Summer
Where summer feels cooler
50 places for summer — the editors' six first, then the rest by rating.
50 places
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Amanohashidate — the pine sandbar across Miyazu Bay
One of Japan's Three Scenic Views, and the only one you can walk across — a 3.6 km pine sandbar on Kyoto's sea coast, two hours north of the city.
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Enoshima Island
Shonan's island shrine — 1,500-year-old Benzaiten, sea caves, and a lighthouse tower with a Mount Fuji view.
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Mount Takao
Michelin three-star mountain 50 minutes from Shinjuku — old-growth forest, a tengu temple, and a Fuji view on clear days.
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Mount Rokko
Kobe's celebrated 'ten-million-dollar' night panorama, spreading city lights and the harbour across the entire Hanshin corridor.
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Kifune Shrine Okumiya
The water god's original shrine, a quiet 15-min walk past the crowds up the same valley.
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Nanki Shirahama — Japan's oldest hot-spring coast
Japan's oldest recorded hot-spring coast: a sea arch, a wave-cut rock platform, and a cliffside cave — all within a few kilometres of each other.
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Hiruzen Highlands
A national park where the protected landscape is a working pasture.
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Farm Tomita — Furano's lavender farm, free to enter
Free to enter, open all year, and deepest purple in high summer.
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Asahiyama Zoo
Japan's northernmost zoo, built so the animals are seen moving.
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Meoto Iwa — two rocks tied together off Ise
Two rocks joined by a sacred rope, acting as a gate onto a stone beneath the sea — the sun rises through the gap from May to July, and Fuji sometimes appears behind it.
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Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
A spring road cut through the snow rather than cleared off it.
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Ritsurin Garden
A three-star garden that opens near sunrise and closes after dark.
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Yonaha Maehama Beach
Okinawa's most-named white sand, with Kurima Island square in front of it.
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Ebino Kogen — A crater-lake plateau in the Kirishima range
Three crater lakes on one short trail, inside a range that is still live.
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Chichibugahama Beach
The reflection runs to a timetable, and the timetable is public.
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Nagara River Cormorant Fishing
A licensed night fishery worked by firelight, watched from a boat that drifts alongside.
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Katsurahama Beach
Kochi's signature shore, with a shrine on the rocks and Ryoma above the pines.
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Cape Kamui
A ridge walk with the sea on both sides, free to enter when the gates allow.
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Miho no Matsubara — A black-pine coast facing Mount Fuji
One of Japan's three great pine groves, free and open, with Fuji across the bay.
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Shinhotaka Ropeway
Japan's only two-storey gondola, and an Alpine viewing deck you reach in shoes, not boots.
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Pontocho — the narrow riverside alley of lanterns
Kyoto's most atmospheric 490-metre lane — stone-paved, lantern-lit, and one block from the Kamo River.
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Chirihama Nagisa Driveway — A public road laid on wet sand
A beach that is also a public road, open only when the sea allows.
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Ibusuki Sunamushi Sand Bath
Buried in beach sand heated by the spring running under it — ten minutes and you are done.
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Zao Onsen and the Snow Monsters
Strongly acidic sulphur water in the lanes, a plateau of ice-cased firs above them.
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Fuji-Q Highland — Japan's most extreme roller coaster park
Japan's most extreme coaster park, at the foot of Mount Fuji — free gate entry, world-class rides, direct rail access from Tokyo.
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Mount Fuji
Japan's highest mountain and most iconic image — the 5th Station at 2,305 m is accessible by bus and often above the cloud layer on clear mornings.
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Kurokawa Onsen
A hot-spring village that runs its open-air baths as one shared attraction.
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Ghibli's Grand Warehouse — The indoor core of Ghibli Park in Aichi
Ghibli Park's only indoor area, and the only one with a timed entry slot.
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Goshikinuma Ponds
Eight ponds, no two the same colour, on a four-kilometre walk with buses at both ends.
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Taketomi Island — Red-tile village on white coral sand, off Ishigaki
A whole village of red tile and white coral sand, still lived in today.
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Shikisai-no-oka — A banded flower garden on the Biei hills
A hillside planted in bands, so the slope itself does the composing.
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Karuizawa — A cool-summer town in the Asama highlands
The one resort town where the shopping street is also the historical exhibit.
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Shuzenji Onsen
A famous spa town whose best parts are free to walk.
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Inasa Beach
Izumo's sunset shore: open ground, no ticket, a short walk from the great shrine.
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Kabira Bay
The postcard bay, plus the reef underneath it.
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Mount Osore — A sulphur caldera temple, one of Japan's three sacred sites
A working temple on the floor of a live volcano, open only half the year.
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Toyama Bay Firefly Squid — Namerikawa's museum, and a boat before dawn
A protected sea, a glow show and a pre-dawn boat, all in one stop.
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Mount Ishizuchi
Western Japan's highest peak, with ascetics' chains on the rock and a bypass beside each.
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Mihama American Village — Chatan's seaside shopping and entertainment quarter
Okinawa's American-themed waterfront quarter, best walked from late afternoon into the evening.
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Karatsu Kunchi — Karatsu Shrine's autumn festival of lacquered floats
Lacquered floats in a castle town, and a noon haul across the sand.
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Tokyo Tower's open-air staircase
Climb Tokyo's icon on foot — 600 open-air steps through the steel, no glass between you and the city.
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Kumano Hayatama Taisha — one of the three Sanzan pilgrimage shrines
The most train-accessible of the three Kumano Sanzan UNESCO shrines — the ancient nagi tree and the vermilion halls are the heart of a Kii Peninsula pilgrimage.
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Lake Ashi
Hakone's most photographed scene — best on a clear autumn morning when Fuji rises behind the red torii gate. Board at Moto-Hakone-ko.
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Shimogamo Shrine
A UNESCO shrine reached by walking a primeval city forest — the approach through the trees is the defining experience.
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Nintoku Mausoleum
The largest tomb on earth by footprint, and you will never see its shape — the visit is a wall of trees across water, and a plan you carry in your head.
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Chicken Nanban — Nobeoka's fried chicken in sweet vinegar
The birthplace of a dish the whole country eats, plus the valley's own produce hall on the way.
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Yubari Melon
Japan's most famous melon, bought where the co-operative grades it.
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Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum
The dinosaurs of this valley, mounted and standing under one dome.
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Kenrokuen Garden
Japan's most famous strolling garden, and it is free for the two hours before it opens.
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Shiroyone Senmaida — Rice terraces stepping into the Sea of Japan
A working field shaped by the coast, best in the last hour of light.