Kobe has plenty of tourist attractions, but how many people know where to meet a panda face-to-face in the city?

Snow still stands majestically on the mountains of northern Japan even as new leaves bud on the trees in the valleys. If you want to truly feel spring as it comes to Japan, you want to visit Tohoku.

Many tourists concentrate on the so-called 'Golden Route' connecting Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka. But what do you do if you want to get off the principal tourist highway and see the best of the rest? Here are Japan's 21 best off-the-Golden-Route spots!

New bilingual Japanese/English maps let you experience all 3,776 meters (12,389 ft) of Japan’s tallest mountain.

Enjoy the breathtaking coastal landscapes unique to this island nation.

There’s never a bad time to visit Japan’s former capital of Kyoto, but May is an especially good time for these three exceptional reasons!

While Japan may be known for its springtime cherry blossoms, the Tohoku region offers something even more unique: cherry blossoms with snow!

Take flight with our writer Nick as he heads back to Tohoku to visit a shrine that's quite literally 'for the birds!'