Rural Family Adventure: Treasures of Japan's Heartland

We were hiking parts of the Kumano Kodō (Kiiji & Nakahechi route) in December 2023 and booked a self-guided tour through Oku Japan. This was an excellent decision. They are reliable experts in off-the-beaten-tracks and pioneered the idea of self-guided hikes in Japan. In particular we liked that Oku Japan works with local communities, so we experienced true Japanese hospitality. A big thank you for a fantastic experience of the ancient Kumano Kodō – especially to Alessia!

We absolutely loved all aspects of the Oku tour. We selected the self-guided Nakasendo trail 5 day tour and it was fabulous. Oku set us up for success and incredible memories. We especially appreciated their advance support and answering all of our questions.

We did the Ancient Capitals tour in November and it was fantastic! It was beautiful strolling through the countryside, forests, and farmlands. It took us to places that we would never have thought of, but enjoyed immensely. We loved chatting with locals and going on what felt like an amazing treasure hunt.

A very knowledgeable and helpful partner in organizing some of the most beautiful hiking trips we’ve walked. We booked 3 self-guided hiking trips (Nakasendo, Shikoku, Kumano Kodo) with them, and although we were pretty late they made all of them possible. The preparation went really smooth and we. Had the feeling we we’re ready for each walk. Everything was arranged really well and they were available for support when needed. The trips were gorgeous and combined breathtaking scenery with rural towns and comforting stays. They make sure you get to experience a bit of everything. Highly recommended, we can’t wait to book our next trips. Thanks

Absolutely brilliant trip. Seamlessly organised with very clear and concise maps/instructions. Got to see a side of Japan that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen. Clear communication throughout and an amazingly helpful and supportive local team who helped us when we wanted to change our plans and reduce the amount of luggage we were carrying.

My recent self-guided Kumano Kodo hike was sensational. This is a great way to discover a quieter side of Japan and its culture. Oku Japan provided very clear instructions that included travel connections, accomodation, walking directions, maps etc in paper and digital formats which gave me confidence travelling on my own in a new country. The choice and quality of accomodation was outstanding with hosts providing superb meals. I cannot rate Oku Japan service and quality high enough. Thankyou for making my experience in Japan a memorable one.

Walking the Nakasendo trail was the best part of our three weeks in Japan. The staff at Oku Japan (shout out to Clementine!) were incredibly helpful and responsive when we were booking. And the guides, maps, and walking notes were so detailed; it really made us feel comfortable doing the self-guided walk. I can’t recommend this enough!

Our self guided walk on the Kumano Kodo was a great success and only involved two rainy days. The directions were generally accurate (with occasional ambiguity) and the B&Bs were all adequate and in some cases much more than adequate. It was a very pleasant introduction to Japanese culture and food - most of which was delicious and beautifully presented. The Hotel in Osaka was perfectly positioned (Marriott Courtyard at Shing Osaka Station). I think the grading of the walk was quite difficult, especially the last day, with ascents and descents over 800m - as it was also pouring with rain we chose to omit that day due to the danger of slipping and injuring ourselves on the downward journey. There were also leeches - which perhaps should have been mentioned in the notes. The Urashima Hotel in Kii-Katsuura was quite bizarre - a James Bond Peninsula for mass tourism - but an amazing experience on our last night ! The Takkyubin service was superb as was the advice and help we received in the OKU office in Chikatsuyu. We will certainly think of returning to Japan with OKU - and will recommend OKU to our friends. Thank you .