10-Nights Japan Family Journey: From Ancient to Modern Times - National Geographic Family Journeys

Nagano

Nagano, Japan, is a ski area best-known as the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. It is also the jumping-off point for countless trailheads in the Japanese Alps.

The small city is quiet by Japanese standards and is more of a transit hub than a destination itself. Its main claim to fame is a massive Buddhist temple, Zenko-ji, which sits at the heart of the modern city. Founded in 660, Zenko-ji stands out as a non-denominational temple that accepts all comers and has Buddhist nuns. It is famous for a statue of Sanzon Amida Buddha, so precious that people line up to see a replica, the original of which is displayed only once every six or seven years.

From Nagano there is excellent skiing nearby in the Myoko range to the north. Myoko Suginohara has the longest single run in Japan at 5.2 mi/8.5 km and Akakura caters to the relaxed ski crowd, with apres-ski hot spring baths available at the bottom of the runs. Nearby Nozawa Onsen offers a similar ski and hot spring combination. For a massive ski area experience, visit the site of many Olympic events at Shiga Kogen, east of the city.

The options are nearly endless for hikers, but the easiest access from Nagano is to rugged, snowy Mount Hakuba in the west and alpine flower-coated Mount Myoko in the north.

While you're in the area, be sure to check out the town of Matsumoto, famed for its samurai fortress known as the Black Crow Castle. Matsumoto is also a bus access point (along with Takayama on the west side of the range) for the excellent Kamikochi hiking area in the North Alps.

Matsumoto

Nara

Kyoto

If you can visit only one city in Japan, Kyoto is the one. This ancient city, 30 mi/50 km northeast of Osaka, was the capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years and still is considered the country's spiritual capital. Thousands of shrines and temples dot the city, including more than a dozen on the UNESCO World Heritage list. That list is far from all-inclusive, and many excellent places that might be the star attractions of other cities crowd the streets of Kyoto. It is a center of Japanese Zen and has several huge monastery complexes where serious students still sit in meditation.

Kyoto is also the nation's capital of traditional arts. Whether your interest be in pottery, textiles, dance, the tea ceremony or any of the other innumerable arts, Kyoto has excellent galleries, museums, shops and tea houses. Japanese people from the countryside and foreign students flock there to learn under the great masters. Much of what is considered Japanese haute cuisine was developed there too, as an offshoot of the tea ceremony.

Kyoto is Japan's heartland of history. With 1,300 years of tumultuous existence, the city's past intrudes upon the present day as in few other Japanese cities. In Gion, you can spot a geisha (or geiko, as they are called in Kyoto), one of the last hundred or so in Japan, slipping down a side-street to entertain rich guests with witty conversation, dance or music. A shopping arcade may suddenly fill with discordant clanging music as a shrine festival passes among the shoppers, or you may hear the long chant as Zen monks pass through the neighborhood, calling for alms.

Kyoto is an understated city that might disappoint visitors at first (at first glance, it is a large city with modern buildings that might not align with one's original perception); its charm lies in small details, pocket gardens, tiny traditional restaurants and refined artwork.

Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan, presents a different view at every turn. It's one of the world's main economic centers and its most populous agglomeration. The business of Tokyo is business, but you can still find harmony and small-scale gardens on back streets. Around the corner from neon and concrete, you may find the bonsai-lined courtyard of a traditional inn.

Tokyo was nearly destroyed by bombs and fires during World War II, and by earthquakes at other times, but it has always rebuilt itself. As a result, there is little left of Old Japan in the city, but there's plenty of New Japan to take its place.

The streets are a confusing maze, so a map is essential. The transit system is excellent, however, and there are kobans (police boxes) throughout the metropolis, as well as a populace generally willing to answer questions.

Visitors to Tokyo represent both business and leisure travelers. And despite its past reputation, Tokyo is no longer fearsomely expensive. It's relatively easy to visit Tokyo on a budget.