Last Updated: Jul 16, 2024

Mountainous Minakami

Japan’s Top Spot for Outdoor Adventures

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

When you confine yourself only to Japan’s urban settings, it’s easy to forget just how much of Japan is defined by its mountains. In fact, approximately twenty-seven percent of the country is considered flat. Put simply, the conditions in the vast Kanto Plain (where Greater Tokyo resides) are actually the exception to the rule. Elsewhere in Japan, mountains, not flatlands, are the norm. Now, I am a pretty well-traveled guy and always game for visiting new remote destinations. Yet, given the distance I’ve covered, I’m repeatedly floored by the sheer majesty of Japan’s sweeping mountains.

On that note, I’d like to introduce today’s topic of Minakami. Located in the far-flung northwestern reaches of Gunma, on the border of Niigata Prefecture, Minakami is like heaven on earth for outdoor enthusiasts. Well renowned for years for its hot springs and ski resorts, this slice of Japan has also recently seen a boom in adventure tourism. For example, my good friend Mike Harris runs the company Canyons and is always taking both foreigners and Japanese alike on some sort of suicidal-looking undertaking. If you have a serious deathwish, I highly suggest checking out what Mike has on offer.

Anyway, after having visited Minakami not too long ago, I must say that the area is a bit of an enigma. This subsection of Gunma Prefecture feels much more like a hodgepodge of hobbled communities rather than a single unified entity. This is because the current incarnation of Minakami is actually a recent concoction. Historically, this region has been more of a collection of semi-independent pockets that took up residence in their own respective valleys. It was merely a decade and some change ago that all of these various villages were aggregated into the current amalgam of Minakami.

All in all though, if you’re into nature and the outdoors, you can’t really do much better than Minakami. It’s a welcome reprieve to the endless concrete jungle of the Tokyo megalopolis. While you certainly don’t need to go as far as willingly flinging yourself from a bridge clinging to a bungee rope saving you from death, there’s ample opportunities for adventure. Whether you’re an adrenaline junkie or a newbie to the…