Wonders of Japan
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Summer in Japan: The Hokkaido Edition
02 Aug 2026I have been feeling a little possessed by Japan’s largest national park, fittingly known as the Playground of Gods, since I first visited about five years ago, and have returned whenever I could, most recently just last week.
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A Not-So-Pale View of the Hills: Nagasaki and Beyond
16 May 2026This month`s letter is about a city that reveals itself a little more openly and asks a lot less physically than Tokyo, leaving more room for the emotional weight it carries. With its deep wounds still visible, yet powerfully contrasted by the vibrancy of everyday life, it is a place I find myself returning to again and again: Nagasaki. From there, the trip extends beyond the city itself to the Goto Islands, Amakusa, and the Shimabara Peninsula.
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Where to Visit in Japan (Other than Tokyo and Kyoto)?
28 Jul 2026I sometimes get asked where one should visit in . The question often comes from travelers who only have a week or, at best, two in the country. Usually, their itinerary already includes Tokyo and Kyoto, and they are looking for recommendations to spice up their itinerary by introducing one or two off-the-beaten-path locations.
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Walking Kumano Kodo: The Imperial Route
20 Apr 2026Notes from and planning guidance for the Nakahechi Route of the Kumano Kodo, the best-known of the ancient pilgrimage routes crossing the Kii Peninsula. Following forested mountain paths between historic villages and sacred shrines, it offers a journey through one of Japan's most spiritually significant landscapes.
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A Literary Journey Across Japan: From Hokkaido to Okinawa
17 May 2026A fast-paced literary journey across Japan, featuring books to accompany your travels as you move from region to region. Organized by city and area, it begins in Hokkaido and gradually makes its way south to Okinawa, introducing novels, memoirs, travel writing, collection of essays, and other works connected to each destination along the way.
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Snow Falling on Cedars: Winter in Japan
07 Feb 2026With Japan’s mountainous terrain, it’s hard to find a destination north of Tokyo that disappoints in winter, especially if you’re after snowy landscapes, relaxed indoor time (onsen helps), and atmospheric dining. These praising words, quite big coming from someone who once, without hesitation or regret, titled a monthly letter - The Very Questionable Beauty of Japan, bring us to this month’s topic: winter trips in Japan.
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Okinawa, the Reluctant Paradise
15 Jul 2025On a blue-sky day, the scenery on Tokashiki, with its perfectly balanced color palette and just the right contrast between the ocean and the lush hills that surround it, feels like something out of an anime, dreamed up by an artist almost mocking us with a glimpse of a perfect island world that could never exist. But the greatest thing about Kerama Islands of Okinawa is the simple fact that the islands do not seem to care about their own greatness, at least not from a typical tourism perspective.
Featured Articles
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The Great Ocean Walk of Australia and Post-Hike Blues
16 Nov 2025Dear reader, if you are here because you are debating, just as I did, whether to hike the Great Ocean Walk, I would wholeheartedly say go for it. After weeks of unnecessary consideration and comparing it with other multi-day trails in Australia, I finally hiked the Great Ocean Walk in late April and was glad that I did. It is one of the finest multi-day trails I have ever hiked.
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For the Love of Ritual: Onsen in Japan
16 Mar 2026One of the most thrilling aspects of living in Japan has, somewhat ironically, been the mundanity of everyday life and the ritual-driven rhythm that brings a great deal of calm with it. And when it comes to everyday rituals in Japan, few things are more defining than its onsen and sento culture. This is an overview of the Japan`s beloved onsen culture and introduction of some of my favorite hot springs across the country in various categories from wild to upscale ones.
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Great Walks of New Zealand: the Greatest Three, Routeburn, Kepler and Milford
16 Sep 2025I spent the better part of March (2023) in New Zealand. In addition to some day hikes, I did three of the famous Great Walks of New Zealand – namely Milford, Kepler and Routeburn. The experience has definitely exceeded my expectations. The Great Walks, as the name suggests, offered such an unparalleled experience and beauty that it made it difficult for me to enjoy the day hikes that I did in between the three walks.
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Istanbul to Tokyo: Famously Connected, Proudly Isolated
22 Aug 2025After a lovely ten days back home in Turkey – a country that truly knows how to do summers, where I didn’t see a single cloud, could drink my coffee on the balcony in the morning, swim without having to cover every inch of my body, and eat outdoors in the evenings, otherwise known as the series of activities that should be constitutionally banned in Japan for the month of August due to the notorious humidity – I am now back in Tokyo.
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Milford Track: a Hike Worthy of All Praise
16 Mar 2026When a hike is as popular as Milford Track and promoted as "the finest walk in the world", there is always the inevitable question: "Is it overrated?". My answer: No, not even a little bit. The four-day-long trail is worthy of all praise.
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Islands of Japan Worth Ditching the Mainland For
07 Feb 2026Japan is an island nation. Now, please repeat with me - Japan is an island nation. And now, again, but this time in Japanese - Japan is a "shimaguni." In his excellent book about Japan - Bending Adversity, David Shilling refers to the term shimaguni (島国）- meaning island country in Japanese, as "incantation," as a magic term to end all conversations about Japan.
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Laos: Where the Wild Things Are
08 Jan 2026I remember flying from Luang Namtha in Northern Laos to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, during a work trip in 2020. It was my second trip to the country. Our time in Luang Namtha was limited but still filled with several opportunities to introduce us to the landscape beauty of the region.
Favorite Hikes in Japan
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A post with an overview of some of my favorite trails across the country, starting in the mangrove forests of Okinawa, and going up north, far north, to Rebun Island in Hokkaido. Read more.
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Asahidake to Naka Dake loop hike in Daisetsuzan National Park in Hokkaido is one of my favorite hikes in Japan. You get to hike next to an active volcano and also walk through one of the most picturesque valleys in Japan – Susoaidaira. Read more.
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Mt. Miyanoura in Yakushima is the highest peak in the entire Kyushu. The hike, which can be done as a day or multi-day hike, offers hikers the chance to experience a wide variety of landscape scenery in the company of monkeys and island deer. Read more.
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Karasawa Cirque trail located in Kamikochi of Nagano, is one of the most popular fall colors hikes in Japan, if not the most. The long trail that leads to Karasawa from Kamikochi bus stop is, however, beautiful in every season. Read more.
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Kyoto Trail, which is an 80-kilometer route that encircles the city, is surprisingly rewarding for a region that is known for its temples but not so much for its hiking trails. If you are in the city, I highly recommend that you explore a few sections, which will allow you to experience the city’s famous landmarks from a whole new perspective. Read more.
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If there were a competition for the most beautiful island in Japan, my vote would surely go to Rebun Island, north of Hokkaido. Home to a series of relatively easy hiking trails, Rebun is one of the most beautiful off-the-beaten-path experiences Japan has to offer. Read more.
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Yakiyama and Magose Passes along the Iseji Route of Kumano Kodo are two distinct trails in terms of the difficulty. The trailheads for both hikes start at lovely Owase town, and the easy access is beneficial for those who want to experience some of the pilgrimage trails of Kumano Kodo without walking the whole route. Read more.
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Mount Aso hike offers the best combination of the unique aspects of hiking in Japan. The trailhead is easily accessible with a direct bus leaving from Aso town. Depending on the alert level, hikers can get close to the craters, which are often steaming in all their glory. This is a relatively easy hike with only short steep sections. Read more.
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Oirase Stream hike in Aomori prefecture of Tohoku is another very popular fall colors hike. You follow the gentle Oirase Stream all the way until you reach Lake Towada. It is a very easy hike with almost zero altitude change, but still a very rewarding one with various waterfalls along the route. Read more.
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Japan is definitely not short of active volcanoes. Yake Dake , located in the Northern Japanese Alps, is a great introductory and non-technical hike in the Japanese Alps, where the trails are often a little more challenging and even technical in some sections. Read more.
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Sadogashima island traverse is a five to seven hour hike that covers an impressive variety of landscape scenery. The hike is popular, particularly in June during the peak flowering season. Read more.
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One of my favorite hikes in Kyushu is in Kuju-Aso National Park—Kuju Mountain Range. There are two trailheads that lead you to some of the highest peaks of Kuju Mountain Range and eventually to Hokkein Onsen Sanso – a mountain hut fully equipped with a dining room, dorm, and private rooms, and an Onsen. Read more.
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The most famous one of all pilgrimage routes in Japan, along with the 88-Temples of Shikoku, is the Nakahechi Route of Kumano Kodo. This is one of the best multi-day intro hikes in Japan, where one can experience both the country’s nature and culture. Read more.
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If you have time to go truly off the beaten path, the southern coast of Shikoku offers understated yet spectacular coastal walks, with plenty of worthwhile stops along the way,including one of the most beautiful temples on the Shikoku Pilgrimage Route and several dramatic cliffside shrines. Read more.
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The Goto Islands, located off the coast of Nagasaki, form a chain of five islands with several UNESCO sites connected to Japan’s Hidden Christians. While they are not especially known for hiking trails, the islands are ideal for DIY walks along the coastline. Here are the diaries of an eight-day trip visiting several well-known historical sites in the region on foot. Read more.
Japan is home to several ancient pilgrimage routes connecting sacred Shinto and Buddhist sites, including the famous Kumano Kodo network in the Wakayama region and the 88 Temples of Shikoku. This post provides an overview of some of these routes. Read more.
This is not necessarily a hiking post but a diary of a week spent in Biei in Hokkaido in winter, taking walks to the various sites surrounding the town each day – covering the region’s famous trees, waterfalls, and also the nearby active volcano, Asahidake, in the middle of winter. Read more.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Thank you for visiting my website. My name is Burcu. I was born near Istanbul on the winter solstice of 1980. I think this has a lot to do with my undying love for winter and cold destinations such as Hokkaido, Norway, or Svalbard, but it hardly explains why I am asleep by 9 pm every night. I spent most of my youth in Istanbul, first at a boarding school and then with family, although I was also fortunate to spend a few years of high school and university abroad, when I was young enough to admire other cultures, places, and people without any preconceptions. As for the job department, I am a lawyer. After spending 13 years in a law office, I took a six-year break and eventually moved to Tokyo, Japan. As of 2023, I have a full-time job in Tokyo at a research institute in a field that does not strictly qualify as legal services but still relates to my previous legal experience. I also get to teach one law-related class at a graduate school on Saturday mornings. In my blog, I mostly write about nature destinations across Japan, with a focus on hiking trails, hot springs , and small islands. I also write Japan trip-planning posts, including Japan Frequently Asked Questions, as well as city-focused writing covering cities like Kanazawa, Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Kyoto, among many others. I also write travel articles for print magazines and websites. In addition to this website, I also have a newsletter titled Letters from Japan, featuring monthly travel stories from the country. Each new monthly letter is free to subscribers for one month before joining the paid archive, alongside additional posts and resources for paid subscribers. I am happiest when walking and saddest when I think of how my country has changed over the last two decades. You can read more about my background here: About.
Favorite Travel Habit
If I’m in a city, I love walking around during the morning rush hour. It’s the only time a city can’t hide its truth or pretend to be nicer than it really is. I’m sorry to report that the Istanbul you see during rush hour is exactly what living in Istanbul feels like: an anxiety-inducing ride from start to finish, albeit with unique rewards. I wrote more about some of my travel habits in the “Why Do We Travel?” post.
Hotels or Airbnb?
Definitely hotels. I like the transitional feel at hotels, the temporality of it all. It makes me feel lighter. Airbnb, on the other hand, makes me feel suffocated, being surrounded by someone else`s life/decoration choices. I wrote more about Why I Don`t Like Airbnb. For Japan-specific accommodation, these are some of my favorite hot springs stays across the country. Another post with a similar approach highlights some favorite hostel stays in some of the country’s most rural areas.
Favorite Destinations
I love anywhere with beautiful nature. Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Norway are places I find especially striking. As for cities, I am a devoted fan of Paris, which I believe is the most beautiful city in the world. Sydney, Madrid, and Aix-en-Provence are three other cities I can revisit repeatedly without getting tired of. Among Japanese cities, I feel immense gratitude for Tokyo, where I live, one of the largest small towns in the world, disguised as a metropolis. And despite becoming a poster child for over-tourism, I equally adore Kyoto. There are, of course, many other wonderful cities in the country, which I believe are worth your time.
Where I live
Well, not in a bathtub or in an onsen, but you probably still get the clue – in Japan. More specifically, in Tokyo, in one of its very laid-back eastern wards, Shibamata of Katsushika, where the wonderful Mizumoto Park is located. I love it. I wrote a number of posts that inevitably read a little like a love letter to this gigantic city with a heart of gold.
TRAVEL DIARIES
HIKING THE KYOTO TRAIL
ReadWALKING GOTO ISLANDS
ReadWINTER IN HOKKAIDO
ReadOKINAWA SUMMERS
ReadGREAT WALKS OF NEW ZEALAND
WHERE TO VISIT IN JAPAN
DESTINATIONS IN JAPAN OTHER THAN TOKYO AND KYOTO
ExploreMY FAVORITE CITIES IN JAPAN
ExploreISLANDS OF JAPAN
ExplorePILGRIMAGE ROUTES OF JAPAN
ExploreMONTHLY LETTERS & TRAVEL DIARIES & JAPAN TRIP ITINERARIES
While this website is the main platform where I publish travel-related content, I also run a Japan-focused newsletter called Letters from Japan. Once a month, I share a letter featuring travel stories and photography from across the country. Each new monthly letter is free to all subscribers for one month after publication before becoming part of the paid archive. One recent letter, Hiking Japan: From Okinawa to Hokkaido, presents some of my favorite hikes in Japan in geographical order. // Paid subscribers have unlimited access to the complete archive, as well as additional posts designed to support Japan itinerary planning with a more logistics-focused, information-heavy approach. These include the Japan Trip Planning Q&A Series, covering topics such as transportation and accommodation, as well as specific trips like biking the Shimanami Kaido in two days. // Another category includes the “One Fine Day” city series, covering Kanazawa, Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Kyoto, each offering a walking itinerary through the city. There are also several multi-day itinerary suggestions based on my own trips, such as “Blue Forests of Japan: Autumn Trip to Aomori,” which shares my annual fall foliage journey to the northernmost prefecture of Tohoku; “Tohoku Onsen Hopping,” introducing several historic hot spring stays in the region; and a weekend trip to Shibu Onsen and the snow monkeys of Nagano. // Paid subscribers also have access to the Travel Diaries series, whose recent entries include a week-long winter trip to Hokkaido, Walking Goto Islands off the coast of Nagasaki, and a five-day hike along the Kyoto Trail. // The structure of the paid archive and the different categories of posts are explained in more detail on the Letters from Japan About Page. // If you would like to subscribe, you can use the form right below or click here.
RAMBLINGS ABOUT TRAVELING
TRAVEL TO JAPAN
JAPAN TRAVEL FAQ
ExploreJAPAN TRAVEL GUIDE
ExploreBEST SEASON TO VISIT JAPAN
ExploreTRAVELING JAPAN ON BUDGET
ExploreMore Japan Destinations
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A Literary Journey Across Japan: From Hokkaido to Okinawa
17 May 2026A fast-paced literary journey across Japan, featuring books to accompany your travels as you move from region to region. Organized by city and area, it begins in Hokkaido and gradually makes its way south to Okinawa, introducing novels, memoirs, travel writing, collection of essays, and other works connected to each destination along the way.
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Tohoku: One of Japan`s Least Explored Yet Most Rewarding Regions
21 Apr 2026Tohoku, the region of Japan tucked between Hokkaido and Honshu, turned out to be everything that I dreamed it would be: beautiful nature, onsen tucked in the forests, some of the most underrated temples in Japan, and charming mid-size cities that somehow feel traditionally contemporary.
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Sadogashima Island Traverse Hike: Forests, Ridges and Strange Things
07 Sep 2025Sagodashima Island traverse hike was full of surprises. Some purely pleasant and some pleasantly strange surprises.
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Cape Ashizuri in Shikoku: Japan`s Wild Cape and Most Beautiful Temple
08 Feb 2022We have a long trip from Tokyo to Cape Ashizuri, or Ashizuri Misaki in Japanese. We first need to take the plane followed by a hopefully scenic train journey before we get on the car for the final leg. We barely make it to our plane out of Narita bound for Kochi due to the train line suspensions caused by power outage.
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Shikoku Pilgrimage Accommodation
11 Nov 2025The accommodation along Shikoku Pilgrimage Route is one of the most discussed topics in relation to this journey. Along the route, there are various types of accommodation including free temple (tsuyado) or locally funded accommodation (zenkonyado), paid temple accommodation (shukubo) and various other paid categories ranging from hostels to high end hotels.
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Hiking Kumano Kodo: UNESCO World Heritage
07 Feb 2026It is 5 am in the morning. I will shortly start hearing the footsteps of the monks and their students. The preparations for the morning pray start at 5.30 am. The prayer room, which is decorated with hundreds of lanterns, needs to be heated up.
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One Fine Autumn Day in Kyoto
02 Sep 2025Since I am a person of habits and find great comfort in having a routine, I usually follow the same daily itinerary during my fall colors trip to Kyoto. I thought it might be a good idea to introduce my favorite fall color viewing spots in Kyoto in a diary-style post. So here we start, up at 5 a.m.
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Japan Travel Guide: Cities, Islands, Hot Springs, Hikes
14 Sep 2025They say planning is the best part of any trip. Well, maybe not so much when your destination is Japan. There are some positive reasons beyond this first-world problem, like the abundance of places that all catch your attention but are impossible to fit into a one or two-week-long itinerary.
Explore More
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Kepler Track of New Zealand: a Walk in the Clouds
16 Sep 2025I arrived in Queenstown on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, I did not have anytime to enjoy the town. In all honesty, the town itself is not particularly special but the surrounding scenery dominated by the Remarkables Mountain Range is the dictionary definition of a picture perfect scenery. I had to do food shopping for the Kepler Track, which is located in South Island of New Zealand and considered to be one of the best Great Walks of New Zealand.
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Routeburn Track of New Zealand: Picture Perfect Scenery
Routeburn Track is one of the most desired Great Walks of New Zealand. The track, located in South Island, goes through two national parks, Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks.
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A Hokkaido Journey: Post-Apocalyptic Cities to Edenlike Islands
25 Jul 2024The rainy season is officially over, and Tokyo, like many other places in the Northern Hemisphere, is already too hot. But despite my premature complaints in the previous letter, this summer has not yet been too grueling. Breathing is still possible if you work for it, and you might even consider taking a walk before 5 a.m. or after 7 p.m.
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New Orleans, a City Ruled by a River
21 Mar 2023New Orleans is a city, which is much older than its own country. This makes perfect sense once you get to spend a few days in this amazing city that is geographically and politically part of the USA but is mentally million miles away.
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Into the Greenery: Scottish Highlands by Train
25 Feb 2023After years of contemplating - I finally traveled to Scottish Highlands in the summer of 2016 for a short visit of three days. I benefited from a long weekend that fell between two weeks of meetings in London.
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What Is a Weekend? The Freelancer`s Dilemma.
12 Nov 2023“What is a weekend?” - the best line from the British TV Show Downton Abbey, which started as one of the greatest shows to satisfy our escapism needs but went on a little too long.
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Gobekli Tepe: Interview with Excavation Team
01 Apr 2021There is no question that Turkey is an archeological wonder and home to magnificent sites such as Ephesus and Pergamon in the Agean region. While we are very proud for hosting such extraordinary sites on our own soil, we are never short of imagination and the ability to “manufacture” stories associated with these sites. I reached out to German archeologist Jens Notroff, who is part of the crew of the archeologists running the Tepe Telegrams to discuss the story of Gobekli Tepe.
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Farewell to Fuji – Back to Canon
25 Aug 2020Farewell to Fuji, I today sold my X-Pro II and lens set - my main camera for the last 4.5 years and probably the most beautifully designed camera ever but if we can talk of chemistry between cameras and humans, we sure did not have it. I went back to my old full frame Canon.
Down the Memory Lane
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Behind the Scenes
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Enoura Observatory by Hiroshi Sugimoto
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Ghost Forests of Japan: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
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Svalbard: Travel to the Midnight Sun
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Circling Yakushima: In Praise of Road Walks
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Interview with Matthieu Paley: My Favorite National Geographic Photographer
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A Day in San Francisco: Ocean, Hills (Many) and Parks
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Taishakuten Temple in Katsushika
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The Famous Red Cabin – Eliassen Rorbuer
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Aix-en-Provence: Trip Diaries
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Death in Venice: Snow Storm and Some Forced Imagination
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My Favorite Hiking Movies and Documentaries
