Quiet Japan静かな日本
Instead of
Fushimi Inari Taisha at midday
Try
Fushimi Inari at dawn, climbing past Yotsutsuji
The shrine is typically open all night. Start by 6:30; most visitors turn back at the Yotsutsuji crossing, halfway up
The gates are the same at dawn. The difference is that you hear your own footsteps, and the crows.
Instead of
Arashiyama bamboo grove
Try
The bamboo path at Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, or the moss garden at Giō-ji
If you do want the main grove, arrive around 6:00; it is usually quiet until about 8:30
A short stand of bamboo behind a temple of a thousand stone figures, a few minutes’ walk north. Giō-ji next door is a single thatched hall in a sea of moss.
Instead of
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion
Try
Ginkaku-ji at opening, then Hōnen-in down the hill
Be at Ginkaku-ji for the first entry of the day; Hōnen-in’s grounds are typically free and open from early morning
The Silver Pavilion was never silvered, and its sand garden is better for it. Hōnen-in has a moss-roofed gate and two raked sand mounds, and very few visitors.
Instead of
Kiyomizu-dera in the late morning
Try
Kiyomizu-dera in the evening, or Shōren-in instead
Kiyomizu-dera holds evening openings in some seasons; check dates. Shōren-in is usually calm at any hour
Shōren-in is a former imperial temple with camphor trees older than most nations. You can sit on its veranda with green tea and look at the garden for as long as you like.
Instead of
Kyoto’s famous temples in peak maple week
Try
Ōhara and Sanzen-in, or the three temples of Takao
An hour north, the maples are as red and the valley still smells of shiso fields and woodsmoke. In Takao, the path follows a river between three mountain temples.
Instead of
Spending a whole trip in Kyoto
Try
Two or three nights in Kanazawa as well
Teahouse streets, samurai lanes, a great garden and a living craft culture, with a fraction of Kyoto’s crowds. It is a few hours by train.
Instead of
Kenroku-en in the middle of the day
Try
Kenroku-en in the early free-entry hours, or Gyokusen’inmaru Garden
Kenroku-en has typically opened some gates early in the morning for free entry before official hours; verify current times
In the first light the gardeners are at work and the ponds are still. Gyokusen’inmaru, across the road in the castle park, is small, green and often empty.
Instead of
The deer crowds in Nara Park
Try
The Isuien and Yoshiki-en gardens, or Naramachi early
Walk Naramachi before 9am, when shutters go up
Isuien borrows the roof of Tōdai-ji and the hills behind it as its backdrop. Next door, Yoshiki-en has moss, a tea garden and very few people.
Instead of
Shibuya Crossing
Try
Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi (Yanesen)
Old wooden houses, temple walls, a cemetery under cherry trees and a shopping street where the croquettes are made fresh. Tokyo before the towers.
Instead of
Sensō-ji at midday
Try
Sensō-ji at 6am, or Shibamata Taishakuten
The temple grounds are typically open from early morning; by 6am the incense is lit and the stalls are shuttered
Shibamata is an old riverside neighbourhood with a temple covered in extraordinary wood carvings, and sweet shops selling mugwort dumplings.
Instead of
Hakone Open-Air Museum on a weekend
Try
Pola Museum of Art, mid-week
Go Tuesday to Thursday; Hakone fills with Tokyo weekenders on Saturdays
Glass and concrete sunk into a beech forest, with an Impressionist collection and a woodland path outside. Mid-week, you may have whole rooms to yourself.
Instead of
Lake Kawaguchiko and its Fuji viewpoints
Try
Lake Motosu or Lake Shōji
Clear views are most likely in the early morning from late autumn to winter
The western lakes are smaller and quieter, with campsites and fishing jetties rather than coach parks. The mountain is just as close.
Instead of
Miyajima as a day trip
Try
Staying overnight on the island
Most day visitors leave by about 5pm; the shrine is calm again before 9am
At night the torii is lit, the deer settle on the shore and the shopping street goes dark. You can walk to the water and hear only the tide.
Instead of
Shirakawa-go as a day trip
Try
Ainokura, in Gokayama
A smaller village of steep thatched farmhouses above terraced rice fields, with a handful of minshuku for overnight guests. After dark, the only light comes from the windows.
Instead of
Takayama old town at midday
Try
Hida-Furukawa
Fifteen minutes north by local train; go in the morning and come back for a late lunch
The same white-walled storehouses and timber shopfronts, with carp in the canals and candle makers still at work. You will share it with schoolchildren and a few cyclists.
Instead of
Walking Magome to Tsumago in the middle of the day
Try
Walking early from Magome
Leave Magome by 8am; you walk ahead of most groups and reach Tsumago before noon
The pass is cool, the waterfalls are loud and the tea house at the top is just lighting its fire. Stay in Tsumago and you will have its street after 4pm, too.
Instead of
The popular Nakahechi stretch in peak spring and autumn
Try
The same route in shoulder season
Early March or early December, avoiding Japanese holiday weeks
The cedar and the shrines do not change, but the small inns have rooms, and you can walk an hour without passing anyone.
Instead of
Naoshima on a weekend
Try
Teshima, mid-week
Museum closure days vary by island and by season, and some need timed tickets; check each before you plan
Teshima is greener and slower, with terraced rice fields and a single museum shaped like a drop of water. Bring a bicycle and a whole day.
Instead of
The main island of Okinawa
Try
A night on Taketomi, in the Yaeyama islands
Day visitors usually leave on afternoon ferries to Ishigaki; stay over
Sand streets, coral walls and red-tiled roofs. After the last ferry, the village is just stars, geckos and somebody playing the sanshin.
Instead of
Yufuin’s main street
Try
Kurokawa onsen, at night
Stay overnight; the lanes and baths are calmest after dark and early in the morning
A river valley of wooden inns, each with its own bath. Walk between them in yukata and geta, under lanterns, as the steam rises off the water.
Instead of
Okunoin cemetery in the middle of the day
Try
Okunoin at dusk or first light
Day buses typically come between about 10am and 3pm
Two kilometres of cedar, moss and stone lanterns. In the half-dark, with the lanterns lit, it is as quiet as anywhere you will stand in Japan.
Being good guests
Japan welcomes more visitors than ever, and in a handful of places it shows. Kyoto’s Gion and Higashiyama, the lanes of Kamakura and the convenience-store Fuji viewpoints near Kawaguchiko have all seen crowds, blocked streets and new rules. Buses fill before residents can board. Front doors become photo backdrops.
These are neighbourhoods first. People live, work, study and grow old in them. The temples are places of worship, and the gardens are kept by people who have given their lives to them.
So we try to be good guests. We go to fewer places for longer, at the quiet ends of the day. We work with local guides and family-run inns, and spread what you spend across towns that welcome it. We respect closures and photography rules without argument. And we only travel in small, private groups.
01Fewer places, longer
Four towns, properly, rather than ten in a hurry. You see more, and you weigh less on each.
02The edges of the day
We plan around opening times and evenings, when the places are calmer and so are the people who live there.
03Local hands
Local guides, family inns, small restaurants and makers. Your money stays where you spend it.
04Rules are kindness
If a lane says no photographs, or a garden closes for moss, we follow it, and explain why.
05Small and private
Only private journeys, never coach groups. A family of four leaves a smaller footprint than a tour of forty.
Every place on this page is checked again before we send you there.
Plan with us