Oita

Oita is a bayside capital on the northeast coast of Kyushu, next door to the steam of Beppu yet content to be the region's workaday city. It rewards travelers who linger, starting with a mountainside of wild monkeys on the city's edge.

Takasakiyama is home to hundreds of wild monkeys that amble down the mountain to open feeding grounds, no fences in sight. At the table, ask for seki-aji and seki-saba, line-caught mackerel so prized they carry the port's brand name, and the glass-walled Oita Prefectural Art Museum brightens downtown.

The stone walls of Funai Castle recall the Christian daimyo Otomo Sorin, who once made this a port open to the world. Trains on the Nippo line connect Oita directly with Beppu, so many visitors sleep in one and eat in the other. Onsen country stretches inland toward Yufuin.