Shrines, museums, parks, and the spots in between, with the access details worked out.
Tokyo Joypolis, Japan's largest indoor amusement park, features VR-enhanced thrill rides, rhythm-game coasters, arcade games, and anime-themed attractions.
TokyoA footbridge 375 metres long hanging 100 metres above a dam lake in a gorge in Ibaraki, with a bungee jump from the middle of it.
Hitachiota · IbarakiThe park features wisteria in pink, purple, and white, a walkable wisteria tunnel, rose and tulip gardens, and nightly illuminations recognized among Japan's Three Great Illuminations.
Ashikaga · TochigiThis working film studio's theme park offers authentic period-drama settings and the chance to watch real productions on historic full-scale sets.
KyotoThis interactive sumo experience hosted by former wrestlers offers foreign guests technique demonstrations, the chance to try sumo in costume, and a chanko meal.
TokyoA line of some forty rock pillars running out to sea at Kushimoto in Wakayama, left standing when the softer rock around them wore away.
Kushimoto · WakayamaOpened in 2005 on the site of an Edo-period magistrate's office, this museum explores Nagasaki's distinctive history as Japan's historical gateway to overseas exchange.
NagasakiJapan's first national museum dedicated to Ainu culture and the core facility of Upopoy, promoting understanding of this Indigenous heritage.
Shiraoi · HokkaidoA gorge on the Tomoe River at Asuke in Aichi, planted with momiji maples in the 17th century and now one of the best known places in Japan for autumn colour.
Toyota · AichiAn outdoor dinosaur park in the woods at Katsuyama in Fukui, three minutes from the prefectural dinosaur museum, with more than sixty life-sized models.
Katsuyama · FukuiA hilltop park above the five lakes of Mikata in Fukui, reached by lift or cable car, with terraces looking over the lakes and Wakasa Bay.
Mihama · FukuiA kilometre of columnar cliffs on the Fukui coast, formed in a rock that produces this shape in only a few places in the world.
Sakai · FukuiOne of the two head temples of Soto Zen, founded in 1244 in the mountains of Fukui and still a working monastery of about 150 monks.
Eiheiji · FukuiA hot spring town in a gorge on the Kinugawa river in Tochigi, once reserved for lords and monks returning from Nikko.
Nikko · TochigiA gorge in Miyagi cut a hundred metres deep by the Otani River, walled with pale rock and walked by riverside paths from spring to late autumn.
Osaki · MiyagiSeven old farmhouses of the Nanbu type moved to a valley in Iwate and kept as a working village, with horses, paddies and a water mill.
Tono · IwateA limestone cave in Fukushima with 600 metres open to walk, holding an unusual range of formations, including a rare disc-shaped shield.
Tamura · FukushimaThe highest of the three mountains of Dewa in Yamagata, sacred to the moon god, with a shrine at the summit that opens only in high summer.
Tsuruoka · Yamagata
