Welcome to Japan

Japan is located in the North Pacific off the coast of Russia and the Korean peninsula. The area of Japan is 377,873km², which makes it slightly smaller in land mass than California. Japan consists of four main larger islands and more than 4000 smaller islands. The main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Honshu is the largest with an area of 231,000km². A modern railroad system connects the major islands with Japan's high-speed Shinkansen connecting major urban areas.

The climate of Japan varies considerably depending on the region and season. Summer is usually very hot and humid, known to the Japanese as "mushiatsui". From mid June there is a rainy season which lasts around one month. Winters are usually mild, with the northern areas of Japan receiving more snow. Spring and autumn are usually sunny with mild temperatures. Currency using is Yen.

Japanese is the official language of Japan. Many Japanese also have some ability in writing and speaking English as it is a mandatory part of the curriculum in the Japanese educational system. Japanese uses four different writing systems; Kanji (Chinese characters), Hiragana (phonetic alphabet for native words), Katakana (phonetic alphabet for foreign words), and Romaji (western alphabet used to write Japanese). Japanese vocabulary has been strongly influenced by loanwords from other languages, with most loanwords coming from Chinese and English.

Below are the attractive cities in Japan:

Introduction of Tokyo

Tokyo consists of the southwestern part of the Kanto region, the Izu Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, and the place where over 13 million people live, making it one of the most populous cities in the world. When the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu established a government there in the early 17th century, the area started to develop, spreading out around his residence, Edo Castle. Most of the city was devastated by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and then again by the bombing in the WWII, however, Tokyo was able to achieve a remarkably rapid recovery both times.Tokyo is not only the political and economical center of Japan, it has also emerged as a center of the world economy and culture. There are a number of attractions in Tokyo that should not be missed. There are large-scale downtown areas, including Ginza where famous shops from around the world stand side by side, the sleepless Shinjuku that has become the "new city center of Tokyo," Asakusa which is reminiscent of the traditional Edo (the former name of Tokyo), and Shibuya that starts the trends for the young people. Other unique areas include the computer town Akihabara, a dense retail area where numerous electronic shops compete against each other, attracting many shoppers from Japan and overseas, and Tsukiji, an open-air wholesale food market catering to shops and consumers everywhere in Japan.

Below are the attractive places in Tokyo:

Kiyosumi Garden

The Kiyosumi Garden in the downtown area of Tokyo is a beautiful example of a stroll garden from the Meiji Era, mainly composed of a garden pond, artificial hills and Karesansui (gravel garden). This type of gardening technique was used for the gardens of feudal lords from the Edo Period, but also gained a great deal of popularity in the Meiji Era. The core of the garden is a pond with three islands, whose surface reflects buildings in Sukiya style (Architectural style originally used for teahouses), and trees. The Ryotei (Traditional Japanese restaurant that integrates many aspects of Japanese culture including buildings, furnishings and business entertaining) House was purposely constructed so that it would seem to hang over the pond to produce a strong Japanese atmosphere, whereas the sight of the innumerous garden stones, paving stones, and stepping stones gives a prevailing sense of a "rock garden."

Admission Fee: 150 yen

Operation: Close at 29 Dec.-1 Jan.

Access: Subway Oedo Line or Tokyo Metro Hanzoumon Line Kiyosumi Shirakawa Stn./ On foot/ 5 min.

Address: 3-3-9 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo

Koishikawa Korakuen Garden

Despite being situated right in the heart of Tokyo, Koishikawa Korakuen is incredibly quiet. The gardens were laid out in 1629 by a feudal lord of that time, as the gardens of his residence in Edo (now Tokyo). Originally in the Kyoto style, they were later redesigned using Chinese techniques. The unusually shaped rocks that remain today are modeled on the garden style of a region of China south of the Yangtze. The gardens are truly an urban oasis, a peaceful haven in the heart of the city.

Admission Fee: 300 yen

Operation: Close at 29 Dec.-1 Jan.

Access: JR Tokyo Stn. / Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line / 9-min. ride / Korakuen Stn. / 8-min. walk.

Address: 1-6-6 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Edo Castle

Edo Castle (Edo-jo) was the home castle of the line of Tokugawa shoguns who ran the Edo government which ruled Japan for roughly 260 years (from the beginning of the 17th century until 1867). It was originally built in 1457 by the daimyo Ota Dokan, who was also well-known as a poet. As it was the castle of the founding shogun of the Edo government (Tokugawa Ieyasu), it became the building that symbolized the prestige of successive shoguns, and was also the center of political power. It was the largest castle in Japan in those days, with the inner compound measuring roughly 8 km in diameter, and the outer compound measuring around 16 km. The castle donjon with a five-tiered façade was an enormously high building with a stone wall measuring 51.5 m from ground level. This was destroyed, however, in the great fire of 1657. It is currently the Imperial Palace of the Emperor of Japan.

Admission Fee: Free

Operation: Close at Mondays (if the Monday is a holiday, the following Tuesday), Fridays (except holidays), the Emperors Birthday, Dec. 28-Jan. 3'

Access: JR Tokyo Station/On foot/10 min.

Address: Chiyoda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Kyu-Furukawa-teien Garden

Kyu-Furukawa Teien (Former Furukawa Garden) covers around 30 ha of the former residence of the wealthy Furukawa Ichibei. He built a European-style mansion on a small hill at the northern end, with a cheerful Western-style garden on the slope, and a Japanese garden further down built around a pond. An Englishman, Josiah Conder, designed both the European-style mansion and garden. With the flowerbed placed in the center, the garden is arranged on a three-tiered gently sloping terrace. A flowerbed of a geometrical pattern is laid out on the middle tier. The Japanese garden was designed by Jihei Ogawa, a well-known designer in Kyoto. Deep green bushes at the entrance to the Japanese garden create an atmosphere that is in striking contrast to the brightly-colored Western garden.

Admission Fee: 150 yen

Operation: Close at 29 Dec.-1 Jan.

Access: JR Tokyo Stn./JR Keihin Tohoku Line/13-min. ride/Kami-Nakazato Stn./7-min. walk; Tokyo Metro Namboku line Nishigahara Stn./10 min.walk

Address: 1-27-39 Nisigahara, Kita-ku, Tokyo

Hie-jinja Shrine

The Hie-jinja Shrine was established in 1478 by the regional lord, Ota Dokan, to enshrine the apportioned spirit of the Kawagoe Sannou-sha Shrine as the guardian deity of the land of Edo (todays Tokyo), while he ruled it and built Edo Castle. In 1659, it was moved to the current location in the Akasaka district, south of the Imperial Palace. The shrine holds the Sanno Matsuri (festival). Along with the Kanda Matsuri, it was one of the Tenka [World's Greatest] Matsuri, which the shogun attended during the Tokugawa period, and is now counted as one of the three largest festivals in Japan, together with the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto and the Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka. The Hie Shrine preserves many important treasures, such as the "Itomaki-no-Tachi" (long sword with lacing on the scabbard) by Ichimonji Norimune (national treasure) and a sword by Bishu Osafune Nagamitsu that was owned by Emperor Meiji.'

Admission Fee: Free in the shrine precincts

Access: JR Tokyo Stn./Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line/10-min. ride/Akasakamitsuke Stn./On foot/8 min.

Address: 2-10-5 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo