Shizuoka

Shizuoka is a coastal prefecture southwest of Tokyo where Mount Fuji meets the Pacific, and its capital city of the same name sits on Suruga Bay beneath tea-covered hills. This is Japan's green tea heartland, and the retirement home Tokugawa Ieyasu chose after unifying the country.

Kunozan Toshogu, Ieyasu's ornate first mausoleum, rewards the cable car ride up from the strawberry coast, and the pine grove of Miho no Matsubara frames Fuji across the bay on clear days. Tea terraces climb the hills, many pouring tastings with a view.

Order sakura shrimp while you can; Suruga Bay is the only place in Japan where they are fished, and the spring catch turns dishes pink. The shinkansen stops in the city between Tokyo and Nagoya, and winter offers the clearest Fuji views. Wasabi grows in the mountain valleys here too.