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.
Jinata Onsen
A Free Hot Spring in the Sea Rocks of Shikinejima, Timed by the Tide
Rock pools at the foot of a narrow cleft on Shikinejima's south coast, where iron-rich spring wat...
Kakeroma Island
Kakeroma Island: A Town Ferry, Ferry-Timed Buses and No Taxis Across the Strait from Amami
A long, ragged island across the Oshima Strait from the south tip of Amami Oshima, with small set...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Koshikijima Islands
Koshikijima Islands: Three Islands Joined by a Bridge, and Still Reached Only by Boat
Three inhabited islands about 45 km off western Kagoshima, joined end to end since 2020 by the pr...
Mikurajima
Mikurajima: The Izu Island Where the Ferry Often Cannot Dock and You Need a Booked Bed to Land
A round, cliff-walled island about 200 km south of Tokyo with one small village, old-growth fores...
Mikurajima
Mikurajima: The Izu Island Where the Ferry Often Cannot Dock and You Need a Booked Bed to Land
A round, cliff-walled island about 200 km south of Tokyo with one small village, old-growth fores...
Mitsumine Shrine
A Wolf-Guarded Shrine at 1,100 Meters, 80 Minutes by Bus Beyond Chichibu
A mountain shrine at about 1,100 meters in the far west of Chichibu, where wolves stand in for th...
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...
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan: The Inn Guinness Lists as the Oldest Hotel, Up the Hayakawa Valley
A hot-spring inn far up the Hayakawa valley that dates its spring to 705 and holds the Guinness r...
Nozaki Island
Nozaki Island: An Emptied Island, a Brick Church and Two Boats a Day
A long, hilly island east of Ojika in the northern Goto chain. Over 650 people lived in its three...
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...
Okukinu Onsen
Four Mountain Inns Past the Meotobuchi Gate, Reached on Foot or by Guest Shuttle
Four inns at the head of the Kinu River inside Nikko National Park: Kaniyu, Hatchonoyu, Nikkozawa...