Azumaya serves up all-you-can-eat wanko soba, which comes served in dozens of tiny bowls Booknerd offers classic Japanese art books and Johnny’s, a jazz cafe, has been open for over 40 years. There’s also fantastic coffee, including one of Japan’s third-wave originators: Nagasawa Coffee, whose owner, Kazuhiro Nagasawa, is so committed to his beans that he uses a vintage German-made Probat roaster, which he personally imported and restored. One draw is an ancient castle site turned into a park. The city is filled with Taisho-era buildings that mix Western and Eastern architectural aesthetics as well as modern hotels, a few old ryokan (traditional inns) and winding rivers. Morioka’s downtown is eminently walkable.

Circumscribed by mountains, it lies a few hours north of Tokyo by Shinkansen, the Japanese high-speed rail lines. The city of Morioka, in Iwate Prefecture, however, is often passed over or outright ignored. Now, travelers are beginning to stream back to popular destinations like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Until this past October, Japan maintained some of the most stringent travel restrictions of any major country. Isabella Kwai Tom Jamieson for The New York Times Big changes, yes, but a wealth of new choices, too. A cast of a titanosaur, the largest creature ever to walk the planet, will make its European debut at the Natural History Museum, and late-night obsessives can head to newly opened dance clubs like the Beams. There’s also the revamping of Battersea Power Station, an iconic former coal-fired power plant, into a shopping and leisure hub, and a new line on the Underground will directly connect Heathrow Airport to the central boroughs.

But the city continues to juxtapose old traditions and new possibilities, offering something for everyone who loves culture, history, art and nightlife.įor fans of the royal family, and maybe a few naysayers, the crowning of King Charles III, Britain’s first coronation in seven decades, will be the main event in May. Between an altered post-lockdown landscape, sensational changeovers at 10 Downing Street and the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there is no doubt that London is in transition.

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