Home › All › Kansai

Kansai

Japan's cultural heartland, with Kyoto's temples, Osaka's street food and Nara's deer. The best first-timer region for history and food in one trip.

Tap any prefecture on the map to jump straight to its hotels & guides.

24 articles

Prefecture boundaries: dataofjapan/land

Mie’s ancient name was Umashi-kuni — “the land of good food” — and the prefecture has spent two…

When overseas hikers say “Kumano Kodo,” they mean the Nakahechi route through Wakayama — deservedly famous, increasingly busy.…

Iga, in the mountains of western Mie, is one of the two birthplaces of the historical ninja (the…

Ise Jingu is Japan’s most sacred Shinto site — 125 shrines centered on the Inner Shrine (Naiku) and…

The Shima Peninsula south of Ise is home to the world’s largest remaining community of ama — women…

There is a concept in Osaka called kuidaore (食い倒れ) — "to ruin yourself by eating." It is not…

Twenty minutes south of Osaka's Namba Station by train, a city of 800,000 people carries on a 600-year…

In the late 19th century, the area south of Osaka's Tennoji district was developed as a model of…

Tennoji (天王寺) and Abeno (阿倍野) — adjacent districts in the southern part of central Osaka — represent a…

Osaka Castle (大阪城) is one of the most photographed buildings in Japan — the restored white-and-green main tower…

Ask any Osaka local where they go on a day off and the answers converge on a few…

There are two kilometers of central Osaka that contain more restaurants, more visual spectacle, more human energy, and…