Japan - Experiences of other Japanese cities (not the usual places)

This is a thread about your experiences of other cities in Japan other than Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka. There's more to Japan than just these cities!

Anybody went to Kyushu? Shikoku?

The tropical islands of Okinawa like Ishigaki-jima (http://www.ishigaki-japan.com/) or Miyako-jima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyako-jima)?

Taken the ferries to the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonin_Islands)?

The Western coast of Japan like Kanazawa (http://www.kanazawa-tourism.com/) or Niigata (http://enjoyniigata.com/english/)?

Places like Hida-Takayama (http://www.hida.jp/english/) or Shirakawa-go (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5950.html)?

Anyone visited the Izumo Grand Shrine (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5804.html) and the Ise Grand Shrine, the two most important shrines for Shinto?

Taken the ferry to/from Korea from Shimonoseki (http://www.kampuferry.co.jp/) or Sakai-Minato (http://www.dbsferry.com/main/main.asp)?

Taken the JR Beetle hydrofoil (http://www.jrbeetle.co.jp/) from port of Fukuoka to Busan, South Korea?

The site of the Battle of Sekigahara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sekigahara) (Japan's equivalent to the the US Civil War's Gettysburg; the decisive battle where the history of Japan changed)

The historical location where one of the first Japanese envoy that went on a voyage to the Vatican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasekura_Tsunenaga) hundreds of years before Cmdr. Matthew C. Perry opened Japan to the West?

The long-standing relationship (http://manjiro1.tripod.com/index.htm) between Tosa-Shimizu, Japan and Fairhaven, MA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairhaven,_Massachusetts) due to John Manjiro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakahama_Manjir%C5%8D) and Cpt. Whitfield?


I'd like to hear some the experiences of these off-beaten tracks and sights to see of Japan. :)

I've been to a number of the places on this list, but my most random, off-the-beaten-path Japan excursion was no doubt to Mt. Hino (日野山) on the outskirts of Kyoto. As part of a brief obsession with classical Japanese literature (which may or may not have had something to do with grad school :D), I decided that I simply must visit the site of the isolated hut where Kamo no Chomei (鴨長明) wrote the Hojoki (方丈記).

As I began to climb towards the mountains of eastern Kyoto from the nearest station, signs marking the way to Chōmei’s hut began to appear every few hundreds of meters. Slowly, the ubiquitous convenience stores, apartment blocks, and vending machines that characterize urban and suburban Japan began to gave way to rice fields and small single-family homes. After hiking a few kilometers, past bemused locals – why is there a foreigner out here? – and an abandoned public sports complex, I arrived at the foot of Mt. Hino.

Traces of civilization abruptly disappeared, replaced only by worn markers reassuring visitors that the overgrown dirt path ahead of them was indeed the way to Chōmei’s hut. After scrambling up slippery hillsides, past several suspicious-looking giant centipedes, and being feasted upon by several dozen mosquitoes, I finally arrived at the site of Chōmei’s famed hōjō.

I’m not sure what I was expecting. I was, after all, traveling to the site of a tiny, wooden hut from the 12th century. But in Japan, almost anything with the slightest potential appeal is readily converted to at least some form of a tourist attraction. Buildings from past centuries are frequently reconstructed, complete with the requisite souvenir shops and dining opportunities. Surely there would be something interesting to mark the site at which one of the most famous pieces of classical Japanese literature was written?

Instead, I found nothing more than a faded signpost resting askew against some rocks. I snapped the requisite picture (at right), and turned to stumble back down the trail before Mt. Hino’s insect population could inflict any more damage.

Full version with pictures here (http://alexwarofka.com/2009/06/29/chasing-a-recluse-kamo-no-chomei/).

I've been to Kyushu, Kanazawa and Niigata, Sado Island, Hida-Takayama, the Grand Shrine of Ise, and Nagasaki, and I've been an intercity bus that went past the site of the battle of Sekigahara.

I've also been to Hieizan, Koyasan, the archaeological region south of Nara, the city of Tenri (hometown of one of the oldest of the "New Religions"), Yoshino, the Mikimoto Pearl Island, Mt. Aso (an active volcano), Chichibu, Hikone (not Hakone, Hikone), Horyuji, Nasu-Shiobara, and a host of other places.

I still haven't seen everything Japan has to offer, and during my upcoming trip in the spring, I hope to explore more of Kyushu and western Honshu, and if time and money permit, take the ferry to Korea.

Some of my lists include:

Going to Kagoshima and seeing the Sakurajima volcano (still an active volcano that erupts pretty much everyday)

Kumamoto and the Kumamoto castle, learning history about Saigo Takamori, one of modern Japan's founding fathers, trying out horse meat (the only other place that this can be done in NA now is in Quebec, Canada)

Nagasaki Peace Memorial (most people just finish with Hiroshima and never go all the way to visit Nagasaki), the Haus Ten Bosch Dutch amusement park

To the north I've been to Sendai and various parts of the Tohoku region such as Rikuzen-Takata and Kesennuma, including Fukushima a year before the earthquake struck. I was deeply saddened by the news when I saw that the places where I went were all reduced to rubbles. :( Wish to go there again next year to help out anyway I can.

I've been to Kanazawa, loved the Higashi-chaya district. Going to Shirakawa-go was simple as the bus left from Kanazawa Station.

I went to Izumo Grand Shrine last month and it is one of the more rural cities in Japan I've been to.

Haven't been to Shikoku yet and I wish to go to Tosa-Shimizu to learn up on John Manjiro's birth home. I've been to Fairhaven, MA so it'll complete my tour there.



There's just so many things to see in Japan that I keep going there year after year. For me, Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are now pass-through cities. :D

Some of my lists include:

Going to Kagoshima and seeing the Sakurajima volcano (still an active volcano that erupts pretty much everyday)

Kumamoto and the Kumamoto castle, learning history about Saigo Takamori, one of modern Japan's founding fathers, trying out horse meat (the only other place that this can be done in NA now is in Quebec, Canada)

Nagasaki Peace Memorial (most people just finish with Hiroshima and never go all the way to visit Nagasaki), the Haus Ten Bosch Dutch amusement park.And I thought my trip was unique. :p I did 5 cities in 5 days in Kyushu. Kumamoto for the castle, the cool garden, and the slightly obscure Miyamoto Musashi museum. Then an incredible day in Nagasaki (now one of favorite Japanese cities)- Peace Museum and park, the reconstructed Dejima, and the cable car to get a great view of the area. Beppu and the kitchy Seven Hells and an old hot sand onsen. Kagoshima to continue the story of Saigo Takamori, reading his biography all the while, and finishing on the way back to Honshu with a quick stop in Fukuoka- the temple of the monk who brought green tea to Japan and the Hakata folk museum.

It was exhausting and far from comprehensive, but wonderful. I tell people that Kyushu is like the "west coast USA" of Japan. Thats the vibe I got from my short time there. All those cities were great but Nagasaki just blew me away. I'd really like to go back there one day and spend some more time.

On that same trip I went to Miki, a town an hour from Kobe because a friend was on JET there. I got to help teach two of her classes and did some karaoke with her and her friends, but besides that its an unremarkable place.

Hitchhiked the entire way around Kyushu.

Of the places you mention in your op I've been to Kanazawa, Hida Takayama and Shirakawa-go, all are worth visiting. Also been to Mikimoto Island and the Ise penisular. One of my favourite off the beaten tourist track sights in Japan is Kintai in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Two port cities that I've explored, Kobe and Yokohama have their own unique atmosphere. Much prefer Kobe to Yokohama.

I agree Japan has lots to offer and that is one reason why I keep returning.

Some of my lists include:

Going to Kagoshima and seeing the Sakurajima volcano (still an active volcano that erupts pretty much everyday)

Kumamoto and the Kumamoto castle, learning history about Saigo Takamori, one of modern Japan's founding fathers, trying out horse meat (the only other place that this can be done in NA now is in Quebec, Canada)

Nagasaki Peace Memorial (most people just finish with Hiroshima and never go all the way to visit Nagasaki), the Haus Ten Bosch Dutch amusement park

To the north I've been to Sendai and various parts of the Tohoku region such as Rikuzen-Takata and Kesennuma, including Fukushima a year before the earthquake struck. I was deeply saddened by the news when I saw that the places where I went were all reduced to rubbles. :( Wish to go there again next year to help out anyway I can.

I've been to Kanazawa, loved the Higashi-chaya district. Going to Shirakawa-go was simple as the bus left from Kanazawa Station.

I went to Izumo Grand Shrine last month and it is one of the more rural cities in Japan I've been to.

Haven't been to Shikoku yet and I wish to go to Tosa-Shimizu to learn up on John Manjiro's birth home. I've been to Fairhaven, MA so it'll complete my tour there.



There's just so many things to see in Japan that I keep going there year after year. For me, Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are now pass-through cities. :D

Ha ha...maybe we have bumped into each other as those sound very much like some of the places I have been also. If you go to Shikoku, make sure you visit Dogo Onsen.

I am heading back in Feb for 2 weeks..even going to try a few overnight trains just for the fun of it (plus the fact they discontinue a few every year...soon there will be none left)

Places so far I am going to (that I have not stopped at before)include Shimonoseki (Fugu festival), Miyazaki, and Kirishima , then I want to JR it up the Sea of Japan side. Also going to see the naked man festival near Okayama...have seen a few documentaries about it and it just happens to be on the last Saturday of my trip.

Q Shoe......never been there!:p

Though I have a lot of affection for Kyoto, I really love the smaller towns in Japan. Most of these aren't exactly off the beaten path, but I have thoroughly enjoyed:

- Kanazawa: fantastic sushi at Komatsu Yasuke and a great contemporary art museum. There's a top three koen as well but frankly I'm not as crazy about these as the Japanese are.

- Shirakawa-go: picturesque but not worth more than a day trip unless you're hell-bent on sleeping in a minshuku.

- Takayama: very pretty. One of my favorite/best meals at an otherwise unexceptional ryokan - Hanaoka.

- Okuhida Onsen: beautiful onsen with private rotemburo - Yarmikan.

- Matsumoto: beautiful castle, great soba and wasabi (Sanjiro sobaya).

- Naoshima: awesome cluster of modern and contemporary art museums in the Seto inland sea.

- Shikoku - I've only been to Takamatsu but I enjoyed the udon, the park, and had dinner at a great little izakaya run by two obasans with a lot of regulars.

So many more places to go. Great thread!

Sado Island

Ooh, Sado Island. Did you get there via ship or by plane?

That's another place I want to go as that's where former US Army sergeant Charles Jenkins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Robert_Jenkins) (dishonorably discharged for defecting to North Korea in 1965) currently lives and works as a tourist greeter with his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitomi_Soga) (kidnapped to North Korea in 1978, repatriated back to Japan along with other kidnapped Japanese in 2002)!

It would be nice to sit down and talk to them to learn a first hand experience of what life was like in North Korea especially with Kim Jong Il now dead.

former US Army sergeant Charles Jenkins as a tourist greeter in Sado Island: http://youtu.be/92yPTXIYJYY

Ooh, Sado Island. Did you get there via ship or by plane?



I went by ferry from Niigata. It was over 25 years ago, so I forget how long it took or how much it cost, but it wasn't very long. A couple of hours at most.

I booked second class, which meant sitting on the floor WITH cushions rather than without cushions (third class).

I was interested in it because of its role in Japanese history. A lot of Japanese visit it, not so many Westerners. When I was there, the entire tourist infrastructure seemed geared toward Japanese, not toward Westerners, although I was never made to feel unwelcome. There were tour buses, and they were the easiest way to get around, but the guides spoke only Japanese.

I stayed in youth hostels on this trip. The ones on Sado were small, quiet, and friendly, but it was the last time I ever stayed in youth hostels, due to an experience I had in Matsumoto on the way back to Tokyo, where the cycling club from a university stayed up till 3AM talking loudly (in their bunk beds after lights out) and then the "parento" woke everyone up with a loudspeaker at 6AM.

. A lot of Japanese visit it, not so many Westerners. When I was there, the entire tourist infrastructure seemed geared toward Japanese, not toward Westerners, although I was never made to feel unwelcome. There were tour buses, and they were the easiest way to get around, but the guides spoke only Japanese.

.

That statement could be made about a lot of Japanese tourist sites (outside the ones regularly visited by western tourists such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and a few others)...and that is exactly the kind of place I see out when I revisit Japan.

Cool thread! Reminds me of my times in Japan!

Here are some of my things that I did while I lived there:


Two day tour of Kamakura
Visiting Hakone Yumoto on the weekends
Biking around Lake Motosuko near Mt. Fuji
Biking around Lake Kizaki near Nagano
Seeing the Japan F1 Grand Prix at Suzuka
Cross-country motorcycling through windy hilly terrains (way too cool if you love motorcycles!)
Skiing in Nagano
Onsen in Nagano
Seeing the Northern Territories from Cape Nossapu
Visiting the northern most point in Japan, Souya-Misaki
Experiencing crab fishing in Hokkaido!


I agree with startpacking's comment; even living in Japan for five years isn't enough to see all that Japan has to offer. I'm really thinking to just move to Japan and spend the rest of my life there! LOL