Check out the Kawayu hot springs. The train / bus trip out there was stunning. Found loads of things to do, bush tracks, fly fishing and golf. Definatly a highlight of my trip. Oh and I 2nd Mijajima, just awersome.

I think that Beppu is definitely one of the "must see" places in japan. Not
only that you can enjoy many onsens, but you also can try "wild"
hotsprings in the mountains, jigokus, visit monkey park where you can see
more than thousand wild monkeys. To see all of this you will need about 2
days.

Visit official Beppu city guide web pages for more information about the

city here:
BEPPU CITY GUIDE


Regards,

Bibo
HAPPY NEKO Backpackers - Happy Neko Backpacker, Beppu

A must visit place is Hakone near Tokyo in the mountains. Wonderful views of mt Fuji and many hotsprings too.

Second that :) Find an onsen hostspring by Yumoto and you are set

Thanks for even more replies... The places I have to go to just keep piling up, haha ;)

I agree to this too! I was so sad when we found that the one night we'd given ourselves to spend there was woefully inadequate, especially as it was raining like crazy the afternoon we arrived. Didn't end up being able to do much more than take a couple of photos of Mt Fuji nestled in the other mountains from a bit of a distance. Beautiful place though, and definitely on my list of places to spend more time in when I go to Japan again. And the ryokan we stayed at was fantastic, definitely heading back there again.

Hi ChisaChi,

Yes you need two nights at least in Hakone. There is a two day pass which good value and you can see the lake area and take the zigzag raliway and cable car to see the mountain from.

When I went there it rained and Mt Fuji was invisible:( . So I am going back too.:)

If you're here for a year then you need to get some snow in the winter months. We could do with some now to be honest - it's boiling! I love Shiga Kogen in Nagano. If you fancy going a little further then try Hokkaido - time it right and you can take in the ice festival, usually around Feb 7 - 10 :)

Cheers and all the best

Seems great. I was actually planning on going up to Hokkaido a while in the winter. I need a dose of snow :)

For snow there is also Iwate prefecture, Aomori, Akita, Miyagi, and Yamagata prefectures. All are good for skiing and playing in the snow.