Apart from Mount Fuji and traditional Japanese gardens, few tourists suspect the sheer natural beauty that lies hidden in the remoter parts of Japan, a land of rice paddies, mountains and waterfalls, but also of little islands and rugged coastline. Here is a very brief preview of Japan's natural splendour.
Terraced rice paddies in the Kumano mountains, Wakayama Prefecture
Rocky coastline of Japan
Autumnal leaves in the Oirase Valley, Aomori Prefecture
Yamadera Temple in the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture
Hoshitōge Rice Terrace near Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture
Kegon Falls near Lake Chuzenji, Tochigi Prefecture
Wisteria tunnel at the Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture
Chinoike Jigoku hot spring in Beppu, Oita Prefecture
Nagasaki Observation deck, Anijima Island, Ogasawara Archipelago (Bonin Islands)
Cape Zanpa Lighthouse in Okinawa