Narita/Sakura offers tourist attractions such as Yasaka Shrine, Narita International Airport, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, tourist events such as Sakura Tulip Festa, Sakura Autumn Festival, and Health Festival, and local delicacies such as white gyoza, botan nabe, and pinatsu maka.
Located in the northern part of Chiba Prefecture, Sakura has become a bedroom community for Tokyo due to its convenient access to the city center, and there has been a rush to build high-rise condominiums. The climate is severely cold in winter, with mornings and evenings sometimes dropping below freezing. The Sakura district is the administrative center of the city, with government offices, office buildings, and commercial facilities.
Narita is located in the north of Chiba Prefecture and is known for Narita International Airport and Naritasan Shinshoji Temple.
Restaurants and Japanese food using plenty of locally grown vegetables are popular in Sakura. There is even a menu item called "Sakura-don," which won a B-class gourmet contest. The bagna cauda that accompanies the Sakura-don is also excellent.
Narita has many hotels because of Narita International Airport, the gateway to Japan, and the restaurants in the hotels offer a variety of menus including Japanese, French, and Italian cuisine.
In addition, Narita is the birthplace of chestnut Yokan (sweet bean jelly), which is eaten throughout Japan, and there are many chestnut Yokan stores even today. In addition, senbei (rice crackers) are sold along the main approach to Naritasan Shinshoji Temple, a tourist attraction.
Sakura prospered as a castle town in the Edo period (1603-1867), and there are spots that retain vestiges of those days. The Sakura Buke Yashiki (samurai residences) are representative of such places, where scenes from the days of the Sakura Domain have been preserved. The former Horita Residence is the residence of Masamichi Hotta, the former lord of the Sakura Domain, and is designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
The Sakura Juntendo Memorial Museum, which was a Dutch medical school in the 1800s, is also a popular tourist spot.
Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple is a temple of the Chizan sect of the Shingon Sect in Narita, and is called Narita Fudo or Naritasan, and attracts about 3 million Hatsumode visitors during the New Year, second only to Meiji Jingu Shrine. There are many attractions such as the main hall and the three-story pagoda, as well as the Shakyo experience and otezuna worship.
In February and March, the ume plum trees in Narita Park are in full bloom and Narita's ume plum festival is held, with amazake (sweet sake) served and musical performances.
Narita Airport is also a great place to enjoy not only travel but also shopping.
Shinsho-ji Temple is popularly known as Narita's Fudo-sama, and has been a sacred place of pilgrimage for many people since the Edo period, including the Kabuki actors Danjuro Ichikawa and Ebizo Ichikawa. The temple is the head temple of the Chizan school of the Shingon sect, founded in 940 by High...»