Some ask me why I stopped adding Kyoto or the Kansai region to my Mt. Fuji Autumn Leaves Japan Photo tours or my Essence of Autumn Photo Tour, where forest bathing shinrin yoku is a daily experience. I simply tell them, myself and the majority of my clients don’t like being elbow to elbow with tourists. And in recent years, we have seen an influx of tourists who think it’s okay to stop/grab a maiko or geisha on the street to get a selfie, and in some cases, geishas’ homes, tea houses, and okiyas have been invaded just to get a selfie. Wow! The tourism harassment problem has become so prevalent, that the Japanese police have coined a phrase, “tourism pollution.” “Tourism pollution” is a huge problem on the tourist beaten path, especially in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Kanazawa. Kanazawa used to be off the beaten path until a new bullet train line opened in 2015. Just to give you an idea about how Kanazawa has changed, a couple staying at a 2-3 star hotel in 2014, before the bullet train line opened would pay $200, but now the price has skyrocketed to $500. The only reason that the Kanazawa area is being pushed so hard and the rates have doubled or tripled for lodgings and amenities is to recoup the trillions of yen spent extending the bullet train line to Kanazawa, which is partially subsidized by taxpayers. Large companies trying to recover the costs of the shinkansen brought my time enjoying horseback riding in the Canadian Rocky Mountains to mind. I had some good friends who were barrel racers and aces at roping, so I know what herding cattle looks like, and that is precisely what is happening with all the advertisements, driving the tourists onto the beaten path in Kanazawa, countless people drawn in by the siren’s call of ‘authentic Japan’, which is not necessarily a bad thing, because there are English speaking staff and some amazing locations. However, for those looking for the authentic Japanese experience, younger adventurers generally go out on their own, and spend months backpacking, hiking, or cycling, exploring because they don’t have a tight time schedule, so they can afford open ended excursions throughout Japan, including the deep backcountry, but that’s rare. For those who are serious about photography and actively use their day planner, they join one of my Japan photo workshops, someone else’s, or they go on a different international photo adventure. Anyone knows the best way to see a country is with an experienced pro photographer. By the way, I still go to Kyoto, but I only do exclusively private workshops there where we book lodgings at shrines and temples, only venturing out in the early mornings or evenings. During the day, when all the tourists are out and about, I advise my clients to stay in and refresh themselves with onsen visits or some of the region’s delicious matcha green tea. Once the sun goes down, my participants, team members, and I indulge in garden parties, low lighting photography, or another evening photography experience.
I prefer to stay away from tourists and the rigamarole that goes with it, but if I have to jump in where the tourists are, I am going to go to places I know like the back of my hand. As I mentioned above, I usually avoid cities and regions where I know it’s next to impossible to avoid the tourists like Kyoto and places in Tokyo, unless I do night tours, and even then it can be hit or miss. That’s why I stick to my home regions of Hokkaido, the sea of Japan, Kanto Japan, which includes the Mt. Fuji region. Fujisan is the iconic symbol of Japan, and for some reason, non-locals and the uninitiated in traveling and photographing in Japan think it’s easy to get to and navigate. You can get there by bus or train, but you’ll be limited to 1-2 of the Fuji Five Lakes, and that won’t be authentic Japan. You’ll be led to or roped into the tourist areas as in Kanazawa because the English texts are only available for the highest traffic areas. The towns and villages that my clients and I visit don’t have the information for the tourists because they have enough locals visiting, so no need to cater to international tourists. Those are the places I prefer. That’s authentic Japan, not where you have 1,000 foreigners in one place, sharing the same experience and the same photos. That’s not Japan, that’s being herded like cattle into an area for the sake of pooling tourism dollars.
One of my favorite home regions that I often visit is Hakone, and not just for their world famous onsen baths, but I lead clients and friends to places such as the Hakone Shrine. The precise founding date is not known, but it’s thought to be during the Nara Period (710-794) when the ‘high culture’ period of Japan is thought to have begun. Holy men such as Kūkai and Saicho brought Esoteric Buddhism to Japan and began to influence the existing spiritual views. The shrine holds so many treasures, and as a Japanese local pro photographer, I can get my clients access. The shrine and its fabled treasure room have links with emperors such as Emperor Hanayama (968-1008), Yoritomo Minamoto (1147-1199) as well as samurai who shaped the future of the nation like Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). Several of the items in the shrine’s vault are national Important Cultural Properties, but this is only inside the shrine. The views from the outside include Mt. Fuji and Lake Ashi which blend the shrine beautifully with the nature that surrounds it. And if you’re with me, I’ll make sure you leave Japan with once in a lifetime photos to hang in galleries or in your personal gallery once you return. Instead of the crowded city streets of Kyoto, you will be with me connecting with one of Japan’s vortexal power spots and the natural mysticism that is authentic Japan.
Let’s stop for a moment and look at the Mt. Fuji and Hakone region instead of the shrine by itself. Yes, Hakone is on the beaten path, but not the version I would introduce you to. I’ve been leading photography workshops in that region for over 20 years, and I can use a stopwatch to calculate tourist movements in order to completely avoid them, similar to when I visit Nikko. As I mentioned before, in Kyoto, tourists are almost unavoidable, but in Hakone and the Mt. Fuji area, this is my backyard, and my main home and office are in Kanagawa, where Hakone is, so I can avoid them almost entirely. Kanagawa, Tokyo, Kanto Japan are my first home region. Two more regions I know well are along the Sea of Japan from Kanazawa to Hokkaido where I am a local. I have spent over twenty years scouting and leading Japan photo workshops in these regions, and they have their own off the beaten path treasures, each region representing a different part of what authentic Japan can be. As part of my cross country Cherry Blossom photo workshops, I have recently been adventuring into prefectures such Aomori, Iwate, Akita, and Yamagata as the blooming season has been variable recently for sakura, and if cherry blossoms are something that piques your photographic interest, I am happy to take you from the Sea of Japan side of the country all the way across the Pacific Ocean side chasing the perfect blossom and back again. In terms of the south of Japan, I’m so busy with Hokkaido, Mt. Fuji, snow monkeys, my cross country Cherry Blossom and cross country Essence of Autumn Leaves explorations that I am focusing my attention there. Annually, I travel to Kyushu, and Japan’s southern islands, but that’s for private birding and Ocean landscape photo workshops.
While in southern Japan, by rule of thumb, I follow the ancient pilgrimage routes. Perhaps the most famous Kyushu pilgrimage is the Sasaguri pilgrimage. This pilgrimage route was established in 1835 by a monk who had completed the Shikoku pilgrimage and wanted to create a local version that was shorter for those individuals that simply couldn’t complete the longer Shikoku pilgrimage. When I trekked this pilgrim’s route, I noticed several country roads and narrow lanes but next to no traffic, and the temples are easily accessible as part of the pilgrimage experience to say nothing of the amount of statues that are viewable on the temple grounds. Probably the most famous pilgrimage route is the 88 temple Shikoku pilgrimage. The entire route spans more than 1,000 kilometers and would take about six weeks to complete. The present incarnation of the Shikoku pilgrimage route is believed to have been formed as early as the 16th century, but it traces its history back to the 9th century as one of Japan’s ancient philosopher’s Kukai (Kobo Daishi) trained his ascetic ways on a similar course. This is only the tip of the spiritual iceberg. The Kumano Kodo is a network of several different paths that all coalesce into one huge spiritual adventure. The Kumano Kodo has been used for over a millennium as emperors, samurai, artisans, geisha, and townspeople would use these paths seeking a measure of spiritual enlightenment. Nearly all the pilgrims took part in strict religious rites to purify their spirits, and the surrounding areas are patchworks of breathtaking landscapes, wildlife photography, and glimpses into Japan’s rich historic past. As an amateur historian and Japan local, I’m happy to discuss any of Japan’s ancient pilgrim’s routes as we explore them and stop to enjoy photography. In 2004, the Kumano Kodo was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site cementing its spiritual importance to Japan and to the entire world. So when I’m not concentrating on my home regions, I become a pilgrim indulging in spiritual enlightenment and scouting at the same time.