Places in Japan

A rare original keep above Lake Biwa, ringed by white walls and spring cherry blossoms.

An ancient shrine famed for its steep, bright-red arched drum bridge over a still pond.

A gold-leaf pavilion mirrored in a still pond, blazing against pines and autumn maples.

An alpine valley where a clear river and white wooden bridge sit beneath jagged peaks.

An elephant-trunk rock arch juts from a grassy cliff above brilliant Okinawan seas.

The Crow Castle's black keep mirrors in its moat beneath the snowy Japanese Alps.

Japan's most famous rock garden: fifteen stones in raked white gravel, meditative and stark.

A water town of clear canals and a white hilltop castle, famous for all-night summer dances.

A giant vermilion torii and orange halls front a garden of weeping cherries and arched bridges.

The world's tallest tower spears the skyline, glowing in shifting colors over the city at night.

Hokkaido's capital, glowing at night from a TV tower and famed for its February snow festival.

A great Zen temple of weathered gates and halls set among Kamakura's wooded hills.

park in Chuo, Tokyo, Japan

castle

A suspension bridge that glows over Tokyo Bay, framing the tower-studded skyline at dusk.

volcano in Yamanashi and Shizuoka Prefectures, Japan

lake in Aomori prefecture, Japan