Q.What 'world's-firsts' can you find in Nara?

Two of the world's largest stores — both in Nara

In March 2025, the world's largest MUJI (sales floor of 8,201 m²) opened at AEON Mall Kashihara. And since 2022, Nara City has been home to mont-bell's flagship "Outdoor Village Nara," the chain's largest sales floor worldwide, with around 25,000 items. Notably, both chose Nara rather than a big metropolis.

The real thing — world's oldest and largest: Hōryū-ji, Kitora, Tōdai-ji

Cultural properties hold world-firsts too. Hōryū-ji is the world's oldest group of surviving wooden buildings. The star chart in Asuka's Kitora tomb is the world's oldest surviving formal Chinese-style star map. Tōdai-ji's Great Buddha Hall is the world's largest wooden post-and-beam building (setting aside modern engineered-timber structures), and the Great Buddha is one of the world's largest cast bronze statues.

Manufacturing has a world No. 1 too — Tsubaki Nakashima

Tsubaki Nakashima of Katsuragi City holds the world's top share in precision balls (steel spheres used in bearings and more). Its subsidiary makes about 90% of Japan's ballpoint-pen tips, and 100% of the tips for the erasable "Frixion" pen. Quietly, Nara's manufacturing underpins both the world and the nation.

[Tips] Plenty of national firsts and origins, too

It's not only world-firsts. Nara is full of national firsts and origins. Gose City, for example, set a Guinness World Record in 2016 for the longest nagashi-sōmen run at 3,317.7 m — but it was overtaken by Takamori (Nagano) in 2022 at 3,515.42 m, so it is now a "former" world record. These national firsts, however, still stand:

Use 'world's-firsts' as a way into Nara — on foot and through data

These make great entry points — both for sightseeing and for understanding the local economy. The world's oldest architecture and star chart, the largest Buddha and stores, and globally and nationally leading local industries: use "world's-firsts" as a thread to explore Nara's cultural-property and tourism data and the related articles below.

Datasets behind this article

• 伝統工芸奈良県

  Nara's Nationally Designated Traditional Crafts

  Nara Prefecture’s official guide to crafts designated by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Nara has three: Takayama tea whisks (1975), Nara brushes (1977) and Nara ink (2018), with their regions, history and designation years — primary information on the prefecture’s flagship local crafts.

  💡Questions this data can answer

  What are Nara’s nationally designated traditional crafts, and when were they designated?

  HTML

  Updated2026-08-23
• 特産品大和郡山市

  Goldfish Industry of Yamatokoriyama

  The city of Yamatokoriyama’s official guide to its goldfish farming, a major production hub. It covers the industry from breeding to sales and its roughly 300-year history. A local industry tied to tourism (goldfish scooping, the 'goldfish town'); basic figures are available, though detailed time-series data are limited.

  💡Questions this data can answer

  What is the scale and history of Yamatokoriyama’s goldfish industry?

  HTML

  Updated2026-08-23
• 特産品農林水産省

  Traditional Foods of Japan: Miwa Sōmen (MAFF)

  MAFF’s reference on Japan’s traditional foods. It summarizes the origin, method and region of Miwa (Sakurai) hand-stretched sōmen, said to be the birthplace of the noodle. Backs Nara’s food-based local industry with national primary information (quantitative statistics are separate).

  💡Questions this data can answer

  Where did Miwa sōmen originate, and how is it made?

  HTML

  Updated2026-08-23
• 製造業奈良県

  Nara Prefecture Industrial Statistics

  The hub of statistical surveys published by Nara Prefecture’s statistics division. Through industrial statistics (the Economic Structure Survey) and the index of industrial production, it tracks the prefecture’s manufacturing output — a starting point for local industries such as socks, ink and food.

  💡Questions this data can answer

  How has Nara’s manufacturing shipment value changed over time?

  HTMLPDFXLSX

  Updated2026-08-23
• 文化財文化庁

  Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)

  The official database of cultural properties designated, registered, or selected by the Japanese government. Searchable by name, category, prefecture, designation type, owner, and period, with CSV export of search results. The primary source for a comprehensive view of National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties in Nara. Photos carry separate rights — treat only text data as reusable.

  💡Questions this data can answer

  How many National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties are in Nara?

  HTMLCSV

  Updated2026-08-23
• 世界遺産世界遺産「飛鳥・藤原」登録推進協議会

  Component Parts of the World Heritage “Asuka-Fujiwara”

  The official list of all 19 component parts of “Asuka-Fujiwara: Archaeological sites of Japan’s Ancient Capitals and Related Properties”, inscribed on July 26, 2026, at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea — including the Asuka Palace Site, Fujiwara Palace Site, Ishibutai Kofun and Kitora Kofun, each with name, location and designation date.

  💡Questions this data can answer

  What are the 19 component parts of Asuka-Fujiwara and where is each located?

  HTML

  Updated2026-08-23
• RESAS経済産業省・内閣府

  RESAS Tourism Map

  The national big-data dashboard for regional economies. Its tourism maps show destination search rankings and de-facto population by prefecture and municipality — private-sector indicators that ordinary statistics can’t provide.

  💡Questions this data can answer

  Which destinations in Nara are searched for the most?

  HTML

  Updated2026-08-23

Related reading

• Asuka — what makes it so remarkable?
• Southern Yamato in the world-heritage spotlight: what do the numbers say about Kashihara, Sakurai and Asuka?