Some hiking
Nippara: Where The Samurai Came To Find Peace
Chance discoveries are often the most amazing. It was on the road to Nippara limestone caves that I found this village of little interest yet total surprise.
Haunting
Hachijo Royal Hotel: The Largest Abandoned Resort in Japan
It’s 300 kilometres from Tokyo, but that's where I meet up with my pal Martin for new adventures ... on a deserted island, in a forgotten hotel ...
Some hiking
Aogashima: Double Volcano Island
Aogashima is a very mysterious island. Online, always the same photos taken from a helicopter, sometimes photoshopped. But what’s really hidden behind these lava walls?
Some hiking
G-Cans: Japan’s Underground Temple
Hidden below the Tokyo streets is a true superhero – a bitumen-washed facility with state-of-the-art technology and an architectural beauty to put a Corbusier or two in the shade. This is G-Cans, also known by the unlikely name of Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel.
Easy walk
Niijima: The Island of Lava Cascades
An overnight ferry from Tokyo, a mountainous island of white rhyolite and the lava cascades of Koga: a day on Niijima, in the Izu archipelago, between cliffs, beaches and volcanic rock.
Hard hike
Oshima and its Black Desert
Oshima is the largest island in the Izu peninsula. It has an active volcano surrounded by black desert... the only desert in Japan!
Lively
Oarai Shrine: Ocean Gateway
Oarai Shrine is also known as Kamiiso no Torii, the Gateway of the Sea God. It was established in 856 but rebuilt in 1690.
Easy walk
Nomizo Falls: The Heart of Light
6.30am and Nomizo is quick to reveal itself. Little by little, a streak of light is emerging. Pretty impressive.
Off the map
Futtsu Park
Futtsu has something special to offer (who’d have thought it!) – a park on a small narrow peninsula. By stretching things a little (6 kilometres anyway), you can reach the seaport of Yokosuka on the other side and make a complete tour of Tokyo Bay.
