Michelin Green Guide Nagoya & Ise-Shima — Three-Star Ise Jingu and the Tale of Genji Scrolls, and All 29 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 29 starred sights in Nagoya and Ise-Shima

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

In the 2015 edition Nagoya is one-star and Ise-Shima two-star. The stars cluster around museums and a castle in Nagoya, and around Ise Jingu and the coast in Mie. Tokyo to Nagoya is about 1 hour 40 minutes on the Tokaido Shinkansen; Nagoya to Ise about 1 hour 20 on the Kintetsu limited express. Reckon on one or two days in Nagoya and one or two in Ise, Toba and Shima. If you are continuing by JR to Ise and Kumano, an area pass is worth pricing.

The three-star Genji scrolls, the Tokugawa Art Museum and Nagoya Castle

The 2015 edition makes the Tokugawa Art Museum two-star and the National Treasure Tale of Genji scrolls it holds three-star. The museum keeps the daimyo possessions handed down in the Owari Tokugawa house; the Genji scrolls are the oldest surviving illustrated narrative handscrolls in Japan, painted in the Heian period. Because the originals are fragile, they are shown only for a short period, usually in late November, with reproductions and video in their place the rest of the year. In 2026, selected scenes are scheduled for special display from 14 to 29 November. If the three-star scrolls are your reason to go, build the trip around those dates.

Nagoya Castle is one-star. The keep, rebuilt in reinforced concrete in 1959, has been closed to entry since 2018 over earthquake safety and a plan to rebuild it in timber. The Honmaru Palace, whose reconstruction finished in 2018, is open, and its painted screens are worth the visit. Atsuta Jingu, which enshrines one of the imperial regalia, and the Port of Nagoya are one-star, and the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, with its dolphins and belugas, is two-star.

Inuyama Castle, Meiji Mura, and Gifu, Mino and Tajimi

About 30 minutes from Nagoya on the Meitetsu line, Inuyama and Inuyama Castle, on a bluff above the Kiso River, are two-star in the 2015 edition. The keep predates the Edo period and is a National Treasure; from the open gallery on the top floor you look out over the river and the Nobi plain. Nearby Urakuen and the National Treasure tea house Jo-an inside it are one-star, as is Meiji Mura, the open-air museum of relocated Meiji-era buildings.

Over in Gifu, the city of Gifu and Mino, known for its washi paper and udatsu-walled streets, are one-star, and the Kobei-gama kiln in Tajimi is two-star. Cormorant fishing runs on the Nagara River at Gifu from May to October (listed, no stars).

Three-star Ise Jingu — Geku, Naiku and Oharaimachi

The 2015 edition gives three stars to Ise Jingu and to the Naiku, which enshrines Amaterasu, and two to the Geku, which enshrines the deity of food. Every twenty years the shrine buildings are rebuilt and the deities moved in the Shikinen Sengu; the next is in 2033. Tradition is to visit Geku first, then Naiku, about 15 minutes apart by bus.

The Naiku stands in forest across the Uji Bridge over the Isuzu River, and photography is prohibited in front of the main sanctuary. Observe the etiquette on the approach: remove your hat, bow at the torii. Oharaimachi, the street of shops before the Naiku, is one-star and the place for Ise udon and Akafuku.

Futami and Toba — the Wedded Rocks, Mikimoto Pearl Island, the ama coast

East of Ise, Futami and its Meoto Iwa — two rocks joined by a sacred rope — are one-star in the 2015 edition. Around the summer solstice the sun rises between them. Beyond, Toba is one-star and Mikimoto Pearl Island, where Kokichi Mikimoto first succeeded in culturing pearls, is two-star. On the island, ama divers in white cotton give diving demonstrations.

The Toba Aquarium, with some 1,200 species, and Osatsu, a fishing village where many ama still live, are one-star. At Osatsu you can eat seafood grilled by ama in one of their huts.

Shima — Ago Bay and the Yokoyama viewpoint, with model routes

Ago Bay, on the Shima Peninsula, is one-star in the 2015 edition: a deeply indented ria coast scattered with islands and lined with pearl rafts. The Yokoyama viewpoint above it and Kashikojima, which hosted the 2016 Ise-Shima Summit, are one-star as well. Sightseeing boats leave Kashikojima to tour the bay. In the late afternoon, Yokoyama gives you the sun setting into the water.

From Nagoya to Ise you can take the Kintetsu limited express or the JR Mie rapid. The Japan Rail Pass is valid on the Mie rapid, but the Ise Railway section en route costs extra. Kintetsu is not covered at all.

Michelin Green Guide Nagoya & Ise-Shima — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.