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.
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...
Hatenashi Village
A Hillside Hamlet on the Kohechi Trail, a Steep Climb Above Totsukawa Onsen
A small farming hamlet halfway up the Hatenashi Pass in Totsukawa, Nara, where the World Heritage...
Kashiragashima Church
A Stone Church Its Congregation Quarried by Hand, on a Goto Island Once Left to the Sick
A sandstone church on Kashiragashima, off Nakadori island in the Goto chain, built from 1910 to 1...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Hoshi Onsen Chojukan
A One-Inn Hot Spring Where the Water Rises Through the Bath Floor, Four Buses a Day from Sarugakyo
Hoshi Onsen is a single wooden inn, Chojukan, at the foot of the Mikuni Pass. Its big bath, Hoshi...