Free daily briefing on global business news.
From a 2,000-year-old shrine to Ghibli Park's fantasy landscapes and Nagoya Castle's reconstructed feudal palace, Japan's most underrated city
Japan's fourth-largest city, Nagoya may lack the celebrity status of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and that makes those who go out of their way to discover its pleasures feel like true insiders.
Without the crush of mass tourism, Nagoya is an appealing place to visit for a few days, with everything from great eating, lively nightlife and family attractions to ancient shrines and historic fortifications, many reconstructed in the 20th century. Its handy location on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen bullet train line, which links Tokyo, Mt Fuji, Osaka and Kyoto, makes it an easy add-on to a trip around Japan's blockbuster tourist sites. The 10 activities below appear on Lonely Planet and cover the best things to do in Nagoya, Japan. Though large areas of the ancient city were destroyed during WWII, Nagoya still manages to hit a genuine sweet spot between old and new, with plenty of traditional culture found throughout its neon-lit streets and reconstructed historic sites, from ancient shrines to rebuilt feudal palaces standing alongside the modern city, along with a genuinely strong food and nightlife scene worth exploring after dark.
