Hanamaki

Hanamaki is a country city in Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, spread across farmland where the Kitakami River valley meets the mountains. It is best known as the hometown of Miyazawa Kenji, the beloved author of Night on the Galactic Railroad, and as a cluster of hot spring valleys.

The hillside Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Museum and a playful fairy tale village keep the writer's world alive, and fans trace his poems through the farmland he wrote about. In the hot spring belt, Hanamaki Onsen gathers resort hotels and rose gardens, while Osawa Onsen offers creaky wooden inns and a famous riverside open-air bath.

Hanamaki also claims the wanko soba tradition, where servers keep refilling your bowl until you cover it, a meal that doubles as a game. Iwate's airport sits here, and the shinkansen stops at Shin-Hanamaki, so the city slots easily into a Tohoku route between Sendai and Morioka. Autumn colors the river valleys.