The magical Tottori sand dunes dotted with desert flowers and oases and running 16 km along the coast of the Sea of Japan are an ever-changing wind-carved spectacle overlooking a night seascape of squid fishing boats illuminating the horizon.
The traditional dying process known as Kaga Yuzen produces some of the most dazzling colors and designs in kimono fabric using a centuries-old rice-paste method still in practice today, part of the rich cultural heritage of the ancient city of Kanazawa.
Himeji Castle in Hyogo prefecture, a United Nations World Heritage site, is considered Japan's greatest surviving medieval castle. Its perfectly balanced towers seem to float up out of the surrounding cherry blossoms in spring like a vision of beauty, disguising the complex fortifications that make it almost impermeable to attack.
Chion-in in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto is the head temple of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, the sect favored by the long-ruling Tokugawa shoguns who successively added to the temple’s grandeur of worshipping halls and state rooms decorated in the artistic tradition of the Kano school with paintings of nature that seem to leap off the screen.
Overlooking Lake Biwa in western Japan, Hikone Castle was built by order of the first Tokugawa Shogun Ieyasu and is distinguished by its Chinese-style gables and the mass of cherry trees lining the banks of its surrounding moat. Some 50 kilometers south of the castle is Koga City, reputed base of the Koga Ninja clan, where the ninja arts of escape are still studied.
Northeast of Kyoto is Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. Fed by more than 400 mountain streams in a maze of canals supplying fresh spring water to the lake’s villages, it is a prized resource and a vital wetland and wintering ground for many bird species including the Bewick swan.
Looking down on Takahashi city in Okayama prefecture from Mount Gagyu, Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle, once the site of many warlord battles, was restored to the tranquility of its original design in harmony with nature during the long peace of the Edo period, thanks to the aesthetic leanings of the local magistrate Kobori Enshu, who influenced the design of the town and the development of the local sweet Yubeshi.
Nijo Castle built in 1603 in Kyoto by the first Tokugawa shogun Ieyasu is a sublime walk into the aesthetic world of the long-reigning Tokugawas in the artistic tradition of the Kano school, the sliding-door and wall paintings of tigers and towering pines in the great hall contrasting the shoguns’ power with the soothing elegance of their living quarters.
The Kamikochi valley surrounded by the Japanese Alps, a haven of unique plant and animal life nurtured by the wild Azusagawa River, attracts 2 million visitors each year to its pristine mountains, home of the Shinto gods.
Pure spring waters and a striking panoramic view of surrounding flora from this towering temple to the bodhisattva Kannon, goddess of mercy on Kyoto’s Mount Higashi, attracts visitors all seasons. Its expansive cypress-wood viewing platform is also a venue for sacred performances of Kabuki and Noh theatre.
In the town of Kumano in Hiroshima prefecture the delicate craft of brush making has been perfected for a variety of artistic uses since the Chinese calligraphy brush first found its way to Japan 15-hundred years ago.
Kyo-zuke is the distinctive pickling culture of Kyoto, where seasonal vegetables are preserved using a variety of methods and eaten as condiments to rice. The pickle known as Takuan, long associated with Zen training, provides an important source of salt in the monk's sparse, vegetarian diet.
Tokyo is home to the world’s largest fish market, Tsukiji, where tuna, still the most prized commodity at auction, is cleaned and carved with precision by master craftsmen and served up in food stalls in the market’s perimeter to the delight of visitors from across the globe.
Cherry blossom season is eagerly anticipated in Japan with blooming forecasts for each region throughout spring. More than 80 percent of Japanese cherry trees are of a single variety originally grafted from one tree, the large blossomed Somei-yoshino, known for the beautiful sway of its flower petals floating down from the tree.
The Great Eastern Temple Todai-ji, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Japan’s 8th century capital of Nara, is the largest wooden building in the world and houses a 15-meter tall, bronze sitting Buddha. It was built during a period of political instability and became a center of state-regulated Buddhism before the shift in power to Kamakura.
On Mt. Zao 1700 meters high, bordering Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures, fir trees encrusted in ice crystals grow overnight into a sculpture garden of snow monsters, adding nature's art to the pleasures of skiing these spectacular peaks.
The splendor of the Heian period imperial court comes to life every May 15 in Kyoto's annual Aoi or Hollyhock spring procession from the imperial palace. The 6th century parade and performance of Shinto rituals at the Kamo shrines is meant to appease the deities for a bountiful harvest and is preceeded on May 3 and 4 by rituals of horseback archery and purification of an imperial priestess.
Mother-of-pearl inlay lacquer ware is a specialty of Okinawa in Japan’s Ryukyu island archipelago where the source of the inlay, the great green turban shell, is plentiful and artisans have refined the craft to the level of high art.
Celadon glazed ceramic, originally a Chinese art form prized for its jade-like luster and presented as tribute to emperors, developed in Japan in 17th century Saga prefecture as Nabeshima ware, famed for its addition of brilliant blues to the celadon background.
A vital ingredient in Japanese cuisine, soy sauce made the traditional way in well-aged fermentation barrels yielding flavors distinctive to their unique molds, has been perfected in Yuasa, one of the oldest centers of soy sauce production and a town where the samurai sensibility can still be felt.
The city of Mino in Gifu Prefecture is a center of the ancient papermaking tradition of washi and site of the annual washi lantern competition, a spectacle of lantern design, both traditional and contemporary, softly lighting the city's historical district at night.
Zelkova trees planted in the scorched aftermath of World War Two lining the avenue of Jozenjdori in the northern city of Sendai are strung with thousands of lights every December, creating a Milky Way on earth.
The freshwater lake Towada bordering Aomori and Akita prefectures in northern Tohoku drains into the Oirase River, which flows over 14 waterfalls through a terrain of moss-carpeted forest, producing a ghostly spectacle of early-morning autumn mist.
On New Year’s Eve on the Oga peninsula in northern Akita, Namahage demons stomp through the village in forbidding masks and grass capes, entering households to admonish misbehaving children and slothful adults and drive away disaster during the harsh winter months. Some 60 communities still practice the folkloric ritual, each with their own distinctive masks.
On the island of Shikoku in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, troops of colorfully-clad Awa dancers parade through the city of Tokushima for four days in August, each troop displaying a unique style of the traditional warrior dance in an event that attracts more than a million spectators each year. Visitors are encouraged to join the dance and share in the fun.