Saga

Saga is a small prefecture in northwest Kyushu between Fukuoka and Nagasaki, facing two seas across rice plains. It rarely makes first-trip itineraries, yet it shaped how the world sees Japan: this is the home of Japanese porcelain, fired in its kiln towns for four hundred years.

The kilns of Arita and Imari still line old streets with studio shops, and at Yoshinogari, reconstructed watchtowers and dwellings bring a moated Yayoi-era settlement back to life. Each autumn, the Saga International Balloon Fiesta lifts dozens of hot air balloons over the river plain.

Soak at the old onsen towns of Ureshino and Takeo, the latter with a shrine camphor tree three thousand years old by legend, and detour to Yobuko's morning market, where squid comes to the table still translucent. Trains cross the prefecture between Fukuoka and Nagasaki, making stops easy.