Going off the beaten path always amuses me a bit as advice (what happens when everyone decides to do that?) but it's also quite true that you can often be literally tens of metres away from the most touristic locations with barely any tourists actually around you in most places (exceptions include cities that have become theme parks like Venice).
My top tip is, since everyone loves Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, there's actually a fantastic natural trail network there that I saw no one on. It takes you out through a valley of smaller shrines and graves, and nearly to the top of the mountain still. Then you can take the gates walk on the way down if you still want that experience. The trail had a beautiful uninterrupted view of Kyoto from a natural clearing in the forest canopy. Some of my best photos were from that little diversion.
When my wife and I went, I think we "accidentally" went on this trail. Our philosophy is to do the touristy things, but go just beyond what most do. This meant walking past the shrine and onto the trail network where we ran into a number of smaller shrines one the walking path.
Overall I was very impressed with the number of managed walking paths when we were in Japan. Allowed you to get away from the crowds pretty quickly if you'd like.
> Yes, though it is very on the beaten path, and you can infer some things from that about what the human experience of a Fuji trip will be like.
As for the hiking trail and the major mountain stations, this is very true. On the other hand - it really is very concentrated and the vast majority of tourists will just head straight to the hotspots.
Case in point: I happen to live here (Fuji 5 Lakes area; technically on Mt Fuji) since a couple of years. Been in and around Tokyo for several years prior. This summer, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, they finally threw the famous usually-yearly fire festival in town here.
It was really something, and even having been to more matsuri than I can count, this one really stood out in how lively it was, and the fact that it went on throughout the evening (the event peaks with the fires after sunset). Packed with locals and even more tourists - many thousands of people, including hundreds of foreigners. The air was electric. You could feel the fires bring out something different in the people. Many were drinking, of course.
At the tail end of the event (around 10pm), I went down to the local bar area and hung around for a bit. 'twas totally dead. Maybe even more than a normal weekend. I didn't see a single non-local soul out on the streets or in the few couple of bars. It was eerie. You'd think at least a percent or two of the visitors would stick around or explore instead of heading straight out or to their private accommodations on the dot?
Anyway, apart from just reinforcing your point and OPs about the beaten path being very narrow: Do come to Fuji, even off-season there's a lot more around here to see and experience than that hike itself and locals are still very much in want of business.
> Do come to Fuji, even off-season there's a lot more around here to see and experience than that hike itself and locals are still very much in want of business.
Well there are basically 10 places in Tokyo everyone goes to, and maybe they go to Kyoto or Osaka too. That leaves... the entire rest of the country. I've travelled around most of Japan and the majority of time I see zero foreigners.
Seriously just pick a random city from Japan Guide or go to an onsen. Visit Kyushu, it's beautiful and nobody seems to travel there because it's too far away :P
I love Matsumoto (in Nagano Prefecture), it's a lovely city located right in the midst of some beautiful mountains. Nara is also nice, but I'm a mountain boy at heart.
I'm planning a trip to Japan (my first), and I'm mostly interested in small towns or villages as day trips from somewhere that is already well outside of Tokyo. Would Matsumoto fit that bill?
Ideally I'd take a train out of the city and rent a car or bike in whatever smaller city I make my hub. Would love any other advice you have, and open to DMs/emails/etc. :-)
- Kurobe Gorge (industrial train ride into a beautiful deep mountain gorge)
- Kanazawa (middle size town with a beautiful garden and castle ruins - near Kurobe/Touyama)
- Izumo (100% inaka, one of the oldest shrines in Japan, traditional iron working museum, nice coast with a beautiful lighthouse, in day trip distance from the only real desert (!) in Japan in Tottori)
- Kinosaki (gorgeous onsen-only town, reachable by express train from Osaka)
- Kagoshima (has the huge active Sakurajima volcano right on the other side of the bay, many Meiji restoration landmarks, don't forgot to check what the satsuma maid group is up to)
- Hitoyoshi (a little town in a mountain valley pan in Kyushu, the mid point of the Hisatsu Line - a bit less reachable right now due to some washed out railway bridges, setting of Maitetsu VNs)
- Ikede (day trip distance from osaka, home to the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum & nice view of Osaka from the hill)
- Beppu (a not so big city that is effectively the onsen capital of the world, really - the Kannawa district that hosts the 7 hells is just bonkers)
- Enoshima (go by hanging monorail with tunnels (!!) from Ofuna, visit a beautifula island with calves, shrines, temples and botanical gardens, go back to Kamakura via Enoden - a cute old electric train that hugs back dors of peoples houses and runs on regular streets part of the way)
You can get two really good day trips out of Matsumoto: one for Matsumoto Castle and the inner city in general, and one for Kamikochi (https://www.kamikochi.org/). It's also easy to go from there to Kofun or Nagano.
For other advice I would recommend that at least one of your group speaks enough Japanese to ask directions, order food, use a laundromat, shop at a supermarket, describe what you want at a barber's, tell a doctor what you're ailing, ask a staff member where the lost and found is, that kind of stuff. Also note that New Year's and Golden Week are really awkward times to go and summer is hot and humid. Make sure to talk to your GP to make sure you have whatever vaccinations you need, I'm thinking of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in particular. Also make sure you take enough cash to get the most basic necessities if the airline manages to bungle your luggage. In short, just keep all the basic travel advice in mind and you'll be fine.
One of my favourite memories of my travels to Japan was when in Kyoto my buddy and I were standing at the corner of... I think it was Shijo and Karasuma? And we were heading to Sanjo (I may have mixed Shijo and Sanjo up, don't mind it), and I had just double checked on a map that we were heading the right way when suddenly a guy on a bike saw us standing there with our map and stopped. He decided to tell me and my friend about all the great places around Kyoto to go see temples, buy souvenirs, get a good drink, and so on.
A ways through his explanation someone else came up to us to ask us where we were going, and told us that our destination was simply straight ahead, and after saying our thanks we just kept listening to the guy rattle on. That kind of thing is what I really like about travelling, being a couple of thousand miles away from home, just listening to someone go on a ramble about whatever they think is interesting to talk about.
Truly. Even if you want to land in Tokyo (since lots of flight deals take you there or Osaka). Grab the Rail Pass before you fly in, then take the bullet train to any number of cities. You'll enjoy relatively low-cost travel thanks to the rail pass, and you'll get to see a bunch of cities that aren't as popular.
Its perfectly doable to land, activate Rail Pass and then move to your starting city by Shikansen on the same day. In 2019 we moved all the way to Hiroshima on the first day and stayed in Tokyo at the end for a couple days.
This order also very useful if you want to buy stome stuff, as usually Tokay has the best selection but you don't want to lug it all over Japan with you - best do the shopping at the end of the trip.
Babadani Onsen FTW! Just make sure the cold water hose does not fall out or selse the water ming be a little hot. ;-)
(Elevantion 800 above see level, 1 hour walk from Keyakidaira, which itself is 1 hour industrial train ride from Kurobe. Coincidentaly the very first onsen bath we took in Japan back in 2017. And without the cold water hose - but back then we didn't know an onsen should not be that hot. :D )
> exceptions include cities that have become theme parks like Venice
Even in Venice, if you leave San Marco and if you cross into San Polo, you just have to leave the Ponte Rialto behind. It also helps if you arrive by boat and land at Fondamente Nove and just don't take the "straight" route to Piazetta San Marco.
Cinque Terre is a similar "theme park" in italy. We've been there on an holiday weekend in spring with really nice weather. The trains were packed like in Tokio during rush hour. But even there, as soon as you left the main route, ascended some stairs, you had amazing views all for yourself and the only other tourists were those you saw down below.
People are just too lazy to take even small detours.
Agreed completely about Venice (and Cinque Terre). Sometimes just a couple of blocks away from the signposted route to San Marco is enough. Also, get out early in the morning, before the heat and the day visitors arrive.
I think the robustness of the advice is that there is a myriad of unbeaten paths in any place. And, if one particular unbeaten path becomes so popular among unbeaten paths fans that it becomes beaten, there will several others still unbeaten paths.
