Kyoto drops out of the top 10 in annual survey.

Every year, Japanese travel booking agency Jalan, through its Jalan Research Center, conducts a survey among Japanese domestic travelers, asking them which prefecture of Japan they visited on their trip and how satisfied they were. The results for the most recent iteration of the survey, collecting data from 15,586 people who traveled domestically in Japan between April of 2024 and March of 2025, has been released, and it contains a big surprise at the top of its rankings.

When asked to rate, overall, how satisfied they were with their trip, the top ranking went not to Kyoto, Hokkaido, or Okinawa, but to humble Kagawa Prefecture.

Comprising the northeastern tip of the island of Shikoku, Kagawa is Japan’s smallest prefecture in terms of land area, and 39th (out of 47) in population. It’s not a glitzy, fancy, or trendy place, and as further proof of its ordinarily under-the-radar status, when Jalan’s survey asked travelers for feedback in nine specific categories regarding things like high-quality hotels pampering hospitality, Kagawa only made the top 10 for two of them, 7th place for delicious local food and 8th for fun places for kids.

And yet, when asked to rate their overall satisfaction for their trip on a scale of 1 to 5, Kagawa had the highest percentage of 4s and 5s, with 91.3 percent of respondents giving the prefecture a perfect or near-perfect score, more than second-place Okinawa (89.4 percent) and third-place Nagasaki (88.9 percent).

That combination of average rankings in individual categories but sitting at the top of overall satisfaction is unexpected, but Jalan Research Center’s chief researcher Kanako Morito has some theories. Starting with Kagawa’s highly ranked food, the prefecture’s representative dish is udon noodles. While you can find udon across Japan, the tastiest udon is widely thought to be found in Kagawa. Udon restaurants are everywhere in the prefecture, often open from early in the morning and stocked with racks of freshly made tempura that customers serve themselves using tongs.

▼ A bowl of Kagawa udon

Udon is something that just about everyone, from little kids to senior citizens, likes, so a prefecture where the quality is a step up from the norm is going to consistently make travelers happy. Udon is also a very affordable dish, so it isn’t followed by the unpleasant aftertaste of the hefty bill that other famous regional foods, such as Kobe beef or Hokkaido crab, sometimes involve.

Speaking of expenses, while travel and tourism-related prices are going up in Kagawa, just as they are everywhere in the country, the prefecture tends to be a less pricy option than many others. In Jalan’s survey, the average per-person expenditure per domestic trip was 64,100 yen (around US$430), while for travelers to Kagawa, it was just 51,400 yen.

Of course, low prices don’t make a destination a good value without there also being fun and interesting things to see and do. Morito thinks travelers have come away happy from their trips to Kagawa because they enjoy the glimpse they get of the prefecture’s relaxed lifestyle. Places like the Pokémon Slowpoke park notwithstanding, a lot of Kagawa’s attractions, like Ritsurin Koen garden, Marugame Castle, and demon island Megijima offer glimpses of traditional culture that are outside the standard set of Japan’s most famous historical sightseeing attractions, giving Kagawa an off-the-beaten-path appeal.

▼ The view from the top of Megijima (not pictured: demons)

There might also be a bit of a geographic factor at play, though it’s not something Morito herself expressed. Being the northeast corner of Shikoku, Kagawa is the most easily accessible part of the island for travelers coming from the most populous parts of Japan’s central Kansai region, such as Kobe and Osaka, and also for people coming from east Japan and Tokyo. It’s possible that part of Kagawa’s rise in Jalan’s rankings is a result of Japanese domestic travelers seeing it as a more satisfying destination than another prefecture ordinarily known for its tranquil atmosphere and traditional charms: Kyoto. In the previous survey, Kyoto ranked seventh in overall domestic traveler satisfaction, which actually feels a little low, given how it’s been one of the most popular travel destinations pretty much ever since people in Japan first became able to travel for pleasure. In the newest survey, though, Kyoto didn’t even make the top 10 in overall traveler satisfaction, reflecting a growing perception that, at least for now, Kyoto City has become so expensive and crowded with inbound foreign tourists that it’s not as enjoyable for Japanese people to visit as it used to be.

As such, it’s hard to say if Kagawa is going to become a regular atop Jalan’s rankings, or if it’s just enjoying a moment of boosted popularity as an easy-to-access alternative as current conditions make many of Japan’s most famous destinations a little less enjoyable for Japanese travelers these days. Either way though, those who did pick Kagawa for a trip recently have been very happy they did.

Source: Jalan Research Center, KSB via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin
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