From the soaring beeches in the forests of northern Honshu's Shirakami-Sanchi to the funereal Buddhist gloom of Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture, those who let UNESCO be their guide will find no dearth of variety among Japan's World Heritage Sites.
Of the places in this country that make it onto UNESCO's list, one of the most spectacular was among the first to find itself thus honored -- the castle of Himeji in Hyogo Prefecture.
This structure entered the UNESCO list 13 years ago as the finest example of a castle from Japan's warring feudal period. While aesthetic appeal is not the first thing that leaps to mind in conjunction with military technology, Himeji Castle is a conspicuously graceful structure.