Immense inspiration waiting outside the “Golden Route”
Nara and its surroundings saw saw the birth of the Japanese civilisation as we know it. Then Kyoto and Tokyo took over prominence. While those two cities evolved with the times, it sometimes seems that Nara mostly focused on preserving its heritage. The Kii Peninsula (Nara, Asuka, Miwa, Ise, Koyasan, Horyuji, Yoshino, Kumano …) is a great place to connect with ancient Japanese spirituality and the soul of Japanese arts and craftsmanship.
The ancient capital of Japan is only telling us part of the story though. The Mino and Kiso countries alongside the old Nakasendo commercial route (Gifu and Nagano), the Hakusan mountain range and Noto Peninsula (Ishikawa), the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes (Wakayama), the Christian sites around Nagasaki, the islands connected though the roads and bridges of Shimanamikaido (Hiroshima and Ehime), the islands hosting the Setonaikai Art Triennale (Naoshima, Teshima and Shodoshima) have an equally strong appeal.
Aging and depopulation are threatening the preservation of those amazing cultural treasures though. Passerelle will take you there for an itinerary off the beaten tracks.