• Inuyama Castle (犬山城 Inuyamajō) [1]. The only privately owned castle in Japan and one of the nicest original examples of feudal Japanese fortifications. Originally built in 1537 by Oda Nobuyasu, grandfather of Oda Nobunaga, the warlord who helped end the long civil war that preceded the Tokugawa Shogunate, Inuyama is one of a handful of castles designated a Japanese national treasure.

• The Japan Monkey Center [2] is a few minutes way from Inuyama station on the monorail line, clearly sign-posted with ape statues and colorful paintings. On the plus side, the Center has a remarkable collection of monkeys and apes, with a wider variety of primates than even most world-class zoos. On the negative side, however, like too many Japanese zoos, the animals live in cramped conditions - mostly unadorned cement blocks with a single cross-bar - and have little in the way of enrichment, leaving many of them distinctly bored. It's open 9:30 am - 5:00 pm Mar-Nov, until 6:00 pm Jul-Aug, and until 4:30 Dec-Feb 11. Please note that the center is closed for the rest of February. Admission is ¥1500 for adults and ¥800 for kids.

• The Japan Monkey Park is an amusement park next door to the Japan Monkey Center, with rides intended for human beings. (Monkeys are exclusively of the cartoon variety here.) Dual admission tickets can be purchased for both locations.

• Little World, a 20-minute bus ride away from Inuyama station. A miniature Expo that tries to reconstruct or import houses from all over the world, together with souvenir shops and restaurants - nice for a day visit.

• Meiji Mura Museum (明治村) [3], about 20 minutes by bus from Inuyama station, houses a large collection of Meiji-era architecture from all over Japan and even as far away as Brazil, Hawaii, and Seattle. The effect is like that of a ghost town - visitors can walk through the buildings at their leisure, and each one is full of vintage furnishings, as if it were still in use. Fans of Japanese literature may enjoy the summer house of writer Soseki Natsume, where he reportedly wrote his classic novel I Am A Cat. The signature piece, however, is the lobby of the old Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Imperial Hotel (1923-1965) in Tokyo. Open 9:30 am to 5:00 pm Mar-Oct, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Nov-Feb. Regular adult admission is ¥1600 (or ¥2200 with a pass on the antique bus, trolley, and train rides).

By train

Inuyama is the terminal station on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line. From Nagoya, a shinkansen station, Inuyama can be reached in 30-35 minutes at a cost of ¥540.

There are two other stops in the area served by Meitetsu: Inuyama-Yuen and Inuyama-Guchi, though only local trains stop at these two stations.

The closest JR station to Inuyama is Unuma, on the Takayama/Toyama line from Nagoya. The station is located in Kakamigahara city in Gifu prefecture, north of Inuyama across the Kiso river. Unuma is about 30 minutes from Nagoya on the "LEX Wide View" train, and from there it's about 15 minutes' walk to Inuyama-Yuen station.

Inuyama has a monorail that runs about 1km, linking the Inuyama-Yuen train station to the nearby Japan Monkey Park (see below).

There are very few restaurants in the station area. The Japan Monkey Center, close to the station, does include a restaurant / cafeteria.

Cafe Million Dollar, somewhat less grand than the name suggests, serves drinks. It's a couple doors down from Inuyama station, toward the river.