Tales from Hidden Japan | Mark Edward Harris

Tales from Hidden Japan
By Mark Edward Harris

Japan, a country roughly the size of California, offers a seemingly endless variety of photographic and adventure opportunities. While first-time travelers tend to make the classic pilgrimages to Tokyo, Nara, Kyoto, and the Hakone region for views of Mt. Fuji, those with the time to extend their stay or to come back again should venture forth camera-in-hand onto the road less traveled and into the heart and soul of the country.

In conjunction with my speaking engagement at the Adventure Travel World Summit 2023 in Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, I did a pre-summit hiking and cycling tour up the off-the-beaten-track eastern Tohoku coastline with tour operator Michinori Tohoku. It was in this area that the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, creating a devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011. I arrived soon after to document the destruction and then, in the following years have recorded the area’s astounding recovery. In February 2024, I will have an exhibition of this series at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo.
My goal in this latest exploration of Tohoku is to record the highlights of the post-tsunami-created 1000-kilometer Michinoku Coastal Trail along one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.
To get the most out of the trip and the least stress on my back on the hiking and biking sections of the trail, I pack my Nikon Z8 and Z9 bodies, Z 14-24mm f/2.8, Z 24-70mm f/2.8, and Z 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses, a StellaPro Reflex light and a small RRS tripod into my MindShift FirstLight 40L backpack. Since we’ll be on the trails, rain or shine, I dress from head to toe in The North Face FUTURELIGHT gear and carry a pair of Black Diamond Distant Z Trekking poles.
After a brief stop at the Natori Trail Center to learn about the creation of the trail as well as pick up some maps and a Michinoku Coastal Trail Hiking Passport that our newly formed group can add stamps into to document the journey, we head to the southern trailhead in Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture.

For the next week, we hopscotch to some of the most breathtaking areas of the trail before arriving in Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture.
Among the many highlights are sea kayaking off of Jodogahama, exploring the dramatically shaped islands of Matsushima Bay, and hiking up and down the breathtaking 200-meter-high cliffs of Kitayamazaki.
We are rewarded for our physical efforts with world-class meals ranging from chef Katsuyasu Ito’s French-inspired cuisine at L’Oreole Tanohata and a sake pairing dinner at The Kesennuma Brewers Table to a kaiseki meal at the Kurosaki-so Hotel and
an al fresco dinner under the stars at the Tanesashi campgrounds. Most of our days begin and end with mind and soul-soothing and muscle-relaxing hot spring dips at our hotels and ryokans. We experience Japanese culture all along the way, including a Buddhist monk-guided zazen meditation at a temple near Rikuzentakata.
Historic Kabushima Shrine is the northern trailhead of the Michinoku Coastal Trail and a place where migratory birds such as black-tailed gulls fly every year. While we completed the trip in a week by focusing on specific trail highlights, one and a half to two months should be allotted for those who want to do the entire route on foot. No matter how one finishes the trail, all will agree with the expression, “The journey is the destination.”
I remember having that same feeling a decade ago after doing the Nakasendo with Walk Japan. The Nakasendo and the Takkaido were the two main routes that connected Kyoto with Edo (now present-day Tokyo).
The Nakasendo can still be experienced much as it was two centuries ago and is truly a step back in time.

After the ATWS event in Sapporo, which included my presentation on ryokans and onsens based on my book, “The Way of the Japanese Bath,” I joined Hokkaido Treasure Island Travel to explore Japan’s northernmost national park, Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park. Adventure opportunities throughout the park include extensive biking trails around and hiking trails up Mt. Rishiri, one of the most stunning locations on earth.
The island is a magnificent, cone-shaped volcanic mountain that emerges from the sea and is a symbol of the park. Forty-five minutes by ferry away is Rebun, known as the “floating island of flowers.” It’s home to rare alpine botanical life and flower fields, which can be explored through a series of well-defined trails.

The tour concludes in the city of Wakkanai and a journey up to Cape Soya, the northernmost point of Japan, to witness a spectacular sunrise.

While Hokkaido is known for its indigenous Ainu culture, earlier this year, I ventured down to the opposite end of Japan to the UNESCO World Heritage island of Amami in Kagoshima Prefecture, yet another example of the diversity of cultural, adventure, and scenic opportunities offered by the island nation.

The Amami culture is closer to the other Ryukyu Islands than to mainland Japan. Examples of this connection include the mud-dyed Amami Oshima Silk Tsumugi, ranked as one of the top three textiles in the world.
About 65 percent of Amami, Japan’s ninth-largest island, is forested and is home to the country’s second-largest mangrove. Exploring with a kayak is an ideal way to learn about the island’s unique ecology.

Next January, I will be exploring the winter wonderland of Hokkaido, camera-in-hand; then, in February 2024, I will be leading a photo workshop with George Nobechi of Nobechi Creative around the less traveled area of the southwest coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu.
Those who join us will see that the land of the rising sun, and on this side of the country, the setting sun, is truly a place of endless photographic possibilities.

ABOUT | Mark Edward Harris

Assignments have taken Los Angeles and Tokyo-based photographer Mark Edward Harris to more than 100 countries and all seven continents. His editorial work has appeared in publications such as Vanity Fair, LIFE, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, GEO, Newsweek, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, AFAR, Wallpaper, Vogue, Architectural Digest, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and The London Sunday Times Travel Magazine as well as all the major photography and in-flight magazines. Among his numerous accolades are CLIO, ACE, Impact DOCS Award of Excellence, Aurora Gold, and IPA awards. His books include Faces of the Twentieth Century: Master Photographers and Their Work, The Way of the Japanese Bath, Wanderlust, North Korea, South Korea, Inside Iran, The Travel Photo Essay: Describing
A Journey Through Images, and his latest, The People of the Forest, a book about orangutans.

See the full article in Lens Magazine Issue #108