Shrines, museums, parks, and the spots in between, with the access details worked out.
Kawasaki Keiba is one of Tokyo's most beginner-friendly racecourses - part racing venue, part public park, with a food court and infield playground.
Kawasaki · KanagawaShrine in Motohakone, Hakone, Kanagawa, founded in 757 on the shores of Lake Ashi and known for the Heiwa no Torii, a red torii gate standing in the lake.
Hakone · KanagawaTendai temple in the Nagao Hills of Kawasaki, known as the hydrangea temple for the 1,000 shrubs that fill its grounds each June, with a June festival.
Kawasaki · KanagawaHiroshima park honouring victims of the 1945 atomic bombing, with the Atomic Bomb Dome, the sole building still standing near ground zero, and a museum.
HiroshimaA small, free museum near Kawasaki Station on the history of Kawasaki Shuku, the Edo-period post town on the old Tokaido highway between Edo and Kyoto.
Kawasaki · KanagawaOpen-air museum in Kawasaki with 25 traditional houses relocated from across Japan, plus indigo-dyeing sessions, a soba restaurant and craft displays.
Kawasaki · KanagawaObi Castle, ruled by the Ito clan for centuries, was completely refurbished in the late 1970s along with its surrounding castle town.
Nichinan · MiyazakiKnown as the Black Castle, Kumamoto Castle is famed for its stone walls and architecture, and is open to visitors again after earthquake restoration.
KumamotoOriginally built in the late sixteenth century to control highway crossroads, Saga Castle served as the Saga Domain's residence and was reconstructed in 1989.
SagaA 16th-century castle destroyed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, reconstructed in 1958 and now serving as a museum documenting the city's history.
HiroshimaSixteenth-century castle with traditional Japanese architecture, surrounded by moat and stone walls, featuring a museum and scenic garden.
WakayamaCastle ruins on a 353-metre mountain, among Japan's top hundred castles, known as Japan's Machu Picchu for the sea of clouds on early autumn mornings.
Asago · HyogoSeventeenth-century castle built by the Ii clan near Lake Biwa with defensive double moats, recognized as one of Japan's best-preserved castles.
Hikone · ShigaCastle with a watchtower believed to be Japan's oldest tenshu, dating to the 1580s and rebuilt multiple times before being seized after the Meiji Restoration.
Inuyama · AichiBuilt in 1580 and ruled by the Maeda clan for 14 generations, this castle's reconstructed structures reflect its appearance in the 1850s.
Kanazawa · IshikawaHistoric castle featuring distinctive black exterior known as the Crow Castle and unique architecture of five external stories and six internal floors.
Matsumoto · NaganoThis shrine honors Takeda Shingen, a Sengoku-period general remembered for both military prowess and regional development in the domain he ruled.
Kofu · YamanashiRemains of a castle first built in 1457 in Kawagoe, where the preserved Honmaru Goten residence holds exhibits on feudal-era architecture and history.
Kawagoe · Saitama
