Famous landmarks in Japan
31 landmarks · 4 animals · 5 places to discover
Japan on My Earth Toy, the free 3D toy globe for kids: 31 landmarks, 4 animals, 5 places to discover. Here you can see its flag, capital and size, then fly to every place on the globe.
A white flag with a single red disc in the exact centre.
Read about this flag →Japan at a glance
- Capital
- Tokyo
- Continent
- Asia
- Area
- 377,975 km²
- Population
- 123.8 million
Japan is an island country in East Asia, in the Pacific Ocean east of Korea and China. It has four main islands, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, plus thousands of smaller ones stretching south to Okinawa. Its capital is Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world. Japan is known for ancient temples and shrines, cherry blossoms, bullet trains, sushi, anime, video games and polite traditions.
On My Earth Toy you can visit Mount Fuji, Himeji Castle, the red gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kinkaku-ji's Golden Pavilion, the floating torii of Itsukushima, Tōdai-ji, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Tokyo Skytree and many more. Look for snow monkeys (Japanese macaques), red-crowned cranes, sika deer and tanuki, and discover the legend of the kappa.
Geography and nature
About three-quarters of Japan is mountains, so most people live on narrow coastal plains. Japan lies where several tectonic plates meet, so it has many active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes and thousands of hot springs called onsen. Mount Fuji, a volcano 3,776 metres tall, is the highest peak. The climate ranges from snowy Hokkaido in the north to subtropical Okinawa in the south. Each spring, cherry blossoms bloom first in the south and then spread north.
People, languages and culture
Japanese is written with three scripts: kanji characters from China plus hiragana and katakana. Many Japanese people take part in both Shinto and Buddhist traditions, visiting shrines at New Year and temples for other occasions. Festivals called matsuri fill summer streets with drums and portable shrines. Japanese food, such as sushi, ramen and tempura, is loved worldwide, and manga, anime and video games from Japan have fans everywhere. Bowing is a common way to greet and thank people.
History in a nutshell
The Jōmon people made some of the oldest pottery in the world more than 10,000 years ago. Japan's imperial court ruled from Nara and then Kyoto, which became the capital in 794. From the late 12th century, military leaders called shoguns held real power, supported by samurai warriors. From 1603 the Tokugawa shoguns ruled from Edo, now Tokyo, and kept contact with other countries very limited. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 began rapid modernisation. After the Second World War, Japan adopted a new constitution in 1947.
Fun facts
- Japan's first Shinkansen bullet train line opened in 1964, the first high-speed railway of its kind in the world.
- Tokyo Skytree, 634 metres tall, is the tallest tower in the world.
- Snow monkeys in the Japanese Alps warm up in winter by bathing in hot springs.
- Japan has more than 100 active volcanoes.
Famous landmarks in Japan
Mount Fuji
Japan · Asia
Japan's highest peak, a near-symmetrical active volcano long revered in art and religion.
Tokyo Skytree
Japan · Asia
At 634 m, the world's tallest broadcasting tower and a new symbol of Tokyo.
Himeji Castle
Japan · Asia
Japan's finest surviving feudal castle, nicknamed "White Heron Castle" for its brilliant white walls.
Tokyo Tower
Japan · Asia
An orange-and-white lattice tower inspired by the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of Japan's post-war revival.
Osaka Castle
Japan · Asia
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's castle: a keep with green roofs and gold ornaments atop massive stone walls.
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Japan · Asia
The head Inari shrine, where thousands of vermilion torii gates form tunnels up the mountain.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Atomic Bomb Dome)
Japan · Asia
The skeletal ruin that survived near the hypocentre of the 1945 atomic bomb, preserved as a memorial to peace.
Kiyomizu-dera
Japan · Asia
Kyoto temple famous for its wooden stage jutting over the hillside on a lattice of pillars built without nails.
Kinkaku-ji
Japan · Asia
A Zen temple whose gold-leaf-covered pavilion is mirrored in the surrounding pond.
Itsukushima Shrine
Japan · Asia
A Shinto shrine famous for its vermilion torii gate that seems to float on the sea at high tide.
Tōdai-ji
Japan · Asia
Nara temple whose Great Buddha Hall, one of the world's largest wooden buildings, shelters a 15 m bronze Buddha.
Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building
Japan · Asia
Tatsuno Kingo's red-brick station building of 1914, about 335 m long.
Meiji Shrine
Japan · Asia
Shrine to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, set in a 70-hectare forest in central Tokyo behind a 12 m cypress torii.
Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower
Japan · Asia
Japan's tallest building (325 m, 2023), designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners: a rounded-square tower wrapped in silver horizontal fins that tapers gently toward a softly scalloped crown.
Shuri Castle
Japan · Asia
The palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Okinawa's symbol with its red tiles and golden dragon ornaments.
Great Buddha of Kamakura
Japan · Asia
A 13th-century bronze Amida Buddha that has sat in the open air since its hall was washed away.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Japan · Asia
Kenzo Tange's headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, a granite block that splits at the 33rd floor into twin towers like a Gothic cathedral.
Nagoya Castle
Japan · Asia
The five-roofed main keep of Tokugawa Ieyasu's castle (1612), burnt in the 1945 air raids and rebuilt in concrete in 1959.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū
Japan · Asia
Shrine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, famed for the lavishly carved and gilded Yōmeimon gate and its five-storey pagoda.
Goryokaku
Japan · Asia
A star-shaped Western-style fortress in Hakodate, the stage of the 1868–1869 Battle of Hakodate.
Umeda Sky Building
Japan · Asia
Hiroshi Hara's 173 m twin towers, joined at the 40th floor by the Floating Garden Observatory, a bridge-roof pierced by a great round opening.
Sapporo Clock Tower
Japan · Asia
A white wooden hall built in 1878 as a drill hall for the Sapporo Agricultural College; its clock has chimed since 1881.
Abeno Harukas
Japan · Asia
A 300 m 'vertical city' completed in 2014: department store, offices, hotel and observatory stacked in glass volumes that step back toward the south.
Shiretoko Peninsula
Japan · Asia
A wild peninsula in northeast Hokkaido, a UNESCO natural World Heritage Site known for brown bears and drift ice.
Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower
Japan · Asia
A 204 m vocational-school tower whose dark-blue glass body is wrapped in a white diagonal lattice like a cocoon.
Fuji Television Headquarters Building
Japan · Asia
Fuji Television's headquarters (FCG Building) in Odaiba by Kenzo Tange: two grid-framed blocks tied by sky corridors into a giant open ladder, with a 32 m titanium sphere - the observation deck - held at the top.
University of Tokyo
Japan · Asia
Founded in 1877 as Japan's first modern national university, it is the country's top school, alma mater of many prime ministers and Nobel laureates.
JR Central Towers
Japan · Asia
Twin towers over Nagoya Station - a 245 m office tower and a 226 m hotel tower - rising side by side from a department-store podium.
Osaka City Central Public Hall
Japan · Asia
A neo-Renaissance public hall of 1918 on Nakanoshima: red brick banded with white granite, its front one great semicircular window under a green copper hood between two domed towers.
Animals in Japan
Places to discover in Japan
Questions
What is the capital of Japan?
The capital of Japan is Tokyo.
Which continent is Japan in?
Japan is in Asia.
How big is Japan?
Japan covers about 377,975 km².
How many people live in Japan?
About 123.8 million people live in Japan.
What are the most famous landmarks in Japan?
Some of the best-known landmarks in Japan are Mount Fuji, Tokyo Skytree, Himeji Castle, Tokyo Tower and Osaka Castle. My Earth Toy has 31 landmarks from Japan on its free 3D globe, each with a photo and quick facts.
Which animals can you find in Japan on My Earth Toy?
On the globe you can find Japanese macaque, Red-crowned crane, Raccoon dog and Sika deer in Japan.
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-30