Traveling Tokyo and Kyoto with Google’s “Favorite Places”

August 4, 6:00 AMJapan Travel ExaminerJoshua Williams

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Google's Favorite Places in Tokyo

Google has released a new travel tool called “Favorite Places” with travel guides by local experts in major cities around the world, including Tokyo and Kyoto! Google states that the tool allows users to, “Explore the favorite places of local experts from cities around the world. Find out where they like to go, and why, from their own perspectives.”

For both Tokyo and Kyoto, Google has gathered up a range of experts who show off a number of places of interest. The experts have listed both well-known and little-heard of places with brief explanations that even this examiner finds quite useful.

The project is currently available in both English and Japanese, and has a mobile version for easy travel use. There is also a function to send a memo of a marked place to your cell phone.

Tokyo Experts on Google’s Favorite Places

For Tokyo the range of experts includes a “figure Otaku” (Danny Choo), an “award-winning architect” (Akihisa Hirata), and a “priest” (Kakuho Aoe), among others.

These experts offer an interesting collection of places in the city they know and love so well. Danny Choo recommends a maid café and darts bar called “Little PSX” in Akihabara. Hirata points out a strangely designed building named “Nakagin Capsule Tower” at the edge of Ginza. Aoe lets us know about "Suiten-gu", a shrine not far from Tokyo station where expecting mothers pray for a safe delivery.

Kyoto Experts on Google’s Favorite Places

Kyoto experts include a “globally famous gardener” (Yasuo Kitayama), a “club DJ” (Kazuya Fujimoto), and the “owner of a famous Kyoto restaurant ‘Gion Maruyama’” (Yoshio Maruyama),

Kitayama recommends the cherry trees (presumably in spring) at "Maruyama Park". Fujimoto offers up “an oasis within the city for relaxing and chilling out” named “NAiNOA”. Maruyama points out a Kyoto sweets maker in the Gion District named “Koishi”.

The total wealth of inside information on Google’s Favorite Places makes it a site well worth using for all.

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