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Home › Destinations › Takayama & Shirakawa-go (Gifu)

A street in the old town of Takayama (Gifu) lined with dark wooden merchant houses, shop signs and a few people walking in the distance

Takayama & Shirakawa-go (Gifu): local rules to know

The old town of Takayama (Gifu) and the gassho-zukuri village

A street of old wooden merchant houses in the old town of Takayama (Gifu). Photo: Raita Futo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Local rules here are checked against the local government's own ordinances and official pages. Nationwide rules apply here too.

Local rules in Takayama & Shirakawa-go (Gifu)

Local food

How many visitors stay here

Where international visitors stayed in 2025 (guest nights)Tokyo (Tokyo) 60,115,730 (rank 1 of 47); Osaka (Osaka) 24,517,740 (rank 2 of 47); Kyoto (Kyoto) 18,291,230 (rank 3 of 47); Hokkaido 13,302,640 (rank 4 of 47); Okinawa 9,211,700 (rank 5 of 47); Fukuoka (Fukuoka) 8,421,130 (rank 6 of 47); Kamakura & Hakone (Kanagawa) 4,927,440 (rank 7 of 47); Nagoya (Aichi) 4,859,630 (rank 8 of 47); Tokyo Disney Resort & Narita (Chiba) 4,375,880 (rank 9 of 47); Mt. Fuji area (Yamanashi) 2,750,510 (rank 10 of 47); Matsumoto (Nagano) 2,508,350 (rank 11 of 47); Mt. Fuji area (Shizuoka) 2,228,930 (rank 12 of 47); Kanazawa (Ishikawa) 2,142,820 (rank 13 of 47); Hiroshima & Miyajima (Hiroshima) 2,115,650 (rank 14 of 47); Takayama & Shirakawa-go (Gifu) 2,004,510 (rank 15 of 47); Kobe & Himeji (Hyogo) 1,991,650 (rank 16 of 47); Nara (Nara) 520,130 (rank 28 of 47); Ise-Shima (Mie) 380,310 (rank 32 of 47)Tokyo (Tokyo): 60,115,730 foreign guest nights (rank 1 of 47)#1 Tokyo (Tokyo)60.1MOsaka (Osaka): 24,517,740 foreign guest nights (rank 2 of 47)#2 Osaka (Osaka)24.5MKyoto (Kyoto): 18,291,230 foreign guest nights (rank 3 of 47)#3 Kyoto (Kyoto)18.3MHokkaido: 13,302,640 foreign guest nights (rank 4 of 47)#4 Hokkaido13.3MOkinawa: 9,211,700 foreign guest nights (rank 5 of 47)#5 Okinawa9.2MFukuoka (Fukuoka): 8,421,130 foreign guest nights (rank 6 of 47)#6 Fukuoka (Fukuoka)8.4MKamakura & Hakone (Kanagawa): 4,927,440 foreign guest nights (rank 7 of 47)#7 Kamakura & Hakone (Kanagawa)4.9MNagoya (Aichi): 4,859,630 foreign guest nights (rank 8 of 47)#8 Nagoya (Aichi)4.9MTokyo Disney Resort & Narita (Chiba): 4,375,880 foreign guest nights (rank 9 of 47)#9 Tokyo Disney Resort & Narita (Chiba)4.4MMt. Fuji area (Yamanashi): 2,750,510 foreign guest nights (rank 10 of 47)#10 Mt. Fuji area (Yamanashi)2.8MMatsumoto (Nagano): 2,508,350 foreign guest nights (rank 11 of 47)#11 Matsumoto (Nagano)2.5MMt. Fuji area (Shizuoka): 2,228,930 foreign guest nights (rank 12 of 47)#12 Mt. Fuji area (Shizuoka)2.2MKanazawa (Ishikawa): 2,142,820 foreign guest nights (rank 13 of 47)#13 Kanazawa (Ishikawa)2.1MHiroshima & Miyajima (Hiroshima): 2,115,650 foreign guest nights (rank 14 of 47)#14 Hiroshima & Miyajima (Hiroshima)2.1MTakayama & Shirakawa-go (Gifu): 2,004,510 foreign guest nights (rank 15 of 47)#15 Takayama & Shirakawa-go (Gifu)2.0MKobe & Himeji (Hyogo): 1,991,650 foreign guest nights (rank 16 of 47)#16 Kobe & Himeji (Hyogo)2.0MNara (Nara): 520,130 foreign guest nights (rank 28 of 47)#28 Nara (Nara)0.5MIse-Shima (Mie): 380,310 foreign guest nights (rank 32 of 47)#32 Ise-Shima (Mie)0.4MM = million guest nights by international visitors, 2025
Japan Tourism Agency, Overnight Travel Statistics Survey, 2025 annual figures (final), published July 6, 2026. Numbers are for the whole prefecture; rank among Japan's 47 prefectures. The highlighted bar is this destination. Source (Japanese, PDF)

Nationwide rules that apply everywhere

Other destinations

Photo credits

  1. A street in the old town of Takayama (Gifu) lined with dark wooden merchant houses, shop signs and a few people walking in the distance. Photo: Raita Futo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  2. The gassho-zukuri village of Ogimachi in Shirakawa-go seen from above, with steep thatched roofs among rice fields and wooded mountains. Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  3. A tax-free system banner hanging over the tax-free counter of a shopping mall in Japan. Photo: Naha Mama Pavilionz, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  4. The tall arrival lobby atrium at Kansai International Airport, with travelers walking below. Photo: Fotointheworld, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  5. A seaside road and a green tram at a small station platform under a blue sky. Photo: くろふね, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  6. Painted lines and a number 2 on a station platform floor, with a blue sign asking people to line up in two rows. Photo: ゆう旅の人, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  7. Two shared electric kick scooters parked inside a marked parking port on a sidewalk. Photo: RuinDig/Yuki Uchida, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  8. A small bicycle rental shop with bicycles parked in front. Photo: User: (WT-shared) Shoestring at wts wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  9. Rows of blue seats inside a Shinkansen car. Photo: S.Raika, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  10. An older priority seat sign on a Japanese train, with pictograms for older people, pregnant women, people with physical challenges and people with infants, and a mobile phone marked OFF. Photo: Namazu-tron, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  11. An empty two-person escalator with yellow step edges and moving handrails on both sides, at Shinjuku Station. Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  12. An empty open-air rock bath beside a river. Photo: STA3816, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  13. Close-up of a bidet toilet seat control with a red stop button and a blue spray button. Photo: Stéfan Le Dû, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  14. Three pairs of zori sandals lined up on a stone floor below the raised step of a traditional Japanese entrance. Photo: franck injapan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  15. An empty wooden sauna room with tiered benches. Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  16. A person riding a bicycle on the left side of a quiet street lined with wooden houses. Photo: Sergiy Galyonkin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  17. The long departure hall of Haneda Airport's international terminal with rows of check-in counters. Photo: Daniel L. Lu (user:dllu), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  18. A restaurant window display of plastic food samples with price labels. Photo: Lombroso, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  19. A bowl of creamy pork-bone ramen with sliced pork, egg and greens. Photo: Alasdair at en.wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  20. Plates of sushi in different colors moving along a conveyor belt. Photo: JIP, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  21. An empty wooden sushi counter with seats close together. Photo: Bobby.Creations, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  22. A red lacquer bowl of miso soup with tofu, wakame seaweed and mitsuba leaves, seen from above. Photo: Douglas Perkins, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  23. A home dinner on a wooden table: a bowl of white rice, miso soup with tofu and mushrooms, grilled fish and small side dishes. Photo: サフィル, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  24. A plate of sashimi: slices of salmon and white fish on green leaves, a small mound of grated wasabi, a little wasabi on the salmon, and a sprig of shiso flowers. Photo: Ikusuki, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  25. The front of a small Chinese restaurant with a big red sign and a lit "open" sign on a street in Nagoya (Aichi). Photo: Eugene Ormandy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  26. Bite-size pieces of boiled octopus with purple-red skin and white flesh, topped with lots of chopped green onion. Photo: jim212jim, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  27. A Japanese roast beef bowl: thin pink slices of beef piled over rice, topped with a raw egg yolk. Photo: Pocsywe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  28. A Japanese supermarket shelf lined with rows of soy sauce bottles in many sizes and label colors. Photo: Kanesue, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  29. A small white dish of Japanese pickles: yellow takuan, orange carrot and green cucumber slices. Photo: Douglas Perkins, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  30. A piece of tuna nigiri on a blue and white patterned plate. Photo: RuinDig/Yuki Uchida, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  31. A handwritten Japanese lunch menu with dish names and prices in black and red ink. Photo: NORTLAUKAU 26088 JP, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  32. A metal oden pot at a convenience store counter in Japan, with daikon, eggs, shirataki noodles, fried tofu and skewered beef tendon simmering in separate sections. Photo: Ocr7041r38, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  33. A bowl of gyudon: thinly sliced simmered beef and onion over rice, in a patterned bowl on a wooden table. Photo: Ocdp, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  34. A Sushiro conveyor-belt sushi restaurant on the upper floor of a building, with a red and white sign, banners and a parking area with a van and bicycles below. Photo: Tokumeigakarinoaoshima, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  35. The front of a MOS Burger shop with green signs and big windows, with bicycles parked outside and a menu board by the door. Photo: Tjeerd Wiersma, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  36. Trays of strawberry daifuku and other Japanese sweets in a shop display case. Photo: Pete Birkinshaw, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  37. A wide city view of Ikebukuro (Tokyo) seen from a high observatory. Photo: Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  38. The plaza in front of a station with two glass pyramid roofs. Photo: DiKnK8713, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  39. The white, boxy facade of the PARCO building in Shibuya, Tokyo (Tokyo), with the PARCO sign under a blue sky. Photo: 江戸村のとくぞう, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  40. Shelves of cold medicine boxes with yellow price tags along a drugstore aisle, with a 'one per person' sign on the top shelf. Photo: Sumimasen Guide (taken by the site owner)
  41. An empty zazen hall with rows of blue cushions on raised wooden platforms at Enko-ji temple. Photo: Naokijp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  42. A row of drink vending machines standing side by side along a quiet roadside in Japan, with trees behind. Photo: Daniel Ramirez, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  43. Close-up of white capsule toy machines with round turning handles, coin slots and coin return buttons. Photo: Ka23 13, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  44. A brightly lit drink vending machine standing on a train station platform in Japan. Photo: そらみみ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  45. The entrance of a small police box (koban) on a street corner. Photo: Haydn Blackey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  46. An outdoor designated smoking area enclosed by dark wooden screens in a park. Photo: Hirho, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  47. A tall red sign with the kanji for medicine outside a drugstore. Photo: Muyo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, title text added)
  48. Japanese immigration landing permission and departure stamps in a passport. Photo: Arikevin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  49. A round no-drones sign. Photo: Arturo Pardavila III, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  50. A see-through trash bin at a train station in Japan. Photo: iMorpheus, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  51. A roofed water basin for purifying hands at a temple. Photo: Hirho, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  52. A takoyaki food stall with a bright octopus banner. Photo: whalt, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  53. The lit entrance of a small izakaya with a white sign. Photo: Japanexperterna.se, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  54. Japanese yen banknotes and coins. Photo: ASTELUS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  55. A set restaurant table with a reserved sign. Photo: David Baron, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  56. A plate of sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce. Photo: Douglas Perkins, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  57. A simple IC card reader post at a small station. Photo: 西内 正, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  58. A green tsunami evacuation route sign painted on the road. Photo: DimiTalen, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  59. A white Japanese ambulance with red stripes. Photo: Crimage7777, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  60. A satellite image of a typhoon near Japan. Photo: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  61. A rainy night street lined with neon signs. Photo: Benlisquare, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)
  62. A hand holding a smartphone showing a map. Photo: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (title text added)

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Illustrations

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