Hidden Gems Across Japan
1,610 spots
Ajigaura Beach
Ajigaura Beach is a 4-kilometer stretch of sandy coastline facing the open Pacific, known as one of Kanto's best surf br…
Tsukuba Winery
Ushiku Chateau (despite the name, located in Ushiku, not Tsukuba) is Japan's oldest winery, established in 1903 by entre…
Senba Lake Cycling
Senba Lake is a narrow, 12-kilometer-long reservoir on the northern edge of Mito City, created by damming the Naka River…
Kasama Himatsuri
The Kasama Himatsuri (Fire Festival) is an annual late-April event when the historic 11-chamber Nikko-gama climbing kiln…
Oarai Beach
Oarai Sun Beach is a 1.5-kilometer crescent of pale sand facing the Pacific, backed by pine groves and bordered by rocky…
Oarai Aquarium
Aqua World Oarai is one of Japan's largest aquariums, specializing in sharks (54 species, the most of any aquarium in Ja…
Ushiku Daibutsu
Ushiku Daibutsu is a 120-meter-tall bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha, standing in a lotus garden surrounded by flat farm…
Kasama Inari Shrine
Kasama Inari Shrine is one of Japan's three great Inari shrines, dedicated to Ukanomitama-no-mikoto, the Shinto deity of…
Mount Tsukuba
Mount Tsukuba is a twin-peaked mountain rising 877 meters from rice fields and suburban sprawl, visible from Tokyo on cl…
Tsukuba Science City
Tsukuba was purpose-built in the 1960s as Japan's science city, a planned urban environment designed to concentrate the…
Oarai Fish Market
Oarai Port lands some of the finest Pacific seafood in the Kanto region — flatfish (hirame), Pacific saury (sanma), monk…
Illustration — not a photographMito Natto
Natto — fermented soybeans bound by sticky, stringy threads — is Japan's most divisive food, beloved by locals and bewil…
Kasama Pottery
Kasama-yaki pottery has been produced in this hillside town for over 250 years. Unlike the aristocratic refinement of Ar…
Kodokan
Kodokan was established in 1841 by Tokugawa Nariaki as the educational heart of Mito Domain, embodying the Mito School o…
Kamiiso no Torii
A single vermilion torii gate stands on a jagged rock platform where waves explode into white spray at high tide. Kamiis…
Kairakuen Garden
Kairakuen is one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, but unlike the meticulous aristocratic gardens of Kanazawa and Okayama,…
Hitachi Seaside Park
Hitachi Seaside Park transforms twice a year into one of Japan's most photographed landscapes. In late April through mid…
Narita Dream Farm
Narita Dream Farm is a 30-hectare agricultural park offering year-round fruit and vegetable picking — strawberries in wi…
Niemon Daiko
Niemon Daiko, hidden in the mountains of Kamogawa, is a taiko drum workshop and performance space founded by taiko maste…
Urayasu Edo-Style Bathhouse
Before Urayasu became synonymous with Disney, it was a fishing village on the edge of Edo (Tokyo) Bay, and the town's ba…
Taibusa Cape
Taibusa Cape (太房岬) forms the southernmost tip of the Boso Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean meets Uraga Channel. The su…
Nokogiriyama
Nokogiriyama (鋸山, 'Saw Mountain,' 329m) earned its name from the jagged cliff face created by 300 years of stone quarryi…
Kamogawa Sea World
Kamogawa Sea World, opened in 1970, is one of Japan's most advanced marine parks, known for its orca (killer whale) bree…
Illustration — not a photographChiba Peanuts
Chiba Prefecture produces 80% of Japan's domestic peanuts, a dominance that began in the Meiji era when sandy coastal so…
Estimated from distance to the nearest airport or shinkansen station. Confirm actual journey times before you travel.