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Facilities・Townscapes
Tower of Yasaka (Hokanji)
Location:
388, Yasakakamimachi, Higashiyama-ku Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
（Credit notation is required）Kyoto Media Support Center
Nihonkai Sakana Machi Seafood Market
Location:
Tsuruga City,Fukui Prefecture
A huge, bustling market full of shops selling fresh seafood staight from Tsuruga Port, and restaurans offering delicious items like sushi or bowls of rice generously topped with seafood.
Sabae, Fukui leads Japan in eyeglass production. The museum features a shop selling many varieties of glasses made in Sabae, as well as a workshop where visitors can make their own glasses.
Echizen Bamboo Doll Village
Location:
Sakai City,Fukui Prefecture
The only museum in Japan dedicated to bamboo dolls. In addition to seeing exhibits of dolls based on various themes, such as Kabuki, visitors can also try making their own.
Fukui's finest hot spring town, boasting 130 years of history since its opening. The plaza in front of Awara-Yunomachi Station features a free public foot bath and a variety of small restaurants. At the Dento Geinokan (Traditional Performing Arts Hall), visitors can transform geisha, have a lesson from real geisha, and enjoy a taiko drum performance of traditional geisha games.
Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum
Location:
Katsuyama City,Fukui Prefecture
Located in Katsuyama, Fukui, the site of more dinosaur fossil discoveries than anywhere else in Japan. One of the world's three biggest dinosaur museums. This vast museum features displays of dinosaur skeletons and fossil specimens, as well as life-sized dioramas. While you're there, why not get on a shuttle bus from the museum and join a tour? Near the excavation site where dinosaur fossils have been found, you can try a hands-on "fossil excavation" experience. When dig out a fossil, the researcher will explain the fossil.
Once the second residence of the Matsudaira clan, the feudal lords of Fukui long ago. Its Shoin architecture and garden are considered valuable examples of famous gardens from the middle of the Edo era(1603-1868).
Takefu Knife Village
Location:
Echizen City,Fukui Prefecture
With their exceptional qualty, Echizen Forged Blades are beloved by chefs both within Japan and around the world. In addition to selling kitchen knives, scissors, and other bladed tools, Takefu Knife Village also serves as a knife-making workshop, where visitors can watch from the second floor as knife-makers forge and sharpen these incredible knives. Additionally, visitors can also try their hands at making a metal keyfob or even a kitchen knife.
Miketsukuni Wakasa Obama Food Culture Museum
Location:
Obama City,Fukui Prefecture
Some 80% of all lacquered chopsticks produced in Japan are Wakasa Lacquered Chopsticks. Here, visitors can see demonstrations by traditional artisans, and try making their own lacquered chopsticks themselves.
Echizen Lacquerware Hall
Location:
Sabae City,Fukui Prefecture
Fukui has 1,500 years of tradition as "lacquer village". At Echizen Lacquerware Hall, visitors can see artisans making lacquerware, or try it themselves.
Fukui Prefectural Museum of Ceramics
Location:
Nyu District,Fukui Prefecture
A museum at the Echizen Pottery Village, home of one of the Six Old Kilns of Japan, Echizen Pottery. The museum consists of an exhibit hall, a pottery hands-on course, visitors can make their own pottery using Echizen Pottery clay.
Echizen Pa;er Villlage
Location:
Echizen City,Fukui Prefecture
Here, visitors can make their own washi paper and then decorate it with pressed flowers, dyes, and more, making pstcards, business cards, coasters, fans, lampshades, or other goods with their own hand-make paper.
Located right next to Mikuni Port, Mikuni-Minato machi flourished for centuries as the port of call for the Kitamae ships that would travel to destinations like Hokkaido or Osaka. With its latticed townhouses and families that trace back to the wealthy merchants of the day, it's easy to feel the liveliness of the town in its heyday evevn today.
Kumagawa-juku Historic Post Town
Location:
Mikatakaminaka District,Fukui Prefecture
The road through Wakasa, the southern half of Fukui where Kumagawa-juku Historic Post Town is located, was once used to provide the then-capital city of Kyoto with a wide variety of seafood.the town features old-fashioned buildings like guard houses, and the old irrgation canal.
You'll find old townhouses and geisya teahouses with wooden latticed exteriors, bay windows, and more in thes area selected as an Important Preseration District fo Groups of Traditional Buildings.
Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins
Location:
Fukui City,Fukui Prefecture
The Warring States-era warlords, the Asakura clan, ruled this area from 1471 to 1574, the remains of their castle town can still be seen today. These remains have been designated a special historic site, a site of special scenic beauty, and an important cultural property.
Hatenashi Settlement is located along Kohechi Route, which is one of the pilgrimage routes to Kumano. These routes were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage as part of the “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range”. It is also called ‘The Sky Village’ due to its high altitude location and has spectacular views of the Hatenashi Mountain Range. Hatenashi Settlement is chosen one of Japan’s top 100 villages. Visitors enjoy these views not only on clear days but also in mist and clouds on rainy days.
Dorogawa Onsen is a hot spring town with many inns, souvenir shops, and restaurants. It has flourished around Ryusenji Temple, which is regarded as the first ascetic practice place of Shugendo on Mt Omine. The mountain reverberates with the sound of the conch shells blown by Yamabushi (mountain ascetics) during the practice season from May to September. The hot springs, at the inns or the public resort called ‘Dorogawa Onsen Center’, have attracted many visitors as their waters are said to benefit skin complexion.
The history of Gojo Shinmachi went back to roughly 400 years ago, shortly after the Edo Bakufu was established following the Battle of Sekigahara. The Shimmachi Street retains historical buildings from the Edo period including the oldest existing private residence. Their architectural styles vary from each period. The area was designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.
Tottori Prefectural Flower Park
Location:
Nanbu (Town),Tottori Prefecture
Set with a view of the majestic mountain Daisen, this is the largest flower park in western Japan. A covered walkway reaches for one kilometer all the way around the park. Visitors can therefore enjoy flowers in each of the four seasons regardless of the weather.
Shoji Ueda Museum of Photography
Location:
Hoki (Town),Tottori Prefecture
This museum exhibits valuable works by the photographer Shoji Ueda. The harmony of the displayed works and the building housing them is itself a work of art. His distinctive style of arranging his subjects as art objects has been internationally acclaimed as “Ueda-cho.”
Itaibara Village
Location:
Chizu (Town),Tottori Prefecture
Itaibara Village is classified as a Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings. As if hidden within a valley of deep green cedar forests, Itaibara is a Japanese mountain village presenting a scene that appears just as it would have in days long past, with groups of old thatched-roof houses, branch schools, shrines, small mill houses working with the flowing river water, charcoal huts, and more.
Awaji Ningyo Joruri
Location:
Minamiawaji City, hyogo Prefecture
Awaji Ningyo Joruri, a narrative puppet theater art accompanied by shamisen music, is a traditional performing art with a history of over 500 years. This performing art is presented every day in its own theater. Each puppet has three people operating it, displaying skills that result from many years of training. Encounter an aspect of culture and history unique to Awaji.
SPring-8
Location:
Sayo (Town), hyogo Prefecture
SPring-8 is a large-scale synchrotron radiation facility with diameter of about 450 meters and circumference of some 1,500 meters. Delivering the world’s most powerful synchrotron radiation, the facility can be used for research into diverse areas, including nanotechnology and biotechnology. The Exhibition Hall is freely open to the public. Guided tours of the site are also offered.
Designed by the architect Tadao Ando, Awaji Yumebutai is a charming leisure and resort facility containing hothouses, flower beds, gardens and more, all based on the theme “Flowers and Greenery.” Complete with a panorama-view restaurant, outdoor theater, resort hotel and other facilities, Yumebutai lacks nothing in terms of comfort and entertainment.
Sasayama Castle Ruins, and Traditional Merchant Houses of Kawaramachi-Tsumairi
Location:
Sasayama City, hyogo Prefecture
Feel the atmosphere of an earlier era. Visit the ruins of Sasayama Castle, built in 1609 by order of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Kawaramachi-Tsumairi group of merchant houses presents scenery of a town that prospered as a center of commerce after the castle was built.
Nada-Gogo (Five Villages of Nada) in Kobe
Location:
Kobe City, hyogo Prefecture
The Nada-Gogo in Kobe City is one of the greatest sake brewing districts in Japan. The foundation of sake produced by the Nada-Gogo is Yamada Nishiki rice, a rice variety ideal for brewing sake, and Miyamizu water, a hard water discovered in the early half of the 19th century. Embark on a tasting tour of some of the more than 30 breweries that together produce about a third of all the sake made in Japan.
Joruri is a type of dramatic narrative chanting, accompanied by shamisen, and usually associated with puppet theater. “No-se Joruri” is a regional performing art handed down here since the Edo period. The theater was built in 1993 primarily to support the joruri tradition. No-se Ningyo Joruri Rokkakuza, a theater group made up of local people, presents an annual performance of puppet joruri each June. Performing artists of diverse genres also give performances in the theater. The theater lobby screens video recordings and has a permanent exhibition. Please contact the theater beforehand if you wish to handle the puppets and have photographs taken.
Expo ’70 Commemorative Park
Location:
Suita City, Osaka Prefecture
The site of the 1970 World Exposition in Japan (Osaka Expo) is now one of Osaka’s best known parks. After the Expo, it was redeveloped as “a cultural park set within nature,” with facilities for culture, sports, recreation and leisure. The Tower of the Sun (symbol of Expo ’70) and the Japanese-style garden have been retained as they were during the Expo. Today, visitors can enjoy flowers and plants all over the park, highlighting each of the four seasons, and diverse events presented throughout the year.
Iya Vine Bridge
Location:
Miyoshi City, Tokushima Prefecture
Wild hardy kiwi vines (approximately 5 tons) are used to make this vine bridge, which is 45m long, 2m wide, and 14m above the water. In olden times, it was used as an important part of the local road in this deep valley. Nationally Designated Important Folk Cultural Asset.
Naruto Whirlpools
Location:
Naruto City, Tokushima Prefecture
The difference in sea level in the Naruto Strait when the tide ebbs and flows creates intense currents, including whirlpools that can reach up to 20 meters in diameter. One of the three big tidal currents in the world, the deafening roar of the whirlpools and the swirling spectacle is magnificent to see. The whirlpools appear for about one and a half hours before and after low and high tide every day.
Wakimachi Udatsu Streetscape
Location:
Mima City, Tokushima Prefecture
From the Edo period to the Meiji period, "Awa Ai" indigo was traded here, in this streetscape full of merchant houses. On the second floor between buildings, extended walls called "udatsu" were built. At first they were built to prevent fires from spreading, but they quickly became a point of ornamental competition between houses, giving rise to the idiom "udatsu ga agaranai" meaning someone who can't get ahead in the world. In 1988, it was one of 28 places designated as an Important Group of Traditional Buildings.
Oku-Iya Double Vine Bridges
Location:
Miyoshi City, Tokushima Prefecture
Approximately 800 years ago, the Heike clan used Mt. Tsurugi as a place to train their horses, and these vine bridges were used to travel there. Now it is a passage to the Oku-Iya Kazura Vine Bridge Campground. There are two bridges side-by-side, so they are nicknamed the "Man's Bridge and Women's Bridge", or the "Husband and Wife Bridge". Beside the Women's Bridge is a man-powered ropeway that crosses the river, called a "yaen".
Iya Valley Peeing Boy
Location:
Miyoshi City, Tokushima Prefecture
In the deep, V-shaped gorge, the emerald green Iya River flows, and looking down from above is sure to make your head spin. In the autumn, the mountain is full of fall leaves from the bottom of the valley to the peaks, and visitors peek out at the sight from cars and buses. On a cliff overlooking the Iya River, a rock left from building the road sticks out, and on top of the rock, a statue of a peeing boy stands, as a physical representation of anecdotes about local children and travelers testing their courage.
Local Cuisine in an Old Folk House
Location:
Miyoshi City, Tokushima Prefecture
Togenkyo Iya's mountain hamlet folk home stay. Even in the remote Iya Valley, this spot is even more remote. Folk homes in Ochiai, a picturesque hamlet in Higashi-iya were renovated and opened as accommodation facilities in 2012. Guests can chose to enjoy simple local family cuisine as an option. The smiles of local motherly hosts will surely help guests forget the hustle and bustle of city life.
Hiwasa Chelonian Museum Caretta (Ohama Beach, Minami, Kaifu District, Tokushima Prefecture)
Location:
Minami, Kaifu District, Tokushima Prefecture
One of the few sea turtle museums in the world. See living sea turtles in a giant aquarium! Events are sometimes held to release baby sea turtles hatched in the museum into the sea. A valuable place to get close to sea turtles.
Red Tiled Roofs and White-Walled Storehouses
Location:
Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture
A scene that seems to be trapped in time. White plaster walls, and burned black cedar slats, gently curved little stone bridges, and red Sekishu roof tiles.
Chinese Garden “Encho-en” (Yurihama, Tottori)
Location:
Yurihama, Tohaku District, Tottori Prefecture
At Nashinohana Hot Spring area, along the banks of Togoike Pond, stands Japan's largest authentic Chinese garden. Built to commemorate the friendship between Tottori Prefecture and Hebei Province in China, the building, paintings, rocks and plants are all brought from China and placed again here. Used as a location for shooting films and TV programs, and in recent years it has hosted Chinese costume contests, enjoying popularity as a destination for cosplayers.
Utsubuki Park – White-walled Storehouses and Red Roof Tiles
Location:
Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture
Mt. Utsubuki, the symbol of Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture, features Utsubuki Park its foot, with beautiful blossoming cherry trees in early April. The reflection at night of the cherry blossoms in Hagoromo Pond is wonderful. After cherry blossoms come the azaleas, which are also very beautiful. This gathering point for the city's citizens has been chosen as one of Japan's 100 famous spots for cherry blossoms, one of Japan's 100 best city parks, and one of the 100 best spots for forest therapy. Hasedera Temple, which was built during the Muromachi era, and the Edo era merchant's houses that line the Tama River, and the white-walled and black burned cedar warehouses make it a great spot for a stroll.
Mt. Daisen South Face – Kagikake Pass Observation Deck
Location:
Kofu, Hino District, Tottori Prefecture
The highest peak in the Chugoku region, National Park Mt. Daisen is a famous picturesque spot. The towering cliffs and the giant beech forests stretching below are a breathtaking sight. In particular, when the new leaves come out in May, and when the colorful autumn leaves turn in late October and early November, it is particularly beautiful. The spot is loved by travel journalist Kaoru Kanetaka and world-class nature photographer Yoshikazu Shirakawa.
Mt. Koya
Location:
Koya, Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture
Surrounded by eight peaks, it is as if Mt. Koya is surrounded by the petals of a lotus. Kobo Daishi (Kukai) opened the mountain as the basic training place for Shingon Buddhist secret teaching. Even today, many monks continue the teachings of Kukai, and continue to do ascetic training here. There are 52 pilgrims lodgings on the mountain, and visitors can experience the history and culture of Mt. Koya through vegetarian Buddhist cuisine or by attending a Buddhist religious service.
Tama the Station Master
Location:
Kishigawa, Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture
Ever since the local train line connecting Wakayama City and Kinokawa City got attention for having a cat for a station master, visitors have come from around Japan and abroad to visit Wakayama Railways' Kishi Station. The station has a cafe and Tama-related items on sale. Catch a ride on the Tama train, and everything will be "Tama World". Recently, "Nitama Station Master" has appeared at Itakiso Station, and its popularity is growing.
Katsuura Fishing Port
Location:
Nachikatsuura, Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture
The Nachi Katsuura Fishing Port boasts the largest volume of non-frozen bluefin tuna in Japan. Visitors can view the bluefin auctions, and can enjoy fresh bluefin as sashimi and in other dishes at the restaurants, hotels, and inns in the town.
Tomogashima
Location:
Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture
The Kitan Strait is home to four islands: Jinoshima, Torajima, Kamishima, and Okinoshima. They are collectively known as Tomogashima. Regular boats leave from Kada port, and arrive at Okinoshima in approximately 20 minutes, where a hiking course that tours the fort remains is popular. Additionally, the western edge of island that cross through the meridian line of Japanese Standard Time (135 degrees east longitude) is home to the eighth white western-style lighthouse built in Japan, that helps to protect the comings and goings of ships in the strait even today.
Tetsujin 28-go Statue, Three Kingdoms Garden
Location:
Kobe City, hyogo Prefecture
This actual-sized monument (18 meters tall) is based on the popular Japanese manga/anime "Tetsujin 28-go" and is a popular photo spot with young people. Nearby find the "Three Kingdoms Garden" an exhibition hall based on the Chinese legend, Three Kingdoms.
Infiorata Kobe
Location:
Kobe City, hyogo Prefecture
This flower-focused event is held in the Chuo ward of Kobe, including Sannomiya Higashi, Motomachi Anamon, Nishi Motomachi, Kitanozaka venues. Infiorata is an Italian word that means "blanket with flowers". Farmers in places like Tonami City, Toyama Prefecture, provide flower petals that have been picked in order to grow bulbs, and the unneeded petals are recycled in order to create beautiful flower pictures.
Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Location:
Kobe City, hyogo Prefecture
The magnificence of the world's longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo Ohashi. The length of the space between the pillars on the Akashi Kaikyo Ohashi is the longest in the world. There are many places to view the elegance of the bridge's shape, and at night when it is lit-up, but the best place to truly experience the size of the bridge and the fusion of nature and the massive man-made architectural structure, is the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park directly adjacent to the bridge. It also has historical appeal, and is an ideal addition to a new one hundred Kansai views. (There is also a tour where visitors can experience a 360 degree panoramic view from the top of the bridge's pillar at Bridge World from April to November (every week from Thursday to Sunday, and on Holidays))
This beautiful beach with white sand and green pines, is a recreation zone loved by many, and as it is the closest swimming beach to the Osaka-Kobe area it is busy with tourists and beach huts every summer. It also holds many events such as the beach volleyball tournament, and it is popular with the younger generation as well as families. Surf music giants The Beach Boys even wrote a song about this beach, called Sumahama.
Banshu Chikusa Tesuki Washi Kobo
Location:
Shiso City, hyogo Prefecture
Chikusa has been a producer of a kind of washi paper called Harimagami since the Nara period. Currently, there is just one shop in the town that continues to make washi paper today, but the high quality paper can only be made in this place with its well-preserved natural surroundings. The shop continues to maintain tradition, passing down skills through the ages.
Kobe Anpanman Museum/Mall
Location:
Kobe City, hyogo Prefecture
This spring, the first theme park in West Japan to feature the anime hero loved by Japanese children, Anpanman, opened in Kobe. Children can play on the colorful playground equipment, and eat special limited edition bread and snacks shaped like the anime characters at the food court. There are plenty of Anpanman-themed souvenirs available, and it's a spot the whole family can enjoy. The facility is located near Kobe's bay area, and there are also other shopping malls nearby.
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