Kawagoe in Saitama is the Edo-period 'Little Edo' town with 30 preserved warehouses, the Kashiya Yokocho candy alley, and sweet-potato ice cream and dango.
Tip: Walk Kurazukuri Street first, then Kashiya Yokocho. Sweet-potato ice cream and the Toki no Kane bell tower are the photo stops.
Kamakura in Kanagawa is the medieval temple town one hour south of Tokyo, with shojin Buddhist vegetarian lunches at Kencho-ji and the Komachi-dori snack street.
Tip: Reserve shojin lunch at Hachi-no-ki two weeks ahead; otherwise the Komachi-dori shirasu rice bowls and dango stalls are the easier crawl.
Hakone in Kanagawa is the onsen ryokan town under Mount Fuji where the kaiseki dinner is the main event. Eat the multi-course meal in yukata before the bath.
Tip: Book a ryokan with two meals included; the kaiseki is the trip. Day-trip via Romance Car if overnight is too much.
Mount Takao west of Tokyo is the day-hike mountain where the soba shops near the summit serve mountain-trail tororo soba. Cable car or chair lift up, walk down.
Tip: Eat at Takahashiya at the base or the trailhead soba shops; the tororo (grated yam) soba is the local order.
Yokohama Chinatown in Kanagawa is Japan's largest Chinatown, with 600-plus shops and restaurants over a 500-metre district. Cantonese, Sichuan, Taiwanese cuisine.
Tip: Direct from Shibuya on the Toyoko Line. Try yaki shoronpo at the Daihanten counter and Peking duck wraps at the corner stalls.