Cities of Japan

Temples, tea, and a thousand quiet corners

Loud, bright, and impossibly delicious

Deer, ancient wood, and deep quiet

Port city charm between mountains and sea

Lake Biwa's quiet shore

The white castle that survived everything

Pilgrimage trails and the coast where Japan begins

Ninja country and Bashō's birthplace, an hour-and-a-half from Osaka or Nagoya

Two UNESCO sites and the oldest tea shop in Japan, half an hour from Kyoto Station

A mountain temple, a water shrine, and Kyoto's summer riverside-dining valley

One of the Three Views of Japan, a pine-covered sandbar at the head of Miyazu Bay

230 funaya boathouses ringing a calm bay on the Sea of Japan, an hour past Amanohashidate

Eight Meiji-era brick warehouses on a deep-water harbor with a Siberian-internment memorial

A thatched-roof preservation village in the cedar mountains north of Kyoto

Industrial muscle, culinary soul

Samurai districts and perfect gardens

Sacred peak and the head Shirayamahime shrine

Edo-era charm in the Japanese Alps

Snow monkeys, temples, and alpine trails

Rice country and sake's spiritual home

Coastal ports and Niigata's largest fireworks

Japan's most sacred shrine and the street that feeds it

Glass art, fresh sushi, and a wall of snow

Wakasa Bay's ancient port, due north of Kyoto on the Mackerel Road

Sumpu Castle, Suruga Bay's sakura-shrimp, and Tokugawa Ieyasu's retirement seat

Mt. Fuji's south approach and the head shrine of 1,300 Sengen shrines

Turquoise reservoirs and a vintage railway through the Oi River gorges

Kakegawa Castle's wooden keep, Japanese tea connoisseurs, and the Shiseido museum

Powder snow, miso ramen, and craft beer

Morning markets and million-dollar nights

Ramen, polar bears, and powder snow

Cranes, wetlands, and the edge of Japan

Drift ice and the Sea of Okhotsk

Japan's northern tip, where the wind never stops

Caldera lake onsen with active volcanoes overhead

Hokkaido's most powerful onsen, named for the steam rising from Hell Valley

Lavender hills, dairy farms, and powder snow on the same plateau

UNESCO peninsula where bears outnumber tourists

Powder-snow ski village under Mt. Yotei, year-round mountain onsen and dairy country

Peace, resilience, and the best okonomiyaki

Sunshine, gardens, and the Seto Inland Sea

Highland pastures and three-peak ridge hikes

Castle town on the water

Sand dunes and unexpected landscapes

Fugu capital at the tip of Honshu

Kintaikyō's five wooden arches and a hillside castle 45 minutes west of Hiroshima

Hillside temples, Cat Alley, and the Honshu start of the Shimanami Kaidō cycling route

The Imperial Navy's home port — Yamato Museum and a real submarine you can walk through

The Little Kyoto of San'in — a samurai-quarter town of 6,657 with one of Japan's great Inari shrines on the hill above

Tropical rhythm, Ryukyu soul

Coral reefs, mangroves, and island time

Bridges, beaches, and water so clear it glows

Mangroves, mud-dyed silk, and wild subtropical shores