Hikyo: Japan's Hard-to-Reach Places
Hikyo (秘境) means a secluded place: somewhere getting there is part of the trip. These are shrines, hot springs, villages and islands with no train, a bus a few times a day, or a ferry that does not always dock. Most pages tell you how to get there and, just as important, how to get back.
Kamishikimi Kumanoimasu Shrine
Moss-Covered Lanterns and a Hole Through the Mountain in a Cedar Forest Above Takamori
A small mountain shrine in southern Aso reached by a stone stairway lined with 97 moss-covered la...
Ashiu Forest
Kyoto University's Old-Growth Research Forest, Where the Best Valleys Need a Guide
About 4,200 hectares of beech and cedar forest at the source of the Yura River, run by Kyoto Univ...
Kashiwajima
Water So Clear the Boats Look Like They Are Hovering, at the Far End of Kochi
A small island, about 4 kilometers around, tied to the Otsuki Peninsula by two bridges. The water...
Tamagawa Onsen
A pH 1.2 Spring Pouring Out of the Ground Above Lake Tazawa
A hot-spring cure town 43 km up a mountain road from Tazawako Station, built around the Obuki sou...
Hotokegaura
White-Green Tuff Cliffs You Reach by Boat or 100 Metres of Stairs
About two kilometres of white and pale green tuff spires on the far west coast of the Shimokita P...
Iya Onsen
A Cable Car Down a 42-Degree Cliff to a River Bath in the Iya Valley
A single inn, Hotel Iya Onsen, on the rim of the Iya gorge, with its own cable car that drops 170...
Odaigahara
A Rain-Soaked Plateau at 1,600 Meters, Reached by One Bus a Day
A high plateau on the Nara and Mie border with some of the heaviest rainfall in Japan, a 1,695-me...
Sandankyo Gorge
A 16 km Mountain Gorge Where Some Stretches Are Only Reached by Boat
A gorge of about 16 km along the Shibaki River in the mountains of northwest Hiroshima, with a ri...
Kamuiwakka Hot Falls
Kamuiwakka Hot Falls: Wading Up a Warm, Acidic River in Shiretoko
A river in Shiretoko National Park that runs warm because hot spring water from Mount Io feeds it...
Nageiredo (Mitokusan Sanbutsuji)
A Heian-Era Hall Set Into a Cliff, Reached by Chains and Tree Roots
The inner hall of Sanbutsuji temple, built on stilts inside a cliff hollow on Mount Mitoku and th...
Tanize Suspension Bridge
A 297-Meter Village Footbridge That Sways 54 Meters Above the Totsukawa River
A steel-wire footbridge about 297 meters long and 54 meters above the Totsukawa River, built in 1...