Attraction

21. Tsutenkaku Tower

Observation towerShinsekai (Naniwa-ku)

Shinsekai's 108-metre steel tower, rebuilt in 1956, with observation decks, the lucky Billiken statue and a slide that spirals down from the third floor.

View details — Tsutenkaku Tower

Attraction

22. Abeno Harukas

Skyscraper and observation deckAbeno (Tennoji)

A 300-metre skyscraper above Osaka Abenobashi Station, with the Harukas 300 observatory on its top three floors and an art museum below.

View details — Abeno Harukas

Attraction

23. Tenryu-ji

Zen temple and UNESCO World Heritage SiteArashiyama

The head temple of the Tenryu-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, founded in 1339, whose pond garden by Muso Soseki borrows the Arashiyama hills as its backdrop.

View details — Tenryu-ji

Attraction

24. Tokyo Tower

Observation towerShiba Park

The red-and-white 333-metre lattice tower that opened in 1958, with a Main Deck at 150 metres and a Top Deck at around 250 metres.

View details — Tokyo Tower

Attraction

25. Osaka Museum of History

History museumOtemae (Chuo-ku)

A museum telling some 1,400 years of Osaka's story with full-scale reconstructions and models, built on the site of the ancient Naniwa Palace.

View details — Osaka Museum of History

Attraction

26. Sanjusangen-do

Buddhist templeHigashiyama

A 120-metre wooden hall, officially Rengeo-in, holding 1,000 standing statues of the thousand-armed Kannon around a seated Kannon by the sculptor Tankei.

View details — Sanjusangen-do

Attraction

27. Ueno Park

Public parkUeno

One of Tokyo's first public parks, opened in 1873, home to major museums, a zoo, Ueno Toshogu shrine and the lotus-filled Shinobazu Pond.

View details — Ueno Park

Attraction

28. Hama-rikyu Gardens

Edo-period gardenShiodome

An Edo-period garden on Tokyo Bay built around a seawater tidal pond, with historic duck-hunting sites and a teahouse on an island.

View details — Hama-rikyu Gardens

Attraction

29. Kyoto National Museum

Art museumHigashiyama

Founded in 1897, this national museum holds more than 12,000 works of pre-modern Japanese and Asian art, shown in the modern Heisei Chishinkan Wing.

View details — Kyoto National Museum

Attraction

30. Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka

Modern and contemporary art museumNakanoshima (Kita-ku)

Osaka's newest major art museum, opened in 2022 on Nakanoshima island, with more than 6,000 works of modern art and design from the 19th century onwards.

View details — Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka