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.
Some hiking
Rebun: The Flowered Floating Island
Frantically I put my foot down, driving along the incredible Route 106 (the last stretch of road to the north of Hokkaido) through a storm where the sky and the ocean are as one.
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?
Haunting
The Snow Monsters of Mount Zao
It’s not an easy encounter. I’d already visited a few years ago, but a gathering storm made it impossible for me to approach these monsters and stroke their silken fur.
Dynamic
Naruto Whirlpools
Find yourself in the middle of the Naruto Strait where the tidal currents slosh against each other.
Easy walk
Makomanai Takino Cemetery
One day, or maybe one night, near a cemetery, I fell asleep ...
