Miyazaki Travel Guide

The sacred cave where sun goddess Amaterasu hid, plunging the world into darkness — and the vast riverbed cavern where 8 million deities gathered to coax her back out. Today the cavern is lined with thousands of stone cairns stacked by visitors, creating an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in Japan.

A tiny jungle-covered island connected to the mainland by a 300m bridge, surrounded by 'Devil's Washboard' — perfectly rippled rock formations shaped by millennia of ocean waves.

A 250m suspension bridge spanning a ravine above one of Asia's last intact broadleaf evergreen forests — ancient trees up to 800 years old in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In autumn the canopy below turns gold and crimson while you walk across.

Japan's only herd of truly wild horses roams the dramatic cliffs and grasslands of this southern cape. Walk among them at sunrise when morning mist rolls in from Osumi Strait.

A volcanic highland at 1,200m in the Kirishima range with a chain of emerald and cobalt crater lakes, and Japan's most spectacular azalea blooms in late spring. The lake circuit trail passes three different-colored volcanic lakes within a 2-hour walk.

The most intact feudal castle town in Kyushu — locals call it the "Little Kyoto of Kyushu." Samurai estates, merchant quarters, and a pine-lined castle approach are preserved in a town that has barely changed since the Edo period.

The only place outside Easter Island with official full-size moai replica statues — seven figures overlooking the Pacific, authorized by the Rapa Nui Council. Each moai represents a different area of good fortune and can be touched for blessings.

Rent a rowboat and drift through a canyon carved by the Gokase River, under towering basalt walls and a waterfall that drops directly into the gorge. Go at 8am before the crowds arrive.

Watch masked priests perform ancient Shinto kagura dances telling the myth of Amaterasu emerging from a cave — every night at 8pm, year-round. One of Japan's most atmospheric cultural rituals.

A Shinto shrine built entirely inside a sea cave on a cliff above crashing Pacific waves. Access via steep stone steps carved into the cliff face. Buy mudball offerings and throw them into a rock.

Sheer 70m basalt columns plunge straight into the Pacific along the most dramatic stretch of Japan's eastern coastline. A glass-floor observation deck lets you stand over the void above crashing waves — and the horizon here is uninterrupted ocean all the way to the Americas.

A retro sightseeing train that hugs the Pacific coastline south from Miyazaki City. The ocean is so close you can see waves breaking meters away. Local obento included on some services.