Kawasaki's sights are unconventional by Japanese standards, which is precisely what makes them interesting. The Kawasaki Daishi temple complex is the anchor — one of the most visited Buddhist temples in Japan, especially during Hatsumode (New Year) when millions converge here in the first days of January. The Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Tama-ku pays homage to the creator of Doraemon, Japan's best-loved manga robot cat, with original manuscripts and a lovingly designed interior. The Nihon Minka-en is an open-air museum where two dozen traditional farmhouses and merchant dwellings from across Japan have been dismantled and re-erected on a hillside in Ikuta Ryokuchi Park — the scale and quiet of the place is extraordinary.
For something stranger: the Keihin industrial waterfront at night, when the factories, refineries, and chemical plants along the bay illuminate in a web of orange light, has become a dedicated attraction for factory night-photography enthusiasts. Cruise boats run in season. The Kawaramachi Housing Complex is a remarkable piece of Metabolism-era architecture — a grid of stacked residential units that looks like a prototype space colony planted in a suburban district. The neighbourhood of Sakuramoto has one of the largest Korean communities in Japan, with the restaurants and energy to match.