Grew up near the rocky mountains, since mid high school I would take at least one or two good hiking trips and really miss the experience.
I know Japan has plenty of day trip hikes, but I’m accustomed to being dropped off at a trailhead, and hiking anywhere from 10-25km per day, depending on terrain, sometimes over a mountain pass or two, with self-contained camping at night, for 3-7 days without civilization.
I know Japan is relatively small, but is there anything even remotely close to this available? Would genuinely appreciate any suggestions. I’ve read up on a few “trails” that seem to be walking on the side of the hiway and sleeping at full service campsites, which isn’t really my thing.
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EDIT: Seriously, I’m getting downvoted for this, within 3 minutes of posting? Holy shit Japanlife. Not every post can be a whiny rant about how Japan/Japanese/companies/whatever are horrible as shit. Some of us have hobbies and want to enjoy our lives. Do people sit here and downvote every single post or something??
EDIT NUMBER 2: Apologies for snapping, I didn’t mean to take it out on any specific person or be rude. I just got frustrated, although there’s nothing I can do about it. Thank you so much to the people who made awesome suggestions, and happy trails to you!!!
27 comments
Calm down bro your post has been up for 20 minutes
Daisetsuzan Grand Traverse
Well, I’ve done three four-five day mountain hikes right here on Honshu, but your attitude… Too many tools have already found their way into the Chūbu mountains, unlike when I’d started.
70% of the whole Japan as a country is covered by mountains. You probably never been outside of Tokyo but claim like there is no snow in the whole Japan hence got downvotes.
Anyway I don’t know where you live, but come to Nagano Niigata for the alps, snow mountain in Hokkaido or active volcano Aso of Kumamoto. Any country side within 1 hours of bus will leave you to mountain of nowhere, be naked and afraid
Grew up in the Rocky Mountains.
Answer is yes.
Calm down.
I’m not a mountain person so I apologize if this is a bad suggestion, but I used to live in Yakushima, south of Kagoshima Prefecture. There are plenty of day trips into the mountains there, but some places offered overnight tours for more experienced hikers.
The mountains there are a combination of cedarwood forest and moss forests. It’s not a huge tourist spot, so there aren’t many well-walked trails or paths. (Which means I also don’t know if it’s suitable for camping either)
The island itself is like a 2-hour ferry ride from mainland Kagoshima, and while it’s plenty populated, it’s definitely one of those places where you want to make sure people know where you’re going.
Alps are mostly in national parks so wild camping is not allowed. But you can camp next to the many mountain huts.
And yes, plenty of hikes to get away from people. Do a southern or northern alps traverse.
Generally the less public transportation to the trailhead the quieter it is.
You are being downvoted for being condescending, not because you have a hobby lol
While Japan is not the US in terms of size it is hardly a small country and 10-25km per day for a week is not as much of a tall order as it may seem. Off the top of my head, scale wise you are looking for Oze, Yakushima, or somewhere in the alps. However Japan is much, much more cautious with hiking (which btw is called trekking here when referring multi day trips) and generally if you intend to use predetermined paths then you may not be able to avoid hitting a populated area every couple dozen kilometers or so. Japan is also not the kind of place you can just pitch a tent and light a campfire wherever you please, especially along a path intended for public use, so research the rules of wherever you intend to visit. There are of course any infinite number of 50km stretches of land in Japan that are completely unpopulated that one could trek through which will not be available through a quick google search because that is wildly dangerous and, depending on the location, illegal. You may want to start by looking up some official trekking tours and seeing what routes they take and figure out your own from there.
Kamikochi.
Wdym? You don’t like the super popular day hike trails that are nothing more than terraformed stairs? with literally everyone (on the crowded trail that no bear would go anywhere near) wearing those excruciating bear bells? Can’t *imagine* why you’d want to get away from them.
Anyway, most comments have already listed the best/most popular suggestions for the longer trails. So I’ll just use Yamap as my rec.
If you don’t have the Yamap app already, some app users go on multi-day treks where they link different trails together for a longer thru or loop route. Of course you could plan and do this kinda thing yourself, but it’s nice to have someone else log it for you to take a bit of guesswork out. You may also find some trails that are rare and nearly impossible to find with just web searches.
If some of the trails others have commented here are too inaccessible or far away, using Yamap trails could be an easier alternative. I’ve personally found a lot of gold on that app, but it might vary based on location.
Well, I think that your tone and the fact you likely did not even take a minute to properly Google it is a part of the reason you got downvotes.
The first thing that come to mind is obviously the alps, most notably Nagano and Gifu. By the way Nagano is a whole prefecture, there is more than the mountain used for the Olympic there, but yes there is also ski resorts in Nagano and Niigata.
Can check the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage in Wakayama.
Next you can check national parks, not sure if they have multi days hikes in all of them, but for sure you can do long hikes in them.
Can check the app yamap for maps of hiking trails.
There are a ridiculous number of great hikes throughout the country. Check YAMAP, check out the northern and southern Japan Alps, Hokkaido has a lot to offer.
I think the blowback you’re seeing is… well… it sounds like you’re saying “I’m used to proper mountains, I haven’t seen them in Japan, prove me wrong.” You are actually wrong.
The reality is that Japan does have serious hiking opportunities, it’s pretty awesome, so get out there and enjoy it!
Hokkaido will probably have the most remote areas and be closest to what you’re used to in the Rockies. The Daisetsuzan traverse is spectacular but not for the faint of heart.
On Honshu, both the north and south alps have amazing trails where you can hike for days/weeks if you wanted, although the major trails have mountain huts, which you might not like. I know I found it off-putting at first (I also began hiking in the Rockies), but you can camp at these sites too if you prefer to be self-sufficient.
Kyushu has great multiday hiking in the Sobo-san range and around Kunimi-dake (highest point in Kumamoto) where you might not meet anyone for days, but this area is very remote and impossible to access without a car. Even with a car, it’s difficult as the mountain roads are constantly being destroyed by heavy rains and landslides so you’ll want to get local knowledge before attempting to access trailheads in this area. Also keep in mind that mobile phone reception in this region is spotty at best so be prepared.
When I first came to Japan in 2010, I got a copy of Lonely Planet’s [Hiking in Japan](https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Richard-Ryall/dp/1741040728). The transit info is probably hopelessly outdated by now but I highly recommend it for a country-wide synopsis of some of the better hikes to be had.
And yes, definitely check out the YAMAP app (or even just browse through people’s journals on the website for information).
One more thought, this is the Internet so things get interpreted quickly. Your title is condescending with the all-caps “REAL” as if what you are asking for is somehow elevated in cachet and anything but “REAL” is somehow inferior.
All over Nagano there’s a lot of cool places in the mountains to camp and hike.
> I know Japan is relatively small, but is there anything even remotely close to this available?
You’re being downvoted because you’re being condescending and because you don’t seem to actually understand how big Japan is. You sound like someone who has lived in NYC his entire life complaining that the US has no amazing mountains.
As far as how big Japan is… If placed alongside the eastern seaboard of the US, Japan covers most of it. All of it if you include Okinawa.
It’s not a particularly wide country but it is very long, and a LOT of it is covered in mountains of all shapes and sizes. You won’t find 14,000ft peaks here but Japan has a good number of mountains in the 8,000 to 10,000ft range. There is plenty of wilderness in Japan.
So perhaps get out of Tokyo and explore a bit?
There are gaps between normal day activities and more specialized activities/hard core hobbies in Japan – you’re looking up a hobby thing which ends up being a day trip/something to do outside of main activities (i.e. jobs, things for sustenance)
There are “real” hiking paths, it’s just classified under the devout path/specialized paths (or the way of hiking in this context I guess), look up 修験道 or shugendo for example for hiking specifically
The thing with Japan is that you can’t access most “hardcore” or specialized things unless you know the language/culture, it’s considered a sort of privilege for those who take the time to learn and even to find out how to do them
Not to be mean but this also means you have to be humble, to discover a lot of these special experiences from people who have this knowledge, and they will only let you know if they feel you respect these experiences/culture/whatever and appreciate it
I suspect a lot of the downvotes aren’t actually bots or whatnot per say but just people vexed (or struggling themselves) by the fact that you’re kinda blasting away without considering this humble/respect aspect of Japanese culture and the intricacies this requires, it’s very, very hard to navigate this mindset and people try out of necessity or curiosity, but challenging it by saying “there’s got to be better or is this all you’ve got?” Often leads to being lead to the exit as some “foreigner/alien”
Ignoring the drama, there’s a big hiking and camping industry here, and plenty of places to go with varying difficulty and remoteness. There are good links in this article: https://www.hikemasterjapan.com/hyakumeizan-interview
Another Rocky Mountain dude here. Honestly you probably need to give up on your desires and try to embrace what Japan has to offer. It’s just a different country with different history/landscape. You might find something like you’re describing in Hokkaido but even there I’m not sure.
I’ve hiked a lot in Japan and in some pretty cool places, mostly day hikes. Honestly the coolest thing I did was a [Long Trail](https://longtrail.jp/index_e.html) in Kyushu. It went in and out of mountains and farming communities, going by so many remote temples and shrines. It was an experience I could never have in the American West and really really cool, albeit very very different than what I grew up experiencing.
I recently moved back to the Rockies and while I love the wilderness, I’d kill for a cheap decent meal and hot spring at the end of a hike. The grass is always greener eh?
North Japan and hokkaido. Tons of places you can hike and camp. If you go to a large book store here you can find lots of books on mountains to hike here in the travel section that are quite good. Kinokuniya is great if you have one near you.
The Kumano Kodo Trail in Wakayama / Mie.
Or maybe follow the Nakasendo Road, especially around Nagano, but that one you’ll encounter pocket villages every so often. Still completely in the mountains and forests, as far as I’m concerned.
The Dewasanzen hike takes a couple days. Takes you to 3 mountain peaks and a bunch of nice historical shrines. Not exactly super wilderness, but I don’t think you can climb a mountain here where some monk in the distant past hasn’t already looked at it and thought “that’s a good place for a shrine”
Outside is good for you, I’m picturing a lot of fist holes in your walls.
Reddit is weird, and filled with bots. You could say “I enjoy”without specifying anything and get downvoted. Who cares?
Hey have you even tried google? It sounds like you don’t know how to use simple resources. It’s embarrassing you didn’t know living here but Japan is extremely mountainous – like 70% of the country
You could start by searching the 百名前山 list and go from there
Gonna trek at shirakami sanchi (unesco sight) next month. The remaining virgin beech forest of Japan. You can’t do open fire if I’m not wrong but the trails seem godly and mystical like yakushima.
Japan has an abundance of trekking trails, hiking etc.
I get your problem, which many here doesnt seem to. Its not about finding just a trail or a mountain. of course japan has shitloads of hikes and mountains. Things is if you want real hiking, your NOT looking for trails. Rather the opposite, nature with absence of trails and facilities.
For me I want to go days on end above the treeline, no trail, without meeting ANYONE, yes not a single person…not seing a house or a vending machine, no trace of civilization. I want to put up my tent and sleep wherever the fuck i want. Thats a whole different thing from walking on predefined trails with huts and vendingmachines saying konnichiwa every 5 minutes you meet someone…
**Is there any places outside hokkaido (or even there?) where this is possible/legal?**
I never found any in my 4 or so years there. But then again I was insanely busy. I went fishing a few times. Either artificial ponds where they throw fish in or river fishing where they… throw fish in. I’ve been on some shorter hikes.
Again, there probably are some, though.