A city located in Nagano Prefecture.

A city located in the north-east area of Yamanashi Prefecture with a population of around 26,500 people

A city located in Nagasaki which comprises the south-west half of the Gotou-Retto Islands in the South China Sea.

Hakone is a town located in the western part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It is a popular tourist location, hosting many hot springs, Hakone Shrine on the shore of the caldera lake, Lake Ashi, the volcanically-active Great Boiling Valley, and beautiful views of Mt. Fuji.

A city in Nagasaki which was a major center of trade in the Sengoku and early Edo periods.

A town in Ibaraki Prefecture with many surrounding golf courses.

A city located in Hyougo Prefecture near Osaka, Itami was a wealthy town during the Sengoku and known as the only Japanese town within a castle (Araki Murashige's Arioka Castle). Rice cultivation is an important part of the history of the area, and it is still one of the most important sake-brewing cities in Japan.

The capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, it is the city in which Francis Xavier, the first Christian to arrive in Japan, landed in 1549.

Lit.: Light Well Marsh; a town in Nagano Prefecture located at the foot of Mount Asama which is a popular mountain resort for Tokyo residents, offering outdoor activies and a historic shopping street.

The capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture.

The imperial capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, located in Kyoto Prefecture.

The capital of Ibaraki Prefecture which was won by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1603. The Tokugawa Clan directly controlled Mito until the overthrow of the shogunate in the mid-1800's.

The largest city in and capital of Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki began as a small harbor town which quickly grew into a large port city following the accidental landing of Francis Xavier in nearby Kagoshima Prefecture and the establishment of trade with Portuguese merchants.

Nagasaki also became the point of entry of Christianity into Japan, and its daimyo, Oomura Sumitada, and many of its inhabitants converted to Christianity. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, wary of Christian influence in the region, ordered the expulsion of all missionaries 1587, an order that largely went unenforced. Although 26 Japanese and foreign Christians were executed in Nagasaki in 1597, Christianity was grudgingly tolerated until 1614, when Christianity was officially banned and all missionaries ordered to leave. Following the ban, the Tokugawa shogunate killed and tortured Christians across Japan to force them to renounce their faith.

The rebellion at Shimabara near Nagasaki in 1636-1638 convinced the government that Christianity and disloyalty were linked. 30,000 Japanese Christians were massacred and a policy of national isolation descended in 1639, closing foreign trader with all but the Dutch.

Isolationism only ended with the arrival of Commodore Perry's 'Black Ships' in 1853, and Nagasaki would become an important economic city once more after the Meiji Restoration. Its main industry was ship-building, a fact which made it a target for the second atomic bomb to be dropped on Japan during World War II.

The capital of Nara Prefecture, it was also the capital of Japan during the Nara Period from 710 to 784 and was modelled after Xi'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty.

Nikkou City, located in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture, is a popular tourist destination known for the Nikkou Toushou Shrine, where Tokugawa Ieyasu's remains are enshrined, as well as Futarasan Shrine, built in 767.

A city located at the foot of the Northern Japanese Alps in Nagano Prefecture near Matsumoto. It was founded in 1954.

The City of Osaka is the capital of Osaka Prefecture and the commercial and gourmet food center of Japan.

A castle built by Akechi Mitsuhide in 1571 after he received Shiga-gun in Oumi from Oda Nobunaga. It fell to the army of Toyotomi Hideyoshi after the defeat of Mitsuhide in the Battle of Yamazaki. It was rebuilt by Niwa Nagahide, but was demolished 1586 to fortify Ootsu Castle.

The capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, it is also the largest city in the northeast region of Japan. It is home to one million people, and is aptly nicknamed Mori no Miyako, the Capital of Trees.

Takamatsu City is a port city located on the Seto Inland Sea in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was the capital of the Matsudaira clan during the Edo Period and flourished as a castle town and the port closest to Honshuu on Shikoku. The city was heavily bombed by Allied Forces during World War II because it was thought to contain industry vital to the war effort.

A city in Saitama Prefecture, established in 1950 and located about 30 km west of downtown Tokyo.

Toyama City is the capital of Toyama Prefecture, located on the coast of the Sea of Japan with a population of ~420,000 (2005). It was also the capital of the ancient province of Ecchuu.

During World War II, 99.5% of the urban center of the city was destroyed on August 1 and 2, 1945, when the American 73rd Bomber Wing dropped incendiary bombs on the city, at the time an aluminum ball-bearing and special steel production center.

A city located in Nagano Prefecture founded on May 1, 1919. It merged with the towns of Maruko and Sanada and the village of Takeshi to become the new city of Ueda on March 6, 2006.

A coastal city located in Toyama Prefecture, founded in 1952. Its population was around 46,000 in 2005. In the Sengoku Era, the area was controlled by the Uesugi Clan with Uozu Castle as their stronghold.

Uozu is known for three mysterious phenomena: 1) the mirage, which occurs from April to June, during which faraway objects such as ships or the opposite shoreline seem to grow vertically or hang upside-down above them, 2) the firefly squid, which rise to the surface to spawn from the end of March to June and glow with a bluish white light, and 3) the buried forest, a conifer forest buried 2000 years ago such that only their trunks were preserved.