2025 Autumn Group Tours On Sale Now

A 9 day group tour of the Nakasendo and 4 other lesser known ancient trails is now available! Featuring hikes on the Nakasendo, the Seinaiji Kaido, the Tosando, the Ontake Kodo, and the Hida Kaido. Go deep this autumn with Really Rural Japan!

Autumn in the Southern Alps (Ina Valley)

Kozenji Temple, Komagane City (Ina Valley)

Atera Gorge, Okuawa Village (Kiso Valley)

Sanno-Ike Lake, Mount Ontake (Kiso Area)

Nezame-no-toko, Agematsu Town (Kiso Valley)

Our Tours

sign post tateba tea house ichikokutochi sakura spring nagiso Nakasendo kiso valley ina nagano Shinshu river minami travel hiking walking Japan rural countryside ontake tsumago magome trekking history edo period shukuba post town daimyo samurai

Nakasendo Hiking Tours

Ina Valley hiking tours hirugami onsen seinaiji kaido japan countryside rural mountains nagano

Ina Valley Tours

Kiso Valley Tours

oneri matsuri festival iida japan nagano prefecture shishimai lion dance

Festival Tours

Hakone Oyama Kintoki Kintokiyama Mount Ashi Lake Fuji Mountain Guide local deep pilgrimage Tokaido Yumoto traditional onsen tattoo Tokyo train view snow tanzawa

Hakone Tours

Straw Warazaiku wara shokunin master craftsman traditional craft nagano iijima tsumago magome trekking history edo period hike walk trek local guide

Who We Are

Welcome to Really Rural Japan. We are a locally-based, eco-tour operator in the Kiso Valley and Ina Valley of southern Nagano. I am the founder Mike, I specialize in hiking, nature, history, and rural life in the mountains of central Japan. I am also currently the only foreign master craftsman of wara-zaiku, a traditional Japanese craft that makes items out of rice straw. I love the Japanese countryside and want to share with you this beautiful place that I am lucky enough to call home.

Why Choose Us?

Local Guides

We live local and operate local. Most other operators that run tours here have their HQ somewhere else overseas and bring in their guides from elsewhere too. Local guides are more knowledgeable and more passionate. The money that they earn recirculates in the local economy. More work for local guides means more jobs and more rural migration which helps to boost the declining population.
Private Tours

We are strong believers in micro-tourism. That is why almost all of our tours are exclusive and private, with a maximum group size of 6. That must be expensive, right? Well, when compared to companies using guides from outside the area, local guides have cheaper transportation costs and won’t need accommodation, so it actually usually works out a whole lot cheaper.
Customizable

Because we specialize in private tours, everything we do is extremely flexible and can be designed to match your interests, needs, dates, fitness levels, etc. You won’t be rushing or waiting around for other members of a larger group. You’ll spend precisely as much time on each thing as you want. And if there is any time to spare, we’ll use our local knowledge to show you some of the areas lesser known secrets.