Discover Japan's Hidden Gems

Explore temples, shrines, castles, parks, and more

Michi-no-eki
Saitama

Michi-no-Eki Kaju Koen Ashigakubo

Chichibu noodles next to the Ashigakubo icicles

A Route 299 stop right beside Ashigakubo Station on the Seibu Chichibu Line, so you can reach it ...

Yokoze, Saitama, Japan
Michi-no-eki
Chiba

Michi-no-Eki Kamogawa Ocean Park

A shell-shaped lookout on the Boso coast road

A three-storey building shaped like a turban shell, or a pyramid, depending on who you ask, on Ro...

Kamogawa, Chiba, Japan
Michi-no-eki
Gifu

Michi-no-Eki Kokindenju-no-Sato Yamato

A courtyard of food stalls and a hot spring near Gujo

A few minutes from Gifu-Yamato IC on the road north to Shirotori and Shirakawa-go, this station w...

Gujo, Gifu, Japan
Michi-no-eki
Iwate

Michi-no-Eki Shizukuishi Anekko

A hot spring stop on the Route 46 drive to Akita

The last big stop on Route 46 before the mountains to Akita. It has a day-use hot spring with an ...

Shizukuishi, Iwate, Japan
Historic Site World Heritage
Kumamoto

Misumi West Port

A Meiji Harbour Left Almost as Built: 756 m of Stone Quay at the Mouth of Amakusa

A harbour designed by the Dutch engineer Rouwenhorst Mulder and opened in 1887, with a 756 m ston...

Uki, Kumamoto, Japan
Temple
Nara

Okadera

Asuka's Hillside Temple for Warding Off Bad Luck, with Japan's Largest Clay Buddha

A temple on the slope of Mount Oka in Asuka, formally Ryugai-ji, that calls itself Japan's first ...

Asuka, Nara, Japan
Castle
Tottori

Tottori Castle Ruins

Stone terraces climb Mount Kyusho above Tottori, preserving the outline of a castle famous for Hi...

Tottori, Japan
Shrine World Heritage
Nara

Yoshino Mikumari Shrine

Hideyori's 1604 Shrine to the Water God and Guardian of Children, High on Mount Yoshino

A shrine to the god who shares out the water, in the upper reaches of Mount Yoshino and part of t...

Yoshino, Nara, Japan
Michi-no-eki
Mie

Michi-no-Eki Kii-Nagashima Manbo

Grilled sunfish skewers on the Kumano-nada coast

A Route 42 station named after the ocean sunfish. On weekends and holidays a stall outside grills...

Kihoku, Mie, Japan