Minakami

Kanto, Japan · Mountain, Snow

Gunma's great adventure base: rafting and canyoning on the rapids of the Tone River, the quirky Doai Station (nicknamed "the mole station" for its 462 underground steps down to the platform), the Suwa/Teruha gorge with trails past waterfalls, and, further up the valley, the remote mixed open-air hot spring of Takaragawa, with several thermal pools by the river surrounded by nature.

The essentials

Getting there

Train — JR Joetsu line direct from Takasaki (itself reached by Shinkansen from Tokyo, ¥4,810) to Minakami station, ~1h10 more, ¥1,170, total ¥5,980 with no private segment or bus at all. A 100% JR East route start to finish.

Frequently asked questions about Minakami

What to do in Minakami: 24 activities

• Rafting and canyoning on the Tone River 3 h must-see booking

  One of Japan's most reputed rafting spots, with rapids of varying intensity depending on the season on the Tone River, plus canyoning options through the valley's side gorges.

• Climbing Tanigawa-dake on foot by the Tenjin ridge 8 h only mountain summer, after the yamabiraki

  The ropeway drops you at Tenjindaira, 1,313 m, where the Tenjin-one ridge, the normal route to the top, begins. Gunma Prefecture's route-grading table gives it 6.0 km, 5.2 hours of walking there and back and 700 m of cumulative ascent to Tomanomimi (1,963 m), at fitness 2 out of 10 and technical difficulty B, which on Gunma's scale means short chain-assisted steps and ladders, some mountain experience, and places where a fall is serious: no technical gear needed, but not a stroll either. The summit is a double one: the second 'ear', Okinomimi (1,977 m), is another fifteen minutes along the ridge and is the highest point of the massif. The summer season opens with the yamabiraki ceremony, the first Sunday of July — the 5th in 2026 — and Gunma asks walkers to file a climbing plan before setting out.

• Tanigawadake ropeway 3 h

  Ropeway up to Tenjindaira at 1,313 m, at the foot of one of Japan's '100 Famous Mountains'. Across from it rises the Ichinokura face, climbing ground and a designated "dangerous district" under Gunma Prefecture, which requires a climbing plan filed ten days ahead to enter it.

• The Ichinokura-sawa cirque, seen from below 4 h only closed for works from 5 November 2026

  The old National Route 291 dead-ends at the foot of one of Japan's three great rock faces and is closed to private cars all year, so you walk it on flat asphalt: 1.7 km and 30 minutes from the Tanigawa-dake mountain museum to Machiga-sawa, another 1.6 km and 25 minutes to the end of the road at Ichinokura-sawa, and 1.7 km and 20 minutes more if you start from Doai station — about 10 km round trip and some 4 hours with stops. From 5 November 2026 the road is shut completely beyond the mountain guidance centre, pedestrians included, for repair work on the Machiga-sawa water channel, with no reopening date published. The wall itself is rope-and-partner terrain, not a trail: you come here to look at it head on.

• A night in the shoulder hut on Tanigawa-dake 14 h booking only the hut's summer season

  Kata-no-koya, the 'shoulder hut', is the only place to sleep high on Tanigawa-dake: it sits on the saddle fifteen or twenty minutes below Tomanomimi (1,963 m), at the top of the Tenjin ridge. Booking is by telephone only, through Minakami town hall's tourism and commerce office (0278-25-5028, weekdays 9:00-17:00); there is no web booking and no English line. Sleeping up there turns a 5-hour day walk into two half days and puts you on the ridge for sunrise over the Tone basin.

• A round of the valley's 18 onsen 3 h

  Minakami is not a hot spring town but 18 separate spring areas spread through the valley (Tanigawa, Yubiso, Kamimoku, Sarugakyo), with free foot baths between one and the next.

• Bungee jump over the gorge 1.5 h booking

  A 42-metre jump from the Suwakyo bridge over the Tone river, the first commercial bridge bungee there was in Japan.

• Ecotour in the Akaya biosphere reserve 3.5 h booking

  Minakami is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: guided walks through the Akaya forest with forest bathing, wildlife tracking and an explanation of the forest restoration project.

• Hoshi Onsen Chojukan 2 h

  Wooden bath house from 1895 with the water rising straight up between the pebbles on the bottom, practically unchanged since the Meiji era.

• Minakami ski resorts 5 h

  Four ski resorts (one with night skiing) little more than an hour from Tokyo by shinkansen, extraordinary for how close they are.

• Takaragawa's open-air onsen 2.5 h

  Further up the valley, one of Japan's largest open-air hot springs, with several mixed thermal pools by the river surrounded by forest, in a remote and spectacular setting.

• Takumi-no-Sato, the craftsmen's village 3 h

  Village among rice paddies with more than 20 open workshops: washi paper, bamboo, dyeing, woodwork or soba kneading, each in its own house.

• Canoeing and paddleboarding on Lake Akaya 2.5 h booking

  Calm mountain water ringed by forest, the gentle alternative to rafting on the Tone.

• Doai Station, "the mole station" 1.5 h

  One of Japan's deepest train stations, its uptrack platform reached via 462 steps underground inside a mountain tunnel, nicknamed "the mole station" for how much effort it takes to get out.

• Konjac, maitake and mountain ayu 1.5 h

  Gunma is Japan's largest producer of konjac and here it is even eaten as sashimi, alongside maitake mushrooms, mountain shoots and grilled ayu.

• Roadside station with a river aquarium 1 h

  Producers' market with a small aquarium devoted to the fish of the Tone river, a good stop with children.

• Sarugakyo Onsen and its kappa legends 2 h

  Spa on the old route from Edo to Niigata, with storytelling sessions of the local kappa legends.

• Seasonal fruit picking 1.5 h booking

  Orchards open for strawberries, blueberries or apples depending on the time of year, in the Tsukiyono area.

• Snowshoeing below Ichinokura 3.5 h booking

  Guided winter snowshoe walk through the valley, beneath the legendary rock face of Ichinokura.

• Spring kagura and the Komamaki puppets 2 h only April and May, depending on the shrine

  Between April and May a dozen shrines in the valley hold their kagura dances; the Komamaki puppet theatre is a prefectural Cultural Property.

• Summer festivals of the valley 2.5 h only late July and September

  The Tsukiyono Gion Matsuri at the end of July and the Yassa Matsuri in September, two local festivals with no foreign tourism at all.

• Suwa/Teruha Gorge 2 h

  Trails past waterfalls and turquoise pools in a little-visited stretch of the valley's forest, a quieter alternative to the area's better-known adventure activities.

• Taineiji Temple and the old Mikuni route 1.5 h

  Soto Zen temple with a historic sanmon gate, beside the old Mikuni road used to cross from Edo to Niigata, with the remains of its checkpoint barrier.

• Tsukiyono glass workshop 1.5 h

  Glass blowing and engraving with a workshop for visitors and a shop, the only properly design-led content in the municipality.

What only happens on specific dates

• Spring kagura and the Komamaki puppets April and May, depending on the shrine
• The Ichinokura-sawa cirque, seen from below closed for works from 5 November 2026
• Climbing Tanigawa-dake on foot by the Tenjin ridge mountain summer, after the yamabiraki
• A night in the shoulder hut on Tanigawa-dake the hut's summer season
• Summer festivals of the valley late July and September

Chains well with

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