3 Best Sights in Side Trips from Tokyo, Japan

The best time to visit this garden is in late January or early February, when its 850 trees bloom. Be sure to stop by the small Kinomiya Shrine that's in the shadow of an enormous old camphor tree. The shrine is more than 1,000 years old and is popular with people who are asking the gods for healing and longevity. The tree is more than 2,000 years old and has been designated a National Monument. It's believed that if you walk around the tree once, another year will be added to your life. Atami Plum Garden is always open to the public and is 15 minutes by bus from Atami or an eight-minute walk west from Kinomiya Station, the next stop south of Atami served by local trains. Kinomiya Shrine is just northeast of Kinomiya Station.

Komuroyama is known for its views of Mt. Fuji to the northwest and the 100,000 azaleas that bloom on and around Mt. Komuro in April. You can take a ski-lift style cable to the top of the mountain, which has a lovely view of the sea below.

Opened to the public in 1906, this was once the estate and gardens of Tomitaro Hara (1868–1939), one of Yokohama's wealthiest men, who made his money as a silk merchant before becoming a patron of the arts. On the estate's extensive grounds, he created is a kind of open-air museum of traditional Japanese architecture, some of which was brought here from Kamakura and the western part of the country. Especially noteworthy is Rinshun-kaku, a villa built for the Tokugawa clan in 1649. There's also a tea pavilion, Choshu-kaku, built by the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu. Other buildings include a small temple transported from Kyoto's famed Daitoku-ji and a farmhouse from the Gifu district in the Japan Alps (around Takayama). If you need some refreshments while in the gardens, you'll find three tea shops serving tea, Japanese sweets, and light meals like soba noodles.