Narukokyo Gorge (Osaki City) 鳴子峡(大崎市)

Narukokyo Gorge

Located in Miyagi Prefecture of the Tohoku Region, Naruko-kyo Gorge is a great place to hike. You walk a 2.6-km hiking trail along Oya River which runs between 100-meter cliffs. Odd shaped rocks, waterfalls, and caves appear one after another. Cliffs are covered by maple trees, oak trees, and hornbeam trees. In autumn, leaves show red, orange, or yellow colors and make a beautiful color contrast with gray rocks. It is a wonderful view. Ohbukazawa Bridge is the symbol of Naruko-kyo Gorge. It is a 100-meter long bridge near Nakayamadaira hot spring resort, which is one of five hot spring resorts near Naruko-kyo Gorge. Other than Nakayamadaira, Naruko, Higashi-Naruko, Kawatabi, and Onikobe make Naruko-onsen-kyo Hot Spring Village. The village has a long history and the quality of hot water is very good. Geysers gush and hot water rivers run at some spots. Local people harness geothermal energy. There is a tropical botanical garden. Tropical plants such as banana, bougainvillaea, and hibiscus are cultivated in a big green house. Onikobe geothermal plant, which is one of the oldest geothermal plants in Japan, is located in the area, too.

Naruko is home to kokeshi dolls. They are simple wooden dolls without limbs. The Japan Kokeshi Center Museum (Nihon Kokeshi Kan) displays old kokeshi dolls. Popular attraction of the museum is kokeshi doll painting. You can make your own kokeshi doll by painting the face and kimono.

Lake Shikotsu-ko (支笏湖) , Hokkaido

Lake Shikotsu-ko (支笏湖) , Hokkaido 

Japan's northernmost ice-free lake, popular for fishing and boating, remains unfrozen even throughout Hokkaido's harsh winter.

Lake Shikotsu-ko is located in southwestern Hokkaido, west of the city of Chitose. It is a crater lake that was formed over 40,000 years ago by volcanic activity, and it has a maximum depth of 363 meters, making it the second deepest lake in Japan. It is an oligotrophic lake with visibility to a depth of 25 meters, and does not freeze in most winters. This makes it the most northerly lake in Japan that does not freeze over.

The eastern lakeshore near the mouth of the Chitose-gawa River is the center for tourists, and has hotels and pickup points for pleasure boats. There are also three campsites around the lake. On 10-meter-high rock bluff faces that stretch for 500 meters, is a moss gateway, the mouth of which is thickly covered with about 30 varieties of moss, giving it a lustrous, dreamlike beauty. Because of partial collapse, the moss gateway is now available for observation from a viewing deck located at its entrance which opens from early June to late October.

Sekokyo Gorge (世古峡), Shizuoka Prefecture, Honshu, Japan

Sekokyo Gorge (世古峡), Shizuoka Prefecture, Honshu, Japan

Sekokyo Gorge extends about 1 km to the west from the Deaibashi Bridge, which is thrown over the point where the Nekko River and the Hontani River flow into the Kano River. Located in the southwestern end of Yugashima Hot Springs, the gorge is visited by a lot of tourists who come to enjoy beautiful scenery of tender green in spring and crimson foliage in fall. Its beautiful flow of bubbly water has been highly acclaimed.

The promenade set out from the central part of Yugashima hot spring town to Sekokyo Gorge is called “Yumichi (the Hot Water Road),” which local people used to take when they went to the public bathhouse in the old days. Yumichi is also known as the path of literature, for there are many stone monuments concerning poets and novelists such as Akiko Yosano, Yasushi Inoue, Motojiro Kajii and Bokusui Wakayama.