Fukushima– category –

Ask most travelers to name a Japanese mountain and you’ll hear “Fuji” before anything else. But two hours north of Tokyo, in a prefecture most foreign visitors skip entirely, stands a volcano that inspired one of Japan&...

If Japan had a hall of fame for samurai history, Tsurugajo Castle would occupy the top spot. Rising above the city of Aizuwakamatsu with its distinctive red-tiled roof and perfectly proportioned white walls, this iconic fortress is not j...

Halfway up a quiet, pine-covered hill in Aizuwakamatsu stands a wooden building unlike anything else in Japan — a pagoda whose interior spirals upward and downward along two paths that never cross, so that a monk walking in could c...

Picture a mountain town where 300 wheeled lantern towers, each one lit by open flame and carried by dozens of chanting men, come crashing together in the streets after dark — while just up the hill, a reconstructed feudal castle watches ...

Picture a narrow river valley glowing amber at dusk, wooden ryokan balconies strung with paper lanterns, and steam rising off water that samurai soldiers once soaked in to heal their battle wounds. That’s Higashiyama Onsen — a hot ...

Imagine a small, gently chugging diesel train winding through emerald valleys and across soaring river bridges, while tendrils of morning mist curl up from the glassy surface of the Tadami River below. This isn’t a scene from a dre...

Let’s be honest: Fukushima is the most unfairly judged travel destination in all of Japan. Mention the name to most Westerners and you’ll see a flicker of worry — visions of disaster zones and lingering radiation. But here...

There are cherry trees, and then there is Miharu Takizakura. Standing over 1,000 years old in the quiet hills of Fukushima Prefecture, this breathtaking weeping cherry tree cascades like a pink waterfall across the spring sky — and it ju...

Deep beneath the rolling green hills of Fukushima Prefecture, a world of extraordinary silence and impossible beauty has been growing for 80 million years. Abukuma Cave (阿武隈洞, Abukuma-dō) is one of Japan’s finest limestone cave...

Japan has four great lakes, and three of them are famous. Lake Biwa draws millions of visitors each year. Lake Toya anchors Hokkaido’s resort heartland. Lake Towada is a rising star among international travelers. Then there’s...