It was late autumn when I landed in Kagoshima, in Kyushu – the southernmost and second-smallest of Japan’s major islands – but I could feel its subtropical mugginess from deep inside the terminal.

If you read Kyushu's palms, you will find lines that run deep, telling vivid stories of Japan from a precious past, perhaps forgotten elsewhere. In its present is a world of Japanese culture preserved ...

In western Japan, this prefecture’s verdant natural spaces are the perfect destination for bringing together body, mind, and spirit. In western Tokyo, Lake Okutama is a natural escape that offers ...