Japan
Other suggested itineraries
Classic Japan
The following are examples Remote Lands’ recommended activities that can be incorporated into our clients’ bespoke itineraries.
Destinations include: Hakone, Tokyo, Kamakura, Yokohama, Nara, Kyoto, Karuizawa, Kanazawa, Izu Peninsula, Osaka, Hiroshima, Naoshima and Kobe.
Hakone
Famous for its hot springs, outdoor activities, views of nearby Mt. Fuji, and overall natural beauty, Hakone has long been a favorite rural retreat from Tokyo for both Japanese and visitors alike. Part of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, it is less than 60 miles southwest of Tokyo and can be reached in approximately 40 minutes on the shinkansen(bullet train).
Visit the Hakone Sculpture Park, part of the Open Air Museum, one of the area’s principal cultural draws. More than 100 masterpieces by world-renowned masters of modern and contemporary art, including Rodin, Bourdelle, Miró, and Moore, are on display, set within the extensive grounds.
Explore the Narukawa Art Museum, a smaller venue with stunning views of Mt. Fuji over Lake Ashi. It features a strong collection of modern nihonga(traditional Japanese style) painting. Nihonga are typically executed on washi(Japanese paper) or eginu(silk), using brushes.
End the day at Lake Ashi (Ashinoko), a crater lake that lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Mt. Hakone. The lake’s two most photographed views are Mt. Fuji reflected in its waters and the huge, bright orange torii gates to Hakone Shrine.
Hakone is home to one of the most beautiful and exclusive ryokans in all of Japan, Gora Kadan. Once the summer residence of the Kan-In-No-Miya imperial family, Gora Kadan is traditional Japanese dwelling elevated to its most luxurious and exquisite. Guest rooms are constructed using traditional Japanese methods: flooring is tatami, doors are made of wood and rice paper and futon mattresses are on the ground.
Spend an afternoon in your ryokan’s hot springs and spa. The Japanese tradition of public bathing may seem scandalous to outsiders, but the opposite is true in this country. Anyone and everyone in Japan is familiar with visiting an onsen; the idea of going to a communal bath is not just about undressing your clothes. You also remove your worries and social boundaries.
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Tokyo
Visit the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku, the foremost Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Originally built in 1920, it was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in 1958. The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken, who ruled from 1868 to 1912, presiding over Japan’s transition from centuries of shogun rule to imperial power.
An early morning visit to Tsukiji Fish Market, where daily auctions are held featuring over 450 types of seafood, is a completely unique experience and offers insight into a country obsessed with the freshest possible ingredients for its unique cuisine.
Spend half a day in Ryogoku, an area of Tokyo where the sumo stadium, many sumo stables, chankorestaurants and other sumo related sights can be found. It is the center of the sumo world. Visit the most venerable sumo stables where sumo wrestlers live and train, and learn all about this sport that is somewhat misunderstood in the West.
Visit the Imperial Palace and surrounding gardens, the continuous home of the Emperors of Japan since 1590. While once the world’s largest palace, it is now reduced in size with only the inner circle remaining. During cherry blossom season, this is one of the most popular spots in all of Tokyo, for both locals and visitors alike, to take in the sakura blossoms, as the grounds of the Imperial Palace are seemingly covered in a pink-white blanket at peak time.
Go on an architectural walking tour of the Harajuku and Omotesando area with a local university professor, an affable and engaging gentleman who is endlessly knowledgeable about Tokyo’s most cutting edge and quirky buildings.
The Omotesando/Harajuku area is a haven for shoppers and has a distinctly European feel with its tidy alleyways filled with cafes and boutiques. Sunday afternoons are when the famed Harajuku girls (and boys) come here to strut their stuff in what would be costumes anywhere else. They wear their bold attire as badges of honor and individuality, and you can’t help but admire what Gwen Stefani calls their “wicked style.”
Have a special tour experience of the “Akihabara scene” (maid cafes, electronics, and the wild world of the Japanese manga culture). Led by a good friend, these tours are a fascinating window into the parallel universe of Japan’s youth and otaku cultures, centered around anime (cartoons) and manga (comics). Warning: tour guides often lead in full costume.
Enter a venerated machiya,where tofu has been made for centuries and the sweet fragrance of fresh soymilk hangs in the air. As with anything the Japanese touch with their hands, tofu making is a real art form that requires precision and patience. Learn from the master of the machiyaand afterwards taste what is likely to be the best beancurd you have ever had.
The Nezu Museum, tucked off the bustling commercial boulevard Omotesando, was established by the will of Japanese industrialist Nezu Kaichiro to exhibit his personal collection for posterity, and opened in 1941. A number of pieces are designated as National Treasures, including 87 Important Cultural Properties and 97 Important Art Objects. In addition to the museum, the Nezu offers a traditional Japanese garden and pond with several tea houses, a legacy of Kaichiro’s fascination with “the way of the tea.”
Ivan Ramen is a small ramen shop in Tokyo run by a retired New York chef who has dedicated himself to this popular dish. Ivan now makes arguably the best bowl of ramen in Tokyo, and regularly has lines around the block – no small feat considering the enthusiasm and intensity (not to mention nationalism) with which the Japanese approach their noodles. If available, Remote Lands will arrange for Ivan himself to provide you with special insight into Japan’s noodle culture, served over the counter with a lot of love.
Take a private tour of Issey Miyake’s Design Sight 21_21 fashion and design museum in the Tokyo Midtown development.
Go on a bespoke shopping trip in Tokyo, stopping at interesting shops in Ginza, Roppongi and Omotesando. This will be tailored to your interests – the latest fashion, electronics, ceramics, housewares, etc.
Go to a Japanese professional baseball game – quite a different experience than a game in the U.S.
Attend a live rock or pop concert for a clear indication of the vibrancy of Tokyo’s music scene. The “j-rock” and “j-pop” scene is just as vital as the stream of western artists passing through Tokyo, and Remote Lands can compile a list of venues and artists coinciding with your visit if you would like to take in a show.
In Tokyo, there are countless bars serving artistic seasonal cocktails, sake, shochu, and single malt scotches. Most of them are hidden speakeasies that are almost impossible for travelers to find. Remote Lands can take clients to surreptitious joints that, for example, only serve drinks in Baccarat crystal or a bar that specializes in Japanese single malts.
Visit world-renowned contemporary art museums in Tokyo, such as the Tomo Museum, the Mori Museum, and the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art.
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Kamakura
Visit Kotokuin Temple, home to one of the most memorable sights in Japan, the Great Buddha of Kamakura. Cast in 1252, the nearly 800-year-old statute sits exposed on the side of a hill, having survived a huge tidal wave in the 15th century that swept away the temple that once housed it. It is 121 tons, 44 feet tall, with each serene eye measuring 3 feet wide.
Ascend the hills to Hasedera Temple, famous for its massive, 11-headed, 30-foot-tall statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Hasedera offers striking views over the city and Sagami Bay.
Take a privately guided walking tour of the city’s renowned Five Zen Temples: Kencho-ji, Engaku-ji, Jufuku-ji, Jochi-ji, and Tokei-ji; the latter, from 1285 to 1867, was a shelter for abused women seeking protection and, ultimately, divorce.
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Yokohama
Have an expert-guided tour of the Hikawa Maru, a meticulously preserved, 11,000-ton luxury liner with Art Deco interiors that cruised between Yokohama and Seattle from 1930 until World War II, when it was requisitioned by the Imperial Navy and converted into a hospital ship. Photo displays note famous passengers like Charlie Chaplin, for whom the ship sent one of its chefs to Tokyo to apprentice at making his favorite tempura.
Honoring Yokohama’s past and present as a main port for Japan’s international commerce, the small but captivating Customs Museum displays reproductions of drugs, guns and other contraband that failed entry into Japan, with detailed cross-sections of their containers and photographs of the original seizing.
Visit the aka renga soko, or red brick warehouses. Originally twin brick piles built in 1911 and 1913, part of the southern warehouse was leveled in the 7.9-magnitude Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Today, after an era of dormancy and disrepair, they are a symbol of the urban revitalization of Yokohama’s Minato Mirai (“port of the future”) area. There are three floors of cafes, restaurants and trendy shops, including the sleek Motion Blue jazz club (a subsidiary of Blue Note Japan), while exhibition spaces host events like the annual springtime sake festival.
Have lunch at the elegant and beautifully preserved Hotel New Grand, where General MacArthur lived and worked upon arriving in Japan at the start of the America’s postwar occupation. Built in 1927 and located across from Yamashita Park and the Hikawa Maruocean liner, its second-floor banquet room, among other areas, is an officially recognized historical property of the city of Yokohama.
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Nara
Nara is an architecture and history buff’s dream: it was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784, lending its name to the Nara period. Highlights include Horyu-ji – home to two of the oldest wooden buildings in the world – as well as Todai-ji, the Great Buddha, Kasuga Grand Shrine, and Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do Halls.
On the way to Nara from Kyoto, stop at Byodo-in Temple in Uji City, one of the 17 UNESCO sites in and around Kyoto, which was established by a member of the powerful Fujiwara clan in 1052. The longevity and cultural importance of Byodo-in is commemorated on both Japan’s 10-yen coin and 10,000-yen bill.
Located at the foot of Nara’s Mount Mifuta, a sacred place where deities were believed to descend to earth, Kasuga Grand Shrine was officially established in 768 by the Fujiwara clan, but is believed to date from the beginning of the Nara period. The Fujiwara clan was one of the most powerful aristocratic families of the period, and the Imperial court worshipped here.
Stroll through Nara Park, where you will see hundreds of freely roaming deer. Considered messengers of the gods in Shinto, Nara’s deer have become a symbol of the city and have even been designated a national treasure. Vendors in the park sell small packets of rice crackers that you can use to feed the deer.
Before you leave Nara, see the Horyu-ji temple complex, home to the two oldest wooden buildings in the world, Horyu-ji’s East temple and the West temple. These examples of ancient Japanese architecture were built in the 607 AD by Buddhist carpenters from the Korean kingdom of Paekche. The original structure burned down in 670, but the structure you will see today is the reconstructed temple finished in the 8th century.
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Kyoto
Meet privately with various masters of traditional Japanese arts.There are a number of practices to choose from: ikebana (the art of flower arrangement), noh opera, sword-making, pottery, lacquerware, tea ceremonies, and more. Depending on your interest level, we can arrange for a half or full day with a master. Afterwards, you may have acquired enough knowledge to become a living legend back home!
Highlights of Kyoto that shouldn’t be missed on a first visit include the following temples: Sanjusangendo, a walk-through mandala - the most powerful and fascinating assembly of early Buddhist sculpture to be found anywhere in Japan; Kinkaku-ji, one of the iconic sights of Kyoto. Built as a pleasure pavilion by a 15th-century shogun. One of the most exquisite and perfect of all Kyoto buildings, its design can be described as pure fantasy; Kiyomizu-dera, the “Notre Dame” of Kyoto. End a day at one of the oldest and most important temples of the city, built high on massive stilts in the eastern foothills, with fantastic views of the city as dusk falls.
In terms of shopping, Kyoto is famous for its traditional handicrafts and the city is a fabulous place to go antiquing. Handicrafts can be roughly divided into three categories – Buddhist art, tea ceremony accoutrements and everyday items – and shops generally carry an assortment of wares, although some specialize in one category such as furniture, ceramics or screens.
Over a private dinner in the Gion-kobu neighborhood, be entertained by a geisha, or geiko (“child of the arts”) as they prefer to be called. Kyoto is the birthplace of this time-honored practice, which began in the 17th century. Geishas are known for their wit, beauty and encyclopedic knowledge of traditional arts. In modern times, their position and reputation has been somewhat tarnished by onsen-geishas and women calling themselves geishas.
Visit Daitoku-ji Temple, famed for its zen garden and tea ceremonies. You will be accompanied by a Japanese zen garden expert. The Daisen-in Zen Garden here fulfills a tall order – mankind’s fate and place in the universe and his relationship with nature is reflected in its layout. As with any garden, the layout is open to interpretation and your expert guide will provide you with the designer’s perspective on how the garden was meant to be viewed and enjoyed.
Take a day trip to the I.M. Pei-designed Miho Museum, located about 1.5 hours by car southwest of Kyoto. You will be met and guided on a private tour by a museum curator. The museum houses Koyama’s private collection of Asian and Western antiques, as well as other pieces with an estimated value of between US$300 million to US$1 billion. Each exhibit in the Miho Museum was carefully selected as much for its artistic beauty as its historical significance, and careful attention is paid to how the collection is displayed.
Visit Kyoto’s fish market, which, like the famed Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, opens before dawn such that restaurants can buy the catch of the day before most of the city awakens. This is all done by auction; you will be accompanied here by a local sushi master who will point out the intricacies in bidding and also gladly bid on any particular fish you wish to enjoy for breakfast. From here, return to the sushi master’s restaurant where you will have a lesson in making sushi, which is much more difficult than it looks. It takes years of practice just to get the rice right in terms of texture and shape!
Have lunch at Honke Owariya, Kyoto’s oldest noodle restaurant (over 550 years old). If available, we will arrange for Denzaemon, the current 18th-generation owner, to join.
Go on the “Philosopher’s Walk,” named after a Kyoto University philosophy professor, Nishida Kitaro, who trod this path along the Shishigatani canal daily. The route takes you past several temples and shrines within a park that is also home to coffeehouses, boutiques and craft shops. Cherry blossoms and maple trees line the walkways; this is indeed the perfect place to reflect and contemplate.
Meet with students and professors at the venerable Kyoto University. Founded in 1897, Kyoto University is the second oldest in the nation and has produced six Nobel laureates and two Fields Medalists.
Follow up your “school day” with a trip to Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, a city landmark that is continually bombarded with students praying for high exam marks and good grades. The shrine is home to the god of learning, Tenjin-san. After your day with the executors of Japan’s future, you will have a clearer view as to why Japan has sustained its position as a major world power.
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Karuizawa
Situated at 3,000 feet above sea level, Hoshinoya’s villas are dotted along a stretch of the Yukawa River. As guests, you will have access to the indoor and outdoor onsen (hot spring bath) of Tombo-no-yu, which have soothed travelers since their discovery in 1914, as well as special meditation soaking pools.
Set out for an invigorating hike on trails winding through the Karuizawa forest. The temperature should be noticeably cooler and other tourists much fewer in Karuizawa compared to Tokyo, Hakone and Kyoto, making your stay here a welcome contrast from other stops on your itinerary.
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Kanazawa
Situated on the western coast of Honshu Island, diagonally northwest from Tokyo, Kanazawa is not on the radar of many foreign tourists, but it has long been a destination of choice for the Japanese themselves. The historic preservation (in some cases, recreation) of Kanazawa’s samurai, geisha and merchant districts make it one of the foremost evocations of the Edo Period Japan (1603-1868) in all the land.
Have a privately guided tour of the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum in Matsumoto - which houses roughly 10,000 pieces - and meet the 11th-generation family owner, if available.
Explore the breathtaking Kenrokuen landscape garden - the “Garden of Six Sublimities” - which many consider the most beautiful such garden in all of Japan, and stroll through thetraditional samurai and geisha districts.
Meet the owner of a sake brewery and sample exquisite varieties of fermented rice wine, and partake in a traditional tea ceremony with the owner of a 200-year-old Kanazawa teahouse.
Visit the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, a landmark attraction both for its collection and its design. In 2010, the museum was cited by the Pritzker Prize jury in bestowing architecture’s highest accolade on Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.
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Izu Peninsula
The Izu Peninsula is a resort area about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo, known for its hot springs, beautiful coastlines, beaches, mild climate, scenic mountainous interior and views of Mount Fuji from its western coast. It is a great place to explore by motorbike or bicycle if you wish.
Stay at the Ochiairou Murakami ryokan, a traditional luxury ryokan situated in Yugashima Onsen, a tiny village in central Izu. This architecturally beautiful ryokan is designated as a national cultural property by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
From your ryokan, it is a short distance to the west coast where you can go scuba diving, surfing, parasailing, hang-gliding, and fishing. If you catch anything, the ryokan’s chefs are happy to cook what you caught or masterfully fillet it into sashimi if appropriate.
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Osaka
Explore the beautiful grounds of Himeji Castle, a hilltop Japanese castle complex comprised of 83 wooden buildings, located in Himeji in Hyogo Prefecture about one hour west of Osaka. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, designated National Treasure and one of the “Three Famous Castles” of Japan, it’s nicknamed the “White Heron Castle” because of its bright white facade.
Osaka’s National Museum of Art is one of Japan’s five principal government museums. Though most of the museum is subterranean, its above-ground entrance is a landmark piece of architecture, with curved steel rods designed to evoke the strength and suppleness of bamboo reeds waving in the wind. The Museum’s collection includes works by Cézanne, Picasso, Miró, Ernst, and modern Japanese artists like Tsuguharu Foujita and Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
Have private tour, and, if possible, a private performance, at Osaka’s National Bunraku Theater, the foremost venue in the country of Japan’s traditional puppet theater. Bunrakupuppets are typically approximately 4 feet tall, with wooden heads and ornate costumes. Meet bunrakupuppeteers and talk with them about their dedication to this traditional art.
Visit a small-batch sake brewery. Besides its ubiquitous beer brands such as Sapporo and Asahi, Japan’s most famous alcoholic export is sake. There are varying grades of sake based on the polishing of the rice; the more the rice is polished, the fruitier it tastes. Have a private tasting with a sake sommelier and learn more about the intricacies of sake making and the culture of sake drinking.
Have a curator-led tour of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, one of the best collections of ceramics not only in Asia but in the entire world. More than 1,000 pieces of Japanese, Chinese and Korean ceramics are housed here, including several National Treasures of Japan. Across town, visit the Japan Folk Art Museum, a superb collection of bamboo, ceramic, and textile handicrafts.
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Hiroshima
Few destinations can be as sobering as Hiroshima, whose name immediately conjures the atomic annihilation that occurred there at 08:15 on August 6, 1945, in the final days of World War II. But beyond the alternately sorrowful and inspirational World War II memorials, the city offers lovely strolling gardens, substantial art museums, and the landmark Hiroshima Castle, rebuilt after the war to its original splendor and providing striking views of the city and Miyajima Island.
Any visit to Hiroshima must also include a sampling of its signature cuisine, okonomiyaki, a layered pancake of egg, cabbage, pork, soba or udon noodles, vegetables and more, typically prepared in a hot pan in front of the customer.
Take a ride around Hiroshima on the city's extensive tram network. The city has seven lines that feature both modern cars and decades-old ones purchased from other Japanese cities and Germany, as well as two streetcars that survived the atomic bombing and are still in operation. This curious mix of the historic with the new has led people to refer to Hiroshima’s tram system as a living transportation museum!
Visit the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, which not only commemorate the victims of the bombing, but also advocate world peace and the abolition of nuclear weaponry. The A-Bomb Dome, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was at ground zero below the atomic bomb’s detonation, and today the dome’s steel skeleton remains silhouetted against the sky; the building is the only original structure left standing from that day. Visitors are welcome to ring the Peace Bell, whose tolling sounds regularly throughout the park.
Near the bell is the Children’s Peace Monument, which receives a constant supply of paper cranes from Japanese schoolchildren, commemorating the story of a young girl who thought that if she could make 1,000 cranes, she’d recover from her burn wounds.
The powerful Peace Memorial Museum, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, contains such artifacts as a watch stopped at 08:15, a melted tricycle, and other victims’ belongings, along with photographs and various models of Hiroshima before and after the bombing.
If you visit Hiroshima in mid-April, chances are good that you’ll be there during its peak hanami (cherry blossom viewing) days. Stroll along the hana-no-mawari-michi, or corridor of flowers, on the grounds of the Japan Mint to take in the pink and white blossoms (sakura) of a wide variety of cherry tree species.
Situated in the Seto Inland Sea, the small island of Miyajima – literally, “shrine island” – is a 10-minute ferry ride from Hiroshima’s Miyajimaguchi Station. As its name indicates, Miyajima is most famous as the home of Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, whose torii, or main gate, appears to float on the sea at high tide. The view of the torii against the backdrop of Miyajima’s Mount Misen is considered one of the classic “Three Views of Japan” propounded by the 17th-century scholar Hayashi Raza.
After visiting Itsukushima, begin the modest hike to the roughly 1,750-foot peak of Mount Misen with a stop at the Buddhist Daisho-in Temple at the foot of the mountain. Ascending the temple’s main steps, spin the row of metal wheels that contain Buddhist scripture, an act that is said to offer the same benefits as reading the texts – no Japanese literacy required!
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Naoshima
Naoshima is an island located in Seto Inland Sea, the body of water between Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku, three of Japan’s four main islands. The Japanese have populated the island for ages, and it has come to the attention of art connoisseurs of late because it is home to the radical Chichu Art Museum, completed in 2006.
Check in to Benesse House, the best place to stay on the island, a luxurious property unlike any other in the world. Every room has its own individual design and artwork, with 49 guest rooms across four buildings: Oval, Museum, Park, and Beach, all designed by renowned architect Tadao Ando.
Visit Chichu Art Museum, which was also designed by Ando. It is a striking expression of the integration between art and architecture; there are also many ways in which the museum complements or even enhances the island’s stunning topography. The museum’s permanent collection includes pieces by Claude Monet, Walter de Maria and James Turrell. You will be met by a museum curator who can tell you more about Ando’s design and the museum’s building process.
On Naoshima, seven new sites, including the new Lee Ufan Museum designed by Tadao Ando, were added in 2010 to the existing projects such as Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Go’o Shrine, an Edo-era shrine that Sugimoto refashioned with glass stairs and white rocks; Kinza’s Being Given, a work housed in a 200-year-old building that allows just one visitor at a time; and Gokaisho, a work by Yoshihiro Suda built on a site where villagers used to gather to play go, an ancient board game.
Naoshima is also known for its Art House Projects, the conversion of old village homes into modern art galleries. It is a permanent work initiated in 1998 using the town of Naoshima as a stage. Artists remodeled old houses in the Honmura District, transforming the space of each house into an artwork open to the public. The artistic space, the architecture, and the pasts of those who once resided in these spaces converge here with Japanese tradition and aesthetics. Meet with residents of Honmura and chat to them about their reaction to the art that surrounds their living environment.
Visit tiny Inujima, an island in the Seto Inland Sea with a population of 55, although numbers once swelled to 3,000 during the copper and granite industry’s heyday when the Inujima Refinery was in operation. Today, Inujima’s heritage is marked by a contemporary art project encompassing the entire island called Seirensho, which means refinery. Seirenshois an interdisciplinary collaboration that includes architectural design by Hiroshi Sambuichi that minimizes environmental impact by harnessing solar, geothermal and climate-based natural energies; artwork by Yukinori Yanagi using local materials such as Inujima granite, slag generated during the copper refining process and parts from the dismantled residence of the late author Yukio Mishima; and an environmental system that includes filtering waste water through Seirensho before letting it flow into the sea, was coordinated with the Faculty of Environmental Science and Technology at Okayama University.
The Lee Ufan Museum in the summer of 2010 as part of the inaugural Setouchi Art Festival held among seven islands (principally Naoshima) in the Seto Inland Sea. The museum is the first to be devoted solely to the work of Lee, an internationally acclaimed 74-year-old Japanese-Korean artist. In keeping with Ando’s aesthetic of blending architecture with nature, the museum, though 32,000-square-feet in size, seamlessly integrates into the valley it is built on, which gently slopes into the sea. Through thin skylights, natural light filters into each gallery, suffusing the space with an ethereal air. The Museum includes selected paintings and sculptures from the 1970s to the present as well as powerful installations such as Relatum-Silence(2010), a contemplative space created with only a stone and a metal sheet, and the large sculpture plaza that leads into the museum.
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Kobe
Kobe is a prominent port city with a population of about 1.5 million. It was one of the first cities to open for trade with the West following the end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city. While the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake diminished much of Kobe's prominence as a port city, it remains Japan's fourth busiest container port. The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef as well as the site of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen.
Visit Himeji Castle, a flatland-mountain Japanese castle complex located in Himeji in Hyogo Prefecture and comprising 83 wooden buildings. It is occasionally known as Hakurojo or Shirasagijo ("White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior. Visit this castle with an expert in feudal Japanese history, a colorful, intriguing time of shoguns and samurai.
Visit a small batch sake brewery. Besides its ubiquitous beer brands such as Sapporo and Asahi, Japan's most famous alcoholic export is sake. There are varying grades of sake based on the polishing of the rice; the more the rice is polished, the fruitier it tastes. Have a private tasting with a sake sommelier and learn more about the intricacies of sake making and the culture of sake drinking.
Feast on Kobe's most famous export - beef. Renowned for its flavor, tenderness, and fatty well-marbled texture, Kobe beef can be prepared a variety of ways: steak, sukiyaki, shabu shabu, sashimi, teppanyaki. Toast the end of your journey over a multi-course meal complete with beverage pairings, including umeshu, or plum wine, shochu, a distilled liquor native to Japan, beer and wine.
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