Where to go next?

Hello everyone,

After studying a bit of Japanese (most of which I have forgotten) in senior school, I have always loved the country. I guess its partly because it is so different but still so modern and civilised, as well as the fact that unlike at home, nobody wants or expects anything from me - I'm just a confused gaijin!

I have been fortunate enough to visit every year for the past three years, doing Hiroshima (and the whole length of the Sanyo Shinkansen), Sapporo/Fukuoka, and Tokyo. Many years ago I have also done Kyoto and Nara. Now I wonder where to go next.

I love to just travel on whim from a base, depending on the weather, and take the train mainly. A Pocket wifi and Tripadvisor (along with this site!) seem to work perfectly. I'm not into Onsens or extreme sports or hiking, but a good walk is fine, and I love a good museum or art gallery.

This year, I might travel in late May or early September, and I'm thinking of finally getting to Shikoku. The only thing I wonder about is whether there will be enough to do and it will be easy to get to those places. It would be good to not have to move hotel more than once over 10-14 days, and the trains do look a bit slow and limited for such a small island.

If you think that Shikoku isn't for me, where would you suggest? I'm not adverse to a flight in the middle of the trip, as I did Sapporo-Fukuoka.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Hi!

Not to dissuade you from Shikoku, but have you thought about Kanazawa/Matsumoto? If you've not been, Kanazawa has art museums, gardens and some pretty interesting looking craft classes you can take. Matsumoto has a castle and some art museums as well. I like visiting temples and found Zenkoji in Nagano quite rewarding. You could also visit someplace like Takayama/Shirakawa Go if they strike your fancy. I've not done it but there is also Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route. It doesn't have to involve any actual hiking and in May you would get to see the snow wall while in September you might get some early leaf viewing. I personally despise snow, but I know many travelers seek it out as it is something they don't regularly experience. (We got 4 inches yesterday morning. Grrrrrrrrr)

Good luck!

Shikoku is good if you have lots of time and don't mind long distances between attractions. I visited for 5 days and felt most of that time was spent on trains. Perhaps I should have allocated more time for Shikoku, or concentrated on two prefectures (Kagawa and Ehime) instead of all four.

Regions I enjoyed more than Shikoku: [a] Kyushu as a whole; [b] Islands on Seto Inland Sea; [c] Western end of Honshu (Yamaguchi, Shimane, Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures).

Just for food, I enjoyed Niigata prefecture a lot. Because of the fresh sea food, excellent and inexpensive sake, and Koshihikari rice (considered the best in Japan) that's grown there and served at just about every restaurant.

Places I visited: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1T_TRmNEWkYhHDy3J_gsp-VR3pAs&...

Late May or early September? As mentioned above, Matsumoto would be a good choice. Great weather at those times.

For starters, there are wonderful museums of various kinds:

An art museum, with great special exhibits:
http://matsumoto-artmuse.jp/en/

One of the best ukiyoe collections anywhere:
http://www.japan-ukiyoe-museum.com/collection_en/

The Castle, which is a Japanese National Treasure:
http://www.matsumoto-castle.jp/lang/

Wonderful parks, including this one which is walkable from downtown:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298118-d1904741-Reviews...

Great traditional restaurants, such as this one:
https://www.shiduka.co.jp/about

Lots of interesting niche museums, such as:
https://www.city.matsumoto.nagano.jp/sisetu/marugotohaku/mingeikan/pro...

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298118-d3233030-Reviews...

Many nice accommodations to choose from, running the range from backpackers, to guesthouses, to hotels, to Airbnb, etc...

You may think you have seen most of the country, but really, you haven't.

The whole Tohoku area is wide open for you, and the flex passes to see the region are some of the most versatile.
The Hokuriku area is also very nice and loaded with some good places. Okinawa is another possibility and there are some cheap fares on low cost carriers. Plus Kyushu is also there and offers a long list of good places; most ignored or unknown to most of the tourist hordes. Nagasaki is one of the most interesting cities on the island.
http://bit.ly/2ob4u8i

Shikoku is definitely off the beaten path and has some great places, although trains can be slow and infrequent. There are some real jewels though - the Ritsurin Garden, Kotohira, Unpenji, Matsuyama Castle, Naruto, the Ryugado Cave, Godaisan, Iya Valley, and much more.
https://goo.gl/fpWZf5

10-14 days and only moving hotels once?
I�fd find that really hard - too much time traveling each day for me.
Putting that aside - for art I�fd recommend:

1) Naoshima and the surrounding islands. You can arrive via Okayama (nice place, plenty to do in the wider area), and leave via Takamatsu (another nice town, and good jumping-off spot for the rest of Shikoku), or vice versa.

2) the Echigo Yuzawa region, especially if its a bienniale year (google Echigo Yuzawa Art Bienniale for info). You really need a car there, though, IMHO, but it�fs a great area to explore for art, nature, sake and onsens.

You have only covered about 40% of Japan. Have a look at a map. Plenty of places to visit.

Kyushu, Shikoku, northern coastline of Chigoku, north and south Kansai, all of Chubu, Tohoko, Hokkaido.

While it is true that you covered only a part of Japan until now Shikoku was definitely a good idea. However it might need three different locations for you to stay in your vacation. I would stay in Takamatsu See the garden there and then visit by ferry the different islands of the inland see where there is a lot of very interesting museums. You could obviously also stay on one of the islands but if you don�ft want to change hotels often Takamatsu it�fs a good choice.

Then you could move to the south like Shimantogawa or you could move to the east and stay there another four five nights.

Enjoy your trip to Shikoku!