Geography

Best Japanese Historic Towns

Name: Best Japanese Historic Towns
Creator: Community curated

Shirakawa-go's gassho roofs, Takayama's morning market, Kanazawa's samurai district or Kurashiki's canals - which old Japan picks win?

Best Japanese Historic Towns is a structured geography dataset with 16 entries. Its fields include Town, Prefecture, Population. The source values are preserved as a structured reference table.

Every row is shown below and is also available as CSV, JSON, or Excel.

16rows

5columns

42views

0downloads

Source:Community curated

Updated:4/9/2026

#geography #japan #historic #towns #unesco #asia

Dataset details

Table scope: All 16 rows
Fields: 5 columns
Source: Community curated
Data updated: Apr 9, 2026

Included fields: Town, Prefecture, Population, Famous For, Known For.

The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.

Preview observations

Population range: 100 to 1,475,183; Across 16 preview rows
Prefecture groups: 12 distinct values; Across 16 preview rows

Useful for

Comparing Town, Prefecture, and Population across geography entries
Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 16 downloadable records

16/16

Town↕	Prefecture↕	Population↕	Famous For↕	Known For↕
Shirakawa-go	Gifu	1,555	Gassho-zukuri thatched houses	UNESCO World Heritage, steeply pitched roofs for snow, 250+ year old farmhouses, winter light-up festival
Takayama	Gifu	85,283	Sanmachi Suji old town	Little Kyoto of Hida, morning markets, spring and autumn festivals with elaborate floats, sake breweries
Kanazawa	Ishikawa	463,254	Kenrokuen garden, Higashi Chaya	One of Japan's top three gardens, preserved geisha district, samurai Nagamachi district, gold leaf capital
Kurashiki	Okayama	474,592	Bikan historical quarter	White-walled merchant warehouses along canals, willow-lined waterways, Ohara Museum first Western art in Japan
Kyoto	Kyoto	1,475,183	Thousand temples, Gion geisha	Former imperial capital 1000+ years, 17 UNESCO sites, Fushimi Inari gates, Arashiyama bamboo, cherry blossoms
Nara	Nara	354,630	Todai-ji Great Buddha, sacred deer	First permanent capital 710, free-roaming deer, world's largest bronze Buddha statue, Kasuga Shrine lanterns
Hagi	Yamaguchi	47,417	Samurai castle town	Preserved Edo period streets, Meiji Restoration birthplace, Hagi pottery, Shoin Shrine, walled samurai houses
Tsumago	Nagano	1,737	Post town on Nakasendo	No visible power lines, banned cars during day, preserved Edo post station, Magome walking trail connection
Magome	Gifu	500	Stone-paved mountain post town	Steep sloped main street, Nakasendo ancient highway, hike to Tsumago, Shimazaki Toson birthplace
Ouchi-juku	Fukushima	100	Thatched post town	Aizu region, straw-thatched roof houses line single street, negi soba eaten with leek as chopstick
Ine	Kyoto	1,935	Funaya boat houses	230 wooden boat houses built over water, Venice of Japan, fishing village, Sea of Japan coast
Uji	Kyoto	179,565	Byodoin temple, matcha tea	Image on 10 yen coin, Tale of Genji setting, Japan's finest green tea, Phoenix Hall reflection pond
Kakunodate	Akita	13,000	Samurai district, weeping cherries	Little Kyoto of Michinoku, 400-year-old samurai homes, 162 weeping cherry trees, preserved Edo town plan
Kawagoe	Saitama	354,071	Edo-period kurazukuri warehouses	Little Edo near Tokyo, Candy Alley, Bell of Time, clay-walled storehouses, easy day trip
Himeji	Hyogo	533,952	White Heron Castle	Most beautiful and best preserved Japanese castle, UNESCO, never destroyed by war or earthquake
Iwami Ginzan	Shimane	400	Silver mining UNESCO site	World's largest silver mine in 1600s, preserved Omori town, eco-friendly forest mining, less-visited gem