Sendai-Shi, Japan

The largest city in the Tōhoku region, SENDAI is a sprawling but pleasant place, with broad, tree-lined avenues and a lively downtown district. Though often just regarded as a staging post on the way to Matsushima Bay, the city's castle ruins, with their local history museum, and the ornate mausoleum of Sendai's revered founder, the daimyōDaté Masamune, are worth a brief stop. During the Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival; Aug 6–8), the city centre is awash with thousands of bamboo poles festooned with colourful paper tassels, poems and prayers.