More worldly friends will stop off here for dinner in cool Mimasu-ya, reserving tables overlooking the water, or in the sublime French kaiseki restaurant, Misoguigawa, where a girl in kimono sits by your table throughout the meal, making delectable small talk in impeccable English.

BBC: The walk that made me love Japan

The earthquake Saturday morning triggered landslides that cut off roads and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county, in Sichuan's Ya'an city area, which is further south on the same fault line where a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region five years ago.

NPR: China Rushes Relief After Sichuan Quake Kills 180