Tokushima

Tokushima is a trove of fabulous sights and unique local attractions. Most visitors stay near the city's center, but the best place to be is Naruto, an oceanside townlet famous for giant whirlpools that churn and thunder in the rocky straights below the cliffs. Nearby, the ambitious Otsuka Museum attracts huge crowds for its bizarre and breathtaking archive of the world's art. In surrounding hamlets you can try your hand at local crafts like indigo-dyeing and paper-making as they've done it for centuries, and back in the city proper you'll learn to dance the Awa Odori, either in a special performance hall or with the million others dancing the streets every summer during the Awa Odori Festival. The major sights can be covered in a well-planned day or two. After an overnight in Tokushima you can be in the mountains and gorges of Iya the next evening.