The Side of Japan No One Shows You | Hidden Gems Travel Vlog

The Side of Japan No One Shows You | Hidden Gems Travel Vlog

Tokyo is crowded. Japan’s been everywhere on social media lately, and with the yen so weak, it feels like everyone’s just flying there. I’ve been to Japan many times as I have family there, and I sit in Tokyo during the same season of spring 2 years ago, and it feels so much more crowded now. The busy neighborhoods are avoidable, but the problem is the trains aren’t. These trains get so crowded and fill up fast, and you sometimes just have to wait for the next train to come. I can see this being so unenjoyable when this is locals daily commutes to work. This honestly made me feel a little weird about promoting travel to Japan again. Upon my research, I learned that the government does want tourism and they’re still pushing for more. But the solution is to try to spread people out instead of condensing everyone in the same three cities, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. In fact, I noticed some JR trains advertising lesserk known spots. For example, this right here is for Okutama, which was somewhere I had already planned on visiting. And those quiet little day trips were some of my favorite days while staying in Tokyo. Today, I want to share with you a few of the hidden gems I visited during my month in Japan and inspire you to get off the beaten path. 2 hours by train from central Tokyo is a mountainous town called Okutama. Just got off the train. First thing I see is cherry blossoms. And there’s a beautiful mountain. Welcome to [Music] Okutama. Wow, this is so beautiful. This was just a 2-hour train ride from Tokyo. A little bit more depending on like the transfer times. I do think this is like a really good spot for the summertime because you can do some swimming and dips. I’m not sure about this part of the river because it seems a little bit intense, but I do think there’s some spots that are calmer uh a little bit further down. We just went to this cafe called Kikori Cafe. very very cute like wooden vibes with forest views. We’re going to do a little bit of a hike down the river to Okotama station. Um but you can take the bus or the train. It just doesn’t come super frequently, so just try to time it well. But yeah, we’re going to walk by the water. Very pretty. We hiked for about 30 minutes along this river, crossing bridges and passing by only two paddle boarders and one fisherman. Then we decided to just hop on the train one stop to Okatama Station because we were getting pretty tired and wanted to get some [Music] food. Oh my god, that’s so good. By this point, it was already around 5:00 p.m. and these mountain areas closed really early. So, if I were to come back here, I’d definitely start my day earlier. There were some parts of the lake and a cave that I wanted to visit. But instead, we admired the town, scenery, and this beautiful weeping saka tree. So pretty. Today, we’re going to take a day trip to Kawago. Going to go see the cherry blossoms. Also happy to have some friends going. Where at? [Music] 30 minutes by train from Tokyo, you can visit the city of Kawako, which has many traditional buildings and food stands. It’s kind of like a mini kiloto. That’s really good. Kawagoa is known for having a ton of unagi or eel dishes, so we had to go get some. And this was so delicious. Then we walked to Shingashi River for the cherry blossoms and there was barely anyone there. Instead, we actually made some friends with some Japanese guys. [Applause] Finally, Morito Coast. Kamakura is a popular day trip in Tokyo, but right next to it is Zushi Beach and Hayama Town. It’s 2 hours by train depending on where you are in the city. I’ve made it to Zushi Beach. Honestly, there’s not that much going on in the town area or this beach, but there is like a shrine area that I want to check out, and I think you could see a view of Mount Fuji. We’re going to walk about like 30 minutes and check out some other parts of this beach. I headed to Morito Shrine. I could have taken the bus, but I wanted to soak in the entire coastline. Some parts of it reminded me of California a little. It was very peaceful and quiet. I made it to the shrine which is right on the water and it had this beautiful rocky beach and it looked like a great place to swim if it was warmer out. I wasn’t able to see Mount Fuji but apparently if the skies were clearer you could see Fuji right from this beach. I was in Tokyo during cherry blossom season. I went to Shinjuku Gardens and Meguro River. Both very stunning but absolutely packed. But in a small park in Sedagaya City near my house that I was staying in for the month, I found myself almost entirely alone along this beautiful stream, which was quite unbelievable. These days, travel often looks like chasing the same Instagram photo, even when it’s so crowded. But the more I travel, the more I realized my favorite experiences were never where the crowds were. I decided it was time to leave Tokyo and go to an area that I haven’t seen much of on social media. A road trip across Shikoku, Japan’s least talked about island. I’m just like shocked that it’s so empty. Like there’s literally no one else here. Yeah. I met my friend Rich Osaka who had rented a car for the week. We went through Aaji Island to get to Shikoku and I was amazed by this new side of Japan that I got to see. We witnessed the countryside life and found beautiful rivers and farms and incredibly friendly people who wanted to talk to us. You can get to Shikoku by train, but to see a lot of the sites that we did, you would need to rent a car. This area deserves its own video, so the full vlog and route from the trip will be the next one, so subscribe and be notified when it’s posted. We ended our journey in the city of Okyama, which is actually only a 45minute Shinkansen train from Osaka. We found this town called Kurashiki. It has old traditional buildings and this beautiful canal. It had a lot of European influence which I absolutely love and I would highly recommend visiting. Afterama, I went to Kyoto to visit my family. Everyone says Tokyo is crowded, but apparently Kyoto is way worse. When I got there, I soon realized that yes, things have changed. My mom went to college in Kyoto, and even she noticed how many more people could now speak English to accommodate how many more people there were now. We decided to go to a town called Uji, which was the birthplace of matcha. Now, I love matcha, so this was perfect for me. It’s a growing tourist spot, but it wasn’t too busy, and it had lots to do and eat. So, we are currently in the town of Uji, which is like 50 minutes from Kyoto. Just got eat matcha. Oh my god, that’s so good. Finally, I ended the trip in the Shika Prefecture, which was where my grandma and her house was. These days, people plan their trips based on what they see on social media, and in Japan, it’s usually the big three cities. But I hope this video encouraged you to get off the beaten path and discover some new places. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, let me know in the comments and I’ll see you in the next one.

Japan is overcrowded, so we’re getting off the beaten path and exploring the quieter parts outside of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

I took some quick day trips from Tokyo, went on a roadtrip, and learned about the overtourism issue.

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0:00 intro
1:11 okutama
3:21 kawagoe
4:15 morito coast
5:12 quiet parts
5:44 shikoku
6:33 kurashiki
6:50 uji
7:34 ending

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thanks so much for watching 🙂