From an Inside the Times story by Craig Mod headlined “A City That ‘Enables Its Residents to Thrive'”:

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When the Travel desk at The New York Times announced it was accepting nominations for its 2023 list of 52 Places to Go, Morioka, Japan, immediately came to my mind. I have lived and worked in Japan for over 20 years as a writer and photographer, and I spent four days in November 2021 doing book research in Morioka, in the north of Japan’s main island, Honshu. The city’s combination of kindness, cuisine, walkability and history enchanted me.