For an authentic smaller town experience, we suggest including Sasayama in your plans. It’s easy to get there by train from Osaka, though not on the shinkansen. Once there, you’ll find a friendly town on a valley plain surrounded by mountains. If coming here, it’s best to rent a car, and don’t let that concern you. Driving in Japan (especially the countryside) is quite easy and the small size of Sasayama makes even driving in town a breeze. We can’t say the same about driving in Tokyo!
Again, here at Uncharted Japan, we want to guide you to the lesser known, less crowded places, but places that will stand out above the touristy sites of Tokyo and other major cities. Sasayama is a castle town with the ruins of Sasayama Castle in the center with the Kawaramachi Tsumairi Merchant Street extending eastward offering you the ability to stroll down a cobblestone street lined with 300 to 400 year old shops. Best of all……no huge crowds of tourists taking selfies. How refreshing!
A very short drive from Sasayama is the Tamba Traditional Craft Park centered around one of the oldest centers of pottery production in Japan. Though it’s not a big city, it offers visitors a chance to feel what old Japan was really like.
And there is another place just outside Sasayama that we’re hesitant to even mention as it is so unique, so special and so inspiring that we really don’t want the world to know. What is it? Check in periodically and perhaps one day we’ll feature it on a video.
Check out our latest video from Maruyama Village, absolutely the most amazing experience we've had in Japan. Maruyama Village was built to manage the water supply to the nearby Sasayama Castle and town of Tamba-Sasayama. Situated at the end of a lush valley adorned...