# Best in Japan

> Rankings, guides and grounding fact sheets for Japan, computed from structured, verifiable facts. Every fact is server-rendered and mirrored in JSON-LD.

## Rankings & guides

- [Best Ramen in Fukuoka: 5 Top Tonkotsu Shops Ranked](https://best-in-japan.com/fukuoka/ramen): Fukuoka's best tonkotsu ramen shops for 2026, ranked on broth, history, noodle craft, tourist access, and price, from Ichiran to a Michelin star.
- [What Is Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen? A Fukuoka Style Guide](https://best-in-japan.com/fukuoka/ramen/what-is-hakata-tonkotsu-ramen): Hakata tonkotsu ramen explained: its cloudy pork bone broth, thin noodles, kaedama refills, and roots in Kurume and Nagahama, Fukuoka.
- [Best Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima: Top Picks for 2026](https://best-in-japan.com/hiroshima/okonomiyaki): Ranked guide to Hiroshima's best okonomiyaki restaurants as of September 2026, covering Okonomimura, Mitchan Sohonten, Hassho, Hassei and more.
- [Best Temples in Kanazawa: Top 5 to Visit](https://best-in-japan.com/kanazawa/temples): Ranks Kanazawa's top 5 temples for 2026, including the Ninja Temple, Cat Temple, and the city's Honganji branch temples, with practical visiting notes.
- [5 Best Kobe Beef Restaurants in Kobe, Japan](https://best-in-japan.com/kobe/kobe-beef): Five certified Kobe beef restaurants in Kobe, Japan ranked on sourcing authenticity, cooking style, and reservation access, updated September 2026.
- [Best Ramen in Kyoto: 7 Top-Rated Shops for 2026](https://best-in-japan.com/kyoto/ramen): Kyoto's top ramen shops ranked for 2026, from Michelin Bib Gourmand favorites to fire ramen and burnt miso specialists, with prices and addresses.
- [8 Best Temples in Kyoto, Ranked for 2026 Visitors](https://best-in-japan.com/kyoto/temples): A ranked guide to Kyoto's 8 best temples, covering admission fees, hours, UNESCO status, and which to prioritize in September 2026.
- [Best Kyoto Temples for Autumn Leaves in 2026](https://best-in-japan.com/kyoto/temples/autumn-leaves): Ranked guide to Kyoto's best temples for autumn koyo, covering Tofuku-ji, Eikando, Kiyomizu-dera, Tenryu-ji, Nanzen-ji and Jojakko-ji with fees and timing.
- [7 Best Kyoto Temples for a One-Day Itinerary](https://best-in-japan.com/kyoto/temples/itinerary): Rank of 7 top Kyoto temples for a one-day itinerary, with visit times, transit routes, UNESCO status and the best season to go. Updated September 2026.
- [How to Visit Kyoto Temples: A Practical Guide](https://best-in-japan.com/kyoto/temples/visiting): A practical September 2026 guide to visiting Kyoto's temples: etiquette, transport, timing and six must-see historic sites.
- [Best Miso Katsu in Nagoya: 6 Top Restaurants Ranked](https://best-in-japan.com/nagoya/miso-katsu): Compare Nagoya's top miso katsu restaurants including Yabaton and Ajidokoro Kano, with 2026 prices, hours, and sauce styles.
- [Best Temples in Nara: Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, and Horyu-ji Ranked](https://best-in-japan.com/nara/temples): Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, and Horyu-ji ranked with sourced facts on founding dates, admission fees, and UNESCO status for a Nara temple visit.
- [Best Okonomiyaki in Osaka: Top 5 Restaurants (2026)](https://best-in-japan.com/osaka/okonomiyaki): Ranked guide to Osaka's best okonomiyaki restaurants in 2026, covering Mizuno, Chibo, Ajinoya, Fukutaro, and Kiji with prices, wait times, and Michelin status.
- [Best Ramen in Sapporo: Top Miso Ramen Shops](https://best-in-japan.com/sapporo/ramen): The best ramen shops in Sapporo for September 2026, ranked on broth craftsmanship, history, and critical recognition, from Menya Saimi to Aji no Sanpei.
- [Best Gyutan Restaurants in Sendai (2026)](https://best-in-japan.com/sendai/gyutan): Ranked guide to Sendai's best gyutan (grilled beef tongue) restaurants, from the 1948 originator to modern specialty chains, updated September 2026.
- [Best Ramen in Tokyo: 8 Shops Worth the Line](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/ramen): A sourced ranking of 8 top Tokyo ramen shops, from Michelin-starred tantanmen to tonkotsu chains, updated September 2026.
- [How to Find Tokyo's Best Ramen: A Tabelog-Based Guide](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/ramen/how-to-choose): Learn how Tabelog ranks Tokyo ramen shops, see the current No. 1 pick, and compare price, reviews, and awards before your next bowl.
- [Best Michelin Ramen in Tokyo (2026 Guide)](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/ramen/michelin-starred): The Tokyo ramen shops that have earned a Michelin star or Bib Gourmand, with addresses, prices, and how the 2024 guide changed the rankings.
- [Best Ramen in Shinjuku: 5 Shops Ranked for 2026](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/ramen/shinjuku): Five Shinjuku ramen shops ranked on broth, noodles and value, from indie tsukemen icons to 24-hour tonkotsu chains, updated September 2026.
- [4 Best Tonkotsu Ramen Shops in Tokyo, Ranked for 2026](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/ramen/tonkotsu): Verified guide to Tokyo's best tonkotsu ramen: Ichiran, Ippudo, Rokurinsha, and Junk Garage, with sourced history and locations for September 2026.
- [The Best Temples in Tokyo, Ranked](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/temples): A sourced ranking of Tokyo's most historically documented Buddhist temples: Senso-ji, Zojoji, Kan'ei-ji, and Gotokuji, with founding dates and facts.
- [One-Day Temple Itinerary in Tokyo: 5 Stops Ranked](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/temples/itinerary): A ranked one-day Tokyo temple itinerary covering Senso-ji, Zojoji, Sengakuji, Kan'eiji, and Gotokuji with hours, fees, and routing.
- [Senso-ji vs Meiji Jingu: Which Is Better?](https://best-in-japan.com/tokyo/temples/senso-ji-vs-meiji-jingu): Senso-ji and Meiji Jingu compared on history, hours, admission fees, crowds, and access to help you plan a Tokyo visit in September 2026.
- [The 6 Best Ramen Shops in Yokohama (September 2026)](https://best-in-japan.com/yokohama/ramen): Ranked guide to Yokohama's best ramen: Yoshimuraya's iekei original, Ichiran, Ippudo, AFURI and the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, updated September 2026.

## Entity fact sheets

- [Horyu-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/horyu-ji/): Horyu-ji is a Buddhist temple complex in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, that preserves what are widely regarded as the world's oldest surviving wooden buildings.
- [Suzuya Osu Akamon](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/suzuya-osu-akamon/): Suzuya Osu Akamon is a yoshoku restaurant that serves tonkatsu including a miso katsu option.
- [Sengakuji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/sengakuji/): Sengakuji is a Soto Zen Buddhist temple in Minato ward known as the burial site of the 47 ronin.
- [Ajinoya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ajinoya/): Ajinoya is a family-run okonomiyaki and yakisoba restaurant in Osaka's Namba district that has operated across four generations.
- [Kyoto Ramen Koji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kyoto-ramen-koji/): Kyoto Ramen Koji is a ramen food court on the 10th floor of the Kyoto Station building that gathers shops representing regional styles from across Japan.
- [Kyoto Gogyo](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kyoto-gogyo/): Kyoto Gogyo is a ramen restaurant near Nishiki Market that cooks its broth in flaming lard to produce a burnt miso ramen.
- [Higashi Honganji Kanazawa Betsuin](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/higashi-honganji-kanazawa-betsuin/): Higashi Honganji Kanazawa Betsuin is a Jodo Shinshu Otani-ha branch temple that serves as the regional administrative center for the sect in Kanazawa.
- [Ippudo](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ippudo/): Ippudo is a tonkotsu ramen restaurant chain that serves pork-bone broth ramen from company origins in Fukuoka with branches across Japan and overseas.
- [Aji Tasuke](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/aji-tasuke/): Aji Tasuke is a beef tongue specialty restaurant in Sendai that originated the gyutan-yaki (grilled beef tongue) dish in 1948.
- [Rikyu](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/rikyu/): Rikyu is a gyutan restaurant chain in Sendai known for hand-cut, charcoal-grilled beef tongue and seasonal a la carte dishes.
- [Hinode Ramen Yokohama Sakuragicho](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/hinode-ramen-yokohama-sakuragicho/): Hinode Ramen Yokohama Sakuragicho is a neighborhood ramen restaurant that serves a variety of styles including miso and tsukemen dipping noodles.
- [Ajidokoro Kano](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ajidokoro-kano/): Ajidokoro Kano is a single-location restaurant that serves miso katsu don, a pork cutlet bowl topped with miso sauce.
- [Sumire](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/sumire/): Sumire is a ramen restaurant brand that originated in Sapporo and specializes in miso ramen topped with a layer of seasoned pork fat.
- [Yoshimuraya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/yoshimuraya/): Yoshimuraya is a ramen restaurant that originated iekei ramen, a tonkotsu-shoyu style built on pork-bone broth, soy sauce tare and thick straight noodles.
- [Nishi Honganji Kanazawa Betsuin](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/nishi-honganji-kanazawa-betsuin/): Nishi Honganji Kanazawa Betsuin is a Jodo Shinshu Hongan-ji-ha branch temple that serves as the regional administrative center for the sect in Kanazawa.
- [Gyutan Ryori Kaku](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/gyutan-ryori-kaku/): Gyutan Ryori Kaku is a beef tongue specialty restaurant chain in Sendai that pairs charcoal-grilled tongue dishes with a course-style, drinks-focused menu.
- [Kobushi Ramen](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kobushi-ramen/): Kobushi Ramen is a small ramen shop in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward that specializes in duck-based broths.
- [Yabaton](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/yabaton/): Yabaton is a miso katsu restaurant chain that serves deep-fried pork cutlets topped with a fermented red miso sauce.
- [Kinkaku-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kinkaku-ji/): Kinkaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple that displays a three-story pavilion covered in gold leaf beside a reflecting pond in northern Kyoto.
- [Kobe Plaisir](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kobe-plaisir/): Kobe Plaisir is a teppanyaki restaurant that combines French cooking technique with certified Kobe beef courses in the Kitano district of Kobe.
- [Sobahouse Konjiki Hototogisu](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/sobahouse-konjiki-hototogisu/): Sobahouse Konjiki Hototogisu is a ramen restaurant that became the third in Tokyo to receive a Michelin star, known for a clam-based broth.
- [To-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/to-ji/): To-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple that houses Japan's tallest wooden pagoda near Kyoto Station.
- [Rokurinsha](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/rokurinsha/): Rokurinsha is a tsukemen restaurant that serves dip noodles in a seafood-and-tonkotsu broth at Tokyo Station.
- [Kan'eiji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kaneiji/): Kan'eiji is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Ueno that once served as the Kanto region's head temple of the Tendai sect.
- [Tenkaippin](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/tenkaippin/): Tenkaippin is a ramen restaurant chain that popularized the thick kotteri broth style nationwide in Japan.
- [Keyaki](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/keyaki/): Keyaki is a ramen restaurant in Sapporo recognized for an especially thick, long-simmered miso broth.
- [Ichiran](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ichiran/): Ichiran is a ramen restaurant chain that serves a single tonkotsu recipe through individual solo dining booths.
- [Hakata Issou](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/hakata-issou/): Hakata Issou is a Fukuoka ramen restaurant known for a style it markets as Neo-Hakata ramen.
- [Tonpachi](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/tonpachi/): Tonpachi is a miso katsu restaurant that serves pork cutlets with a lighter style of red miso sauce.
- [Tonkatsu Hirono](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/tonkatsu-hirono/): Tonkatsu Hirono is a neighbourhood restaurant that serves a budget-priced miso katsu set.
- [Afuri](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/afuri/): Afuri is a ramen restaurant chain that serves a citrus-infused yuzu shio ramen.
- [Fuunji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/fuunji/): Fuunji is an independent ramen restaurant that specializes in tsukemen dipping noodles.
- [Musoshin Gion](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/musoshin-gion/): Musoshin Gion is a ramen restaurant in Kyoto's Gion district that makes its noodles in-house and runs a noodle-making workshop.
- [Chibo](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/chibo/): Chibo is an okonomiyaki restaurant chain headquartered in Osaka that operates a large flagship location in Dotonbori.
- [Nagataya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/nagataya/): Nagataya is an okonomiyaki restaurant near Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park that serves Hiroshima-style layered savory pancakes.
- [Hassei](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/hassei/): Hassei is a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant located in Naka Ward near Chuden-mae Station.
- [Mizuno](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/mizuno/): Mizuno is an okonomiyaki restaurant in Osaka's Dotonbori district that grills Osaka-style savory pancakes to order on a teppan.
- [Eikando](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/eikando/): Eikando is a Jodo Buddhist temple formally named Zenrinji that surrounds its pond garden with roughly 3,000 maple trees.
- [Zojoji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/zojoji/): Zojoji is a Buddhist temple in Minato, Tokyo, that serves as the head temple of the Jodo sect in the Kanto region and holds the tombs of six Tokugawa shoguns.
- [Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/japanese-soba-noodles-tsuta/): Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta is a ramen restaurant that became the first in the world to receive a Michelin star.
- [Nakiryu](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/nakiryu/): Nakiryu is a ramen restaurant that became the second in Tokyo to receive a Michelin star, known for its dandanmen.
- [Menya Inoichi Hanare](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/menya-inoichi-hanare/): Menya Inoichi Hanare is a small ramen shop in central Kyoto that operates as a branch of Menya Inoichi.
- [Haguriya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/haguriya/): Haguriya is a family-oriented restaurant that serves miso katsu set meals at budget prices.
- [Senso-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/senso-ji/): Senso-ji is a Buddhist temple in Asakusa, Tokyo, that houses a statue of the Kannon deity and traces its founding to a legend from the year 628.
- [Daien-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/daien-ji/): Daien-ji is a Buddhist temple in Kanazawa's Teramachi district that is known for a main-hall ceiling painting depicting cats.
- [Myoryu-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/myoryu-ji/): Myoryu-ji is a Nichiren Buddhist temple in Kanazawa that functions as a defensive structure disguised as an ordinary two-story temple.
- [Menbaka Fire Ramen](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/menbaka-fire-ramen/): Menbaka Fire Ramen is a Kyoto ramen restaurant that pours flaming leek oil over shoyu ramen at the counter.
- [Tofuku-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/tofuku-ji/): Tofuku-ji is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple on the border of Higashiyama and Fushimi wards in Kyoto that serves as head temple of its own Tofuku-ji school.
- [Todai-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/todai-ji/): Todai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex in Nara, Japan, that serves as the head temple of the Kegon sect and houses a large bronze Buddha statue.
- [Nanzen-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/nanzen-ji/): Nanzen-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple that serves as the head temple of its own school of Rinzai Buddhism in eastern Kyoto.
- [Shin Shin](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/shin-shin/): Shin Shin is a Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen restaurant chain based in Fukuoka's Tenjin district.
- [Menya Saimi](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/menya-saimi/): Menya Saimi is a ramen restaurant in Sapporo known for a creamy miso ramen made with a combined pork and seafood broth.
- [Reichan](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/reichan/): Reichan is a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant located inside the ekie DINING food court at JR Hiroshima Station.
- [Kobe Beef](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kobe-beef/): Kobe Beef is a certified Wagyu brand that identifies beef from Tajima-strain Japanese Black cattle raised and slaughtered in Hyogo Prefecture.
- [Ryoan-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ryoan-ji/): Ryoan-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple that maintains a rectangular rock garden of 15 stones arranged among raked white gravel.
- [Tenryu-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/tenryu-ji/): Tenryu-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple that centers on a 14th-century garden designed to frame the Arashiyama hillside as living scenery.
- [Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/hakata-tonkotsu-ramen/): Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen is a regional ramen style that pairs a cloudy pork bone broth with ultra-thin, straight noodles.
- [Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/shin-yokohama-ramen-museum/): Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum is a food-themed attraction that recreates a 1958 Japanese streetscape and houses ramen shops brought in from different regions of Japan.
- [Steakland](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/steakland/): Steakland is a casual teppanyaki restaurant that serves certified Kobe beef courses near Sannomiya Station in Kobe.
- [Meiji Jingu](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/meiji-jingu/): Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine in Shibuya that enshrines the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.
- [Junren](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/junren/): Junren is a ramen restaurant in Sapporo known for a thick, heavily emulsified style of miso ramen.
- [Junk Garage](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/junk-garage/): Junk Garage is a tsukemen restaurant that serves dip noodles and originally operated beside Rokurinsha near Tokyo Station.
- [Ginza Hachigou](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ginza-hachigou/): Ginza Hachigou is a ramen restaurant that became one of only four in Tokyo ever to hold a Michelin star, known for a consomme-style broth.
- [Nankin Senryo](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/nankin-senryo/): Nankin Senryo is a former ramen stall in Kurume City that is credited with inventing tonkotsu pork bone broth.
- [Mouriya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/mouriya/): Mouriya is a teppanyaki restaurant company that serves certified Kobe beef courses from branches across Kobe.
- [Hassho](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/hassho/): Hassho is a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant chain based in the Yagenbori entertainment district with additional branches across the city.
- [Teramachi Temple District](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/teramachi-temple-district/): Teramachi Temple District is a historic neighborhood in Kanazawa that groups roughly 70 Buddhist temples relocated there for the castle town's defense.
- [Mendou Hanamokoshi](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/mendou-hanamokoshi/): Mendou Hanamokoshi is a tonkotsu ramen restaurant in Fukuoka's Yakuin neighborhood that holds a Michelin Guide star.
- [Kisuke](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kisuke/): Kisuke is a gyutan specialty restaurant chain that has served charcoal-grilled beef tongue in Sendai since 1975.
- [Japanese Ramen Gokan](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/japanese-ramen-gokan/): Japanese Ramen Gokan is a ramen restaurant in Higashi-Ikebukuro that holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand rating.
- [Ichinokura](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ichinokura/): Ichinokura is an izakaya in Sendai that serves gyutan-yaki alongside seasonal seri nabe hot pot in private, sunken-kotatsu dining rooms.
- [Ganso Nagahamaya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ganso-nagahamaya/): Ganso Nagahamaya is a ramen restaurant in Fukuoka's Nagahama district credited as the founding shop of Nagahama-style tonkotsu ramen.
- [Kiji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kiji/): Kiji is an okonomiyaki restaurant based in Osaka's Shin-Umeda Shokudogai dining street that also runs a branch in the Umeda Sky Building.
- [Kan'ei-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kanei-ji/): Kan'ei-ji is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo that was founded in 1625 by the monk Tenkai and modeled on Kyoto's Enryaku-ji.
- [Ginkaku-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ginkaku-ji/): Ginkaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple that preserves a 15th-century retirement villa alongside a dry sand garden in eastern Kyoto.
- [Mutekiya](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/mutekiya/): Mutekiya is a ramen restaurant that serves a thick pork-and-seafood broth in Ikebukuro.
- [Menya Musashi](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/menya-musashi/): Menya Musashi is an independent ramen restaurant that serves niboshi-and-pork-bone ramen and tsukemen and anchors a wider group of related ramen shops.
- [Ramenya Shima](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ramenya-shima/): Ramenya Shima is a ramen and tsukemen restaurant in Nishi-Shinjuku that holds the No. 1 position among Tabelog-ranked ramen shops in Tokyo.
- [Aji no Sanpei](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/aji-no-sanpei/): Aji no Sanpei is a ramen restaurant in Sapporo that is widely credited as the birthplace of miso ramen.
- [Ramen Touhichi](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ramen-touhichi/): Ramen Touhichi is a ramen restaurant in Kyoto that serves chicken-based shoyu ramen.
- [Nagi](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/nagi/): Nagi is an independent ramen restaurant brand that started with a single counter in Golden Gai and specializes in niboshi (dried sardine) broth.
- [Tsuta](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/tsuta/): Tsuta is a ramen restaurant that serves shoyu-style noodle soup finished with truffle oil.
- [Wakkoqu](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/wakkoqu/): Wakkoqu is a teppanyaki restaurant that serves certified Kobe beef courses in the Kitano district of Kobe.
- [Kofuku-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kofuku-ji/): Kofuku-ji is a Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan, that serves as the national headquarters of the Hosso school and once acted as the Fujiwara clan's family temple.
- [Hakata Umauma](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/hakata-umauma/): Hakata Umauma is a ramen shop that continues the flat-noodle style first served by the Hakata stall Sanmaro.
- [Fukutaro](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/fukutaro/): Fukutaro is an okonomiyaki restaurant in Osaka's Sennichimae district that specializes in negiyaki made with market-sourced beef and pork.
- [Kyoto](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kyoto/): Kyoto is a city in the Kansai region of Japan that functions as the capital of Kyoto Prefecture and served as the country's imperial capital for over a thousand years.
- [Ishida](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/ishida/): Ishida is a small teppanyaki restaurant that serves certified Kobe beef courses from a limited-seat counter in the Kitano district of Kobe.
- [Gotokuji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/gotokuji/): Gotokuji is a Buddhist temple in Setagaya, Tokyo, that is widely cited as the origin of the maneki-neko beckoning cat figurine.
- [Okonomimura](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/okonomimura/): Okonomimura is a multi-floor food building in central Hiroshima that houses more than twenty independent okonomiyaki counters under one roof.
- [Jojakko-ji](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/jojakko-ji/): Jojakko-ji is a Nichiren Buddhist temple on the Ogura-yama hillside in Arashiyama that offers a panoramic view over the basin through its maple trees.
- [Mitchan Sohonten](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/mitchan-sohonten/): Mitchan Sohonten is a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant chain that operates the original shop credited with shaping the modern recipe.
- [Sanjusangendo](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/sanjusangendo/): Sanjusangendo is a Buddhist temple hall that displays 1,001 statues of the bodhisattva Kannon inside Japan's longest wooden building.
- [Kiyomizu-dera](https://best-in-japan.com/facts/kiyomizu-dera/): Kiyomizu-dera is a Buddhist temple that stands on a hillside in eastern Kyoto and overlooks the city from a wooden stage built without nails.