Travel to Japan

Japan is a prosperous nation with a long history and rich culture. As a world's powerful economy, Japan is one of the most favorite business travel and leisure vacation destinations. Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto are Japan top travel destination cities.

With total 377,835 square kilometers of island chain between the Sea of Japan and the North Pacific Ocean, the Japanese archipelago stretches in a 3,800 kilometers long narrow arc off the eastern coast of the Asian continent. Japan's total land area is slightly smaller than California of the United States. Japan consists of four main islands — Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku and thousands of smaller islands. Honshu accounts for over 60% of the total area.

Based on July 2006 estimate, Japan has a population of 127,463,611, including Japanese 99% and others 1%. Japanese is the official language. In 2005, one US dollar is exchanged for about 110.22 Japanese Yen.

There are four distinct seasons in most parts of Japan: A cherry blossom spring, a green summer, a golden blown fall, and a white snow winter.

The predominant religion in Japan today is Buddhism but indigenous religion is Shinto which is rooted in the animistic beliefs of the ancient Japanese. People deified heroes and outstanding leaders of their community for generations and worshipped the souls of their family ancestors. Many Japanese today go through Shinto rites when they marry and Buddhist funeral rites when they die.

Japan is an island country. In spite of disadvantages in natural resources, government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most technologically powerful economy in the world after the U.S. and third-largest economy in the world after the US and China.

Japan possesses 410,000 of the world's 720,000 "working robots". Japan is among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals; textiles, processed foods. Japan has excellent domestic and international telephone service. Based on 2005 estimate, Japan has about 86.3 million Internet users.

Japan will continuously be a nation with great achievements in technology and economics, rich contributions in history, arts and cultures. Japanese beautiful nature, unique architecture, and many historical and cultural attractions attract millions of worldwide tourists every year.

Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is one of the most populated cities in the world. Tokyo is also one of the favorite business travel and leisure vacation destinations. Situated at the east coast of Honshu Island, this Japan's capital city is located at almost the same latitude as Athens or Los Angeles. Today Tokyo is the financial, trading, industrial, communications, transportation, educational, and cultural center of Japan. It also plays an important role in international trade development.

With a rich history and culture, Tokyo offers visitors with excellent museums and many historical attractions, including the National Museum of Western Art, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the National Museum of Science, the National Archives, and the National Museum of Modern Art.

Kyoto, a beautiful ancient city, is considered the heart of Japan by many Japanese people. With rich history and culture, Kyoto has many tourist attraction, including palaces, temples and shrines, pagodas and gardens, tea houses, shops, and restaurants. Kinkaku-ji is the famous temple of the Gold Pavilion. Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu Temple, Heian Shrine, Kyoto Municipal Museum Of Art are some other Kyoto famous sightseeing highlights.

Osaka is one of Japan's largest and most dynamic metropolis. Just about one hour away from Osaka, are the ancient capital of Kyoto, old castle town of Nara and picturesque seaport town of Kobe. Osaka has many tourist attractions, including Universal Studios Japan, Natural Bird Sanctuary, World Trade Center, Intex Exhibition/Convention Hall, Osaka Castle, Tempozan Aquarium and Osaka Harbor.