Advertisement Japan is a country at the top of many travellers' bucket lists - and these incredible pictures show why. They reveal a land peppered with castaway islands, majestic volcanoes, epic bridges, spellbinding waterfalls and trees that in winter look like 'snow monsters'. There's even a shrine that appears to 'float on water'.
Our picture tour of Japan will take you to lesser-known corners of the country that are sometimes overlooked by tourists drawn to towering Tokyo and Mount Fuji. But scroll down and you'll see that they're fully deserving of the limelight. Which spot would you most like to visit? Behold Nachi-no-taki, which at 133m (436ft) is Japan's tallest waterfall.
It's one of the most popular sights on the Kii Peninsula and is part of a Unesco World Heritage site. Opposite the falls is a beautiful shrine, with Lonely Planet explaining that the deity worshipped here 'is the waterfall itself' The Buddhist Yamadera Mountain Temple atop a peak in Northern Honshū is over 1,000 years old, with tourists tackling 1,000 steps to reach its lofty heights. Lonely Planet says: 'It's a steep ascent – a sort of walking meditation – but one that makes the views from the top, of the surrounding mountains, that much more spectacular' Pictured here is the spellbinding Takachico Gorge, a canyon cutting between sheer basalt cliffs with the 17-metre- (55ft) high Minainotaki waterfall completing the magical scene.
Many visitors enjoy the location from the water by boat. The J.