto, with its hundreds of temples and gardens, was the imperial capital between 794 and 1868, and remains the cultural centre of Japan. Its raked pebble gardens, sensuously contoured temple roofs and mysterious Shintō shrines fulfill the Japanese fantasy of every Western cliché hunter.

With an astonishing 1600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shintō shrines, a trio of palaces, and dozens of gardens and museums, Kyoto is Japan's cultural treasure house. Seventeen of Kyoto's ancient structures and gardens have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites.

But there is far more to this venerable city than the sights proudly paraded in tourist brochures. Spared the onslaught of the American bombs during WWII, Kyoto ironically suffers from deep cultural and aesthetic wounds that have been largely self-inflicted. During the past few decades much of the city's facade has been swept away in a euphoric rush to modernise. As Kyoto struggles to reconcile development with historical preservation, this living museum seems to hang in the balance.

Nagasaki

Nagasaki is a busy and colourful city, but its unfortunate fate as the second atomic bomb target obscures its fascinating early history of contact with the Portuguese and Dutch. The chilling A-Bomb Museum and Hypocentre Park are evocative reminders of the horror of nuclear destruction.

As a solemn aniversary, a bell in the turtle-shaped Fukusai-ji, a Zen temple, tolls at 11:02 daily, the time of the explosion. One of the world's biggest Foucault pendulums (a device which demonstrates the rotation of the earth) hangs inside the temple.

At the southern end of Nagasaki, a number of the former homes of the city's European residents have been reassembled in the hillside Glover Garden. Moving stairways, fountains and goldfish give it the air of a cultural Disneyland, but the houses are attractive and the views across Nagasaki are superb.

An hour north of Nagasaki is Huis ten Bosch, an astounding recreation of a Dutch town, complete with windmills, dykes, a replica of the Dutch royal family's residence, tulips and a cheese shop. Amazingly, this is also a residential development with housing for 10,000 people who want to live in a sanitised version of the Netherlands but in Japan.

Tokyo

The sheer level of energy is the most striking aspect of Japan's capital city. Tokyo is a place where the urgent rhythms of consumer culture collide with the quieter moments that linger from older traditions. It's hectic madness leavened by the most Zenic of calms.

While it's true the exciting vibe has a somewhat depressing flip side - shoebox housing estates and office blocks traversed by overhead expressways crowded with traffic - Tokyo remains a glittering example of the 'miracle' of post-WWII Japan.

Despite all the hyper-construction, the traditional Tokyo suburb hasn't been completely trounced: in the shadows of skyscrapers, streets are still lined with tiny specialist shops and bustling restaurants open late into the night. You can still sense a bygone era in an ancient wooden house, a Japanese inn, or an old lady in a kimono sweeping the pavement outside her home with a straw broom.

Events

Expect a total sell-out for travel and lodging during Japan's biggest holidays, New Year (December 29 to January 3) and Golden Week (the lumping together of Green Day, Constitution Day and Children's Day, from April 29 to May 7). Other festivals include Coming-of-Age Day (second Monday in January), when ceremonies are held for boys and girls who have reached the age of 20. The Japanese celebrate the end of winter on February 3 or 4 by indulging in Setsubun (bean throwing) while chanting 'in with good fortune, out with the devils'. Hanami (Blossom Viewing) usually runs from March to April; the romantic Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival) is on July 7; and O Bon (Festival of the Dead), when lanterns are floated on rivers, lakes or the sea to signify the return of the departed to the underworld, takes place from July 13-16 and mid-August.

Kyoto's Gion Matsuri (July 17) is perhaps the most renowned of all Japanese festivals. The climax is a parade of massive man-dragged floats decked out in incredible finery, harking back to a 9th-century request to the gods to end a plague sweeping the city. In the cute and kooky department, Niramekko Obisha (January 20; Chiba) combines a staring contest with consumption of sake - the one with the straightest face wins. The Yah-Yah Matsuri (first Sunday to the following Saturday of February; Owase) is an argument contest: competitors scream Samurai chants and try to look fearsome. Afterwards, they take off all their clothes and jump in the ocean. White Day (March 14) is a bizarre follow up to Valentine's Day where men are supposed to reciprocate to their valentine with a gift of chocolate or marshmallow. For those into music, the Fuji Rock Festival is held over three days in late July at the Naeba Ski Resort in northwest Japan. This festival boasts an awesome lineup of local and international bands playing against a mountain backdrop.