Guide
The best driving roads in Japan
Japan builds roads the way it builds everything else, which is to say properly. The good ones here are mostly skylines, ridge-top toll roads that run for miles above the treeline, plus volcano crossings through steaming sulphur and the tolled climbs that carry you a good way up Fuji before the tarmac gives out. These are the 29 we have mapped, from the 2,380 m Fujisan Skyline down, each one traced from real road geometry and fact-checked.
Irohazaka (Iroha-zaka)6 mi · 14 min · 26 hairpinsView the roadbook ›
Summit
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1
1,299 msummit
Irohazaka (Iroha-zaka)
Legendary Nikko touge: 48 hairpins climbing 440 m to Lake Chuzenji.
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2
1,175 msummitMount Haruna (Akina) Pass
The Ikaho to Lake Haruna climb that inspired Initial D’s Mount Akina, the most mythologised touge in Japanese car culture.
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3
998 msummitHakone Turnpike
Japan’s 'Nurburgring': private toll climb to the Daikanzan Mt Fuji vista.
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4
724 msummitIzu Skyline
40.6 km ridge toll road down the Izu Peninsula spine with Mt Fuji and twin-bay views.
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5
2,380 msummitFujisan Skyline
Hairpin climb to the Fujinomiya 5th Station, the highest point reachable by private car in Japan.
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6
2,316 msummitFuji Subaru Line
29.5 km toll road spiralling up Mt Fuji’s north slope to the 2,305 m 5th Station.
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7
2,179 msummitShiga-Kusatsu Route (Shibu Pass)
Japan’s highest national road, climbing through Shiga Kogen to the 2172 m Shibu Pass.
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8
2,129 msummitMugikusa Pass (Route 299)
The Marchen Kaido over Mugikusa Pass, Japan’s second-highest national-highway pass, through Yatsugatake’s mossy forests.
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9
1,955 msummitVenus Line
High plateau ridge run from Tateshina up to the Utsukushigahara grasslands at 2000 m.
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10
1,701 msummitUFO Line (Kamegamori)
Ridge-top sky road along the Ishizuchi range, made famous by car commercials.
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11
1,620 msummitBandai-Azuma Skyline
Volcanic skyline from Takayu Onsen over Jododaira to Tsuchiyu Pass in Fukushima.
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12
1,575 msummitHachimantai Aspite Line
A 27 km (about 16.8 mile) volcanic crossing of the Hachimantai plateau between Iwate and Akita, open from the spring Snow Corridor season to the last of the autumn koyo.
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13
1,484 msummitHakusan Shirakawa-go White Road
A 33 km mountain toll road on the north side of sacred Mount Hakusan, linking Ishikawa to the UNESCO village of Shirakawa-go through forest and waterfalls.
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14
1,440 msummitIshizuchi Skyline
Former toll climb from Omogo Gorge to Tsuchigoya below western Japan’s highest peak.
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15
1,433 msummitShikoku Karst Skyline
Ridge 'road in the sky' across the limestone grasslands of the Shikoku Karst.
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16
1,422 msummitNishi-Azuma Sky Valley
Hairpin mountain crossing from Lake Hibara over Shirabu Pass into Yamagata.
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17
1,331 msummitYamanami Highway
Kyushu’s most famous drive, Beppu to Aso over the Kuju mountains and Makinoto Pass.
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18
1,319 msummitTsumagoi Panorama Line
A highland farm road above 1000 m through Tsumagoi’s cabbage fields, with Hokkaido-like open ridgelines and close views of Mount Asama.
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19
1,256 msummitTsugaru Iwaki Skyline
A private toll road up Mount Iwaki with 69 hairpins stacked into a beech-forest climb, one of the most relentlessly switchbacked roads in the world.
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20
1,251 msummitKirishima Kogen Road (Ebino-Maruo)
A volcanic highland traverse from the Ebino Plateau down to Maruo Onsen, winding among steaming peaks and crater lakes of the Kirishima range.
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21
1,198 msummitBandai Gold Line
A former toll road of hairpins through Aizu woodland, with Mount Bandai and Lake Inawashiro views.
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22
1,163 msummitAso Panorama Line
Grassland climb from Aso City into the Aso caldera toward the active Nakadake crater.
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23
1,026 msummitAshinoko Skyline
10.75 km Hakone crater-rim toll road balancing Lake Ashi against Mount Fuji.
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24
1,009 msummitHakone Skyline
A short ridge-running toll road on Hakone’s west rim with a head-on Mount Fuji panorama.
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25
964 msummitAso Milk Road (Daikanbo)
A dairy-pasture rim road along Aso’s northern caldera wall, climbing to the Daikanbo overlook.
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26
934 msummitHiruzen-Daisen Skyline
A short highland skyline over Kagikake Pass, framing Mount Daisen’s south face above a tunnel of beech forest.
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27
810 msummitHakkoda-Towada Gold Line (Route 103)
The Hakkoda crossing on Route 103 past Sukayu Onsen, famous for spring snow walls and autumn beech.
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28
751 msummitShiretoko Pass (Route 334)
From the 738 m pass the cone of Mount Rausu rises dead ahead, primeval oak and fir falling away toward the Nemuro Strait and, on a clear day, Kunashiri Island.
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29
514 msummitIya Valley Road
Fifteen miles and 180 corners of mostly one-lane cliff road through the Iya Valley, past the Peeing Boy statue, the Kazurabashi vine bridge and the thatched village of Ochiai.
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