Japan's under-visited gems will leave you wanting more

It may be the country on everyone’s bucket list in 2025, but this itinerary will show you the real Japan – minus the crowds.

Extricate yourself from the deep groove cut by tourists looping from Tokyo to Kyoto to discover real Japanese culture in these lesser-travelled regions, from a quiet neighbourhood to an under-the-radar region and a popular city full of secret spots.

A treasure trove of traditions in Ise-Shima

A resolute stillness prevails on a sunny afternoon on the Nakiri Daiosaki Headland, which protrudes somewhat tentatively from the Shima Peninsula in Japan’s Mie prefecture. Today a gentle sea laps shyly at the base of a towering sea wall, yet the wall’s very existence postulates the waves aren’t always so benign.

Ise-Shima is home to some of Japan’s most sacred shrines. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Apart from the watery rhythm below, the only movement comes from a perturbed black cat, whose preening has been interrupted by our presence. It slinks off to occupy another abandoned doorstep. Plenty to choose from in this heavily unpopulated village, where the exceedingly grey buildings are packed so tightly it’s as if there was once great expectation more people would arrive. But, as with many small towns in Japan today, the opposite is true. There are no newcomers and the oldcomers have dwindled to a small handful.

The absence of human presence is confounding given the beauty of this shimmering promontory, where rocky outliers adorn the glittering sea-like ornaments. I would live here in a heartbeat – never mind the typhoons and tsunamis.

The art of producing katsuobushi

In spite of the stillness, life, like the weeds pushing up through the unkempt pavement, stubbornly persists here. It comes in the form of local artisan Yukiaki Tenpaku, a vivacious soul who continues to produce smoked and shaved bonito, or katsuobushi, in the traditional manner.

Local artisan Yukiaki Tenpaku supplies top restaurants with bonito flakes. (Image: Rachel Claire)

This village was once a major production area for katsuobushi and while smoking huts once cluttered the headland, now there are just three producers left. One of them being Yukiaki, whose cheerfulness well exceeds his size, as if his personality has grown to occupy the space once held by several vanished villagers.

As Yukiaki takes us through the 100-year history of his hut and the lifecycle of katsuobushi, his animation and humour are in stark contrast to the quietude of his isolation. He is not entirely bereft of visitors, though. Chefs from far and wide have come to seek out Yukiaki’s artisan bonito, even delegates of the 2016 G7 Ise-Shima Summit came to enjoy the delicate bonito shavings so fine they quiver at the very suggestion of warm rice.

Dried bonito in Ise-Shima. (Image: Rachel Claire)

A natural beauty

With the likes of Barack Obama, David Cameron, Shinzo Abe and Angela Merkel gathered in Ise-Shima, the G7 gifted an opportunity to captivate the world with this Honshu Island beauty. Yet the region remains largely out of sight from regular international visitors and the labour required to maintain the traditions unique to this peninsula fails to interest the youth. But to venture to Ise-Shima is to experience tangible, time-honed Japan, where customs of the past are honoured, even as they sit on the precipice of extinction.

Alongside Ise-Shima’s deep traditions, such as Yukiaki’s katsuobushi and the incredible ama pearl divers (I’ll come back to them), the sprawling 60,000 hectares of Ise-Shima National Park is a beauty worthy of a detour. This stunning landscape rises up to lushly forested mountains, falls down to soft sweeps of sand and weaves through clear waters where green-topped rocky outcrops are eternally moored.

Ise-Shima shimmers. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Hikes are plentiful in the park, but if time is limited, orient yourself by ascending to the Yokoyama View Point and allowing your eyes to unravel the maze of waterways flowing to Ago Bay. The landscape has whispers of Sydney’s Hawkesbury River with its vegetation-encroached bays and oyster leases festooned along the twinkling surface.

Explore the maze of waterways of the Shima Peninsula. (Image: Rachel Claire)

It’s imperative you then go searching in the peridot-hued forests to locate the ‘soul of Japan’. Folded within towering Japanese cedar trees, the serenity-swathed Shinto shrine of Ise-Jingu has been welcoming pilgrims for 2000 years. But as ancient as this sanctuary is, it never looks time-worn on account of an unwavering act of devotion that sees the main Kotaijingu (Naiku) shrine, Shogu shrine and Ujibashi Bridge rebuilt from the ground up every 20 years.

As you wander the gravel pathways that crunch softly underfoot, alerting sleeping deities of your mortal approach, it takes no effort to discern why Ise-Jingu is described as Japan’s soul. It’s more than a monument or even a place of ritual, it’s an expression of the purposeful and exquisite beauty of Japanese culture. While that can be easily observed at places such as Ise-Jingu, it also flows in the minutiae of daily life everywhere.

This deliberate way of being is so unique to the Japanese that it seems a hereditary attribute. And it’s at Ise-Jingu where you can perceive how tightly woven it is to the country’s identity.

For that reason alone, a visit to Ise-Shima captivates, but plenty more can be numbered. Among them is to bask in the pearlescent smiles of the women ama divers. Reflecting the sun in their crisp-white cotton diving suits, generations of these remarkable women have been retrieving the sea’s bounty for more than 2000 years.

The incredible ama pearl divers

Visit the ama divers of Mikimoto Pearl Island. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Originally, the ama descended to the deep for treats of abalone and sea cucumbers. But, during the Edo period, their focus shifted to Japan’s thriving pearl industry. You can watch their prowess on display on a tour of Mikimoto Pearl Island, where cultured pearl production took hold thanks to innovations by Kokichi Mikimoto in 1893. Lovely as they are, the young women divers who perform for visitors at Mikimoto are not the real deal, so I head to Ama Hut Satoumian, to find the genuine ama divers. Here, they cook up the day’s catch on a charcoal grill as they explain the nuances of their craft to hungry tourists.

Ama divers in Japan use bamboo baskets to carry seafood and pearls they collect from the ocean. (Image: Rachel Claire)

I take a seat inside the neat, wooden hut as our designated ama chef, Fumiyo, generously indulges my curiosity about her life. I watch and listen, transfixed, as she arranges the contents of a basketful of squid, scallops, whelks and marinated mackerel on the grill. They’re so sea-fresh they unnervingly release their life with a sigh as they hit the fire.

Fumiyo has been diving since she was 15. Now 70, she still slips into the water to a depth of 15 metres every day, holding her breath for one minute at a time. Enjoying the fruits of her efforts, this supremely healthy saltwater lifestyle has bequeathed her and her sisterhood a palpable inner joy. Sadly, her generation is likely to be the last to live this way. Fumiyo’s daughter hasn’t followed her below the surface, preferring like so many, to decamp to an easier life in the city.

As it always has, this peninsula carries on under the eternal threat of earthquake and tsunami, but the bigger menace is surely the inevitable march of modernity that steadily erodes traditions. Now is the time to see Ise-Shima, before these ancient lifestyles are but an echo.

A five-star stay at Shima Kanko Hotel

The Shima Kanko Hotel is a marvel of classic and modern architecture. (Image: Rachel Claire)

The beautiful five-star Shima Kanko Hotel played host to G7 Ise Shima in 2016. With its panoramic vistas across Ago Bay and its meticulous service, this stunningly positioned hotel is the perfect base for exploring the Shima Peninsula.

The Classic wing is separated by lawn from the more modern The Bay Suites, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, but both spoil guests with luxury finesse and incredible onsite dining at the French restaurant, La Mer and kaiseki-ryori and teppanyaki restaurant, Yamabuki.

The Bay Suites, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, mirrors the curves of tranquil Ago Bay. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Tokyo minus the tourists

En route to Ise-Shima, there’s a high probability you’ll enter the country via Tokyo. If you’ve not been before, then certainly, be willingly trapped by the usual tourist spots. But enclosed within this sprawling city visited to the point of exhaustion exists untapped pockets where you’ll not encounter a single sightseer. Unless, of course, they are comprehensively misplaced.

If this and a lack of spoken English appeals, a good place to base yourself is in the cool neighbourhood of Meguro and her hip overflow surrounds of Shimomeguro and Nakameguro. Here, the streets are trodden by chic locals walking dogs appropriately proportioned to Tokyo apartments on their way to their favourite boulangerie.

Head to Coffee Base in Tokyo’s hip hood, Meguro. (Image: Rachel Claire)

If you were to triangulate yourself using cool coffee shops (such as Coffee Base in Meguro) and small bars (shout-out to Meguro City’s Iron House), you’d find yourself in this untrampled neighbourhood, where you’re a 15-minute ride to Shibuya and Omotesandō. But instead of visiting those bulging arterial clots, hit cool Shimokitazawa, where record shops and vintage clothing boutiques dish out boho vibes.

Or uber-cool Shimokitazawa for vinyl and vintage wear. (Image: Rachel Claire)

The historic beauty of Hotel Gajoen Tokyo

Beautifully historic Hotel Gajoen Tokyo set by the Meguro River is well-placed for your hidden Tokyo excursions. This elegant luxury hotel has been an icon since it was built in 1928.

Today, the member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World is a gentle blend of classic and contemporary Japanese style and houses seven exquisite restaurants and the ornate cultural property Hyakudan Kaidan (the Hundred Stairs), which is all that remains of the original gajoen.

Untapped potential in Nagoya

A stepping stone between Tokyo and Ise-Shima via the pleasure of Japan’s smooth-flowing rail network is the deeply under-visited city of Nagoya in the Aichi prefecture. It’s Japan’s fourth-largest city but has also, rather unfairly, been labelled its most boring. This, however, makes it a bustle-free place to see, especially if you’re suffering traveller’s whiplash from the neon frenzy of Tokyo.

Nagoya Castle was Japan’s first castle to be designated a National Treasure. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Of course, there is still plenty of neon in Nagoya (this is Japan, after all), but this quieter hub with its wide streets and unanimously grey tones, is also home to the beautiful Nagoya Castle, the surprisingly fascinating Toyota Museum, and the Atsuta Jingu Shrine.

Atsuta Jingu Shrine is a must-visit stop in Nagoya. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Enclosed within an emerald canopy, I visit this shrine on the day of Shichi-Go-San, an annual festival that’s a rite of passage for three-, five-and seven-year-olds. They totter adorably in their intricately embroidered silk kimonos, bought for them as tradition dictates, by their grandparents.

Nagoya Castle was first built in 1615. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Held on 15 November each year, I’m fortunate to stumble upon this ridiculously kawaii procession. It’s a somewhat melancholic reminder, though, that Japan’s birth rate is in decline, placing this unique culture in peril.

Modern-day Nagoya. (Image: Rachel Claire)

Between the migration from coast to city, an unwillingness of youth to follow traditional footsteps and even the sparsity of cities such as Nagoya, it’s hard not to view Japanese culture as trapped inside a fragile snow dome. But perhaps gentle and respectful touring of these lesser-trod parts of the country may inspire younger generations to take up these customs before they ebb into the abyss of time.

Retreat into Nagoya Kanko Hotel

Espacio is a retreat within Nagoya Kanko Hotel. (Image: Rachel Claire)

The luxe and central Nagoya Kanko Hotel Espacio is a study in elegant contemporary style, proving that ‘boring’ is not a suitable adjective for this city.

Nagoya is known for its signature ‘Taiwan ramen’. (Image: Rachel Claire)

If you’re staying at this superbly serviced hotel, you’ll eat well at any of the six restaurants, but be sure you don’t miss Yaoyorozu, a traditional yakitori establishment where you’ll experience the most delicately skewered and expertly charred morsels of your life.