All places

Tokushima

A deep, mist-bound gorge in Shikoku's mountainous interior, where vine bridges sway over jade water and feudal-era refugees once hid from pursuers. Most foreign visitors stop in Tokushima city and never reach the highlands. Best timed for spring and autumn (koyo peaks early November).

Kagoshima

A subtropical UNESCO island of ancient cedar forests, some trees over 2,000 years old. Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke drew its mossy, primeval atmosphere from these slopes.

Gifu

A UNESCO village of steep-thatched gassho-zukuri farmhouses tucked in a snowbound Hida valley. Winter illuminations turn it into a postcard, but the real value is the dawn light before tour buses arrive.

Nagasaki

Ojika Island is a serene getaway in the Goto Islands, known for its ancient history and beautiful empty beaches. The revival of traditional machiya guesthouses offers a unique glimpse into local culture and hospitality.

Okinawa

The heart of tiny Taketomi: lanes of white coral sand between red-tiled bungalows and coral-stone walls, shaded by hibiscus and bougainvillea. Explore on foot, by rented bicycle, or aboard a slow water-buffalo cart while the driver plays sanshin — a preserved glimpse of old Okinawa. Typhoon season runs roughly June to October, and a passing storm can cancel ferries, flights and all marine activity across the islands at a day's notice — check the forecast before you rely on this stop.

Okinawa

The signature beach of Hateruma, Japan's southernmost inhabited island — a long crescent of white coral sand shelving into luminous 'Hateruma blue' water where sea turtles graze the shallows. Reached by a ferry from Ishigaki that is frequently cancelled in rough seas, so confirm sailings before committing a day to it.

Hiroshima

An Edo-era harbour town on the Inland Sea where stone lighthouses, sake breweries, and Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo coastline converge. Tides shift fast in the bay — locals still navigate by them.

Wakayama

A mountaintop monastic town founded by Kukai in 816 — over 100 working temples and the Okunoin cemetery, where 200,000 lanterns light a path through cryptomeria forest at night. Stay in a temple lodging and join morning prayers.

Yamagata

A UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy on the Sea of Japan, gateway to the Dewa Sanzan three-mountain pilgrimage. Yamabushi mountain ascetics still walk these forests; preserved seed varieties feed shojin temple cuisine. Best timed for may–October (Dewa Sanzan trails close in winter).

Nagano

A preserved Edo post town on the Nakasendo highway, where overhead wires are buried and modern signage banned. Walk the 8 km cobbled trail from Magome at dawn — the path between the two towns is the experience.

Tokushima

A mountain village of 1,500 people that sorts waste into 45 categories and aims for zero landfill. Visit the Zero Waste Center, eat at the on-site cafe, and see what a circular economy looks like at human scale.

Kagawa

An Inland Sea island remade into a contemporary art landscape — Tadao Ando architecture, James Turrell light works, Yayoi Kusama's pumpkins, and the Chichu and Lee Ufan museums embedded in the hills.

Miyagi

The Sendai Daikannon is a white figure of the Byakue Kannon standing 100 metres tall — a 92-metre figure on an 8-metre base — on the northwestern edge of Sendai, and it is visible from most of the…

Aomori

The Showa Daibutsu is a 21.35-metre seated bronze Buddha at Seiryu-ji, a Koyasan Shingon temple in the hills southeast of Aomori city. At about 220 tonnes it is the largest seated bronze Buddha in…

Chiba

The Nihon-ji Daibutsu is a 31-metre seated Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha, carved directly out of the rock face of Mount Nokogiri — a magaibutsu, not a cast or assembled statue — and it is the…

Gifu

The Gifu Daibutsu is a 13.63-metre seated Shakyamuni inside the Daibutsuden of Shoho-ji, an Obaku Zen temple whose full name is Kinpozan Shoho-ji. It is the largest of Japan's kago-daibutsu, or…

Yamagata

Kaminoyama Onsen is a charming hot spring town known for its tranquil atmosphere and beautiful surroundings. Visitors can enjoy various ryokan (traditional inns) that offer relaxing onsen experiences…

Oita

三俣山, at 1,744.8 m, is a volcano in the Kuju mountain range straddling Taketa City and Kokonoe Town, built from four summits — the main peak, and south, north and west peaks — that read as three from…

Nagano

表銀座縦走路 (the 'Omote Ginza', or 'Front Ginza') is a multi-day ridge traverse in the Northern Alps, named — in the same spirit as Tokyo's Ginza — for how well-trodden it has become relative to other…

Kochi

高瀬沈下橋 is a 232.3 m 'submersible bridge' on the Shimanto River, built in 1973 with no side railings so floodwater passes over it rather than tearing it apart — the third-longest of the river's…

Shizuoka

柿田川 is, at 1.2 km, Japan's shortest Class-1 river — fed almost entirely by Mount Fuji's snowmelt surfacing through a series of circular spring pools (湧き間) inside the park, at a near-constant 15°C…

Yamanashi

万力公園, on the right bank of the Fuefuki River in Yamanashi City, is a 14-hectare general park built around 'Manyo no Mori' (万葉の森) — over 110 plant species named in the Man'yoshu poetry anthology, each…

Shimane

出雲坂根駅 climbs 162 m to the next station, Mitsunogahara, using JR West's only three-stage switchback: the train pulls in, reverses up a spur, then reverses again to continue climbing, tracing a zigzag…

Iwate

恋し浜駅 opened in 1985 as 小石浜駅 (Koishihama, 'small pebble beach') and was renamed in 2009 for a different reading of the same sound — 恋し浜, 'the beach of longing' — to match the branding of the local…

Kanagawa

根府川駅 stands on a bluff above Sagami Bay, its pale wooden station building close to a century old, so that stepping off the platform puts the horizon of sea and sky directly ahead with nothing else in…

Aomori

驫木駅 stands almost alone on the Sea of Japan shoreline in Fukaura, with the small 1951 wooden station building set right against the coast and the Gono Line's tracks running along the water — there is…

Kyoto

保津峡駅 is built directly on a steel bridge over the Hozu River gorge, held between tunnels on both ends, so the platform itself is suspended above the water with forested cliffs rising on either side.…

Nagano

姨捨駅 sits on a mountainside at 547 m, and the platform looks straight out over the Zenkoji Plain and the Chikuma River below — it is named one of Japan's 'three great train windows' (日本三大車窓) for that…

Shizuoka

天城荘 is a hot spring ryokan built at the foot of Odaru (大滝), the tallest of the Kawazu Seven Falls at roughly 30 m, with its bathing area set directly beside the waterfall's plunge pool. TATTOOS ARE…

Nagano

本沢温泉 is a mountain hut at 2,150 m on the flank of Mount Io in the Yatsugatake range, walk-in only, running year-round. Its outdoor bath Un-jo no Yu ('bath above the clouds') is published as Japan's…

Hiroshima

This is the site of the Imperial Japanese Navy's officer training academy, moved here from Tsukiji in Tokyo in 1888 and grouped in its day with Britain's Dartmouth and the United States' Annapolis as…

Kanagawa

AS OF 30 AUGUST 2026, THE ONLY APPROACH TO YUSHIN VALLEY IS CLOSED, TO PEDESTRIANS AS WELL AS VEHICLES. Kanagawa Prefecture closed a section of the Kurokura forest road on 3 August 2026 because of…

Ishikawa

粟津温泉 is Hokuriku's oldest hot spring, opened in 718 by the Buddhist priest Taicho Daishi, founder of Mount Hakusan worship, who by tradition was directed in meditation to dig for water to heal the…

Ishikawa

山中温泉 is a hot spring town on the Daishoji River in Kaga, discovered some 1,300 years ago and, by local legend, found when the feudal lord Hasebe Nobitsura saw a white heron healing its foot in the…

Nagasaki

Sixteen bus shelters shaped like fruit stand along Route 207 through the Konagai district of Isahaya, in five varieties — strawberry, melon, mikan, watermelon and tomato. They were built by the…

Kanagawa

国道駅 is a small unstaffed stop on the JR Tsurumi Line in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, and the reason to come is underneath rather than on it. The station opened in 1930 and is carried on a large arched…

Kanagawa

猿島 is the largest uninhabited island in Tokyo Bay that still carries natural forest, and it is reached by a ten-minute boat ride from Mikasa Pier in Yokosuka. Jomon and Yayoi stone tools and pottery…

Tokyo

Misoya Hachiro Shoten, near Shinjuku's west exit, is known for its rich miso-based broth, offering a comforting bowl of ramen. The cozy atmosphere and friendly staff make it a local favorite.

Yamanashi

大菩薩嶺 is a 2,057 m summit on the eastern rim of the Kofu Basin, and the walk that reaches it spends most of its length on an open grass ridge rather than in forest. The wooded top itself has no view:…

Nara

山上ヶ岳 is a 1,719 m peak in the Ōmine range that remains closed to women — the only mountain in Japan where that restriction still stands — and the 女人結界門 gates on its approaches mark exactly where the…

Nagano

槍ヶ岳 is the 3,180 m rock spire at the head of the Northern Alps, and the last stretch to its point is climbed on fixed ladders and chains rather than walked — the descent uses a separate down-ladder…

Kagoshima

宮之浦岳 is the highest mountain in Kyushu at 1,936 m, and on Yakushima it is a full day rather than an outing: the town puts the round trip from the Yodogawa trailhead at nine to ten hours over about 8…

Okinawa

於茂登岳 is a 525 m summit in Okinawa. The walk to the top is the reason to come: the route is the attraction rather than the approach to one, and the summit is reached on foot from a marked trailhead.…

Kagoshima

開聞岳 is a 924 m summit in Kagoshima (Kyushu). The walk to the top is the reason to come: the route is the attraction rather than the approach to one, and the summit is reached on foot from a marked…

Oita

久住山 is a 1,787 m summit in Oita (Kyushu). The walk to the top is the reason to come: the route is the attraction rather than the approach to one, and the summit is reached on foot from a marked…

Ehime

石鎚山 is a 1,982 m summit in Ehime (Shikoku). The walk to the top is the reason to come: the route is the attraction rather than the approach to one, and the summit is reached on foot from a marked…

Hyogo

六甲山 is not a peak but a long ridge standing directly above Kobe, close enough that the city begins at its foot and the sea is visible from most of it. Its highest point, at 931 m, is a plain earth…

Shiga

伊吹山 is a 1,377 m summit in Shiga (Kansai). The walk to the top is the reason to come: the route is the attraction rather than the approach to one, and the summit is reached on foot from a marked…