Nagoya

Nagoya needs 2 days: Nagoya Castle, with its iconic golden dolphins on the roof, on one, and the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, in the original loom factory where the Toyota group was born, on the other. March-May and October-November are best. It's mid-priced for Japan, more affordable than Tokyo or Osaka. It's Japan's industrial heart and home to Toyota, the world's largest automaker, with a castle rebuilt after World War II whose original golden dolphins -shachihoko- were a samurai status symbol, and today serve as the city's unofficial emblem.