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Where to visit in Japan if the travel bubble becomes a reality – lesser known destinations for social distancing

As the opening of a ‘travel bubble’ with Hong Kong is discussed, hopeful holidaymakers can start planning adventures

The Land of the Rising Sun has much to offer, whether you’re looking for history, culture or some good old family fun

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The Migiwa pond and garden at Jakko-in Temple in Ohara, Kyoto. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 4:15pm, 12 Sep 2020Updated: 4:15pm, 12 Sep 2020

The Japanese tourism industry, battered just as badly as the rest of the world since the Covid-19 pandemic brought travel to a screeching halt before last winter was out, has been buoyed by fresh talk of a “travel bubble”. With new cases of the coronavirus holding relatively steady in Japan, the industry is discussing the possibility of a bubble for a limited number of leisure visitors from certain markets – including, critically, Hong Kong.

Tourism has been booming in Japan in recent years and the nation was on course to welcome a record 40 million visitors in the year in which Tokyo was to host the Olympic Games. Ambitions will be far more conservative after the travel bans are relaxed, but for anyone contemplating a visit, here are some suggestions for destinations in Japan that will enable a visitor to preserve a degree of social distancing.

For history: Ohara, Kyoto prefecture

While the crowds flock to the sights of Kyoto, the equally historic town of Ohara, just 20km to the north, provides an equally impressive overview of Japanese history, culture and design, both of structures and traditional gardens. Once considered a distant outpost, in centuries gone by Ohara attracted some of the most holy men of the Buddhist faith and offered refuge to members of the imperial family escaping internecine rivalries.

The town sprawls over the valley floor alongside the Takano River, which flows on to Kyoto. Smaller valleys branch off and were often chosen as the locations for the community’s temples and shrines.

One of the oldest temples in the area is Jakko-in, a convent established in AD594 and where Kenreimon-in Tokuko, the wife of Emperor Takakura, sought refuge after his death in battle in 1181. Sanzen-in Temple is famous for its two formal gardens, which are particularly impressive when the leaves are changing colours in the autumn, while nearby Hosen-in Temple has a rather gruesome section of ceiling panels that were once floorboards in Fushimi Castle.

Rather than surrender when they were besieged in 1600, hundreds of samurai committed hara-kiri and their bloodstains – along with footprints, scrabbled fingerprints and the outline of a face – are still visible in the wood.