When
you visit Japan prepare to be treated as a
friend. This is mainly because of the Japanese government program for
promoting
tourism in the country. The campaign is called Yokoso
Japan, which means
"Welcome to Japan". The goal of the
program is to attract more visitors from abroad and increase their
number up to 10 million by 2010. It is worth mentioning that last year
the country registered 6 million tourists from abroad.For the last five years the
Japan National
Tourist Organization made a number of important steps to
convince tourists that once closed society is now open for foreigners.
According to the tourism agency seven out of ten most impressive
attractions for foreigners are located in the capital of Japan, Tokyo. Below there is the list of Japanese
most popular places to visit.
UenoPark, Tokyo
UenoPark
is a large park located near the Ueno Station. The park was
opened for the public back in 1873. Its visitors have a wide
range of attractions to choose from. The
statue of
Saigo Takamori stands at the south
entrance of the park. Saigo Takamori played an important role in
the history of
Japan. During the early Meiji
Period he was one the main figures in performing Meiji
Restoration of 1868.
In addition,
UenoPark features the
country's first zoological garden, which was established in 1882.
After the relationships with China got back to normal, Chinese
representatives offered a couple of panda bears as a gift to
Japan. In 1972 UenoPark became the home of these pandas.
Unfortunately, the last panda bear of the zoo died in 2008. A large pond
in the park is called Shinobazu pond. In its center there is the
statue of the goddess of Benten.
Visitors really should pay a 200 yen fee to enter the Toshogu Shrine,
a shrine built to commemorate
Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was the one to put the roots of the
Edo shogunate, which ruled the country in the period between
1603 and 1867.
Undoubtedly, one of the most marvelous spots of the park is the area of
over 1000 cherry trees. During the period of the cherry blossoming, the
park turns into
Japan's most popular destination for
hanami parties (the viewing of cherry blossoms). Outside the park
there is the Ameya-yokocho, a very active street composed of lost
of small shops.
Harajuku,
Tokyo
Harajuku
is the central part of one of the most extreme teenage cultures in Japan.
Apart from teenagers, the Harajuku offers shopping for people of
different age. In addition, it features a number of historic sights. The
most attractive point is believed to be Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) along with its side
streets arranged by numerous fashion shops, boutiques, clothes stores
and fast food outlets.
For the ultimate experience of the ten culture try to pay a visit to
this street on Sunday, the time when youngsters dress up in various
crazy costumes to look like characters from anima cartoons, punk
musicians and others. Lots of cafes and restaurants for people of all
ages are situated along a tree lined avenue called Omotesando. This
avenue is sometimes called the Champs-Elysees of Tokyo. A lot of
attention is paid to the shopping mall, called
Omotesando Hills and located along the avenue.
Apart of teenage parties, bars and restaurants, Harajuku is also the
place whete one of
Tokyo's most
famous shrines is found. The Meiji Shrine is found in a huge green oasis
together with YoyogiPark. In addition, tourist can adore the
amazing ukiyo-e paintings (Paintings
of the Floating World)
presented in a rather small but impressive
Ota Memorial Museum of Art.
Asakusa,
Tokyo
It
is one of the few districts of Japan's
capital that has maintained the tone of the old Tokyo. The main attraction of Asakusa is
Sensoji, a popular Buddhist temple, constructed in the 7th
century. The shopping street that leads to the temple is where people
can buy different traditional, local snacks, as well as various
souvenirs.
It is quite easy to
explore the district by foot. In addition you may consider
taking a trip on a rickshaw, called jinrikisha, which literary
means "man powered vehicle". To take the tour in two for 30 minutes
costs about 8,000 yen.
Asakusa has been the main entertainment district of Tokyo for a number
of centuries. It is worth mentioning that throughout the Edo Period
Asakusa was situated outside Toyo's limits. At that time it was the site
of kabuki theatres and a popular red light district. At the end of the
19th century and the beginning of 20th century a
lot of modern entertainments, such as movies, started developing in the
district.
The easiest way to get to Asakusa is to take the sightseeing cruise and
travel across the
SumidagawaRiver. You will be able to
see the Hama-Rikyu gardens, located in Shiodome, which is Tokyo's most notable
gardens.
Shibuya,
Tokyo
This
is a district of Japan's capital that is often referred to a shopping
and entertainment area, being located around Shibuya Station. The ward
is one of the most colorful and busy places within Tokyo. Shibuya is the birthplace of many
Japan's most popular fashion and
entertainment brands. There are two main rivals that compete for the
largest department and fashion store in the district; these are Tokyu
and Seibu corporations.
The district's milestone is its large intersection located in front of
the Hachiko Exit, which features lot and lots of neon
advertisements and huge video screens. Each day the intersection is
crossed by an enormous number of pedestrians. Each time the light turns
green a huge number of people crosses the street.
Ginza,
Tokyo
This
is the most prestigious districts in Tokyo in terms of shopping, dining and
entertainment. It includes a huge number of department stores, art
galleries, restaurants and night clubs. The land here is extremely
expensive, for instance a square meter is worth over 10 million yen,
which is about $100,000. In
Ginza one may find all of the world's leading
fashion and cosmetics brand names.
The name of the district comes from the silver coins mint that struck
coins in the period between 1612 and 1800. The silver coin was called
ginza, thus the name of the district. Ginza
started turning into an upmarket shopping district after the
Great Kanto Earthquake, which took place in 1923.
The most suitable time to pay a visit to the district is during a
weekend afternoon. This is the time when the central Chuo Dori
closes to traffic and turns into a large zone for pedestrians.
Shinjuku,
Tokyo
This
is another popular district of Tokyo (which by the way includes 23
districts). It is best known for the large shopping, entertainment and
business site located around Shinjuku Station. It would be
interesting to note that Shinjuku Station is the busiest railway station
in the country with two million passengers using it on a daily basis.
The station is served by six railway companies.
Turning your head west of the station you can see the Shinjuku
skyscraper district, the place where most of Tokyo's tallest buildings try to reach the sky.
There are a number of premier hotels, as well as the Metropolitan
Government Office, which offers its observation desk free for anyone
willing to appreciate the stunning view of Tokyo.
Northeast to the Shinjuku Station there is the Kabukicho, the
wildest and largest red light district in the country. The redevelopment
is still taking place, though the station is surrounded from all four
sides by numerous stores and subterranean malls.
The Rest of
Tokyo
The
overall population of Tokyo is 12 million people, which statistically
means that one in ten Japanese people live in the capital. The city
evolves quite fast and there are a lot of things to see, for instance
new mall/condo/hotel/office complexes created by Roppongi Hills
and Tokyo Midtown. You may consider taking a monorail to the
harbor island of Odaiba. The island is a good place for
shopping, taking sun baths on the beach, taking a ride on a Ferris wheel
to adore the wonderful view of the city, paying a visit to Toyota showroom or
visiting the science museum. Due to the fact that Japan is a monarchy, it is really worth paying a
visit to the ImperialGardens.
Kyoto
In
the period between 794 and 1868 Kyoto was
the capital of
Japan and served as the residence of
the emperor. Currently it is the seventh largest city in Japan with a
population exceeding 1.4 million. The city suffered from many wars and
fires. However, because of its historic importance it was not chosen to
be the target of an atomic bomb. In addition it was not bombed during
the air raids that occurred during the Second World War. Today the city
houses numerous temples, shrines and many other historically important
constructions. It is probably the second most popular tourist
destination in Japan after Tokyo.
The city is also famous for its shojin ryori, which is a Buddhist
vegetarian temple cuisine and the finest garden in the country,
Katsura Imperial Villa, which dates back to the 17th
century.
Osaka
Osaka
is the third largest city in Japan, its population exceeding 2.5
million. In terms of importance it holds the second place following the
country's capital. For many centuries Osaka served as the main economic motivating
force of the Kansai region. Earlier the city of Osaka was known as Naniwa. It was the
first even known capital of Japan. Afterwards the capital moved
from one city to another as country's emperors changed.
It could have become the capital of Japan,
when back in the 16th century Osaka was chosen to be the place of Toyotomi
Hideyoshi's castle, but it never to happen. After the death of Hideyoshi,
Tokugawa Ieyasu brought to an end the family tree of the Toyotomi
and established a new place for the government, Edo (Tokyo).
To get to the city you need two and a half hours by shinkansen. The
main feature for those in love with traditional Japanese architecture is
the OsakaCastle. Forty minutes from this castle
there is the HimenjiCastle, which was erected between the 14th
and 17th centuries. It is also worth checking the neighboring Kobe, the place where the disastrous earthquake
of 1995 took place.
Yokohama
The
population of Yokohama
is over 3 million people, which makes it the second largest city in the
country. People can reach the city in 30 minutes by train from Japan's capital.
Yokohama is a
strategically important port that opened in 1859, being one of the first
Japanese ports. After the opening of the port, Yokohama, from a small village began a fast development to
become one of Japan's major cities.
The town is very often visited by tourists. Due to the fact that the
port for many years served as a port for foreign trade, some foreign
influences can be spotted here. The city's
Chinatown is one of the most popular spots in the city.
This place demonstrates that Chinese and
Japan's biggest minority group. The
city also houses a number of museums, one of them being dedicated to the
famous Japanese comic-book superhero, called Anpanman. The head
of this superhero is a red-beam bun.
Japanese architecture (日本建築, Nihon kenchiku?) has as long a history as any
other aspect of Japanese culture. Originally heavily influenced by
Chinese architecture, it has also developed many differences and aspects
which are indigenous to Japan.
Prehistoric period
Reconstructed pit dwelling houses in Toro, Shizuoka
2nd or 3th CenturyThere are no extant examples of prehistoric
architecture, and the oldest Japanese texts, such as Kojiki and
Nihonshoki hardly mention architecture at all. Excavations and
researches show these houses had thatched roofs and dirt floors. Houses
in areas of high temperature and humidity had wooden floors. With the
spread of rice cultivation from China, communities became increasingly
larger and more complex, and large scale buildings for the local ruling
family or rice storage houses are seen in Sannai-Maruyama site (before
2nd century BC) in Aomori or Yoshinogari site in Saga (before 3rd
century BC).
After the 3rd century, a centralized administrative system was developed
and many keyhole-shaped Kofun were built in Osaka and Nara for the
aristocracy. Among many examples in Nara and Osaka, the most notable is
Daisen-kofun, designated as the tomb of Emperor Nintoku. This kofun is
approximately 486 by 305 m, rising to a height of 35 m.
Hondo at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto Built in 1633
Asuka and Nara architecture
Kondo and pagoda at Hōryū-ji, Nara Built in 7th century
Shōsōin at Todaiji, Nara
Built in 8th centuryThe earliest Buddhist structures still extant in
Japan, and the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world are found
at the Hōryū-ji to the southwest of Nara. They serve as the core
examples of architecture in Asuka period. First built in the early 7th
century as the private temple of Crown Prince Shotoku consists of 41
independent buildings; the most important ones, the main worship hall,
or Kondo (Golden Hall), and Goju-no-to (Five-story Pagoda), stand in the
center of an open area surrounded by a roofed cloister. The Kondo, in
the style of Chinese worship halls, is a two-story structure of
post-and-beam construction, capped by an irimoya, or hipped-gabled roof
of ceramic tiles.
Temple building in the 8th century was focused around the Tōdaiji in
Nara. Constructed as the headquarters for a network of temples in each
of the provinces, the Tōdaiji is the most ambitious religious complex
erected in the early centuries of Buddhist worship in Japan.
Appropriately, the 16.2-m (53-ft) Buddha (completed in 752) enshrined in
the main hall, or Daibutsuden, is a Rushana Buddha, the figure that
represents the essence of Buddhahood, just as the Tōdai-ji represented
the center for imperially sponsored Buddhism and its dissemination
throughout Japan. Only a few fragments of the original statue survive,
and the present hall and central Buddha are reconstructions from the Edo
period. Clustered around the Daibutsuden on a gently sloping hillside
are a number of secondary halls: the Hokkedo (Lotus Sutra Hall), with
its principal image, the Fukukenjaku Kannon (the most popular
bodhisattva), crafted of dry lacquer (cloth dipped in lacquer and shaped
over a wooden armature); the Kaidanin (Ordination Hall) with its
magnificent clay statues of the Four Guardian Kings; and the storehouse,
called the Shosoin. This last structure is of great importance as an
art-historical cache, because in it are stored the utensils that were
used in the temple's dedication ceremony in 752, the eye-opening ritual
for the Rushana image, as well as government documents and many secular
objects owned by the imperial family.
Heian period
Kondo at Daigo-ji, Kyoto Built in 12th century
Phoenix Hall at Byodoin, Uji Built in 1053
In reaction to the growing wealth and power of organized Buddhism in
Nara, the priest Kūkai (best known by his posthumous title Kobo Daishi,
774-835) journeyed to China to study Shingon, a form of Vajrayana
Buddhism, which he introduced into Japan in 806. At the core of Shingon
worship are the various mandalas, diagrams of the spiritual universe
which influenced temple design. Japanese Buddhist architecture also
adopted the stupa in its Chinese form of pagoda.
The temples erected for this new sect were built in the mountains, far
away from the court and the laity in the capital. The irregular
topography of these sites forced Japanese architects to rethink the
problems of temple construction, and in so doing to choose more
indigenous elements of design. Cypress-bark roofs replaced those of
ceramic tile, wood planks were used instead of earthen floors, and a
separate worship area for the laity was added in front of the main
sanctuary.
In the Fujiwara period, Pure Land Buddhism, which offered easy salvation
through belief in Amida (the Buddha of the Western Paradise), became
popular. Concurrently, the Kyoto nobility developed a society devoted to
elegant aesthetic pursuits. So secure and beautiful was their world that
they could not conceive of Paradise as being much different. The Amida
hall, blending the secular with the religious, houses one or more Buddha
images within a structure resembling the mansions of the nobility.
The Ho-o-do (Phoenix Hall, completed 1053) of the Byodoin, a temple in
Uji to the southeast of Kyoto, is the exemplar of Fujiwara Amida halls.
It consists of a main rectangular structure flanked by two L-shaped wing
corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial
pond. Inside, a single golden image of Amida (circa 1053) is installed
on a high platform. The Amida sculpture was executed by Jocho, who used
a new canon of proportions and a new technique (yosegi), in which
multiple pieces of wood are carved out like shells and joined from the
inside. Applied to the walls of the hall are small relief carvings of
celestials, the host believed to have accompanied Amida when he
descended from the Western Paradise to gather the souls of believers at
the moment of death and transport them in lotus blossoms to Paradise.
Raigo (Descent of the Amida Buddha) paintings on the wooden doors of the
Ho-o-do are an early example of Yamato-e, Japanese-style painting,
because they contain representations of the scenery around Kyoto.
Kamakura and Muromachi period
Sanjūsangen-dō, Kyoto Built in 1266
Ginkakuji, Kyoto Built in 15th century
After the Kamakura period, Japanese political power was dominated by the
armed Samurai, such as Seiwa Genji. Their simple and sturdy ideas
affected the architecture style, and many samurai houses are a mixture
of shinden-zukuri and turrets or trenches.
In the Genpei War (1180-1185), many traditional buildings in Nara and
Kyoto were damaged. For example, Kofukuji and Todaiji were burned down
by Taira no Shigehira of the Taira clan in 1180. Many of these temples
and shrines were rebuilt in the Kamakura period by the Kamakura
shogunate to consolidate the shogun's authority. This program was
carried out in such an extensive scale that many of temples and shrines
built after the Kamakura period were influenced by this architectural
style.
Another major development of the period was the tea ceremony and the tea
house in which it was held. The purpose of the ceremony is to spend time
with friends who enjoy the arts, to cleanse the mind of the concerns of
daily life, and to receive a bowl of tea served in a gracious and
tasteful manner. Zen was the basic philosophy. The rustic style of the
rural cottage was adopted for the tea house, emphasizing such natural
materials as bark-covered logs and woven straw.
Azuchi-Momoyama period
Himeji castle Built in 16th century
Two new forms of architecture were developed in response to the
militaristic climate of the times: the castle, a defensive structure
built to house a feudal lord and his soldiers in times of trouble; and
the shoin, a reception hall and private study area designed to reflect
the relationships of lord and vassal within a feudal society. Himeji
Castle (built in its present form 1609), popularly known as White Heron
Castle, with its gracefully curving roofs and its complex of three
subsidiary towers around the main tenshu (or keep), is one of the most
beautiful structures of the Momoyama period. The Ohiroma of Nijo Castle
(17th century) in Kyoto is one of the classic examples of the shoin,
with its tokonoma (alcove), shoin window (overlooking a carefully
landscaped garden), and clearly differentiated areas for the Tokugawa
lords and their vassals.
Edo period
Inside the Shokintei at Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto Built in 17th
century
Katsura Detached Palace, built in imitation of Prince Genji's palace,
contains a cluster of shoin buildings that combine elements of classic
Japanese architecture with innovative restatements. The whole complex is
surrounded by a beautiful garden with paths for walking.
The city of Edo was repeatedly struck by fires, leading to the
development of a simplified architecture that allowed for easy
rebuilding. Because fires were most likely to spread during the dry
winters, lumber was stockpiled in nearby towns prior to their onset.
Once a fire that had broken out was extinguished, the lumber was sent to
Edo, allowing many rows of houses to be quickly rebuilt. Due to the
shogun's policy of sankin kotai ("rotation of services"), the daimyo
constructed large houses and parks for their guests' (as well as their
own) enjoyment. Kōrakuen is a park from that period that still exists
and is open to the public for afternoon walks.
Meiji period
Tokyo station Built in 1914
In the years after 1867, when Emperor Meiji ascended the throne, Japan
was once again invaded by new and alien forms of culture. By the early
20th century, European art forms were well introduced and their marriage
produced notable buildings like the Tokyo Train Station and the National
Diet Building that still exist today.
In early 1920s, modernists and expressionists emerged and began to form
their own groups. Kunio Maekawa and Junzo Sakakura joined Le Corbusier's
studio in France, came back to Japan in early 1930s, and designed
several buildings. Influence of modernism spread to many company and
government buildings. In 1933 Bruno Taut fled to Japan, and his positive
opinion of Japanese architecture (especially Katsura Imperial Villa)
encouraged Japanese modernists.
Modern architecture
As with so many other aspects of Japanese culture and society, the
change to modern technology brought a quite noticeable change in
architecture as well. The need to rebuild Japan after World War II
proved a great stimulus to Japanese architecture, and within a short
time, the cities were functioning again. However, the new cities that
came to replace the old ones came to look very different. The current
look of Japanese cities is the result of and a contributor to 20th
century architectural attitudes. With the introduction of Western
building techniques, materials, and styles into Meiji Japan, new steel
and concrete structures were built in strong contrast to traditional
styles. Like most places, there is a great gap between the appearance of
the majority of buildings (generally residences and small businesses)
and of landmark buildings. After World War II, the majority of buildings
ceased to be built of wood (which is easily flammable in the case of
earthquakes and bombing raids), and instead were internally constructed
of steel. High visibility landmark buildings also changed. Whereas major
pre-war buildings, such as the Wako Department Store, Tokyo Station,
Akasaka Palace, and the Bank of Japan were designed along European
classical lines, post-war buildings adopted the "unadorned box" style
that some people love and some people hate. Because of earthquakes,
bombings, and later redevelopment, and also because of Japan's rapid
economic growth from the 1950s until the 1980s, most of the architecture
to be found in the cities are from that period, which was the height of
Brutalist Modern architecture generally.
However, since around the early 1990s, the situation has slowly started
to change. The 1991 completion of the postmodernist Tokyo Metropolitan
Government Building was perhaps a tipping point in skyscraper design.
Hot on its heels was the Yokohama Landmark Tower. In 1996 came the
much-loved Tokyo International Forum, which besides a unique design,
sported a landscaped area outside for people to relax and chat. More
recently, in 2003, Roppongi Hills was opened, which borrowed ideas from
previous ground-breaking designs and furthered them. The new area of
Shiodome, completely redeveloped since the late 1990s, is an excellent
place to see a group of postmodern and European-style buildings, away
from the usual jumble of '60s-era anonymous rectangular prisms. Still,
despite this slow but continuing trend in contemporary Japanese
architecture, the vast majority of suburban areas still exhibit cheap,
uninspired designs.
The postmodern Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku,
Tokyo.
The best-known Japanese architect is Kenzo Tange, whose National
Gymnasiums (1964) for the Tokyo Olympics emphasizing the contrast and
blending of pillars and walls, and with sweeping roofs reminiscent of
the tomo-e (an ancient whorl-shaped heraldic symbol) are dramatic
statements of form and movement.
Japan played some role in modern skyscraper design, because of its long
familiarity with the cantilever principle to support the weight of heavy
tiled temple roofs. Frank Lloyd Wright was strongly influenced by
Japanese spatial arrangements and the concept of interpenetrating
exterior and interior space, long achieved in Japan by opening up walls
made of sliding doors. In the late twentieth century, however, only in
domestic and religious architecture was Japanese style commonly
employed. Cities sprouted modern skyscrapers, epitomized by Tokyo's
crowded skyline, reflecting a total assimilation and transformation of
modern Western forms.
The widespread urban planning and reconstruction necessitated by the
devastation of World War II produced such major architects as Maekawa
Kunio and Kenzo Tange. Maekawa, a student of world-famous architect Le
Corbusier, produced thoroughly international, functional modern works.
Tange, who worked at first for Maekawa, supported this concept early on,
but later fell in line with postmodernism, culminating in projects such
as the aforementioned Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the
Fuji TV Building. Both architects were notable for infusing Japanese
aesthetic ideas into starkly contemporary buildings, returning to the
spatial concepts and modular proportions of tatami (woven mats), using
textures to enliven the ubiquitous ferroconcrete and steel, and
integrating gardens and sculpture into their designs. Tange used the
cantilever principle in a pillar and beam system reminiscent of ancient
imperial palaces; the pillar--a hallmark of Japanese traditional
monumental timber construction-- became fundamental to his designs.
Fumihiko Maki advanced new city planning ideas based on the principle of
layering or cocooning around an inner space (oku), a Japanese spatial
concept that was adapted to urban needs. He also advocated the use of
empty or open spaces (ma), a Japanese aesthetic principle reflecting
Buddhist spatial ideas. Another quintessentially Japanese aesthetic
concept was a basis for Maki designs, which focused on openings onto
intimate garden views at ground level while cutting off sometimes-ugly
skylines. A dominant 1970s architectural concept, the "metabolism" of
convertibility, provided for changing the functions of parts of
buildings according to use, and remains influential.
Downtown Tokyo is densely packed with polygonal multi-story buildings
that squeeze right next to each other.
A major architect of the 1970s and 1980s was Isozaki Arata, originally a
student and associate of Tange's, who also based his style on the Le
Corbusier tradition and then turned his attention toward the further
exploration of geometric shapes and cubic silhouettes. He synthesized
Western high-technology building concepts with peculiarly Japanese
spatial, functional, and decorative ideas to create a modern Japanese
style. Isozaki's predilection for the cubic grid and trabeated pergola
in largescale architecture, for the semicircular vault in domestic-scale
buildings, and for extended barrel vaulting in low, elongated buildings
led to a number of striking variations. New Wave architects of the 1980s
were influenced by his designs, either pushing to extend his balanced
style, often into mannerism, or reacting against them.
A number of avant-garde experimental groups were encompassed in the New
Wave of the late 1970s and the 1980s. They reexamined and modified the
formal geometric structural ideas of modernism by introducing
metaphysical concepts, producing some startling fantasy effects in
architectural design. In contrast to these innovators, the experimental
poetic minimalism of Tadao Ando embodied the postmodernist concerns for
a more balanced, humanistic approach than that of structural modernism's
rigid formulations. Ando's buildings provided a variety of light
sources, including extensive use of glass bricks and opening up spaces
to the outside air. He adapted the inner courtyards of traditional Osaka
houses to new urban architecture, using open stairways and bridges to
lessen the sealed atmosphere of the standard city dwelling. His ideas
became ubiquitous in the 1980s, when buildings were commonly planned
around open courtyards or plazas, often with stepped and terraced
spaces, pedestrian walkways, or bridges connecting building complexes .
In 1989 Ando became the third Japanese to receive France's prix de
l'académie d'architecture, an indication of the international strength
of the major Japanese architects, all of whom produced important
structures abroad during the 1980s. Japanese architects were not only
skilled practitioners in the modern idiom but also enriched postmodern
designs worldwide with innovative spatial perceptions, subtle surface
texturing, unusual use of industrial materials, and a developed
awareness of ecological and topographical problems.
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