Mostly just because I studied abroad there, but I loved Fukuoka, Japan. A small costal city with mountains in the background, a nice simple subway from one side to the other, nice big sidewalks and very bike-able, and there were plenty of nerdy little shops and bookstores to hunt for deals and rare finds. The climate is warm and tropical, with occasional monsoons that can come down pretty hard, but that just adds character imo. Speaking of character, there's a nice big park with the ruins of an ancient castle, with lots of cherry trees around. I think there's other places in Japan that are pretty similar, but a lot of people (including a lot of Japanese people) seem to focus on Tokyo which imo is too big and noisy and expensive. As far as big cities in Japan, I think Kyoto is a bit more chill and it's also very beautiful, but I was only there for a bit. Ofc the problem with the smaller/mid-sized cities is finding other Westerners/English speakers. Ofc we have a :japan-cool: emoji for a reason but as far as urban design goes I'm pretty envious.