Kakunodate is a former castle town and samurai stronghold in today’s Akita Prefecture. While Kakunodate Castle no longer remains, the town is famous for its samurai tradition and its hundreds of weeping cherry trees (shidarezakura).
Kinosaki is located in northern Hyogo Prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan. This pleasant town, built along a willow lined river, is one of the top onsen destinations of the Kansai Region.
Himeji is most famous for its magnificent castle, Himeji Castle, widely considered to be Japan’s most beautiful surviving feudal castle. The castle is designated both a national treasure and a UNESCO world heritage site.
Miyajima (literally “shrine island”) has been celebrated as a sacred island and one of Japan’s three most scenic views. It is most famous for Itsukushima Shrine, which, together with its large wooden torii (gate), stands in the ocean during high tide.
Inuyama, literally meaning “dog mountain”, is a city in Aichi Prefecture, not far from Nagoya. It is most famous for its small but beautiful castle and nearby Meiji Mura, an open air museum about the Meiji Period (1868-1912).
Kanazawa, located northwest of Tokyo along the Sea of Japan, rose in prominence during the 15th century, when the powerful and militant Ikko sect established new headquarters there after being chased out of Kyoto by the monks of Mount Hiei.
Kamakura is a coastal town in Kanagawa prefecture, less than one hour south of Tokyo.
Japan’s first permanent capital was established in the year 710 at Heijo, the city now known as Nara. As the influence and political ambitions of the city’s powerful Buddhist monasteries grew to become a serious threat to the government, the capital was moved to Nagaoka in 784.
Tokyo is Japan’s capital and the country’s largest city.
Sapporo (”important river flowing through a plain” in Ainu language) is the capital of Hokkaido and Japan’s fifth largest city. Sapporo is also one of the nation’s youngest major cities. In 1857, the city’s population stood at just seven people.