Yamaguchi Prefecture

Walk deep inside a limestone cave

Ryusendo in Iwate, Akiyoshido in Yamaguchi and Ryugado in Kochi are known as Japan's three great limestone caves, each with lit paths that take you deep underground. One has underground lakes of clear blue water, one has huge stalactites and terraced pools, and one holds pottery left by people who lived there about 2,000 years ago. The three are far apart, so visit the one on your route, and bring a light layer because the caves stay cool all year.

Climb spiral stairs to the top of a lighthouse

Sixteen of Japan's lighthouses, many built in the late 1800s to guide ships, are open for visitors to walk inside and climb. Wind up the narrow spiral staircase and step out onto the balcony at the top for a view of the horizon and passing ships. Entry is a small donation paid on the spot, and no booking is needed.

Watch flooded rice terraces mirror the sunset

For a few weeks in spring, around rice planting, terraced paddies on hillsides by the sea are filled with water and turn into mirrors that catch the sky and the setting sun. Watch from a lookout above, since the paddies and the paths between them are farmers' land. All three are in western Japan, far from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and are easiest to reach by car or taxi.

A white-walled street of goldfish lanterns

Yanai is a small old port town on the Seto Inland Sea in western Japan, where a stone-paved street of white-walled merchant houses from the Edo period is hung with lanterns shaped like red goldfish. Paint a lantern of your own, then look inside a merchant's house and a soy sauce brewery. It is under an hour and a half from Hiroshima on the JR Sanyo Line, so it fits a stay in Hiroshima better than a trip from Osaka.

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オーヴィジョン海峡ゆめタワー（一般財団法人山口県国際総合センター）