Japan¡¯s tourism boom ¡ª recently hauling in an incredible 42.7 million visitors in 2025 ¡ª is not hitting all areas equally.

While over 50% of foreign tourists visit Tokyo and nearly 40% see Osaka, only 2.9% go to Nagano Prefecture, home of the Japanese Alps. Just 1.2% visit Miyagi, the economic and cultural center of the northeast Tohoku region, and a mere 0.5% venture deeper into prefectures like Yamagata and Fukushima.

The irony of this trend is that the regions receiving the least amount of international visitors are those that could use the greatest economic boost from tourist pocketbooks.

¡°Up until a few years ago, the number of inbound foreign tourists who came here was almost zero,¡± says Yoshitaka Shida, 57, who was born and raised in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. He is manager of the Ofunato Onsen Hotel and a partner in efforts to revitalize the region.

Surrounded by green hills and a meandering bay, the lodging is located in Sanriku National Park in the heart of a coastal region devastated by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Homes and businesses were swept away in this seaside town, leading to the loss of 340 lives.

Now 15 years after the disaster, Ofunato is having trouble drawing tourists back.

¡°I do think that tourism can have a positive effect by inviting people to invest in the future of the region,¡± Shida says. ¡°But we¡¯re still seeing few of those investments.¡±

Most foreign tourists simply aren¡¯t willing to spend the time that it takes to depart from the iconic Golden Route between Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

¡°Even though people are increasingly aware that these locations are degraded by the sheer number of tourists, if you¡¯re only going to visit Japan once in your life, it¡¯s really quite difficult to skip out on them,¡± explains Adam Fulford, a consultant for Japanese rural communities.

However, a number of off-the-beaten-path parts of Japan are experimenting with a strategy they hope can draw people away from the Golden Route: long walking trails.

Some routes are already popular in their own right. There¡¯s the Nakasendo, a mountainous route that winds through preserved Edo Period (1603-1867) townscapes, and the ancient Kumano Kodo, passing through Wakayama Prefecture¡¯s lush mountains to some of Japan¡¯s most important shrines. But Japan¡¯s national parks are investing in new walking trails to entice visitors, promote longer stays and enhance community engagement to improve the livelihoods of locals.

Opened in 2019, the Michinoku Coastal Trail passes through Ofunato as it winds more than 1,000 kilometers along the stunning coastlines of Sanriku National Park. Two prefectures south, the 300-km Bandai-Azuma-Adatara Volcano Trail in Fukushima Prefecture opened in 2022, linking three active...