GETAWAYS

Six ways to spend time, starting from Kyoto
and slipping just past Kansai.

What AGITO offers isn't a vehicle, but the time you spend in it. Even in the same place, there's an evening-to-morning you'll never meet on a day trip. More than where you go, we want you to enjoy what kind of time you spend there.

PLACES — choose by place

Choose by where you go

01 — Shiga / Takashima

Through the avenue of trees, on the lake's west shore

Takashima, on the west shore of Lake Biwa, not yet fully given over to tourism. Beyond a roughly 2.4 km metasequoia-lined avenue, a quiet lakeshore and beach stretch on. In the season the trees change color, just driving becomes a journey.

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02 — Tango / Ine

A night in a town that lives on the water

Ine, where funaya boathouses line up right at the water's edge. From the evening, once the day-trippers have gone, the town's real time — the time of a place bound to fishing — begins. Stay on a rise overlooking the bay, and wake in the morning to the sound of boat engines.

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03 — Wakasa / Mikata Five Lakes

The colors of five lakes, one by one

The Mikata Five Lakes of Wakasa, five lakes of differing colors side by side. Look down from the summit of the Rainbow Line, and by night grill the bounty of the Sea of Japan on the shore. Taste both sides of Wakasa — sea and lake — in a single night.

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04 — Oku-Biwako

Off the grid on a hidden lakeshore

Oku-Biwako, the innermost reach of Lake Biwa. The Sugaura hamlet with its surviving four-legged gates, the cherry-and-maple parkway, the view from Tsuzurao-zaki. At the far north end of the lake, distant from the crowds, savor minutes at a time with no signal.

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05 — Miyama / Kayabuki-no-Sato

When the thatched roofs turn to silhouettes

Kayabuki-no-Sato in Miyama, an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. From the evening the tour buses leave until morning is the village's true time. Spend it in the darkness of the satoyama and the morning mist.

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06 — Setouchi / Shodoshima

Cross by ferry to the outermost edge of Kansai

Shodoshima, where you cross by ferry with your car and all. The island of olives and soy sauce, the ravine beauty of Kankakei, Angel Road that appears at low tide. The way to slip the farthest past Kansai — a getaway across the sea.

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MOMENTS — choose by moment

Choose by the kind of time you want

Build the trip from the way you'll spend it rather than the destination. "Anywhere is fine — this is the kind of time I want" is a way to choose, too.

MORNING

Morning, when the steam off the coffee stops the clock

A lakeshore at dawn. Beyond the steam is a day that hasn't started moving yet. A morning to savor the time you can't see from home.

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NIGHT

A night by the fire, when words grow fewer

With only the light of a campfire and a lantern, the world shrinks. A night when there's something to share even without trying to talk.

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MAP

Drawing a line that isn't a plan on a paper map

Set down the phone and open a paper map and a half-written notebook. Time spent not rushing to a fixed destination, but marking the places that caught your eye.

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TWO

Sharing the same view, the two of you

Somewhere that's neither a tourist spot nor a photo op, just sitting side by side watching the sunset. Time that feels like enough on its own.

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RAIN

Going out to meet the day that doesn't go to plan

A forecast of rain, a foggy morning — all part of the trip. A journey that shows you sunny days aren't the only 'good' ones.

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STAY

Stopping somewhere and making it tonight's home

Open the door and there's your room. A night with no hotel check-in and no time to head back. Where you stop is yours to decide.

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