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Hungry for springtime? Try one of these global dishes.

Tokyo’s Narita International Airport is testing robots in service-related jobs.

There are thousands of traditional Japanese inns with hot springs across Japan. This hot spring lodge is part of a decade-old Japanese pastime.

Overview

It didn’t seem to bode well that nearly a dozen buses were idling in the huge parking lot outside the giant modern building that overlooks Tokyo Bay from Kanaya Harbor. But the “tourists” that piled out of the buses were all Japanese, most from Tokyo, we were told, coming to shop in the market complex and dine in what, in San Francisco, would resemble a Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant. Ah, but the food was remarkable, and my lunch--above--was one of my favorite meals on the trip through the prefectures surrounding Tokyo on the Kanto plain. The name of restaurant? The Fish, of course. (If you get there, be sure to arrange a visit to the remarkable private Kanaya Museum across the street.)

Hidden culinary treasures in Japan are not just confined to cities like Tokyo—they can be found in surprising numbers throughout the countryside as well. However, unlike their big city brethren, these rustic establishments are often simply too far off the beaten path to attract the attention they deserve. One such place is Travel Coffee, located about a 15-minute walk from Torami Station on the Sotobo Line leaving from Chiba Station on the Pacific side of Chiba’s Bousou Peninsula and 5 minutes from the beach. Housed in an all-wood cabin hand-built by the proprietor, Shinbo-san, this coffee shop is reminiscent of a North American country store, featuring US vintage signs, bric-a-brac interior and even an iron wood-burning stove (put to good use in the winter months) with the Grateful Dead and Hank Williams playing off of vinyl in the background. There’s even two immaculately maintained Airstream trailers on the grounds where Shinbo-san (you can call him by his first name, Mitsuo) and his family reside. But of course the reason to trek all the way out here is not to experience a re-creation of home—it’s for the freshly brewed, home-roasted coffee, a cup of which is some of the best joe you’ll find this side of Tokyo Station. With blends from beans from Central and South America, Africa, Indonesia and Southeast Asia meticulously brewed by hand for maximum flavor and aroma, Travel Coffee is truly a caffeine mecca to which all visitors to this part of Chiba should pilgrimage.

The Fish is an enormous complex on the Chiba side of Tokyo Bay. While the restaurant attracts tour buses, they are dropping off Japanese diners and shoppers, not Westerners. The restaurant serves impeccably fresh seafood, and the marketplace offers freshly made treats and, pictured here, enormous quantities of peanuts and peanut products. The homey Kanaya Museum across the street adds to the allure of a Chiba Prefecture day trip from Tokyo.

So you’ve decided to jump on the Wakashio express train from Tokyo Station and explore the wilds of the Pacific coast of Chiba’s Boso Peninsula for a couple of days. You’ve headed down to the beach and perhaps enjoyed a surf, and eaten a ton of inexpensive yet delicious seafood at a down-home dining establishment in the vicinity. You could of course just head back to wherever you’ve decided to stay for the night, but something inside you just wants to kick back and have a few drinks before calling it a day and hitting the sack—you know, let your hair down, put your feet up, and just go a little crazy. Fortunately, there’s a bar in town just for that very thing, and it’s even called Go Crazy. A relative newcomer to the eastern Chiba coast scene, it has fast become one of the most popular hangouts in the area. Nimbly staffed by owner extraordinaire Chaa, the bar is housed in a cozy old wooden house that might appear ramshackle at first glance but exudes a charming atmosphere of laid-back Japanese surf culture interspersed with interior styling cues from the Wild West and Polynesia. The clientele are similarly bohemian, being a mixture of both Japanese locals and Tokyoites as well as foreign boozers who call the surrounding area home. Regardless of origin, regulars and newbies alike are always greeted with open arms and thirst-quenching drinks at very wallet-friendly prices, so be sure to stop by the Boso Peninsula’s version of Cheers—the bar where everyone knows your name.

The Torii Arch reaches skyward on a small islet off the Pacific coast of Amatsu-kominato in the Boso Peninsula of Chiba. I came across this after walking around the breakwater of the fishing port located in front of Tanjoji Temple, birthplace of Nichiren (the founder of the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism).

Trademark notch at the top of Nokogiriyama (“Saw Mountain”) near Futtsu in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The mountain features a distinctive sawtoothed profile of a Japanese saw, due in part to the mountain’s history as a stone quarry during the Edo period. The western side of the mountain is also the site of the sprawling Nihonji temple complex, which is home to two Daibutsu (Big Buddha) sculptures--the largest pre-modern, stone-carved daibutsu in Japan at roughly 31 meters in height, and the Hyakushaku (“hundred-shaku (unit of ancient measurement)) Kannon, a large relief image of Kannon carved into one of the quarry walls. There are also 1500 hand-carved jizou (arhat, or stone Buddha) sculptures, which combined with the spectacular scenery of the Bōsō Hills and Tokyo Bay, make Mount Nokogiri a must-see (although make sure you bring your hiking boots--it’s a steep climb to the top!).

Nestled in an enchanting forest only an hour away from the heart of Tokyo, The Enclave is a unique private dining experience offering sophisticated fusion cuisine in an intimate at-home setting on the eastern coast of Chiba Prefecture’s Bousou Peninsula. Full-course menus featuring an inventive blend of Asian, European and Latin American elements brought together using modernist cooking methods are created and prepared by the CIA-trained American owner-chef change frequently to reflect seasonal specialties. Ingredients are locally sourced whenever possible from nearby farms as well as the organic gardens on the premises that feature over 40 different varieties of herbs and vegetables. An extensive selection of wines are also available to complement guests’ culinary enjoyment, and overnight accommodations with breakfast are also available on a limited basis to those who wish to relax and unwind after dinner without the pressure to hurry home. Guests have the freedom to choose to dine in either the exquisitely appointed main dining room, or outside in the comfortable gazebo located in the lush landscaped garden, which lights up with a beautiful array of solar-powered illumination after dusk. Guests are likewise able to enjoy pre- and post-dinner cocktails on the spacious deck at their leisure, and those opting to stay the night are free to avail themselves of the outdoor Jacuzzi and plunge pool, as well as movies and videos of their choice in the big-screen home theater.

Ohara is a small town known for its fishing port (in fact, roughly 60 percent of all of the ise-ebi, or Japanese spiny lobster, caught in Japan comes from Ohara Port). It is about a 1 1/2 hour train ride from Tokyo Station on the Wakashio express. The overall atmosphere of the place is very relaxed and friendly, much like most of the countryside in Japan.

I am high above Tokyo at night in a helicopter somewhere near Roppongi. Excel Air Service offers a number of excellent helicopter cruising packages that allow you to experience Tokyo and Yokohama in a way no other method of transportation can—flying above the world’s largest metropolis. It is simultaneously exhilarating, beautiful, even surreal, and really cements the feeling of being on the set of Blade Runner. Flight times can be booked from 3:30 in the afternoon until 8:30 at night, depending upon the season, with flight times ranging from 15 to 30 minutes, and you can either fly with other passengers or opt to charter the copter all to yourself (which of course raises the price accordingly). The helicopter (an 8-passenger Sikorsky S-76, I believe) departs from Urayasu Heliport (located directly behind Disney Sea in Maihama on the eastern outskirts of Tokyo and about a 20-minute drive from the city center) every 15 minutes. Before boarding, you can enjoy free soft drinks and COD alcoholic beverages in the elegant lounge area at Excel’s hangar. Rates range 19,800 per person for group tours to 130,000 yen for exclusive use depending on the day and time; the company also offers luxury charter flights around Mt. Fuji and the Kamakura/Shonan area for a cool 920,000 yen per hour in a S-76 (and about half that in a Eurocpoter AS355). Better starting saving now.