Facts of Japan - Interesting places

Interesting Places

There are quite a vast number of interesting places in Japan. All these places hold some historical facts and bring back quite interesting memories to the senses. Some of them are:

Former Samurai Districts:

Kakunodate is so beautiful and is preserved. Samurai mansions here are mostly open to people. They are also popular for their weeping cherry trees.

Nagamuchi is the second wealthiest domain of feudal era. Mansions and narrow lanes are the speciality.

Former Merchant Districts

Sanmachi Suji is famous for its narrow streets, traditional buildings and sake breweries.

Historic Canal Area is the place where, along with the willow lined canal, numerous warehouses stand some of which are converted into museums, boutiques and cafes.

Yokaichi Old Town has a street that is 600 meters long and preserved by buildings. It is internationally famous as wax producer.

Kurazukuri Street has massive warehouses of the Edo period.

Sawara used to be the transport hub for shipping rice into the capital.

Naramachi is the merchant district of Nara.

Imaicho Town has the machiya town houses.

Nakamaci District has very well preserved oldest buildings.

Geisha Districts

Gion District consists of amazing old buildings, tea houses. One can even spot a Geishs apprentice as well here.

Chaya Districts has many old tea houses where Geisha are still performing at the banquets.

Post Towns

Tsumago buildings mostly belong to the Edo period.

Magome has a hiking train that connects with Tsumago which is 10 km away.

Narai is the former wealthiest town and stretches over a whole km.

Ouichijuku is the town of Edo period that looks very interesting.

Pilgrimage Towns

Higashiyama District has the narrow street that ascends to the Kiyomizudera, which is the most popular temple of Kyoto.

Oharaimachi is a very old street. It leads to the inner most shrine of Ise. Along the road the Edo period buildings stand gigantically.

Ryukyu Villages or Islands still preserve their own culture and is a pleasing place to visit.

Taketomi Island is a small village. The houses are still preserved in the oldest style with stone walls, tiled roofs and white sand roads etc.

Castles

Himeji castle dates back to 1333, and was built on top of the Himeyama Hill. After that it was remodeled many times by the successors and it remained intact during this period. It was registered and declared as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1993.

Inuyama Castle was completed in 1537 and is the oldest castle of Japan. It has never been reconstructed.

Okayama Castle is located in the city of Okayama and was actually completed in 1597 and after world war, it was reconstructed in 1966.

Kumamoto Castle is in Kumamoto and is a well fortified castle. It was reconstructed in 1960.

Matsumoto castle is located in the Matsumoto city. Because of the castle’s black exterior, this castle is known as a Crow castle. It got completed in 16^th century and it is one of the premier castles of Japan.

Nijo Castle was built around the same time as Himeji castle. It is small with three stories but it has lots of tricks and traps inside the castle to thwart the enemy.

Gifu Castle in located in the Gifu city. It was built between 1201 and 1204. It is a Kamakura period Castle.

Hikone Castle was built around 1603 and is located in a popular historical site Hikone. The Castle was actually completed in 1622 only.

Kochi Castle was built around 1603 on a hill of 42 meters. From outside it looks like having 3 floors but actually it has 6 floors inside. Quite tricky castle is it.

Similar castles can be found in many places of Japan. But these are the most popular castles of historical importance with many interesting structures.