Sights and Museums in Japan That Creators Film
Kyoto holds nine of the 15 sights, and two very different posts shape them. One covers the famous trio of Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera and the Golden Pavilion at Rokuon-ji. The other, written for first-time visitors who feel overwhelmed by the choice, goes further afield: a 1970s building with a face on its front, a gallery in a century-old house, a moss garden temple and a Tadao Ando museum with Monet underwater.
Osaka adds four, mostly from a German post: a 12-meter lion's head shrine, the castle, the history museum next to it, and the Harry Potter area of Universal Studios Japan. Tokyo appears once, with the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, and Fukui once, with a giant Buddha at Katsuyama. Entry is free or cheap at most temples; the theme park is the only expensive stop.
Written from public posts on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Updated Oct 2026.
Where creators go
- Fushimi Inari-taisha
The head shrine of Inari, founded in 711, with thousands of red torii gates forming tunnels up the mountain behind it. Trails continue up the slope for those who want a hike rather than a quick photo at the bottom. Entry is free. It features in a Kyoto post about lantern-lit streets, quiet temples and good matcha.
- Kiyomizu-dera
A UNESCO World Heritage temple in Higashiyama, best known for its wooden stage built 13 meters above the hillside, with views over Kyoto. Below it, the Otowa Waterfall splits into three sacred streams. Cheap to enter, and close to Hōkan-ji, so the two fit into one walk through the district.
- Rokuon-ji
The Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose reliquary, the Golden Pavilion, has its top two floors covered in gold leaf. It sits in landscaped gardens and holds both World Heritage and National Special Historic Site status. Moderate entry, and part of the same Kyoto post as Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizu-dera.
- Ghibli Museum, Mitaka
Studio Ghibli's museum in Mitaka, on the edge of Inokashira Park, in a building Hayao Miyazaki designed himself. The Saturn Theater shows short films you cannot see anywhere else, and the TRI HAWKS reading room is for children. Every ticket must be reserved in advance, so this is the one sight on the page you cannot decide on the day.
- Namba Yasaka Shrine
A Shinto shrine in Osaka's Naniwa Ward built around a lion's head stage 12 meters tall, said to swallow evil and bring luck. The German creator's caption simply tells viewers they have to try it. You can collect goshuin stamps and buy omamori charms, and a tug-of-war event takes place every January 3rd. Free.
- Echizen Daibutsu
A temple in Katsuyama, Fukui, with a 17-meter seated Buddha modeled on China's Longmen Grottoes and listed as Japan's largest. The creator gives the practical details: 500 yen for adults, free parking on site, open daily from 9:00 to 17:00. The post's English caption describes a stillness carved in stone, a fair description of a quiet site off the usual route.
- Kyoto Garden of Fine Arts
An open-air museum by Tadao Ando next to the Kyoto Botanical Garden, where famous paintings are reproduced on ceramic tiles among concrete walls and water channels. Monet's Water Lilies sits underwater and The Last Judgment is shown at full scale. Cheap, and a good pick for architecture fans.
- Hōkan-ji Temple
A Rinzai temple in Higashiyama whose 46-meter five-story Yasaka Pagoda is an Important Cultural Property. You can go inside to see the structure and statues. One rule to know before going: visitors younger than junior high school age are not admitted, so families with small children should plan around it.
More sights and museums in Japan
Kyoto beyond the big three
The first-timer's Kyoto post adds four more stops, from a strange facade to a tower across from the station.
- Face House: Kazumasa Yamashita's 1974 building on Koromonodara-dori, with a large stylized human face on the facade. Free to look at from the street.
- Gallery Nichinichi: contemporary ceramics and textiles in a century-old house just east of the Imperial Palace, with free admission and Tōka, a six-seat tearoom serving organic tea.
- Giō-ji Temple: a moss garden, thatched-roof buildings and bamboo in Ukyo Ward, linked to the Heian-period dancer Giō.
- Nidec Kyoto Tower: a 131-meter tower shaped like a candle, directly opposite JR Kyoto Station, with a 360-degree deck at 100 meters.
Osaka's castle area and Universal Studios
Besides the lion's head shrine, the same German post covers Osaka Castle, with its tower museum and park, and the Osaka Museum of History next door in Chuo Ward, a high-rise with scale models of old Osaka and views over the castle. A separate post films The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Japan: Hogsmeade, Hogwarts castle, Ollivanders and interactive wands.
Good to know
Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kiyomizu-dera and Rokuon-ji, the Golden Pavilion, appear together in one Kyoto post. A second post adds Hōkan-ji with its Yasaka Pagoda and Giō-ji with its moss garden. Each place here comes from a single post, so none is more posted than the others.
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