Kururi, Chiba: A Quiet Castle Town of Free-Flowing Wells, Local Sake, and a One-Carriage Railway
Kururi may be the least-touristed castle town within reach of Tokyo.
Getting There
Train Only
6 quiet, car-free day trips you can reach by Train Only.
Mount Hodo (Hodosan): Hodosan Shrine, Seasonal Blossoms, and Views over Nagatoro
Mount Hodo is the flower mountain above Nagatoro — a standalone peak in Saitama's Chichibu district with an ornate shrine at its foot, a modest ropeway up its…
Nagatoro River Cruise: Wooden Boats, the Iwadatami Rock Terrace, and a Quiet Day on the Arakawa
Nagatoro is the closest place to Tokyo where you can drift down a real gorge in a wooden boat poled by a boatman — a river cruise that has been running since…
Naritasan Shinshoji Temple, Narita: Access from Tokyo, the Morning Goma Fire Ritual, and a Quiet Temple Park
Naritasan Shinshoji is one of the great pilgrimage temples of eastern Japan, founded in 940 around a statue of Fudo Myoo, and it rewards the traveler who…
Nokogiriyama (Mount Nokogiri): Ropeway, the Giant Stone Buddha, and a Quiet Escape Across Tokyo Bay
Nokogiriyama — "Saw Mountain" — rises straight from the Tokyo Bay coast in southern Chiba, its ridge cut into jagged teeth by centuries of stone quarrying.
Yoro Valley (Yoro Keikoku): Waterfalls, a Slow Country Railway, and Kanto's Last Autumn Colors
Yoro Valley — Yōrō Keikoku in Japanese — hides in the middle of Chiba's Boso Peninsula, at the end of a one-track country railway where trains come once an…