Eight low-key great places to spend the day (or half a day) in Japan this fall

Fall means an abundance of good weather but a shortage of time in Japan, but here are eight spots that are quick to see but you’ll remember for a long, long time .

There’s a strong case to be made that autumn is the most comfortable time of year for going out in Japan.

The summer heat, humidity, and thunderstorms are all done, but the cold weather and short daylight hours of winter haven’t set in yet.

The cruel irony, though, is that Japan’s three vacation seasons, New Year’s, Golden Week, and Obon, take place in the winter, spring, and summer.

Autumn has a few scattered holidays, but extended time off from work or school are hard to come by at this time of year.

So what we need is a selection of great places to spend half a day or so in autumn , and to put a list together we turned to a number of our writers.

Let’s take a look at their recommendations of places they’ve visited that turned out to be low-key awesome. ● Hakone Open-Air Museum Website The town of Hakone , in the mountains of Kanagawa Prefecture , is most famous for its hot spring baths and lake cruises with views of Mt.

Fuji.

But if you can carve out time in your schedule for the Open-Air Museum, which has both indoor and outdoor sculptures on display, including many pieces by Picaso, you won’t be disappointed (and yes, the museum has a hot spring foot bath too).

We just sort of stumbled into the place on a family trip, but we ended up having a great time.

It feels more like a park than a museum, and there’s plenty of space for kids to move around.

I’m not even that much of an art lover usually, but we were there for three hours, and I never felt bored. – P.K.

Sanjun ● Attack on Titan in Hita Museum Website Sort of like Hakone, Oita Prefecture , which the town of Hita is part of, is primarily famous for its hot springs, and once again we’ve got a unique museum experience.

Hita is the hometown of Hajime Isayama, the manga artist and creator of the smash-hit series, and the city’s museum houses a collection of original Attack on Titan artwork donated by Isayama, as well as the work desk at which he drew during the series’ serialization.