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.
Rebun Island
Rebun Island: Flower Trails at the Far End of the Wakkanai Ferry
A long, low island west of Wakkanai, reached only by a ferry of about two hours. From late May to...
Sakitsu Village
A Fishing Village Where Hidden Christians Saw Mary in Abalone Shells
A small fishing village on Amakusa Shimoshima whose Gothic church, built in 1934 with a tatami fl...
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...
Shiiba Village
Shiiba: A Heike Love Story, All-Night Kagura and the Last Slash-and-Burn Fields in the Kyushu Mountains
A mountain village in the Kyushu Mountains where, the story goes, a Genji general sent to hunt do...
Shimoguri no Sato
Shimoguri no Sato: A Hamlet on 38-Degree Slopes Above the Toyama Valley
A farming hamlet in the Toyama valley of southern Iida, its houses and potato fields spread over ...
Sumatakyo Gorge
A Ten-Person Suspension Bridge over Turquoise Water
A gorge at the top of the Oi River valley where the Yume no Tsuribashi, a 90-meter footbridge, ha...
Takamagahara Onsen
The Hot Spring Called Japan's Farthest, Two Days on Foot into the Northern Alps
A few open-air pools beside a mountain stream at about 2,100 m in the headwaters of the Kurobe Ri...
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...
Tamaki Shrine
A Cedar-Wrapped Mountaintop Shrine at the Far End of Japan's Largest Village
A shrine just below the 1,076-meter summit of Mount Tamaki on the Omine Okugake pilgrimage route,...
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...
Tokara Islands
Tokara Islands: Seven Inhabited Islands on One Village Ferry, Twice a Week
A chain of islands between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima that make up Toshima village, with people l...
Yonaguni Island
Japan's Westernmost Island, Two Ferries a Week from Ishigaki
Japan's westernmost inhabited island, 111 km from Taiwan, with sea cliffs, free-roaming Yonaguni ...