ideas for travel in Japan
 

HI, I've travelled japan quite a bit but I'm looking at going back to visit friends and so will have about 10 days to do some more travelling. I'm hoping to see some of the more off the beaten track places. So far I'm eyeing the coast line up from Tokyo to Sendai or do the island of Shikoku. Any suggestions on interesting places?

How about Kanazawa, Takayama, Shirakawa-go and Magome and Tsumago. That would easily fill ten days.

Where have you been and what did you enjoy in Japan?

Sendai, ok, but keep going north to Tazawako, Nyuto Onsen, and Kakunodate. Akita.

Kyushu: Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Aso-san, Beppu, Fukuoka, Shimabara peninsula, Nagasaki.

The San-in coast: Hagi, Izumo, Matsue.

Take a look at the special airfares for visitors that JAL and ANA both have. It costs between 10000 and 12000 or so per flight.

You could fly to Sapporo for a few days and visit Hokkaido. Then fly somewhere else ... down to Nagoya and visit Magome and Tsumago, and Matsumoto.

I've done Takayama,Shirakawago, Kanazawa,Wajima,Tsumago,Magome, Gero,Nagoya,Kyoto,Osaka,Himeiji,Kobe, Koyasan,Nara,Hiroshima,Fukuoka,Shimabar,Nagasaki,O kinawa,Sapporo,Tokyo,Hakone, Kamakura,Nikko, Yokohama

I'm not an onsen person,unless I can wear a swimming costume.

In japan I love travelling to see natural and historical sights. I have not done the northern part of Honshu or Shikoku, hence I'm more keen to travel there, but travel info about those areas don't seem to interest me much. Look pretty similar to any big city and the usual temples and gardens. Hence I was hoping if anyone has covered northern Honshu or shikoku, better yet has lived there, if you had any good suggestions on what is worth seeing and experiencing there.

Hokkaido I will leave to cover that with friends later.

Thanks!!

How about the Nagano area? Lots of scenery, good hiking, interesting food (like insect larvae).

KimJapan, you mention insect larvae, and it brings a smile to my face. I spent some time in Nagano and was fed hachinoko throughout my stay there. It was so good, I enjoyed it tremendously. Finally one day I sat down and took a good look to see what I was eating, and did a translation in my head-hachi-no-ko, and suddenly realized I had been eating bee larvae! I don't think I ate it after that or have had it since.

What a wonderful problem to have.
Have you looked at the Kirishima area? It looks very interesting (active volcanos) and somewhat unique.
The JTNO site had some good info.

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/r...kirishima.html

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.