Learn The Top Cities For Tourist In Japan
Japan is one of those places that everyone considers to be exotic, but it is like any other country. It has good spots, bad spots, and a whole lot of places that are in between. With that being the case, though, you will want to know about some of the top cities to take tours of if you are going to be in Japan. Then you can finally have a great trip to Japan and know you have explored all the major cities that you wanted to, but also have plenty of pictures to take home and share with the family and friends that were unable to make the trip.
How Did We Narrow Down The Top Cities In Japan For Tourist
Well, we did a lot of research to start off with. Yes, research is key to anything and thankfully we have done it all for you so you do not have to spend the next fifty hours of your life doing the research that we did! So you can actually get out and enjoy your trip to Japan, instead of trying to figure out where you should be going to or what you should be doing. With that being the case, we weighed several factors including location, what you can do, what restaurants available, lodging, and the entertainment to make it easier for you to know which ones are the best.With that being said, let us get to the list already.
Tokyo
Tokyo is obviously going to make the list. After all it is the capital of Japan and it is one of the worlds most densely populated cities. However, in addition to having all of that going for it, it will have plenty of entertainment for you to enjoy and even has some of the different temples that you may have read about in history books. All of that combined will make it quite a bit easier for you to enjoy Tokyo because it is going to make it easier for you to have a great time in the city and know that you are going to have fun.
Lodging in Tokyo is going to be something that is completely unique and different. Yes, you have the traditional hotels that you may be used to in some of the places of the city. However, the city is cramped for space and the only way they can go is by going up and smaller. So they have taken and made some of the tube hotels that you have seen on travel shows. These are a unique way to lodge and will make it easier for you to stay in the heart of the town.
Restaurants that are present in Tokyo rival any that you can find in Paris. These are the type that you are going to blow your taste buds out of the water, but also makes it easier for you to enjoy the food and know it is food that you will not find in any other culture around the world. You will also notice the cities restaurants tend to have a great combination of the modern and traditional cuisine that is what you will want to explore when you are exploring the region for a great place to eat at.
Entertainment is something else that Tokyo tends to offer quite a bit of. While the entertainment may not be what you are used to, it has a wide variety of temples for you to tour, the palace, and even Japanese style theme parks. Now you need to realize each of these are going to be different and offer you something different to do. What is really nice, though, is no matter what you are going to find something entertaining to do even if it is just sitting down and watching the baseball games which are going to be a site to behold.
Kyoto
Kyoto is the old capital of Japan. Yes, you read that right, Tokyo has not always been the capital city of Japan and it is easy to see that this is the older capital as it is located in the proper region for a capital city of the older times. So this is definitely going to mean you will have plenty of history to explore. What is really nice is the city of Kyoto is smaller than Tokyo as it only has about 1.5 million people inside of the city.
When you are in Kyoto one thing you will notice is you will have plenty of Buddhist Temples to visit, but you also get a chance to see some of the shrines that are present in the city as well. What is really nice is Kyoto, even with the popularity it has started to gain is going to hold onto its historical past. This allows the city to have some of the older wooden houses that you have looked at before and seen in pictures then thought this would never exist in real life still.
Eating in Kyoto is going to follow more of the traditional standard of Japanese food. However, it is going to be something that you are going to enjoy and depending on the district of Kyoto you are in it is possible to have a multi style meal complete with the traditional geisha girls to entertain while you are eating your meal.
Nara
Nara is another city that was an old capital of Japan. This has made it one of the best cities to go out and see the older art work that is present in the city. The city also has plenty of shrines that you will be able to enjoy as well, but you will find the number of shrines that are present. The temples in the city have a tendency along with the art work to date back to the 8th century. So this definitely is going to make it easier for you to see the history of Japan in the temples that are present and even in the arts.
As far as restaurants you will find the normal style of places to eat at and this will make it easier for you to have a great trip. So this is definitely a place that you will be able to experience the food and just like most of the traditional meals you will have the cultural lessons that are going to be intertwined with the food that you are eating and see how this has made an impact on the culture of Japan all the way into modern times.
Nara is also home to the Nara park. This is a park that is home to a very large population of deer that are going to roam around the town, but it is also home to museums and even temples. In fact, one temple that a lot of people have heard about before and even seen on television is Todai-ji temple which is the home to one of the largest statues of Buddha that you will find.
Hiroshima
Hiroshima is well know as a city that was rocked by an atomic bomb. However, it has disproved a lot of the myths that nothing can be rebuilt and even thrive from the destruction and mayhem that was present in the city when the bombing happened. So this is going to be something that people will want to explore because it does showcase how a major city can recover and start to make itself back into something even when it was not going to be anything at all.
The city is well known for the destruction, but also for the peace park that sprang up from the rebuilding process. This park is one that will allow you to take the time to go out and reflect on what happened here and hope that it never has to come to that type of widespread destruction ever again. So this is definitely a place that you will want to go to.
Something else that is present is the Genbaku Dome, which was present when the city was bombed. It is one of the places that actually survived the bombing and the fires that happened after the city was bombed in World War II, which helped bring about an end to the war.
Nikko
Nikko is the city that you will want to go to in Japan if you want to see the mountains. This city is located near the mountains and it is a very small city. Think a larger version of the Gatlinburg touristy city if you are from the United States. However, Nikko is a place that will allow you to do and see almost anything that you would want to see or do. The city is small so you do not have to worry about a lot of crowds either, which makes it a nice place to go to as well to get away from everything.
The main attraction in Nikko, outside of the beautiful and breathtaking mountain views is the Toshogu, which is a very famous shrine. This is a shrine that is seen as a memorial to the Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was a founding member of the Tokugawa shogunate. Some people will often hear this as being called the Edo period of the Japanese rule and that is what can make it so interesting for people to visit.
Want to learn more about Tokyo? Check out our Tokyo page.
Would you like to learn more about Japan? Visit our Japan travel page.
Want to cover Asia instead? Find our Asia travel page helpful.