Whether tourist or resident, anyone looking for a short trip out of Tokyo, but still within the surrounding Kanto region, has plenty of varied options.
There's the mountain resort of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture, the medicinal hot-spring town of Kusatsu in Gunma, the scenic and historic hot springs close by Mount Fuji in the Kanagawa mecca of Hakone, and many beautiful Pacific-lapped spots on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka.
Often overlooked is Tokyo's near neighbor of Ibaraki Prefecture, bordered by Chiba to the south and Fukushima to the north, Tochigi on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east.
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