The waterfront of 神戸 (Kōbe) is dominated by the red steel Port Tower. The tallest building as of early 2014 is the 54 story City Tower Kobe Sannomiya.⁴ The city has 1.531 million residents.⁵ 神戸 (Kōbe) is an important container port.⁶ The city was intensely bombed by the United States during World War II but was rebuilt.

The area is long of importance.⁷ In the sixth and seventh centuries CE 飛鳥⁸ (Asuka), which is southeast of 大阪 (Ōsaka), served as the imperial capital.

Soon after it was abandoned 奈良 (Nara) became the capital. UNESCO honors as a World Heritage Site (WHS) several extent buildings: Tōdai-ji; Kōfuku-ji; the Katsuga Shrine and its sacred forest; Gangō-ji; Yakusha-ji; Tōshōdai-ji; and the site of the Nara Palace. Tōdai-ji is famed for its Kondō (Great Buddha Hall) and is popular with tourists;⁹ Gangō for being the first Buddhist temple in ⽇夲 (Nippon); and Tōshōdai-ji for its Kondō and its Kōdō (originally a state assembly hall from the palace¹⁰). 奈良 (Nara) is located east of 大阪 (Ōsaka) and had a 2008 population of 367 thousand.⁵

Later 京都 (Kyōto)--in its early centuries as capital called 平安京 (Heian-kyō)--and then 大阪 (Ōsaka) became the area's pre-eminent city.

The WHS, 'Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area,' is located in 斑鳩 (Ikaruga), Nara Prefecture. They are among the oldest wooden buildings (seventh to eight centuries) and were built when Buddhism was new in ⽇夲 (Nippon). 斑鳩 (Ikaruga), located east southeast of 大阪 (Ōsaka), had a population in 2006 of 29 thousand.¹¹

Another WHS and popular tourist destination is Himeji-jo (castle) in 姫路 (Himeji) in Hyogo Prefecture. The complex includes 83 buildings, most famously Dai-Tenshu, whose white walls give the castle the nickname Shiragi-jo (Castle of the White Heron). The city, which is on the Ichi River west northwest of 神戸 (Kōbe), had a 2008 population of 536 thousand.⁵

Part of the same WHS that honors the old buildings of 京都 (Kyōto) also honors those in two other cities: 大津 (Ōtsu) for Enryaku-ji; and 宇治 (Uji) for Byōo-in and Ujigami Shrine. 大津 (Ōtsu), a city of 329 thousand,⁵ is located east of 京都 (Kyōto) on the southwest shore of Biwa Lake. Its tallest building is the 38 story Ōtsu Prince Hotel.⁴ 宇治 (Uji) is situated along its eponymous river, south southeast of 京都 (Kyōto), and has a population of 191 thousand.⁵

'Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range' is a WHS partly in this metropolitan area. Trails, passing through small towns, lead to and connect the three sacred sites of Yoshino, Omine and Kumano Sanzan.¹⁰

Two of the nation's busiest airports¹² are Ōsaka International Airport, located north of 大阪 (Ōsaka), mostly in 伊丹 (Itami), but partly also in 豊中 (Toyonaka) and 池田 (Ikeda); and Kansai International Airport on an artifical island in Ōsaka Bay southwest of 大阪 (Ōsaka); the island is divided between 泉佐野 (Izumisano), 泉南 (Sennan) and a smaller municipality. 伊丹 (Itami) has a population of 194 thousand; 豊中 (Toyonaka) has 387 thousand; 池田 (Ikeda), 104 thousand; 泉佐野 (Izumisano), 100 thousand; and 泉南 (Sennan), 64,000.⁵ The Rinku Gate Tower Building in 泉佐野 (Izumisano) is the second tallest in ⽇夲 (Nippon). 豊中 (Toyonaka) has the 50 story residential Senri Tower.⁴

Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), 亰都 (Kyōto), ⽇夲 (Nippon)

Historical maps

Footnotes

1. The name uses a pronunciation of a character selected from each of the three main cities. The order is then 京都 , 大阪, 神戸 (Kyōto-Ōsaka-Kōbe). English representations of the composite are ordered differently: Ōsaka-Kōbe-Kyōto.
2. In less formal contexts the pronunciation shifts to the more modern: Nihon. In English: Japan.
3. 2012 calculation from world-gazetteer.com, accessed 2/6/2013.
4. Emporis.com, accessed 5/12/2014.
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Japan, accessed 3/25/2014.
6. The Times Atlas of the Oceans (Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1983), "commodity loading ports" map.
7. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of World's Largest Cities," lists 'Kashiwara' (more properly Kashihara, in Nara Prefecture) as the island chain's largest city in 100 CE with a population estimate between 50 and 51 thousand. I omitted it from the table as I'm unconvinced that it held that status at that time. The site is nonetheless of great religio-political importance as the place where myth says the first (legendary) emperor descended to earth. It was briefly a capital at the turn of the 7th century.
8. The modern village has a different kanji name.
9. http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-japan/, accessed 3/26/2014.
10. UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010).
11. Side banner of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikaruga,_Nara, accessed 3/26/2014.
12. Airports with more than 10 million passengers in 2010 determined from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Japan, accessed 3/26/2014.
13. Chandler, op. cit.. He puts 飛鳥 (Asuka) in 622 CE as smaller than Kyonju, which was smaller than Hangzhou, which had a population estimate of 60 thousand; it was larger than Bezwada, which had a population estimate of 50 thousand. 飛鳥 (Asuka) was the largest city in ⽇夲 (Nippon) in 622 CE. 平安京 (Heian-kyō) was the fifth largest city in the world in 800 and 1000 CE, and fourth in 900. As 京都 (Kyōto) it was the third largest in the world in 1100, eighth in 1400, fifth in 1600, ninth in 1700 and tenth in 1800 CE. From 800 to 1100 and in 1400 京都 (Kyōto) under its older or current name was the largest in ⽇夲 (Nippon). 大阪 (Ōsaka) was the fourth largest in the world in 1600, seventh in 1700 and ninth in 1800 CE. It was the largest in ⽇夲 (Nippon) in 1600 CE.
14. 倭 was used by all scribes, including Japanese ones, to represent the nation. It can be pronounced as Wa or Yamato. This way of representing the nation was deprecated later.
15. Chandler, op. cit., "Cities of Asia, 1500."