JAPAN

Best Places in Japan

Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Sapporo, Nara, Takayama

THE LOCATION

Asia Continent

Japan, is an island country lying off the east coast of Asia. It consists of a great string of islands in a northeast-southwest arc that stretches for approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 km) through the western North Pacific Ocean

Capital City

The Edo Period lasted for nearly 260 years until the Meiji Restoration in 1868 when the Tokugawa Shogunate ended and imperial rule was restored. The emperor moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo. Thus, Tokyo became the capital of Japan.

Main Airport
Narita

Japan's most important international airports are Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports, Osaka's Kansai Airport, and Nagoya's Central Japan Airport. Japan's next largest international airports are Fukuoka Airport, Sapporo's New Chitose Airport, and Naha Airport in Okinawa.

Language Spoken

Ryukyuan (Okinawan et al.) The most widely spoken language in Japan is Japanese, which is separated into several dialects with the Tokyo dialect considered standard Japanese. In addition to the Japanese language, Ryukyuan languages are spoken in Okinawa and parts of Kagoshima in the Ryukyu Islands.

Currency

Japan uses the Japanese yen, with the international symbol being ¥. Currently, there are 1,000 yen, 2,000 yen, 5,000 yen, and 10,000 yen banknotes in circulation.

Peak Season

Almost as popular as the cherry blossom season is autumn when the leaves change colors. For the main tourist regions (Hiroshima, Kyoto, or Tokyo) that peak is usually from the end of November to the beginning of December. Other parts of Japan get autumn colors as early as September.

Low Season

Traveling during the off-season (late autumn through March, except for the New Year's holiday season) can save you a bundle. Watch out for other peak times around only-in-Japan holidays, such as the holiday seasons called Golden Week and Obon (April 29 to May 5 and around mid-August, respectively).

TEMPERATURE

The average annual temperature was about 12.6 °C in the years after 1922 and about 14.7 °C in the last years before 2021. So in less than 100 years, it has increased by about 2.0 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 24 weather stations in Japan.