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I'm looking for suggestions for the seasoned visitor, I've done the touristy things and visited all the better known destinations from Nagasaki, Beppu, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Onomichi, Matsuyama, Tawarayama Onsen, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Koyasan, Nagoya, Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kanazawa, Matsue, Gifu, Greater Tokyo area, Kawagoe, Chichibu, Nagano, Nikko, Sendai, Yamadera, Naruko, Shiogama, Matsushima, Hanamaki, Tono, Akita, Furano and Biei during my visits about every two years over the last 20 years or so. This winter we will be for 4 weeks in Japan again and we will be spending New Year and doing hatsumode with friends.
We love onsen (Seni Onsen Iwanoyu is the best!), temple stays (Taiyo-ji is the best!) and nature (Kamikochi!) and like getting up early and joining morning ceremonies at Buddhist temples. I walked the Chichibu 34 Kannon Temple pilgrimage. Biei and surroundings in the snow last winter was awesome.
We're less interested in yet another big city, more interested in the cultural experience.
This winter we will be spending time in the Saitama area and in Iwate. We plan on taking the new Shinkansen from Shin-Hanamaki and popping over to Hakodate and maybe visit Sapporo.
So, within that context, what would you suggest we ought to do to make this trip special and why? Like I said, we're especially interested in suggestions for cultural things. We are mobile, we usually rent cars if need be and we speak, read and write Japanese.
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