高半(Takahan), Yuzawa, Setting for Kawabata Yasunari's "Snow Country" (雪国)

Takahan, the ryokan in Yuzawa, Niigata,

where Kawabata wrote the novel 雪国, whose famous opening line reads: 国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった (The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country).