Japan’s 10 Hidden Gems to Visit in 2025

Japan has so much nature and cultural sites beyond the main cities and if you're watching this video that's awesome because just like us you want to explore these. If you're new here I'm Roy, this is Amy and we've been in Japan for about five years now and now we live in this beautiful part of the countryside. From our countless trips all over Japan we've handcrafted this list of our top 10 hidden gems. Most of these places are around the central Japan area but our hope is is even if it's your first visit to Japan you can find your way off the main tourist trail. Starting the number 10 we have Chichibu. We'll be counting down from 10 to 1, 1 being our absolute favorite place in all of Japan and believe it or not it's not what you saw on the thumbnail. But back to Chichibu. Chichibu is a countryside town about 90 minutes on a direct train from Tokyo and it is just the perfect place to just bust out of the cities and really begin to experience the countryside of Japan and the mountains and all the beautiful nature there is. Such a great thing about Chichibu is that there's just already so many unique activities that you can do in this area. For example there's this ancient pilgrimage hike that you can do where you like go this on this ancient trail and you go between all these shrines it's just rich with culture. There's awesome hikes all through the national park in the area. There's a town next to it called Nagatoro where you can actually hop on a boat and go down the river and you can get tours by Japanese people doing this cruise. If you're into seasonal things in spring there's a flower festival where this entire hill just lights up in this bright pink flower it's so awesome and if you're cool like me and you watch a lot of anime this place is actually so cool because there was this anime this cult classic called Anohana and it is set in this town and what's so cool is that Chichibu has actually kind of just taken it and ran with it. The city has created routes where you can go around and visit all the different places that were featured in the anime they've even done things where they painted an entire train with like a mural of like the characters and stuff like that it's so cool you really just feel like you're suddenly in the land of anime because they've just kind of merged all together with real life. Love it. And as Roy said earlier there is direct transport from Tokyo so I really love Chichibu for that reason but in terms of really detailed transport info we're not going to go into it in this video here but we have created a map with all of these 10 different hidden gems pinned and we've got really thorough transport info there for you guys so that map is going to be on our patreon you can access it for free and the link to the patreon is in the video description. So that takes us on to number nine on our list which is Teradomari street market. This entry on the list is a fish market there are a lot of fish markets around Japan and they are quite popular so you've got Tsukiji in Tokyo or you've got Omicho in Kanazawa and these ones are getting quite crowded and honestly the prices are not as great anymore I would say so it is you know quite nice if you can to get off that beaten path a little bit and go to one or two that are not in the main areas so this one is located in Niigata prefecture along the western coast of Japan and we visited there earlier this year and just really loved the local feel to it how it was reasonably priced and there are so many like fried seafood snacks there's crab soup there's fresh seafood of course that you can pick up so good right that you can pick up and eat there on the spot. Niigata itself is about two to three hours from Tokyo by Shinkansen so you can access it by public transport but if you really want to do a bit more of a deep dive into the area it is probably better to get a car and then you can do things like there's really beautiful rice fields and countryside around that area there's a town over called Yuzawa which is very good in winter time for skiing and snowboarding and it does have a lot of really cool art installations that they have started to put throughout the countryside to encourage tourism as I said we did travel to this area a little bit earlier this year so if you'd like some inspiration for what you can do yourself around the area then there'll be a card on screen somewhere around here and you can click on that and see the video number eight on the list is the area of Minakami just one hour on the Shinkansen from Tokyo Minakami I like to think is like an outdoor adventurer's paradise there's this company there called Canyons Japan and they take you on guided tours doing canyoning and rafting so if you feel like just throwing yourself off a waterfall into a ravine you can do that or if that's a bit too much like high action for you you can just do guided tours doing rafting which is such a good way to just like mellow out and just like take in all the beautiful mountains and nature and scenery and all that it might be a little bit high action with the rapids but they are some of the best rapids in Japan apparently but if that's all still too much you can also just chill out and do some hiking there's this mountain called Mount Tanigawa it's a five hour return trip it offers like incredible views I like to think and then the area of Minakami believe it or not it just keeps on giving it's also an onsen town right so if you have a car some of these places are a bit difficult to get to but you can get up into the mountains where there's these amazing like onsen resorts and they just leave me speechless to be completely honest they can just give you that classic this is Japan kind of experience moving on from action-packed adventure to cultural and historical sites we have Kayabuki no Sato this entry on the list is a thatched roof house village there are quite a few of these across the country of Japan and particularly the one that's most popular is called Shirakawako it's not you know crazy busy like Tokyo or Kyoto but these days you know there are quite a lot of tourists there's bus loads that come in so if you're looking for I guess an off the beaten path experience perhaps Shirakawako doesn't quite provide that anymore although it is you know still very beautiful so Kayabuki no Sato located in northern Kyoto offers a little bit more of a peaceful experience if you want to see one of these traditional villages in this village in particular a lot of people still actually live in the houses so it kind of feels a bit more like a peaceful look into the countryside of Japan because of that there aren't as many restaurants and cafes and amenities for tourists as Shirakawako but if you're again looking for this really peaceful experience I think this one is a really good pick for you and of course there are some places some of the actual houses that you can stay in overnight which I think would make a really a really great experience yeah I want to do that one day yeah me too as I said earlier this one is located in northern Kyoto so you can reach it by public transport in about an hour or two from Kyoto city itself but it's probably going to come up with a lot of these listings if you would like to see even more of the area then it could be a good option to get a car and northern Kyoto in particular has a lot of really scenic spots there are other villages like Ine village there is scenic spots like Amanohashidate so I would really recommend those as well and we've got a video where we explored them so again we'll leave a card somewhere and you can check that out if you'd like to see this area. Number six on the list is Kurobe Gorge on the west coast of Japan this gorge cuts into the northern alps and it's one of the deepest gorges in all of Japan one of the main things to do in this area is ride a sightseeing train you hop on and you ride through the steep sides of the valleys you take in these amazing views like the water is just so blue and in autumn it's like one of the best places to see autumn colors in all of Japan it's just absolutely incredible I don't asterisk that that's our our claim it's not someone else's claim it's pretty amazing trust trust me at this current point in time you can't go to the final stop of the sightseeing train because at the start of this year 2024 not a peninsular earthquake there's some damages so you can't hop off but that shouldn't be too much of a killer for this place because there's other stops that you can do along the way you can hop off the train and then you can start these like hikes through the area through the steep valleys of the gorge which is pretty incredible and you can go and stay at some rustic onsen inns they've got their own onsens or you can go hiking you can find your own wild onsens out there apparently I think it's a really cool place to go and in regards to the damages from the earthquake at the time of filming this video those are in effect but hopefully they will get those fixed perhaps down the line coming in at number five is Yamagata. Yamagata is both a prefecture in northern Japan and there is also Yamagata city inside that prefecture and it's around two to three hours by the Shinkansen from Tokyo the reason why this one makes it onto the list is that it's both a really nice peaceful city it's still got things going on and it serves as a really good base for so much nature and onsen really beautiful things around the area so to the northeast of the city you have Yamadera temple Yamadera temple it's got like a thousand steps that you need to climb up to the top and then you get really beautiful views over the valley there's also just south of that Zao Onsen this is both an onsen town as the name suggests and in winter time it's also a ski resort and it's a really nice one because on the top of the mountain there's this thing called snow monsters what are snow monsters you might ask in Japan there's this phenomenon in some places where when there are really cold days and strong winds the trees get covered in snow and make it look like snow monsters so you can see those at Zao Onsen there's illumination so you don't even have to really like snow sports in of itself and then a bit further afield on the western side of Yamagata city you have the Dewa Sanzan these ones are a bit more accessible if you do have a car and what they are are three sacred mountains the mountains range in difficulty if you would like to hike up to the top of them so Mount Dasan for example is a little bit more difficult while Mount Haguro is really quite accessible in all seasons it probably takes around two to three hours return and Haguro in particular you start down in the forest with these red bridges, pagodas, really tall feeder trees and then you walk up a whole bunch of stairs to the top where there is a shrine and we've only been in winter but it was just so magical it was like a jiffy dream yeah really recommend that one and Yamagata overall moving on to number four on the list we have Hakuba I am talking about this one not Roy because it is about hiking I see a mountain in the distance and I say wonder what that mountain's can I climb to the top what does it look like from the top I love it I love it I love it so Hakuba is an area it's a town that is right next to the Japanese northern Alps and it's particularly popular in winter time it is fairly well known I would say at that time because it is as I said right next to the Alps and it has many many ski resorts in the one valley and Australians like us in particular really enjoy going to this area for skiing and snowboarding however I wanted to put it in here on this list for summer and autumn time because it has such great hiking to do being next to the Alps there are really big long multi-day hikes that can be done along the top of the peaks to be fair we haven't done those it's on the bucket list I really really want to do them or there are some day hikes as well that can be done in around three hours return and they still allow you to see the beautiful beautiful Alps but you don't have to exert yourself as much and they're particularly nice in autumn around the first couple of weeks of October when they just burst to life with all of the autumn colors now I will say that in the footage you're seeing on screen now it does look pretty crowded and the reason for that is that hiking and hiking in the Alps is very popular with domestic tourists with Japanese people so if you would like a quieter experience then I would recommend going on a weekday not on a weekend and just enjoy these getting down to the spicy end of things number three on the list is Izu Izu is a peninsula located two hours south of Tokyo and I like to think it's this awesome place where you can see the sea suddenly just jut up into these big cliffs and like making these fantastic coastal views some of the best in central Japan I like to think the other big drawcard for the area is that you can see Mount Fuji from so many different places within Izu Peninsula like the base of Mount Fuji and all the kind of sightseeing areas can get pretty busy right but believe it or not you can just go to this other place not so close to Fuji and you get these spectacular views alongside that it's a great place for scenic walks you can do coastal walks or you can go inland and you can do walks next to waterfalls and stuff like that and on top of that because it's next to the coast it's a great opportunity to stay in a Japanese inn and you can get served up some of the freshest seafood you could ever have in Japan and sit in an onsen and look out at the beautiful ocean yeah yeah yeah nothing beats that to be honest one quick note about traveling this area is that the east coast is quite accessible by public transport but the west coast much alike a lot of these places we're talking about today is much easier reached in a car coming in at second is Togakushi shrine this is located more to the western side of Japan right in a national park and it's not too far from Nagano city as the name suggests this is a shrine and it's also a power spot and it consists of the lower shrine the middle shrine and the upper shrine and I would say the upper shrine is probably what most people might be familiar with if they've seen a photo it is the photo on the thumbnail of this video I mean depending on the season it takes around one hour to go from the torii gate there at the upper shrine all the way to the shrine near the mountain and back again and you know it doesn't matter what season it is it's so beautiful you've got these really tall trees that line the path in summer it can be very atmospheric with all of the lush green and then in winter well it's just a magical winter paradise really it doesn't matter what season you go in it's quite beautiful as I just mentioned it's an hour or so from Nagano city and the area around Nagano city could be a really good place to explore and base yourself in the city because you've got Togakushi more to the west side of the city but then on the eastern side you have got the snow monkey part and around there there's also a couple of onsen town and then winter if you're visiting there are really quite a lot of snow resorts all around that area so it's a great spot to just be for a couple of days I think and coming in at number one is Gujo Hachiman which is a countryside town located in Gifu and it has just got everything oh my god it is my favorite our favorite spot in all of Japan first of all it's got this amazing river that runs through the town which the water is so clear so blue it's gorgeous to the eyes and then the houses that line the river just look so picturesque I love it I feel like I'm in a Ghibli fantasy it's amazing and then the things you can do in the town is amazing right you probably wouldn't know this but those food replicas the plastic ones that you see at the front of restaurants pretty much all of the ones in Japan are made there it's like the leading distributor and creator of those so there's kind of workshops that you can do where you kind of make those I think that's really cool and then on to the biggest thing in the town in terms of like hands-on experience is the Gujo Hachiman Odori or dance festival this festival is limited to summer time but it kind of runs throughout the entire summer time and basically it hits dusk and everyone comes out in their kind of like traditional Japanese outfits and then they run through these kind of like set dances that everyone in the town seems to just magically know it's got the best energy honestly and then they're running these food stalls as well it's almost like a little Japanese festival right for the first time when we stumbled across this festival we kind of just jumped in and we kind of were dancing we had no idea what the hell we were doing it's a little bit embarrassing no but it was still fun though it's still fun everyone was like pushing us in like and you go into the line dance yeah yeah which is such a good energy and then finally so we went back another year and then we actually did the full thing we kind of like bought some geta like the Japanese sandals we bought all that like you got the festival gear and we wore it and it's just it's just magical it's the best vibes ever and that time we went with my parents and it was on a 10-day road trip around central Japan and they said that was their favorite spot and their favorite experience and we actually there are videos online where you can watch the dancers and so we were practicing for like a week leading up in like our different airbnbs were practicing the dances and stuff but i think regardless if you practice and wear the traditional clothes or you don't you just rock up it's just so the energy is just electric it's so good yeah and it honestly doesn't even stop there for good y'all they've even got a castle sitting on top of one of the nearby peaks of the like the hills or the mountains and it just makes this a great spot to go check out the history of the area but be also just this beautiful vista where you can see everything you see the rivers i was talking about before and speaking of rivers similar to a lot of other small towns in gifu prefecture this one has koi swimming in not necessarily the gutters but these little streams running along the path the reason why there's these streams is because the town can be quite prone to fire so they've got all these streams and just koi swimming along it's really beautiful another thing that's quite refreshing almost in a literal sense is how often people during like this well during hot summers get the swimmers on they go down to the river and they just like jump off bridges and like that's a bit dangerous but even like rocks on the side into the river honestly it looks like the best time ever i was so sad both times when we went and i didn't have my swimmers with me next time we go i'm definitely going to bring my swimmers and be jumping off the rocks with the locals as well and the really nice thing about good job and most of the places on this list is that it had surprisingly quite good english support when we went to the tourist information center they had this book that we got and it was just so full of such great english information on the area so it does really feel like they're quite prepared to have more international tourists come they just need to know about it so that is our top 10 hidden gems in japan if you want to see more about our life out here in the japanese countryside or how we travel around japan please consider subscribing and thank you so much for watching don't forget to check out the link in the video description if you'd like the whole map on these 10 places and we'll see you in the next video bye