A few weeks ago, I saw an article sent out by Condé Nast Traveler (November, 2025). It was titled “The 50 Most Beautiful Small Towns in the World”. After glancing at the article, I decided that I could surely come up with a list that is as compelling. Making such a list is very, very subjective. After a couple weeks, I decided to write this blog and not look at what was in Condé Nast Traveler. I put my title in quotes, because the list could easily have been 20 other towns. When I concluded my list of 20, I went back to look at the CNT list and found that I have been to 27 of them, and I have visited near four others on their list. Despite my familiarity with most of their towns, I find that I include only five that they have, but most on my list are not on theirs and I have left most of theirs that I have visited off my smaller list. For no particular reason, the blurb picture is of some houses along the riverfront in Bamberg, Germany.

When I told friends in Japan that I was planning to drive for part of the time that my wife and I were taking my parents to Japan as their 50th-wedding anniversary gift, they said “don’t do it”. Well, I did it anyway, even in that era prior to GPS. It provided an opportunity to experience Japan differently. I rented the car for one week of our 18 days in Japan, departing Kyoto and arriving a week later in downtown Tokyo. For one thing, it enabled me to take the picture shown here in the Edo-period post town of Tsumago early in the morning before tourists would arrive on day trips.

Although Japan had to adapt to the western world following its forced opening to the outside world when U.S. Commodore Perry’s fleet sailed into the bay at Tokyo (then called Edo) in 1853, it has retained quintessential cultural features that outsiders are often permitted to experience. Onsen (traditional Japanese hot springs), ryokan (traditional Japanese inns), as well as visiting and even lodging in gassho-zukuri (thatch-roofed wooden buildings in the Shiragawa-go region) are some of these cultural touchstones.