The palace of the Ryūkyū kings, who ruled Okinawa as an independent kingdom until 1879, a red-lacquered castle on a hill above Naha, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It burned down in 2019 and is being rebuilt; you can watch the work.
Okinawa has subtropical beaches, coral reefs for diving, the Churaumi Aquarium with whale sharks, and moving memorials of the 1945 battle. The Kerama Islands are a short ferry ride from Naha.
A mountainous island south of Kyushu covered in ancient cedar forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A Shinto shrine on the island of Miyajima, built over the water, with a huge vermilion torii gate that seems to float at high tide.
A park built near the hypocentre of the atomic bomb dropped on 6 August 1945.
A small island in the Seto Inland Sea transformed into a home of contemporary art.
Ancient pilgrimage trails through the forested mountains of the Kii Peninsula, linking three grand shrines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A mountaintop monastery town founded in 816 by the monk Kūkai, with more than 100 temples, many offering shukubō (temple lodging), where you eat vege…
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