Driving on the racetrack from the Fuji Speedway, a birds-eye view from the Ferris Wheel at Grinpa Amusement Park, as a sturdy sentinel standing watch over the Chichibu-no-Miya Memorial Park?

Cycling the Seto Inland Sea, about the biking path that hopscotches across islands and bridges from Shikoku to Hiroshima Prefecture; Path of the Daimyo, about a hike with my teenage son on the old Nakasendo Highway.

Many place names in Hokkaido are derived from the Ainu language, like "Sapporo," which means "dry, large river."