Mito, the historic seat of ancient Hitachi Province — present-day Ibaraki Prefecture — has all the right prerequisites for a nonstrenuous daylong excursion from Tokyo: convenient access, plenty of attractive sites, exotic foods and hospitable people.
This friendly city of 265,000 is served by the JR Joban Line. Depending on the day of the week, the Super Hitachi, an elegantly streamlined express train with reclining seats, departs from Ueno Station at least twice per hour and reaches Mito in about 80 minutes.
During the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867), Mito was the center of a domain controlled by one of the most powerful branches of the Tokugawa family. Today it's a green city full of vestiges of the Tokugawas' former grandeur.