Japan Guide: the six must-visit cities

Stephen Scourfield captures a country where you can be fully immersed in history and culture.

The islands of Japan have modern cities, rugged mountains, dramatic coastlines, a distinctive, often oceanic, cuisine and a very particular ancient history.

The four main “home islands” of Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku and Kyushu have climates ranging from cool temperate in the north to tropical in the south. According to mythology, Japan’s ancient history began when sun goddess Amaterasu sent one a descendant to Kyushu to unify the people.

Here we visit some of the key hubs — Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe and Sapporo — before venturing further in our Experiences in our Japan Guide in Travel on Saturday, July 4.

TOKYO

The streets of Asakusa, Tokyo. Picture: Stephen Scourfield

This city of more than 13 million people is, in some ways, the epitome of an unusually successful marriage of form and function.

If function relates to a city’s layout, functionality and transportation, well, it’s hard to beat Tokyo. I have stepped out on to a street, joined in step with a stream of people walking to work and, by the end of the street, when they’ve all turned into their offices, ended up alone. Apart from getting your head around the Japanese signage, getting around is easy, quick and reliable.

If form is a city’s appearance, then Tokyo scores in its ancient and modern guises. We might know it as a clean, high-rise modern city but then parts of it still seem to live in earlier, considered times. While I might explore the modern areas of Aoyama, Harajuku and Shibuya (Ota Memorial Museum of Art and bric-a-brac at Togo Shrine flea market), temples and gardens have outlived many phases of the city (the brilliant Japanese Sword Museum, Meiji Shrine to honour Emperor Meiji, and Yamatane Museum of Art, with its fine collection of paintings).

So, from all the experiences, let me take just a few specific ones that give an essence of Tokyo:

I am wandering around Sensoji Shrine, in the Asakusa area, and it’s busy, busy, busy. Sensoji is visited by some 20 million people a year. Worshippers cleanse themselves with smoke from incense, while we tourists photograph the building itself, with its columns, up-curled roofs and powerful lines. I am entranced by the Buddha statue outside. Legend says that in AD628, two fishermen hauled a statue of the goddess of mercy, Kannon, from the Sumida River, and even though they kept throwing it back, it kept reappearing. And so a temple was built around it, being finished in AD645 and making this Tokyo’s oldest temple. Imagine the waves of human history it has witnessed.

Tsukiji fish market handles 2000-3000 tonnes a day. Picture: Stephen Scourfield

It is (very) early morning and I am in Tsukiji fish market. It is, in my experience, the world’s most incredible fish market, in both volume and the sheer size and quality, particularly of the tuna being trundled through on trolleys. Their bodies are bigger than mine. The market handles between 2000 and 3000 tonnes of seafood a day. Around the market there are more than 1000 places to eat — go on, guess what’s fresh today on every menu. (Tsukiji Fish Market Guided Tours are one of the best operators but hotels often offer tours, too.)

And then, in this busy but smoothly operating city (so smooth, in fact, it doesn’t oftenseem busy), I wander quietly through Hamarikyu Gardens — a precise oasis. I stroll over Otsutaibasi Bridge, which was built in 1707 when the garden was repaired by Lenobu, the sixth Tokagawa Shogun. And then, in the Nakajima-no-ochaya teahouse, built at the heart of the gardens in 1704, I sit on a strip of red carpet on a traditional mat floor for a tea ceremony — respectfully holding the cup in my left palm, turning it twice and sipping, careful to finish all the green froth. And then I sit cross-legged on the floor and contemplate the simple lines of the bridge and the curves of nature.

OSAKA

Perhaps in some ways Osaka feels like one of the most “explorable” cities in Japan. The people are welcoming, and there are plenty of side streets to wander down and fossick around in. And the city has the right pulse to encourage this, with small fashion shops, cafes and restaurants.

There are people in Japan who will tell you Osaka has the best food in their country. Part of the development of this slightly different pulse — “Osaka attitude”, I’ll call it — might be that the city has, through various periods, not been part of Japan’s history of big dynastic power bases. Osaka developed through trading, and developed its own arts, such as rakugo comic storytelling and banraku puppet theatres.

There’s plenty of sightseeing, and I’d include Osaka Castle, a walk in Naka-no-shima Koen (Osaka’s oldest park and with a brilliant museum of Oriental ceramics), the Amerika-mura neighbourhood for its cheap fashion and accessories, Den Den Town for electronics shopping, and Dotonbori-doi neighbourhood, which is Osaka’s old theatre district. Finally, the National Bunraku Theatre for a traditional puppet show (no, you might not understand all that’s going on but being there is the experience).

Osaka is also the home of geishas but it is impolite to photograph them. (And see our story over the page on Nara, which is 32km from the centre of Osaka.)

KYOTO

Kyoto has an atmosphere of elegance. Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto

If you want to write a list of must-dos for Kyoto — well, its temples and shrines must surely be at the top. Kyoto is, in some ways, the counterpoint for modern, functional Tokyo. For it has an atmosphere of elegance born of its centuries as the slowly beating heart of Japanese culture.

There are more than 1500 temples — a mix of Shinto, Zen and Buddhist. If there is one to place at the top of the list, probably it is the Fushimi-Inari shrine complex, which was founded soon after AD700.

This is a temple as we might expect it — from the red lacquer gates to the high roofs and green and gold ornamentation. But do also step into the world of Zen — for this head to the Shunko-In Temple. Zen is alive and well and there are monks living and working here, with one foot very much in the modern world (they use Twitter and have performed same-sex weddings). But the other is in the quiet tradition of Zen, and there is an interesting temple tour.

For manga animation followers, don’t miss the Kyoto International Manga Museum. There are good markets for beautiful paper products and ceramics in the Arashiyama district.

NAGOYA

Nagoya. Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Let’s go back to the beginning, to about AD1612 when shogun Tokugawa Leyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled for more than 260 years, let his ninth son build a castle in what is now Nagoya. It was set above the productive agricultural land of the Nobi plain and merchants and businesses started to cluster around the huge fortress.

The city has had its rises and ebbs, of course, and one way to get a view of its epochs is to juxtapose a visit to the Arimatsu-Narumi Tie-Dyeing Museum, to see how traditional tie-dyed cotton, shibori, has been made here for more than 400 years, with a tour of the Toyota factory.

Other things on my list would be the Tokugawa Art Museum (which holds the 12th century hand scrolls of The Tale of Genji, possibly the world’s first novel), Nagoya-jo garden and arboretum, and, of course, Nagoya Castle itself. It is open most days, about $5 for adults and, of course, home to the famous golden dolphins that have topped its roof for more than 700 years.

Nagoya is famous for its red miso, particularly in misonikomi udon, which has thick noodles cooked in an earthenware pot of miso soup with chicken, egg, mushrooms and onions

KOBE

Sake is brewed in Kobe. Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto

For city lovers, Kobe has a contemporary, hip feel. For those who like the bigger picture, it rests between mountains and the sea, in an interesting setting.

Kobe offers a bit of “East meets West”. Being a port, all sorts of influences have sailed in and dropped anchor here. There are residents who’ve come from all over the world — more than 100 other countries — and international cuisine.

Dinner and then a bit of night sightseeing around Akashi Kaikyo Bridge or on the Ferris wheel — that’s Kobe. And for dinner? The area is, of course, famous for its very tender, marbled Kobe beef and there are plenty of steak houses to choose from. All washed down, possibly, with sake (the alcoholic drink make from fermented rice) made at one of the breweries at the western end of Kobe, in Nada. They use rice grown near Mt Rokko and there are interesting sake museums.

OK, so let’s draw up a quick sightseeing list for Kobe, and the immediate Kansai region in which it sits: Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum, the waterside area and Meriken Park, Kobe Maritime Museum, Kobe Shiritsu Hakubutsukan (a museum the specialises in 16th and 17th centuries and the brush of East and West), Nunobiki-no-taki (an impressive waterfall in the city), and finally up on one of the cable cars to Mt Rokko lookout.

SAPPORO

Odori Park, Sapporo. Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto

First a warning — every time I’ve been to Sapporo, it’s been cold. Sapporo, on the northern island of Hokkaido (the second biggest of Japan’s four main islands), is the kicking-off spot for exploring the region but usually has a big snow festival in February (the area’s famous for its powder snow), a dance festival in June and a beer celebration in July and August. The Sapporo Beer Festival in Odori Park is over three weeks and every block becomes a beer garden.

Sapporo is worth at least a day before kicking off around Hokkaido. Hokkaido University Botanic Gardens has more than 5000 plant species, then there’s Utagaki Park Shiroishi. The Historical Museum of Hokkaido has everything from woolly mammoth teeth to whitegoods made around here in the 1950s.

ELSEWHERE

Lavender fields in Hokkaido.

This is not to say there aren’t myriad other places to visit — but these tend to be the main points on the maps which are joined, and the main points of entry. But a spokesperson for the Japan National Tourism Organisation points out: “Travellers from WA to Japan are more likely to take indirect flights stopping at Asian destinations such as Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong. By taking indirect flights, it is easier to visit provincial towns of Japan including Ishikawa, Okinawa and Hokkaido prefectures, and Shikoku and Kyushu regions.

“Of course, travellers can also easily visit these destinations from major centres in Japan by bullet trains or air.”

For example, it might be the traditional castle town of Ishikawa, reached on the Hokuriku bullet train. It might be Okinawa, the favourite beach resort. It might mean an emphasis on Hokkaido: “A region with an abundance of natural beauty.”

The Shikoko region has many options for activities, from a pilgrimage to a cycling route (there is more on this in our Experiences'''' in Japan Guide in Travel on July 4).

The Kyushu region is famous for its onsen hot springs and regional food.

FACT FILE

More information on Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kobe, Sapporo and other parts of Japan from the Japan National Tourism Organisation’s excellent website: jnto.org.au

Ishikawa: www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/foreign/en/

Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League: hot-ishikawa.jp/english/

Hokuriku bullet train: jnto.org.au

Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau: okinawastory.jp

Sapporo: welcome.city.sapporo.jp

Tourism Shikoku: tourismshikoku.org

Kyushu Tourism Promotion Organisation: visitkyushu.org