8 notable places within an hour's drive.
photogenic
Kusatsu Yubatake
The steaming timber sluice at the centre of Kusatsu, where 4,000 litres a minute of highly acidic spring water is cooled across wooden channels before reaching the baths. Floodlit and clouded in steam after dark.
12 km · about 25 min drive
mountain pass
Shibu Pass
At 2,172 m this is the highest point on any Japanese national highway, on Route 292 between Nagano and Gunma. In spring the road is cut through snow walls several metres high.
16 km · about 30 min drive
mountain pass
Usui Pass
Historic pass on the old Nakasendo route between Gunma and Karuizawa, packed with 180-plus corners and the brick Megane-bashi viaduct. Another Initial D battleground beloved by drivers and rail historians alike.
22 km · about 25 min drive
natural wonder
Jigokudani Monkey Park
A unique hot spring area where wild Japanese macaques famously bathe in steaming thermal pools surrounded by snow.
24 km · about 30 min drive
landmark
Shibu Onsen
A cobbled onsen village of wooden inns where guests in yukata and geta make a circuit of nine small public bathhouses. It is the road-end village below the snow monkey valley.
26 km · about 30 min drive
famous road
Mount Haruna Touge
The winding climb to Lake Haruna in Gunma, immortalised as 'Mount Akina' in Initial D. Gentle hairpins, a crater lake at the top, and constant pilgrimages by fans of Japan's street-racing manga.
29 km · about 35 min drive
landmark
Bessho Onsen
A thousand-year-old spa at the foot of the Nagano hills, ringed by ancient temples including a rare octagonal three-storey pagoda. Three small public baths still serve the village for a few coins.
39 km · about 45 min drive
landmark
Nozawa Onsen
A steep village of thirteen free communal bathhouses maintained by residents, plus an open hot-spring cooking pool where locals blanch vegetables. The Oyu bathhouse is a wooden temple-roofed landmark at the centre.
45 km · about 50 min drive