One of my favourite experiences I’ve had in Japan so far was walking part of the Nakasendo Trail 🌿🇯🇵
@imkeepsake and I spent 3 days walking the ancient Samurai route in November. The trail connects Tokyo and Kyoto through mountain villages in Gifu and Nagano Prefecture.
Instead of spending a ton of money getting a tour company to sort out our route and accommodation, we did it ourselves for a fraction of the price (plus it was super straightforward).
Here is our route & accommodation:
🇯🇵 Day 0: We travelled from Nagoya to Nakatasugawa the day before we started our walk, and stayed overnight in Onn Nakatsugawa.
🇯🇵 Day 1: Bus from Nakatsugawa → walked Magome to Tsumago (one of the most popular sections, and yes, it was busy!) → continued on foot to Nagiso Station. Stayed at the most beautiful renovated farmhouse hostel in the mountains called Yui-an Hostel 🏡 @helloyuian
🇯🇵 Day 2: Walked straight from the hostel to Nojiri Station. THIS was my favourite day, completely quiet, so scenic, and totally peaceful. Took the train to Kiso-Fukushima and explored the town before checking into Morino Hotel (with an onsen!) ♨️
🇯🇵 Day 3: Train to Yubuhara → walked the Torii Pass to Narai-Juku. Still quiet, still stunning, and ending in one of the most beautiful post towns I’ve ever seen. We spent the afternoon wandering before heading to Matsumoto 🏯
The second and third days, when we barely saw another soul, were by far my favourite. As Magome–Tsumago is easy to do in one day and accessible from Nagoya, it’s also quite busy. I would really recommend adding a few more days and see some of the quieter parts of this incredible route.
Have you walked any part of the Nakasendo?
#japantravel #explorejapan #visitjapanus #visitjapanjp #japan_of_insta
Little throwbacks to visiting Serigaya Park in Machida, Tokyo 🇯🇵
Machida is where the creator of Pokémon, Satoshi Tajiri, grew up. He spent a lot of time in this park collecting insects as a child, something that inspired him to create Pokémon later on in life 🥰
Six Pokémon manhole covers are placed throughout the park to honour Satoshi Tajiri. There are over 200 Pokémon manhole covers scattered across Japan, often in places that you may not visit otherwise, to encourage tourism 🇯🇵
Pokémon is pretty much my entire childhood, so visiting this park felt very special. I have no doubt it sparked my love for Japan in the first place 💕
The park itself is STUNNING too! Such a lovely green spot in an urban area, with little streams, ponds and tons of trees 🌲 There was even a Sakura Festival on when we visited, so we got to enjoy some street food and live music. Wish we could do it again @datmattmiles & @imkeepsake
#pokemon #manholecover #japantravel #japanlover #japangram
Two of the highlights of our time in Kyushu has to be Arita and Okawachiyama 🇯🇵
Comment “Arita” and I’ll DM you a link to my brand new Arita itinerary!
Hidden in one of the least visited prefectures of Japan (Saga), you can find the birthplace of Japanese porcelain. Since the 17th century, these towns have perfected their art, passing down techniques and patterns from generation to generation 🍶
From visiting the quarry where the main ingredient for porcelain was first discovered in the area to the stunning porcelain Torii gate of Tozan Shrine, Arita has quite a lot to see for such a small and quaint town.
Okawachiyama, the town of the secret kilns, isn’t too far from Arita (around 20 minutes by car) and can easily be added on a day trip 🇯🇵
The only struggle is trying not to completely fill your suitcase with the most beautiful ceramics 😅
@saga_trip_genius #visitkyushujp #kyushubucketlist #visitjapan #japantravel #explorejapan
A few snaps from our time in Kyushu at the end of 2025 🇯🇵❤️
Will be working on getting my new Kyushu guides live as soon as possible. The 3-4 day Fukuoka itinerary has already gone live, and I’m putting the finishing touches on my new Nagasaki guide 🥰
Missing Kyushu already 😭
#kyushu #japantravels #explorejapan
💛🧡❤️
Best season 🍁
Some pictures from last year in Takayama 🇯🇵 Currently in Kyushu and the colours are slowly starting to pop here too!
#japan #explorejapan
Did you know you can see some of the world’s largest natural whirlpools in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture? 🌀
The sea between Shikoku and Awaji Island has the perfect conditions for them to appear, sometimes getting as big as 20 meters in diameter 😮
Sightseeing boats can take you up close and sail between the whirlpools! I didn’t really know what to expect but it was VERY impressive 🤩 We managed to see quite a few!
#my_shikoku #narutowhirlpools #tokushima #japantravels #shikoku #visitshikoku #visitjapanjp #visitjapan
