Himeji Castle ranks No. 1 for the second straight year in TripAdvisor’s “Top 20 Best Castles in Japan 2017.” The picture was taken on June 26 in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. (Naoyuki Mori)
HIMEJI, Hyogo Prefecture–Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site here, has been named Japan’s top-ranked castle for the second year in a row.
The ranking comes from TripAdvisor, one of the worlds’ largest travel websites, based on customer feedback.
Matsumoto Castle in Nagano Prefecture was listed No. 2 for the third consecutive year.
“We are very encouraged,” said Hiroshi Shirotani, Himeji Castle’s managing director, of the No. 1 placing. “To gain more satisfaction from visitors, we will keep up the good work in our management and operation.”
U.S.-based TripAdvisor features users’ ratings of tourist attractions and hotels using a five-point scale, plus their reviews, and it covers 49 countries and regions worldwide. The category “Top 20 Best Castles in Japan” was added to the website in 2013.
To calculate the rankings, the Japanese arm of TripAdvisor compiled data taken from June 2016 to May 2017, based on the content and number of reviews of Japan’s castles and ruins.
Himeji Castle was built in 1609. A six-year renovation was completed in 2015. After the castle’s interior was reopened to the public in March 2015, it earned the top ranking for the first time in 2016. In 2013, the castle had ranked 11th in its category, and third in 2014 and 2015.
Kumamoto Castle in Kumamoto Prefecture had been ranked No. 1 for three straight years from 2013 to 2015.
Reviews from visitors to Himeji Castle were full of praise for the castle’s large scale, its beauty, the view from the tower, and its accessible location from Himeji Station.
In the latest rankings, Matsuyama Castle in Ehime Prefecture came third, Bitchu Matsuyama Castle in Okayama Prefecture was fourth, and Nijo Castle in Kyoto Prefecture ranked fifth.
Sources from AsahiNews
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