TODAY'S NOTE · MON 5 OCT
Aichi · Inuyama★★★ History
Inuyama Castle
A National Treasure keep on a river bluff, with a gallery round its top floor
Cherry blossom in spring and autumn colour are the two seasons the grounds are known for.
その全部が、一枚のノートに。
The whole story, in one note.
The classics and the quiet finds — on one map, with notes that get you there.
Open the map → 
TODAY'S NOTE · TUE 6 OCT
North Hiroshima · Akiota★★★ Nature
Sandankyo Gorge
A Special Place of Scenic Beauty, on one bus from central Hiroshima
This is a nationally designated landscape, not a hidden one, and it fills up in the autumn leaf season.
TODAY'S NOTE · WED 7 OCT
Ibaraki · Mito★★★ Nature
Kairakuen
One of Japan's Three Great Gardens — 3,000 plum trees in early spring, free before 9 am even at peak
a secondary draw outside plum season: the large bamboo grove and autumn colours on the same slopes
TODAY'S NOTE · THU 8 OCT
Aomori · Oirase Gorge★★★ Nature
Oirase Gorge
A famous gorge you can take in the length you have time for
Michelin's green guide gives the gorge two stars, and the autumn colour is what most people come for.
TODAY'S NOTE · FRI 9 OCT
Yamanashi · Mount Fuji / Yamanakako Village★★★ Nature
Lake Yamanakako
The Fuji Five Lake closest to the summit — clear Fuji views from the north shore, and Diamond Fuji twice a year at sunset
The lake is pleasant in any season: cherry blossoms on the south shore in April, clear summit views in autumn, ice fishing in January–February.
TODAY'S NOTE · SAT 10 OCT
Kyoto · Okazaki / Higashiyama★★★ History
Nanzen-ji
Japan's highest-ranked Zen temple, with a free-entry compound containing a working 1890 brick aqueduct and a monumental 1628 gate
the monumental three-bay gate of 1628; a second-floor loft open in spring and autumn provides views across the temple roofline toward Kyoto
TODAY'S NOTE · SUN 11 OCT
West Oita · Yufuin★★★ Onsen
Lake Kinrin
Mist on warm water at dawn, then a shopping street that wakes up
Come in autumn or winter and be at the shore around first light, which is when the mist forms and when the ring path is empty.
IN SEASON
IN SEASON — SPRING
Blossom season, without the crush
Plum, cherry and wisteria — six places worth the trip.
Yamanashi · Fujiyoshida · history
Arakurayama Sengen Park
The world's most recognised Japan photograph — pagoda, cherry blossoms, and Mount Fuji. Come before 9:00 on a clear day.
Nara · Yoshino · nature
Yoshino Mountain
Japan's most celebrated sakura mountain — 30,000 trees in four tiers, UNESCO temples, 75 min direct from Osaka on Kintetsu.
Aomori · Hirosaki · history
Hirosaki Castle
The northernmost keep in Japan, in a park that never shuts.
Izu · Kawazu · nature
Kawazu-zakura
Late-winter cherries along a river, walked from the station to the tree they began with.
Tochigi · Ashikaga · nature
Ashikaga Flower Park
Japan's most dramatic wisteria park — a 150-year-old vine canopy about 90 minutes from Tokyo.
Ibaraki · Mito · nature
Kairakuen
One of Japan's Three Great Gardens — 3,000 plum trees in early spring, free before 9 am even at peak.
IN SEASON — SUMMER
Where summer feels cooler
Sea wind, cedar valleys, night views — six picks for the hottest weeks.
Hokkaido · Furano · nature
Farm Tomita
Free to enter, open all year, and deepest purple in high summer.
Hokkaido · Shakotan · nature
Cape Kamui
A ridge walk with the sea on both sides, free to enter when the gates allow.
Central Gifu · Nagarabashi · culture
Nagara River Cormorant Fishing
A licensed night fishery worked by firelight, watched from a boat that drifts alongside.
Daisen · Omagari · culture
Omagari Fireworks
Japan's national fireworks contest, where makers fire their own shells by day and by night.
Kochi · Urato · nature
Katsurahama Beach
Kochi's signature shore, with a shrine on the rocks and Ryoma above the pines.
Northeast Kyoto · Yase · history
Rurikoin
The reflection is real and it is worth the trip, but the temple is shut most of the year. Check the dates first, and consider the green season over the maples.
IN SEASON — AUTUMN
Chasing the red leaves
Gardens, gorges and hillsides that peak in autumn.
South Kyoto · Higashiyama · history
Tofuku-ji
Kyoto's most celebrated autumn foliage view — the maple ravine seen from Tsutenkyo Bridge, in one of the city's five great Zen temples.
Kyoto/Shiga border · Mt. Hiei · history
Enryaku-ji Temple
Mount Hiei's mountaintop monastery — where the founders of Japan's major Buddhist schools trained, and a single flame has burned for 1,200 years.
Tokyo · Aoyama / Jingu Gaien · nature
Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue
146 ginkgo planted in graded heights so the avenue looks longer than it is — Tokyo's best-known autumn street, and a designed illusion.
Osaka north · Minoh · nature
Minoo Falls
A city waterfall you reach by walking a river gorge rather than parking beside it.
Toyama · Unazuki · nature
Kurobe Gorge Railway
A working hydro railway that still lets passengers ride in the open air.
Saitama · Chichibu / Nagatoro · nature
Nagatoro
Rock terraces of exposed deep-earth schist, and a wooden boat poled through the rapids beside them — two hours from Ikebukuro.
IN SEASON — WINTER
Steam, snow and clear skies
Open-air baths in the snow, and the clearest Fuji views of the year.
Yamagata · Zao · onsen
Zao Onsen and the Snow Monsters
Strongly acidic sulphur water in the lanes, a plateau of ice-cased firs above them.
South Akita · Yokote · culture
Yokote Kamakura Snow Festival
Two February evenings of lit snow rooms, and one kept cold all year.
East Hokkaido · Tsurui · nature
Tsurui Crane Feeding Grounds
Winter only, free to watch, and the cranes are genuinely wild.
Hakkoda · Aomori City · onsen
Sukayu Onsen
A pillarless cypress bath on Hakkoda, open to day visitors, in Japan's record snow country.
Fukui · Echizen Coast · food
Echizen Snow Crab
The crab's own front door — museum, market hall and a sea bath on one roadside site.
Gunma · Kusatsu · onsen
Kusatsu Onsen's Yubatake
4,000 litres a minute at pH 2.1, running through seven wooden channels in the open — free, always open, best at dawn or after dark.
ABOUT
Field notes, not a guidebook.
Open the map, pick a place, and you know the rest — which train, which stop, what to see when you arrive, and when it’s at its best. Can’t decide? Ask Aoi. New places are added all the time.
The same notes are heading to a mobile app — it’s in the works.
Ask AoiField Notes Japan is planned, designed and built by Daichi.K, an independent developer in Japan.