wilderness travel treasure temples and tea houses japan

Autumn visits will gift you with fields of oranges and persimmons and enormous golden yellow ginko trees, but the beautiful sunsets and vistas are worth the visit all year. A great way to experience all Asuka has to offer is to rent a bicycle near Asuka train station (approx. AsukaĪn early capital city, Asuka is home to many of the country’s oldest shrines, temples, tombs and monuments. Wander down back streets and get a little lost to discover tiny, welcoming temples, many of which have beautiful moss gardens. But for a more off-the-beaten-track/authentic temple experience, try visiting one of the following places: Arashiyama With its friendly bowing deer, Nara is an instagrammers dream. Here you can visit Todai-ji temple which houses Japan’s largest and unarguably impressive, bronze Buddha statue.

Over 100 other temples have been established around Mount Koya, many of which.

The sect’s head temple, Kongobu-ji, is set on the forest-covered mountaintop of Mount Koya. One of the mega tourist go-tos for temple visits is Nara. Mount Koya is the spiritual home of Shingon Buddhism, a sect founded more than 1,200 years ago by one of Japan’s most important religious figures, Kobo Daishi. The choices are endless, however the top must-try bites are: Okonimyaki, a type of savoury pancake which comes in different styles depending on the city Takoyaki - octopus dumplings, best eaten from vendors in Dotonburi in Osaka – a feast for the eyes as much as for your belly Kobe beef – Found in its namesake town Kobe, home of this now famous beef Ramen, which is excellent all over Japan, and traditional soba noodles, dipped in soy sauce before eating (check for restaurants that make their own and offer courses in soba noodle making). The menu won’t always come in English (although this is becoming more common than not), but someone can usually help you out. Food here will be cheaper and generally more delicious and varied. Avoid chain restaurants if you can and seek out smaller, out of the way places to dine that are frequented by locals. Eat Everythingįrom the vast choice of uniquely flavoured sweets in the 7/11 on every corner, to the endless selection of regional foods from street vendors, from izakaya to sushi, ramen to soba, there is SO MUCH to choose from. Universal Studios Japan, which houses the popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter is another big draw for visitors and well worth the visit. The Imperial Palace and Ghibli Museum are other popular attractions that require prior planning.Food capital of Japan and (in my opinion) the friendliest major city. Planning tip: Tickets for sumo, kabuki and Giants baseball games usually go on sale one to two months in advance. Always changing and with a diverse collection of neighborhoods, no two experiences of Tokyo are ever the same.

It's a sprawling, organic thing, stretching as far as the eye can see. But more than any one sight, it's the city itself that enchants visitors. A few hundred years later during the Kamakura Period (1192-1333), green tea leaves imported from China and cultivated in Uji started becoming popular among the nobility. It's Japan's top spot for contemporary art and architecture, pop culture, shopping, drinking and entertainment (and a tie with Kyoto for dining). Green tea is now ubiquitous in Japan, but when it first arrived from China in the 700s, the drink was unknown except to a handful of priests and noblemen. Tokyo is a city forever reaching into the future, pushing the boundaries of what's possible on densely populated, earthquake-prone land, adding ever taller, sleeker structures. Here’s our pick of the 10 best places to visit in Japan. You could arguably spend a lifetime sampling the country’s delights, but some towns and sights are staples, core ingredients to any great Japan trip. Japan offers up a real feast for travelers, with mountainside onsen (hot spring) villages, sleepy beach-lined islands and buzzing megacities all on the menu.

Wilderness travel treasure temples and tea houses japan