Japans cities

It’s hard to be a city in Japan when you are upstaged by the glittering, glamorous go go go greatness that is Tokyo. But to overlook the other cosmopolitan greats is a bit like just opting for the only thing you know on the sushi menu. Why would you only go for maki, albeit delicious, revitalising and packed with different flavours and colours, when you could also have ones of different sizes, shapes, flavours, traditions and fillings?

To put things into perspective, at the last count, and that is some count, Tokyo had a population of 13.4m, followed not so closely at all by Yokohama, also on Honshu, with 3.7m. Just 40km from Tokyo, this former fishing village is now a strapping big port that most tourists haven’t even heard of, although nowadays the two are often grouped together in one colossal conurbation.

All the main cities in Japan are linked by the country’s super efficient bullet train, or shinkansen. Most vacations in Japan use these because not only would it be rude not to, it would be downright silly. They are the icing on the cake of an already fine metropolitan menu.

Bizarrely, Tokyo is not a city, and hasn’t been since 1943, when it was given the designation of ‘Special Metropolis’ divided into 23 wards. Needing little introduction, this capital has one of the largest populations in the world. Originally known as Edo, it became capital after Emperor Meiji moved in 1868. This was the beginning of the Meiji Restoration Period, when Japan went into high gear industrialisation mode – and never looked back.

Kyoto sits in southern Honshu, and was the ancient capital, home to samurais and sentos, temples and tea houses. In fact, it boasts 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Golden Temple of Kinkakuji and the historic district of Gion. Here you will find ancient, wooden buildings crammed into narrow streets, a plethora of tea houses and hundreds of tiny temples where incense adds to the headiness of this cultural trip. Like all Japanese cities, however, this is also a dynamic metropolis, with its fair share of tourist tat and in your face consumerism. And then you turn a corner, walk into an exquisite green tea house, see a Geisha skirt pass or are stopped in your tracks by a stunning shrine, and you are transported back centuries.

Hiroshima also has three superb art galleries and is famous for its cuisine, such as the indigenous Hiroshima-okonomi, which is like an omelette/pancake prepared with everything from seafood to cabbage, then topped with an egg. Hiroshima certainly is a multi layered city.

Nagasaki is the island of Kyushu’s best known city, because of the devastating destruction of the nuclear bomb that was dropped on it, three days after Hiroshima. Today, this is a busy thriving city and although there are important memorials such as the Peace Park and Peace Museum, the city has a lot of other history. Because it was the only harbour that allowed international visitors during its isolationist years, it became home to Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and many more traders.