'Go west," U.S. singer Nathalie Merchant implores in her 1995 track "San Andreas Fault." "Paradise is there."
There's also a wonderful soba restaurant there — that is, on the western outskirts of Kyoto, a stone's throw from the imperial villa at Katsura.
A quick note about the villa: It is reputed to have one of the nation's most beautiful gardens and while it is open to the public, it's booked out for the next three months.