ACROSS JAPAN: 3-4 Weeks -off-the-beaten path itinerary

ACROSS JAPAN: 3-4 Weeks -off-the-beaten path itinerary

This video is a full itinerary breakdown of a 3 to four-week train adventure across Japan. We’ll walk through each destination, share impressions, and highlight some of our favorite off-the-beaten path experiences along with a rough budget and tips along the way. If you’re curious about places we’ve mentioned, I have made separate, more detailed videos for many of them. So, please just check the playlist and if you like, subscribe and of course uh send me a comment or an email if you have any questions. I want you to know that all the content on the channel, the video editings and scripts are created entirely by me or my travel companions. I don’t use AI for voiceovers and all audio comes directly from YouTube Studio. On rare occasions, I’ll use a stock image or video for a title screen. I don’t make any money from this channel. It’s just my way of sharing what I love. So, please keep supporting creators who do the work themselves. I’m currently on the path to more full-time travel and hope to see the world and share my journeys as I go. I’ve always been a content creator in one way or another. My name is Zoe. I’m a full-time teacher currently living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. For now though, here’s a cross-country train journey through Japan covering cities, coastlines, forests, and mountains. You want to know Japanese? You can say gambate. That means like do your best. Gate. Yeah. Oh, like that’s like cheering them on. Good job, Gambate. Yeah. All right. Gambate, Nate. Yes. Look at where Look at where you are. This is amazing. We feel like I know. Seriously, it’s quite the end. Look at this. Look how high we are. Stick around to the end or shoot me a message if you’re interested in budget. 3 weeks per person did total about $5,000 Canadian. And I’ll talk a little bit about this at the end, including the passes, which if you do your own Google search, you’ll see they’ve increased in prices. It was worth it. So, the first spot on our itinerary was from the Narita airport. We took a shinkansen uh to to or from Tokyo to Nageno followed by a short local bus into the Yamanucci region. Uh Yamanucci is nestled in the Japanese Alps and it’s a very tranquil town. We just got dropped off the bus and we kind of feel like we’re in the bit of the middle of nowhere because we are. But we are about an hour from Nagono and we’re heading to um a little onsent area [Music] very quiet uh known for its traditional rayans steaming onens mountains uh and of course there’s a lot to Yamanucci more than the famous monkeys uh which we did visit local table tennis, community centers, uh lots of charming back streets. It was just a real sense of slow rural life. We loved it. It’s our kind of place and probably don’t want to spend more than a couple of days unless you just want to stop and relax. We are walking in this most gorgeous interesting town. [Music] But yes, its biggest draw was the Jigo Gondi Mountain Park. Well, I’m at uh Snow Monkey Park. Uh the official name actually is called if I could say it correctly, Chigo Pudani. And uh they’re tracking everything. Like look at this tracking system. When they come in, when they come out. So it’s like a forecast. Yeah. Yeah. I guess there’s probably lots of signs. What’s the yellow? Yellow means um late means they’re late. They’re coming down. Okay. But there aren’t any monkeys here yet. So, we’re going to wait a bit. We’re so excited they came. Uh they bathe in the natural hot springs. It’s a behavior seen nowhere else in the world. It’s rare opportunity to observe wild monkeys in this habitat. Absolutely beautiful, absolutely worth it and not really crowded even in a tourist season. Uh there are many places to stay we found in the J um in this area. Uh you just have to do a little bit of search. Again, send me a message if you’re interested in our place. Um it was uh cheap. Um and we did uh they did allow modifications for vegetarian and vegan options. You want one of these at home? Yeah, that’s pretty cool. Next on our itinerary was Suchiu Onen, a historic hotring town tucked in the mountains of Fukushima Prefecture. We traveled once again on the Shikansen train from Yamanui to Tokyo and then a 2-hour train ride from Fukushima Prefecture. From the main train station, we found a small bus that took us up and up and way up in the mountains about an hour ride where we arrived at Tuchio Onsen and stayed for three nights. We stayed at a hostel called Yumori. Quite reasonable and they have many types of accommodation. The town is small. It’s an amazing small town vibe rich in traditions. There are steaming bathous on every corner and ins which have apparently hosted travelers for centuries. They even have public foot baths found randomly at street corners. It’s also a bare area cuz we’re way up in the mountains. So signs of caution everywhere. Such is also working towards being a zerowaste eco-con eco-conscience on town. So it has a lot of g geothermal projects which you can look up and uh has a sustainable tourism initiative. It’s a perfect example of how Japan blends old and new in quiet beautiful ways. uh had such an amazing time at Mumori and I think uh the thing I love so much about it was that uh the whole hostel is featured around the UN sustainable development goals and reminding you um of which goal is being addressed and it just from Fukushima we traveled north to Amori city capital of Amorei Prefecture located on the northern tip of Honu Island the main island in Japan. The real reason we ended up here though was the famous resort Shiakami train which is coming up. This area though it’s truly rich in natural beauty and tradition. And unlike the fast-paced urban centers that we often associate with Japan, Aomorei offers a quieter, more grounded experience with mountains and forests and lakes that shape everyday life. Nearby, natural wonders include the Shiraakami Sanche. we did not visit but would like to one day which is a vast primeval beach forest and UNESCO world heritage site. Basically an ancient ancient forest idea uh site and ideal for hiking [Music] [Music] So, we’re exploring Amorei, um, Japan. And, uh, what’s really interesting is these walking streets they have are covered as far as you can see on both ways. I think possibly it’s because of the snow. Uh I have heard that this city gets more maybe the most snow in the world. From Amori City, we took the resort Shiakami, which is really why we ended up there in the first place. This is a scenic train running along the Sea of Japan toward Akita. And I do suggest you look this one up. It’s incredible. I I had read about it and um and I knew about the Goono line. And this one runs along the sea of Japan through some of the most scenic landscapes in northern Honshu. We weren’t disappointed. The train itself is stunning. It has a large panoramic windows, wooden interiors, live performances on board. The ride felt more like a slowmoving tour through coastal cliffs, fishing villages, stretches of the Shir Kami Sanchi heritage forests, and at one point the train actually stopped for a quick break at a place called San Jojiki where we could get out and walk along the rocky coast. It was just one of those moments that sticks with you and will stick with me for a long time. [Music] The train led us off in Aikita City where we rested, walked around a little, and had some lunch. But we did not stay. We were on our way to Sendai. But just for some fun facts, Akita is known for Senu Park. It’s the site of Koto Castle ruins. Many shrines, many other ruins, many quiet neighborhoods. It’s uh the region is also known for the Aikita dog. I’m sure you’ve heard of this. It’s a truly proud proud symbol of local heritage. [Music] Thank God that was that was almost an emergency. I had to really go. I found this family mart. So there’s another thing. Family Marts and public washrooms and we thank family marts for that. I think 7-Elevens do as well. Anyways, I’m feeling better now. And now I’m on my own and I have to find my way back to the place where we’re getting figuring out where we’re going to eat because [Music] We only spent a single day and night in Sai, arriving to Nikita after a very long ride. So we are now off to Sai. [Music] But it was clear that one day is not enough in Sai. It’s the largest city in the Tohoku region and has a very vibrant modern feel while being deeply connected to historical root. Oh, a capsule toy shop. An entire store dedicated to capsule toy, which we were looking for something fun to bring home. All right, it’s um late at night and uh we had a massive day of traveling across from um Armory and then Akita and now Sai all I feel like we just had a week and a day. Uh my traveling companions uh are out and I’ve just like had it. I couldn’t do it anymore. So, I will I’m having I ended up going to Lawson’s and I’m having I just decided that’s I couldn’t I just didn’t want to be looking for somewhere to eat. So, here’s what I’m having um that I bought. So, it’s some udon noodles with cabbage or not cabbage tired with rice and these are like some sort of crispy things. So, we’ll see how it goes. So, there was some sauce in there, too. And then this is a tell you what this is. A seaweed salad here. And it has some stuff in it. It’s kind of like gooey. I know. Would you eat it? I love this kind of stuff. So, yes, I eat it. But I’m wondering if you would eat it. And if I could tell you all the ingredients, I would. But I don’t have my glasses. And this is way too hard to read and I would have to translate. Anyway, um I’m glad to have uh be able to share this adventure. We barely scratched the surface. Just enough time to explore the bustling streets around Sunday Station, but we did manage to go for a long run and explore some of the close by neighborhoods. We did want to see why it’s known as the city of trees and it is filled with a lot of leafy boulevards and tons of parks like most places we travel in Japan. The atmosphere was relaxed. It was lively and we kept wishing we had planned for at least one more day which is something I changed with this itinerary to explore places like the Zoo Hoden uh which is the mausoleum of Samurai or to take a side trip to Matsushubi Bay uh to see famous pinecovered islands. It’s definitely on our list to return and next time we probably would would like to spend at least a week here. Okay, we are leaving J City Hotel. It’s our second J City um that we stayed in and we didn’t uh love the first one, but this was this was all right. This wasn’t too bad. Wasn’t I think this is just a standard room. It had three bed three kind of singish beds. From Sunday, we continued on to Shizio City located between Mount Fuji and the Pacific coastline and absolutely loved it. Shizio is often passed over, but it’s actually one of the best places to view Mount Fuji, especially if you go on trails like the Nihuandera or the Sada Pass. Shyoka is also f famous for green tea. Tons of plantations and nearby hills, has culinary scene uh that’s very diverse, fresh seafood, tons of street food, isakayas. [Music] It’s also the historical home of the Tokugawa Leu with remnants of the Sunpu Castle offering insights into the Edo period. This was actually one of our motivations for coming here, but there was so much more. [Music] So like the Shogun uh story, the book and the show is about uh Yu Tokugawa who is sort of like the founding father of modern Japan basically of Edeto and which is now Tokyo. And so this was his apparently this is the town Shizuoko that he grew up in. And then eventually he retired to and he passed on the Shogun uh title to his son and he retired to this had this castle for that reason. I think the castle is gone. It burned down like 25 years later after he had already died I think. But the the remains were here and then they rebuilt part of it but not there used to be a real tall tower apparently. So that’s sort of what we’re going to check out is what’s left of here. It’s a city park, but there’s moes to show them out. Oh, yeah. There’s existing Well, there used to be three rings of moes. Japan in August uh can be hit and miss regarding the weather. We’ve uh you know, nearly missed a typhoon since we’ve been here. But this heat in um where we are right now in Shiuoka is and Tokyo region is quite hot. It’s reading about 36 37 today, mid August. And uh it’s it’s very very humid. So it’s just like everything is slower and uh you’re just kind of going in and out of air conditioning, drinking lots, sweating lots. So um you know, just when you’re play when you’re when you have the schedules we have with uh you know, school and depending on your holidays, sometimes you don’t have a choice. Oh, if you can maybe skip August that to come here, it might be worth worth it for your own health and wellbeing. That way is Fuji. It’s a cloudy day and we can’t see it, but we climbed this mountain in order to maybe possibly see it, but there’s no way we’re going to see it. Even though we stayed here for only one night, the city’s energy and natural surroundings made a strong impression. I do wish we stayed longer. Our next stop is Ittoshima, which is a coastal gem in the Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kioshu, which is the only time we left the island of Honchu in Japan. [Music] We are in uh southern Japan and at Itoshima area and um absolutely loving it. Uh, I think originally we wanted to perhaps fly to a, you know, another island or um even, you know, get further south, but man, this is absolutely gorgeous. It was easy to get to. Um, amazing hiking trails, uh, which I’m going to share hard. Um, just uh, incredible beaches with turquoise water, surfing, wind surfing. Once again, we took a bus from the Fukuoka train station to this small seaside town, and it felt like this chill Japanese style surf town. It has seaside charm, creative spirit, beaches, turquoise water, beautiful seaside restaurants. Uh, absolutely an incredible um 1hour ride into this uh beautiful, beautiful beach town. I would highly recommend it. [Music] Look it. It’s worth it. Going to go for a swim. Cool off. [Music] Yeah. just uh having a one of the coolest bike rides of my life on the southern island of Itushima. And we’re heading towards a beach called Palm Beach. I’m getting about to check that out. at like this view. Honest to goodness, I made a more detailed video of this area, including information on accommodation, which came with hybrid electric bikes. The cost was a little more here per night, over $100 each per person, but it was a full house with bikes and absolutely worth it. Glad we did it. Yeah. 200 m. go there [Music] and uh especially cuz we’re all really hot. Theory is also home to forest trails believed to have been inspired by Studio Gibli, my neighbor Tutoro and uh we had just had to visit this spot. the peninsula. Um absolutely amazing sea views, tons of hiking trails which uh we’ve tried and we just actually had a delicious meal um along this peninsula. So absolutely worth the trip. This particular area is a is called the Quasi National Park and we are at the Kaya beach which is um the Turra forest which is it’s called. So it uh definitely reminds me of um sort of a fairy tale forest if you look inside here. Okay, our next stop is Onamichi and this was a spontaneous decision on our way back to Tokyo. It’s a hillside port in Hiroshima Prefecture and I am so glad we are so glad that we did this because it actually ended up being one of our favorite places, maybe our favorite place along the entire itinerary. The town has a cinematic feel. It um lots of temple trails. You could spend all day uh just weaving and winding along uh the hillside trails, the alleys, and it had a bit of a retro atmosphere and and I believe was inspired many Japanese films and anime. [Music] So, we’re in um Onamichi and uh we’re just exploring the area. We’re about to climb up the uh there’s a little mountain you climb up to see. There’s so many temples here. So, we’re going to climb up to the top temple. Uh there’s also a ropeway which is behind me. Um it’s actually like a finicular or a what do they call it? Um cable car of some sort. It’s also the starting point for the Shimanami Kaido, a 70 km cycling route connecting six islands across the Sedo inland sea v via a series of bridges. We bike the full length with ebikes, a great choice in the summer and we saw fishing villages, uh tons of citrus groves, uh lots and lots of coastal, beautiful, dramatic coastal scenery. It was an experience I will never forget and I feel so grateful. It was absolutely affordable about a 180 per night for a full apartment that could easily be shared as it had a couple of rooms and it was a very authentic experience which I share in a more detailed v video if you choose to watch a lot. Okay, we are staying uh at at a very unique place way way up on this hill. And uh I just thought before we kind of moved in, I’m going to give a little video. It’s uh it’s definitely unique and traditional and old and hot, but uh here’s the front door. Um if we There’s the kind of the view. There’s a school right there. There it goes. Our next stop was N, Japan’s first permanent capital. And it’s best known for Nar Park, where over a thousand sacred deer roam freely. You probably heard of N cuz N is sort of famous for having deer um walking around. and they really treasure deer here. So, here’s where we are and we’re going to go explore. Uh we love animals like anything that we can where we can see animals, we go find them. Uh fun fact is that it is also it also used to be apparently the the capital of Japan. Uh there is a legend um that is one of the reasons why they consider deer very sacred here and they take care of the deer here. It’s uh I did look it up quite thoroughly um just looking at animal cruelty sites. I was looking at is it okay to feed them. I was trying to find everything I could, but ultimately they really respect the deer here and deer just roam around the way you would find in other um places like for example where we live and would be what you would hear. Hello. Can we hear back? Oh, hello sweet little thing. [Music] What are you doing? We wrapped up our trip in Tokyo, a city of endless contrast. We stayed here for 3 days and of course we would have liked to stay longer. That’s for another adventure. We stayed in a few different wards or cities as they call it to get a better sense of the cities or each ward’s personality. [Music] We started in Sumida City. This is home to the towering Tokyo Skytree, one of the tallest structures in the world. This area does blend a lot of modern architecture with traditional crafts. And there are still tons of old knife makers, washi paper shops tucked into side streets, and lots of parks and neighborhoods to explore. You also get a very beautiful riverside path in this neighborhood uh for walking, cycling. We took the opportunity to use for a sunrise run. Hot, but well worth it. Overall [Music] in our list, we gave it about a seven out of 10 for places or areas to stay in Tokyo. Send me a message, ask me why. Uh we loved it, but we found a few other places uh that perhaps we’d recommend um otherwise. But while in Sumida, we did take the opportunity to go to Bunko, which was an unexpected highlight. Uh we caught a professional baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. And even if you’re not into this type of sport or a big sports p fan, it was still a fantastic experience. The crowd, the energy, uh the organized cheering sections, food stalls. It was such a fun fun experience. One of our top experience of our entire trip in Japan. [Applause] Of course, we spent some time in Akihabara, which is Tokyo’s go-to spot for electronics, gaming, anime, everything. And I like my techie stuff. So, I did want to check it out. Uh, it’s a little overly bright and loud. Um, but it is definitely packed with multi-level stores selling everything, everything. Uh, from retro consoles to absolute latest tech. I ended up buying a set of Shocks inductive earphones for running, which I really love. I use them all the time. You could probably spend a couple of days just exploring different buildings and side streets. They had even had this large building that just sold candy uh which we checked out. Uh but uh it was a bit overwhelming. So, just be aware of that and who you’re with. Uh we could only spend so much time there. It did um it it just was a little bit overwhelming. And if you’re planning to shop, make sure you check out the duty-free counters because you can save the tax with your passports. Yeah, we are in Asakusa neighborhood now. And uh so we took a subway from the Akihabra. Akihabra. Yes. It’s hard to keep all these neighborhoods. Tokyo is like like its own country with a whole bunch of tiny cities in it. Yeah, we found a boni uh place that we’re going to hopefully hopefully that they’re going to make us a vegetable vegetarian vegan version. But here’s the look of it. Check out this view. [Music] We took a subway from um got off at Ueno station when which is adjacent to Aweno Park. And so we’re just going to explore the Weno Park and enjoy the shade and the cicas and kind of get away from the uh concrete jungle of the area. And the sun is very strong, but soon as you get out of the sun and into this shady area, it’s actually bearable. Shimokita Zawa quickly became one of our favorites. It’s known for its laidback, artsy vibe, vintage clothes stores, record shops, narrow alleys. Uh, it’s definitely a place I would suggest staying. I wish we had stayed there right from the beginning. I could have stayed there and then that be our home base for all of Tokyo. It’s the kind of place where you can spend hours just wandering around. Awesome shops, just awesome vibe overall. I highly recommend Shimok Kazawa Shimo Kiza Awa if you can say it. We have no choice. We have to do it. All right, here we go. It’s so ridiculous. As we wrap up, I want to say this was not about ranking places. Every stop offered something special and what we take from travel is deeply personal. What we did try to do on the trip was get outside the usual golden triangle outside Tokyo, Kyota, and Osaka and explore places that just felt more local, more affordable, and still deeply authentic. And honestly, those experiences end up being some of the most memorable. Whether it was biking across islands of Onamichi, hiking Forest Pass in Ittoshima, soaking in hot springs in Yamanui, taking coastal train journeys, or visiting sacred deer in N. Each place gives us something different and reminded us why we travel in the first place. Travel is about reconnecting. Reconnecting with the world, with people, with perspective. It reminds us of all the good that’s out there, the kindness, the simplicity, the beauty of a slower pace, and the richness of culture that’s different from our own. Creating is my passion. It’s something I’m lucky to do in my role as a teacher and something I’ve learned even more in my personal life. I film, I edit, I write. So, if you choose to subscribe, know that you’re not supporting AI content here. Any glitches, awkward transitions are all mine. So is the love and so is this intention behind each of the video. If you’re cur curious on how we managed to travel while living on a modest salary and supporting our family, I have got uh some budget information coming up. [Music] [Music] Okay, as promised, I wanted to share a little bit about our budget. Uh but even before that uh I wanted to share that the first step in planning a trip like this is organization. It definitely helps the budget. I use a Google spreadsheet to map out the locations and then I can share that with others who are also traveling with us. Um this gives a bit of an estimated cost uh for things that we’re planning for and becomes a master document. And then I often create a PowerPoint. It turns into a PDF that includes maps and photos and other details that we need like transit options, addresses, cultural notes, etc. And this is often printed at the end so that we do have paper copies. Um, often people might have different opinions about that, but we do print out hard copy just in case and we’ve have had to pull it out in the past. Uh but um like when it comes down to budget for a trip like this uh we do not travel in credit. I do not recommend it. I understand that is a privilege. And um with that being said, I do believe that once you are in debt, especially for something like travel, it can be hard to dig yourself out because travel can be very addictive. So, it’s just we’re in a place where what we do is set aside about 25% of our income each month. And that specifically goes for travel. It means making choices in our daily life. Uh we things that we don’t have. Uh making sure we pack our own lunches, limiting restaurants, skipping impulsive buys. Uh we don’t I don’t spend a lot of money on extras like clothing or salon visits, although I’d like to. I um make sure that we try to, you know, monitor energy costs at home, that kind of thing. And for this trip, about half of it did go to flights. So, that’s something to consider. So, to constantly be looking around for cheaper flights or using points if you have uh them. We do use points often and then we can use our points to pay for the flight. So, that helps. For food, we budget $25 per day, which is very doable in Japan. And um and because they have so many options and affordable options, we rarely stay in expensive hotels or um unless there’s some sort of sale that we have found and we do look for last minute deals and again use our points for that. So in the end we do pri pri prioritize travel. It’s something that we value and uh because we recognize that it means letting go of other things. Uh we recently sold our house and downsized to a condo and this created more flexibility in our life and I’ll be sharing a little bit about that experience in another video. But uh just reminder travel and reasons why we do it. It’s personal and these are just my thoughts and I know that that might not apply to everyone. I’d love to hear how you plan and how you budget for trips too and what tools do you use and you know if you’ve been to Japan uh what kind of off the-beaten places um would you recommend particular uh I would love to know in the comments um I’d love to you know feedback is great um of course keep it positive and kind and thanks for watching and very Good. We’ve we’re uh we’ve landed ourselves into a little curry shop with vegan curry. Brad, did you try what it yet? It’s just the buffet. It’s very good.

Join us for a 3–4 week cross-country train adventure across Japan -exploring beyond the usual Golden Triangle to discover affordable, authentic, and unforgettable destinations. From the peaceful hot springs of Yamanouchi to coastal cycling in Onomichi, forest trails in Itoshima, and vibrant local culture in Sendai and Aomori -this itinerary highlights some of our favourite lesser-known spots.

I film, edit, and write everything myself…no AI here…just one teacher with a passion for creating and sharing the beauty of slow, meaningful travel.

At the end of the video, I’ve included a quick budget breakdown: what we spent, how we planned, and how we make trips like this work on modest salaries while supporting a family.