Regions & prefectures
JapanRegions & prefectures
Fukui
The country’s strictest zen monastery, basalt cliffs and Japan’s best dinosaur fossils.
- Capital
- Fukui
- Status
- Prefecture
- Region
- Chūbu
- Must-see
- Eihei-ji monastery
- Local specialty
- Echizen crab, grated-radish soba, Sabae eyewear
Fukui regularly posts the best happiness index among Japanese prefectures, on the back of full employment and a fabric of small textile and eyewear firms, with Sabae making nearly all Japanese spectacle frames. Eihei-ji temple, founded by Dōgen in 1244, still trains monks of the Sōtō school, and the Katsuyama basin has yielded most of the dinosaurs described in Japan.
What to see there
Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.
In the magazine
Articles that cover this topic.