things to do in japan Archives - TheSmartLocal Japan - Travel, Lifestyle, Culture & Language Guide

Monet’s Pond: A Hidden Pond So Beautiful That It Looks Like A Classical Painting

If art museums are too boring for you, head down to Monet's Pond in Gifu Prefecture to admire a classical painting IRL.

Witness the celestial beauty of the star-shaped Goryokaku Park and learn about its not-so-beautiful past while admiring the sakura flowers.

From well-preserved merchant districts to quaint fishing villages, take a trip back in time with these charming traditional Japanese towns.

If you've ticked the famed Fushimi Inari Shrine off your bucket list, check out these unusual shrines in Japan that are off the beaten path.

Get your ramen fix at Sacchan Yatai, a long-standing mobile cart helmed by a 78-year-old, after a night of drinking in Tokyo.

Book and Bed Tokyo Shinsaibashi is a capsule hotel where you can stay overnight in bookshelves and lose yourself in books for up to hours.

You've seen sumo wrestlers push with sheer might to clock up a win, now watch them get babies to cry in the Naki Sumo Baby Crying Contest.

Swop out your plain square-shaped toasts with these fluffy cat-shaped shokupan loaves from Neko Neko Shokupan, a bakery chain in Japan.

Model trains aren't the only things running through miniature railways in Diorama Restaurant Tetsudokan - cats run amok and wreak havoc here.

Located in Arita, the birthplace of Japanese porcelain, Tozan Shrine has a unique torii gate that's made out of porcelain.