Kashiragashima Church
A Stone Church Its Congregation Quarried by Hand, on a Goto Island Once Left to the Sick
A sandstone church on Kashiragashima, off Nakadori island in the Goto chain, built from 1910 to 1...
Kinojo Castle Ruins
A reconstructed gate above the Kibi Plain introduces a much older kind of Japanese fortress. Kino...
Michi-no-Eki Jobon-no-Sato
A hot-spring bath on Route 45 outside Ishinomaki
A roadside station with its own hot-spring bath, a few minutes off the Sanriku Expressway at Kaho...
Michi-no-Eki Kii-Nagashima Manbo
Grilled sunfish skewers on the Kumano-nada coast
A Route 42 station named after the ocean sunfish. On weekends and holidays a stall outside grills...
Michi-no-Eki Kyoryu Keikoku Katsuyama
Dinosaur Valley stop on the way to the museum
Katsuyama’s roadside station, opened in 2020, is about ten minutes by car from the Fukui Prefectu...
Michi-no-Eki Raiden Kurumi-no-Sato
Walnuts and a sumo legend on the Asama Sunline
A stop on the Asama Sunline in Tomi, a town known for walnuts. Buy walnut sweets and Shinshu soba...
Michi-no-Eki Tono Kaze-no-Oka
Wind turbines, a valley view and the gateway to Tono
A hilltop station on Route 283 just off the Tono exit of the Kamaishi Expressway, marked by wind ...
Mount Misen
Miyajima's 535-Metre Sacred Mountain, by Ropeway or a Two-Hour Climb Through the Forest Behind Itsukushima Shrine
The 535-metre peak in the middle of Miyajima, rising behind Itsukushima Shrine. The forest centre...
Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine
Crimson Kirishima azaleas line the pond crossing at Nagaoka Tenmangu, a shrine associated with sc...
Okadera
Asuka's Hillside Temple for Warding Off Bad Luck, with Japan's Largest Clay Buddha
A temple on the slope of Mount Oka in Asuka, formally Ryugai-ji, that calls itself Japan's first ...
Tenkawa Daibenzaiten Shrine
A Benzaiten Shrine for Performers in the Omine Valleys, Where Noh Is Still Staged
A shrine to Benzaiten, goddess of water, eloquence and the performing arts, in the village of Ten...
Akiyoshidai Plateau
An open karst plateau of grassland and pale limestone above Akiyoshido Cave, with viewpoints and ...
Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Shabani the Gorilla, Koalas and a 1937 Glasshouse in East Nagoya
Nagoya's big zoo and botanical garden on a hill in Chikusa Ward: Shabani the western lowland gori...
Kamuiwakka Hot Falls
Kamuiwakka Hot Falls: Wading Up a Warm, Acidic River in Shiretoko
A river in Shiretoko National Park that runs warm because hot spring water from Mount Io feeds it...
Kasuga Village and Mount Yasumandake
Rice Terraces Where Hidden Christians Never Went Back to the Church, Below the Sacred Mountain They Prayed To
A farming village of terraced rice fields on the west coast of Hirado Island, where Hidden Christ...