Fukushima Prefecture

Take tea inside a century-old storehouse

A kura is a traditional storehouse with thick earthen walls, built to keep rice, sake or family treasures safe from fire. Some old kura around Japan now hold cafes, where the heavy walls shut out the noise and you sit with tea and a homemade sweet in a hushed room. They are scattered across the country, so pick the one nearest the place you are already visiting.

See cherry trees over 1,000 years old

Yamataka Jindai-zakura, Neodani Usuzumi-zakura and Miharu Takizakura are known as Japan's three great cherry trees, each thought to be more than 1,000 years old. Standing under their massive trunks and long branches held up on wooden props, you can see how people have cared for them over many centuries. They usually bloom between late March and April, but the dates change every year, so check the bloom forecast before you go.

Thatched roofs and soba you eat with a leek

Ouchi-juku, in the mountains of Fukushima, is an old post town, a stop for travelers on a highway of the samurai era, where thatched-roof houses line both sides of one wide street. Here soba comes with a single curved leek instead of chopsticks: you scoop the noodles with it and bite off a piece now and then. Afterward, climb to the lookout at the end of the street; it is about three hours from Tokyo by train and bus, and many shops take cash only.

Stroll a gorge just minutes from the station

A gorge is a deep, narrow valley that a river has cut through rock, and each of these begins a few minutes' walk from a train station. A walk along the water takes one to two hours, so any of them makes an easy half-day outing. Todoroki Gorge is inside Tokyo itself, and Nagatoro is about two hours from the city by train.

Drink fresh beer next to the tanks it came from

All over Japan, small craft breweries pour their beer in taprooms set right beside the brewing tanks, so what you drink was made a few steps away. Order a few small glasses to compare styles, often with food made to go with them. The places in and around Tokyo make an easy evening out, while those farther away fit into a longer trip through the region.

A town of old storehouses and morning ramen

Kitakata is a small town in the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, about three hours from Tokyo by shinkansen to Koriyama and then local trains via Aizu-Wakamatsu. Thousands of kura, thick-walled storehouses of white or black plaster built by merchants to keep rice, miso and sake safe from fire, still stand around town, and ramen shops seem to be on every corner. Do as locals do and start with a bowl of ramen for breakfast, then walk between the storehouses and a sake brewery.

Walk on gold under golden ginkgo trees

In late autumn, ginkgo trees (icho) turn a bright, clear yellow, and along an avenue of them the leaves close over your head like a tunnel and then carpet the ground. Walk slowly and look up, then down. The color lasts only a couple of weeks, usually from late October in the north to early December in Tokyo, so check the color reports before you go.

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