Kanagawa

Kanagawa is the prefecture directly south of Tokyo, wrapping around Tokyo Bay and the Miura Peninsula to the open Pacific. It is Japan's second most populous prefecture, yet it holds several of the country's favorite escapes within an easy morning of the capital.

Yokohama pairs a bayfront skyline with the country's largest Chinatown, while Kamakura counters with its Great Buddha and hillside temple trails. Hakone's hot springs and Mount Fuji views fill the mountainous west, and the island shrine of Enoshima rises just off the Shonan beach towns.

Trains reach all of them quickly, which makes Kanagawa the simplest add-on to a Tokyo stay: a harbor evening in Yokohama one day, temples and surf the next, an onsen night in Hakone to finish. Summer fills the beaches; autumn suits the mountains. No car is needed anywhere.