Quick side trips in Japan

Kamakura is a small coastal town in Kanagawa Prefecture, on the south of Tokyo. The town is famous for day-trippers from Tokyo, most of them coming to look at the Great Buddha statue. The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a bronze statue of the Amida Buddha. read more »

Just a 5 minutes walk from Shin-Yokohama Station, the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum is a food theme park/museum dedicated to ramen. The Shinyokohama Ramen Museum is divided into two themed areas, a ramen restaurant mall and a 1:1 replica of a section of Tokyo in 1958, the year when instant noodles were invented and transformed Japan into a nation of ramen connoisseurs. The restaurant mall features selected renowned ramen shops from all over Japan: Sapporo, Fukushima, Tokyo, Asahikawa, Yokohama, Wakayama, Hakata, and Kumamoto, leaving diners spoilt for choice. read more »

Home to one of the largest aquariums in Japan, Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise boasts an astounding collection of over 500 different varieties of fish and more than 100,000 sea creatures in its three stories. There is also an undersea viewing tunnel where visitors can see dolphins and whales swimming around and then touch them at the Fureai Lagoon. Apart from this, Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise has several amusement rides, with the Japan's first surf coaster that swings out over the ocean, the exhilarating vertical fall (Blue Fall), Merry-Go-Round and many others. read more »

Yokohama Landmark Tower is known as one of the tallest buildings in Japan, standing 296m tall and occupying an area of 392,885 square meters. In this building, there are offices, a hotel, a shopping mall, and even other facilities like an observatory, multipurpose hall, as well as the Dockyard Garden. The hotel in Yokohama Landmark Tower is Yokohama Royal Park Hotel, occupying the floors 49 to 70, making it Japan's highest hotel. read more »

Located along Japan's Romantic Road and the entrance to Nikko National Park, Nikko is a town and is known for their Toshogu Shrine, which is the most sophisticated shrine with a grand and magnificent interior and houses the mausoleum of Tokugawa Leyasu, who is the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Before the construction and establishment of Toshogu Shrine in the 1600s, Nikko has been the hub for for Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship location for the previous centuries. In addition, the Nikko National Park has also been the best place which has attracted locals and visitors from all over the world to come over just to look at the breathtaking landscape of the entire mountain ranges, together with what Mother Nature has to offer within the entire area of the national park. read more »

With a land area of 121,695 ha including parts of Yamanashi, Shizuoka and Kanagawa prefectures, Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is known for its beautiful landscapes such as Mt. Fuji and the surrounding volcanoes, coastline, and islands in the ocean. It is also a thriving tourist spot given the mild climate and availability of hot springs here. read more »