Easy walk
Tsutsuishi: Where fine days dissolve in smiles
One beautiful summer morning, I head for Tsutsuishi on the local train.
Melancholic
Nagoro: Village of Dolls
For those who enjoy driving and don’t find cliffsides and mountain switchbacks too scary, the Iya Valley offers magnificent landscapes and dozens of remote villages, each one more picturesque than the last.
Easy walk
Inami: Yokamachi-dori (Cat Street)
Still dusty from exploring an abandoned clinic, on the way back to the car I chance upon a very pretty little street.
Off the map
Itaibara : Tottori’s Forgotten Hamlet
Quitting the autoroute that leads to the town of Chizu, I take a mountain road. It’s typical of this terrain where you often come across deer, foxes, monkeys, sometimes even bears, especially early morning just before sunrise.
Easy walk
Tomonoura : The Village of Ponyo
I’m going round in circles. Where on earth is it? After searching far and wide for the way up, a steep flight of steps appears in front of me.
Frosty
Ginzan Onsen : Silver Mine Hot Springs
Ginzan Onsen takes you back to the Taisho Era, warming your toes in an ashiyu – a piping-hot footbath – while enjoying an idyllic view of falling snow.
Haunting
Nichitsu Ghost Town
The abandoned tin-mining village, about 50 km from Chichibu in Saitama, can also be reached from Kofu in Yamanashi.
Haunting
The Abandoned Western Village in Japan
Exploration of the abandoned Western Village in Japan with three girls who enjoyed pretending to be part of a western movie.
Easy walk
Yamanouchi: Chihiro, Monkeys & Onsen
My favourite film from the Ghibli studios is Spirited Away. A number of ryokan inspired this anime fantasy, particularly Kanaguya, near the famous Jigokudani monkeys in the town of Yamanouchi.
