The best place in Japan???

Travel Info
not big cities...
beautiful villages...

Travel Tips

Kyoto is a beautiful city; so is Nara; so is Atami; so is Fukuoka city in the south; Take the bullet train that does down to Osaka and you will go past many villages. The problem with some of the villages is that English is not spoken or not spoken too well, Then you have the problem of where tot stay. Ryokans are an experience for Americans because they are much much different that staying at a Holiday Inn. No m,matter where you go in Japan, you will find beauty.

Others
Go to the countryside it is absolutly woderful.
Konichiwa
If you're interested in getting out of the big cities there are certainly plenty of opportunities. Japan has a number of beautiful traditional villages as well as huge expanses of natural splendor. The more remote areas are difficult to visit unless you can speak some Japanese, but there are a couple of good places I'd recommend where you can manage with just English.

If traditional villages is what you're looking for, you can't miss Ogimachi, up in the Japanese Alps.

Ogimachi - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5951.html...
A blog from someone who visited there, with lots of pictures - http://www.ischo.com/china/japan2/index2...

It's located in between the cities of Kanazawa and Takayama, which are both great tourist destinations in their own right. They are still decent sized cities, but are much smaller and enjoy a more relaxed pace than Tokyo or Kyoto. I'd highly recommend spending a day or so in each of those places as well, if you have time.

The best way to get to Ogimachi is to take the train from Nagoya to Takayama, and then via the bus route that travels from Takayama through Ogimachi to Kanazawa. In addition to the places I listed, there are a number of other small villages in that area that still retain a very old-fashioned, traditional Japanese character to them.

Takayama - http://www.hida.jp/english/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5900.html...
Kanazawa - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2167.html...
Me, I've traveled through that area several times and enjoyed it immensely, also the links listed above, of course.