Shizuoka · Yaizu · Craft A small family workshop in Yaizu still smoking bonito over open fire. The umami in your dashi most likely starts in a workshop like this. A craftsman at one of the workshop’s steaming stations. The…
Kyoto · World Heritage · Temple A 1,200-year-old World Heritage temple most travelers walk past on their way to somewhere else. The five-story pagoda is the tallest of its kind in Japan. A grey heron flying past Toji’s five-story pagoda.…
Fukuoka · Sasaguri · Temple A 41-meter sleeping bronze giant in a quiet mountain town — what to expect, what to wear, and how to get there. The Reclining Buddha at Nanzoin in summer. Bronze patina, eyes closed, the cloud…
Fukuoka · Sasaguri · Forest A small university research forest with a pond full of trees standing in water — and a careful set of rules to keep it that way. The bald-cypress pond inside Kyudai-no-Mori. The water sits still…
Nagano · Naraijuku · Shrine A 12th-century shrine that ended an epidemic in 1618 — and still sits at the edge of the post town, mostly empty. The torii at Shizume Shrine on a December morning. Snow on the shimenawa…
Nagano · Naraijuku · Off-Season December at the wooden inns of the Kiso valley — what the off-season actually looks like, and what you give up to get it. The main street, late afternoon. The mountains behind the post town…
Nagano · Itineraries · Kiso Valley Two preserved Edo-period post towns, one valley, one train line, one full day. The route I keep coming back to. A ryokan facade in Naraijuku with the Kiso mountains behind. The same valley runs…
Field report from Ine no Funaya in northern Kyoto: cruise vs sea taxi, access from Kyoto Station, walking-village etiquette, and where to actually stay nearby.
Reservation-only kombu ramen experience above the 1902 Itutuji no Kombu kelp shop in Kyoto Nishijin. Three seatings a day, ¥1,520 plus the one-kombu rule. Field report by Nobu.
Field report from the 900-year-old Takeda-style yabusame at Fuji Omuro Sengen Shrine, Lake Kawaguchiko. 12-photo slideshow, day timeline, photography tips, and the date for 2027.
Field notes, weekly
One email a week. The Japan worth planning around.
Nearly every image on Hidden Japan Gems was photographed by me on a Sony α7 across five years of walking Japan; a few licensed photos fill the gaps. Please don't re-use my photos without permission — reach out if you'd like to.
For licensing, write to hello@hiddenjapan-gems.com