Do you have any recommendations for places to visit outside of Tokyo that aren’t Kyoto/Osaka?
Lucky bugger here is heading there at the end of April, doing a stint in Tokyo and a couple of days in Hiroshima/Miyajima. Have 3 days left to play with, will have the old JR pass to get around and would like to go somewhere I didn’t visit last time. Have been looking at the Nagano area but it looks pretty massive with sites pretty spread out.
About to go early Friday morning with a JR Pass. I got recommended a few places:
Naoshima- island full of art museums
Okunoshima- island full of rabbits
Nara- old town near Kyoto/Osaka full of deer
Kobe- city near Osaka full of art stuff
Here’s my itinerary
Fri 10/Sat 11 March- Fly to Osaka
12-15 March- Tokyo including Ghibli Museum
16-20 March- Kyoto + day trip to Kobe
21st March- Naoshima
22nd March- Onomichi- for rabbit island
23-24 March- Hiroshima & Miyajima
25 March- Nara
26 March- Osaka
27 March- fly home
I really liked Nagano, but to get around you’ll need to rely on the bus system which can be a bit complex if you don’t read Japanese. Was only there for a day, but Zenko-ji Temple is awesome, and there’s some really cool mountaintop shrines way off the tourist track.