4 top places to visit in Japan off the beaten path, from the Japan Alps to East Hokkaido

With record visitor numbers in 2024 putting strain on Japan’s tourist hotpots, here are four places to visit far away from crowds in 2025

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Shima Onsen is considered among Japan’s top onsen towns and its Sekizenkan ryokan (Japanese inn) is said to be the inspiration behind the bathhouse in Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 11:15am, 3 Feb 2025

If it felt like everyone you knew had been on holiday to Japan in 2024, it was because they probably had.

According to the country’s tourism agency, a record 36.9 million people travelled to Japan in 2024, up 47 per cent from the previous year, as the weak yen helped boost the Asian nation to the top of many bucket lists.

The 2024 figure surpasses the previous record of 31.9 million visitors in 2019, right before Covid hit, by 15.6 per cent.

“Right now, for sure, it’s our top destination,” says Catherine Heald, co-founder and CEO of New York-based travel agency Remote Lands, who said she had seen a 50 per cent increase in requests to visit the country in 2024, compared with 2019.

The Hida Mountains, a range in the Japan Alps, are at their most beautiful when the leaves turn red in autumn. Photo: Shutterstock

With more visitors, however, comes overcrowding and strained infrastructure, prompting authorities to take action such as banning tourists from parts of Kyoto’s Gion district and charging a new entrance fee at Mount Fuji, together with limiting the number of people who can climb it.

With the government strongly encouraging visitors to venture beyond the beaten-track destinations of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, here are four alternative places in Japan to visit.