Things to Do in Chubu, Japan
Central Japan: Mount Fuji, the Japan Alps, historic post towns and the Sea of Japan coast.
183 destinations across 9 prefectures
Festivals in Chubu
© Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Takayama Matsuri
14 to 15 April 2027
Gifu · Float procession
© Koichi_Hayakawa / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Nagaoka Fireworks
2 to 3 August 2027
Niigata · Fireworks festival
© 信州高原青馬写真クラブ / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Lake Suwa Fireworks
15 August 2027
Nagano · Fireworks festival
© Kropsoq (talk) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Katakai Fireworks
10 to 11 September 2027
Niigata · Fireworks festival
Suggested Itineraries
Places to Visit in Chubu
Tsurugidake
Tsurugidake: 13 Chain Sections and a Near-Vertical Pitch at 2,999 m
A 2,999-meter granite peak in the Northern Alps, reached from Murodo on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpin...
Lake Nojiri
Lake Nojiri: Ice Age Elephants Dug from the Lakebed by Volunteers
Nagano's second-largest lake after Suwa, near the Niigata border, where Naumann elephant fossils ...
Mount Norikura
Mount Norikura: A Bus to 2,702 m, Then 90 Minutes to the Top
A volcano on the Gifu and Nagano border where the bus does most of the climbing: Tatamidaira, at ...
Okuhida Onsengo
Five Hot Spring Villages Under the Northern Alps, with Outdoor Baths at Almost Every Inn
Five onsen villages strung along the valleys east of Takayama: Hirayu, Fukuji, Shin-Hirayu, Tochi...
Lake Suwa
A Lake at 759 m Known for Its August 15 Fireworks and Onsen Town
Nagano's largest lake, about 16 km round, with the hot-spring town of Kami-Suwa on its eastern sh...
Kitadake
Kitadake: Japan's Second-Highest Peak, With No Cars at the Trailhead
At 3,193 meters, Kitadake in the Southern Alps is second only to Fuji, and the only place on eart...
Lake Hamana
Eel, a Red Torii in the Water and a Sunset Lined Up in Winter
A brackish lagoon of about 65 square kilometres on the west side of Hamamatsu, open to the sea si...
Michi-no-Eki Arai
A big food stop shared by Route 18 and the expressway
On Route 18 in Myoko, next to the Arai parking area and smart interchange of the Joshin-etsu Expr...
Michi-no-Eki Asagiri Kogen
Dairy country on the western side of Mount Fuji
A Route 139 stop on the Asagiri plateau, close to the Yamanashi border, where Mount Fuji fills th...
MOA Museum of Art
Seven Escalators Up a Hill to Korin's Plum Screen Above Atami
A private museum on the hill above Atami Station with about 3,500 works of mostly East Asian art,...
Narusawa Ice Cave
Steep Stairs Down to Year-Round Ice Under the Aokigahara Forest
A lava tube formed in the 864 eruption on Fuji's north side, kept at about 3°C so ice lasts all y...
Yahiko Shrine
Bow Twice, Clap Four Times at Echigo's First Shrine Below Mount Yahiko
The first-ranked shrine of the old Echigo province, at the foot of 634 m Mount Yahiko, whose summ...
Yarigatake
Yarigatake: Two Days from Kamikochi, Then Ladders to a 3,180 m Spire
The 3,180-meter spear-shaped peak of the Northern Alps, fifth-highest in Japan, usually climbed o...
Fugaku Wind Cave
A Flat 15-Minute Walk Through a Lava Tube Once Used for Silkworm Eggs
A horizontal lava tube 201 m long in the Aokigahara forest, about 3°C inside, with ice that lasts...
Ichijodani Asakura Family Historic Ruins
A Castle Town Burned in 1573, Dug Up and Partly Rebuilt in a Fukui Valley
The site of the Asakura clan's castle town, which Oda Nobunaga's army burned in 1573, now a 278-h...