Some hiking
Taikodani Inari Shrine: Vermilion Night Dive
263 steps, nearly 1000 torii, and a red that stays in your eyes. Taikodani Inari Shrine leaves an imprint; its vermilion arches align as a visual protective charm.
Off the map
Nagano with Friends: Onsen and Nakayoshi
We reach the end of our Nagano adventures, told in drawings by Sophie Dreamy: a manga café, a snowbound haikyo, and one last onsen with friends.
Namu Daishō Fudōson: Fire at the Edge of the Fields
In Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, a small Fudō altar stands at the edge of the rice fields, right before the forest takes everything back. A red torii, a wooden pavilion: behind the calm watches Namu Daishō Fudōson, deity of fire.
Ethereal
Ogi Rice Terraces: Infinity in an Open Field
At Ogi, the terraced rice fields climb 820 metres above sea level. The sixteen terraces form giant mirrors that reflect the sky and clouds, creating a world upside down. When the sun rises, the flooded plots transform into XXL mirrors, making you feel like you’re walking above the clouds.
Abashiri Prison: A How-To for Not Escaping
In the late 1800s, prisoners were sent to Abashiri to build their own jail and open up northern Japan with chains, picks and snow. Today it's a museum. The mood has stayed.
Easy walk
The Strange Stone Sculptures of Takanabe Daishi
Located on the north coast of Miyazaki Prefecture, the small town of Takanabe is home to an unusual collection of stone sculptures.
Hagi, the Calm Before Meiji
An old castle town on the Sea of Japan: empty lanes, white walls, and citrus in the samurai gardens, in the place where Japan tipped into the Meiji era.
Alone at Dōgo Onsen: The Empty Bathhouse
One of Japan's oldest baths, in Matsuyama, with its Spirited Away looks. I got to stand inside the Dōgo Onsen Honkan alone during COVID, photographing a bath with no bathers.
Off the map
The Stuck Toyota Land Cruiser
Along an abandoned road in the Boso Peninsula mountains, a rare Toyota Land Cruiser Cygnus rests in silence — a true haikyo-car slowly reclaimed by the forest.
