Ito: 120km (75 miles) SW of Tokyo
Just 18km (11 miles) south of Atami, Ito is a hot-spring spa, hemmed in on one side by steeply wooded mountains and on the other by the sea. Its 75,000 inhabitants are unusually spread along the coast in a string of hamlets, separated by beautiful scenery but connected by winding roads, private railway, and buses. Its lush, tropical atmosphere with palm trees and flowering bushes comes as a surprise this close to Tokyo, but what makes this town truly unique is that it supports an astonishing number of private museums, most of them Western and some quite odd. I don't think I could come up with a more bizarre collection of museums even if I tried.
