I spent years eating sushi and burning my nose before realizing I didn’t know much about this spicy little devil. Then I visited the Daio Wasabi Farm in central Nagano. Just a quick trip from the popular castle town of Matsumoto, Daio is a sprawling display of meticulous farming methods and pristine natural resources.

And nowhere, perhaps, are the origins of the country more numerous and varied than along the road known as the Yamanobe-no-michi.

From humble fort to national treasure. Matsumoto Castle is beautiful any time of the year, but in April the cherry blossoms make for a wonderful setting while January brings an annual ice sculpture contest.

The quiet, historic town of Shimoda, tucked into the mountains along the southeast coast of Shizuoka’s Izu Peninsula, is best known for its connection to Admiral Perry and his American Black Ships. But while there is no shortage of man-made interest here in this tiny port town, the rugged beauty of the rocky coast is what stands out to many who come.

In Nagano Prefecture, smack in the middle of the country, you’ll find a variety of the highest, longest, furthest, shortest, oldest and even most dangerous places in the country.

With a charming and compact downtown area that leads right to the foot of Japan’s oldest surviving castle, Matsumoto is widely regarded as an eminently walkable town.

Crossing over the Metoba River on the way to Matsumoto Castle, first-time visitors to the city are met with a mix of quaint and unusual sights. A stone and cement torii hints at the shrine hiding back among the trees.

Biwa Lake boasts a number of superlatives. To the casual observer it is readily apparent that freshwater ‘Biwa-ko’ is the largest lake in Japan. With a surface area of 670.3 km² this lake comprises a full sixth of its home turf, Shiga Prefecture.

Spend a little time in Japan and you are bound to come across a peculiar sort of doll, a red and round human-ish creature with no arms or legs. He may or may not have eyes. He sports some pretty fancy facial hair. If you knock him over he’ll bounce back upright. And if you are lucky, he’ll grant your greatest wish.

As you wander the towns and villages of Japan’s Kanto Region, and particularly in Shinshu (Nagano), you might occasionally come upon some peculiar stones carved with seemingly content men and women getting rather cuddly with each other.

Just like the rest of Japan, Kōbō-yama (弘法山) comes alive in Spring with the ephemeral beauty of the famed cherry blossoms. And while many other places around Japan are far more well-known for their own annual flowery display, Kōbō-yama puts on a show worth seeing.

Tazawa Lake in Akita Prefecture is a near-perfect circle – and a perfect representation of Akita itself: unassuming, unspoiled and sublimely spectacular.