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Rural Japan: farm stays & village life

Stay in a farmhouse or an old village home, eat local food and get close to life among the fields and hills. Here are the official starting points for “nohaku” countryside stays, and the rules for walking through villages where people live.

Travel tips

  • Public transport is limited in rural areas. Check your return times first, or consider going by car.

Good to know

What “nohaku” is

  • Nohaku means staying in a farming, mountain or fishing village and enjoying its food and activities (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries). You stay in a farm guesthouse or an old house and can try farm work, nature and cultural activities.
  • To find one, the FARM STAY Japan site lets you search by region or map for places to stay, eat and try activities (Japanese and English).
  • There is also Countryside Stay Japan, in English and Traditional Chinese. Both are linked from the ministry's nohaku page.

Walking through villages and farmland

  • A village is where people live. Do not enter private land or fields, peer into houses or open doors, and do not pick vegetables, flowers or crops (from Shirakawa Village's requests).
  • Take your rubbish home. Thatched houses burn easily, so smoke only in designated places; fireworks and open fires are banned. Camping inside the village is not allowed (Shirakawa Village).
  • Flying drones is prohibited in the Shirakawa-go village.
  • Rules differ from place to place. Read the guidance from the local government or tourist association before you go.

Finding local events

  • For festivals and seasonal events, see this site's “Festivals & seasonal events” theme and the Events page.
  • The official Michi-no-Eki site also carries news of local events.

1 places to go

  1. 1

    Shirakawa-go (Gassho-zukuri Village)

    Attraction

    A village of steep thatched farmhouses where people still live. You can stay in a thatched guesthouse (search on the tourist association's site). Except for overnight guests, visitors are not received at night, and the winter light-up is by advance reservation only.

    Go hereDetails

2 more places

These places are not in our route search yet. Check how to get there on the official page.

  • Miyama (Nantan, Kyoto)

    Kansai

    A mountain town known for its thatched-roof village. The tourism association's site lists thatched and farmhouse lodgings and river, mountain and village activities.

  • Tougenkyo-Iya (Miyoshi, Tokushima)

    Shikoku

    Thatched farmhouses in the Ochiai hamlet of Higashi-Iya, each rented out as a whole house, with meals and activities on offer.

Official information

These open external sites. Check prices, times and dates there.

From people who went

Tips about the places in this theme, most helpful first.

I went — write a tip

Event dates, operating days, reservation rules and opening hours can change. Please check the official information before you go.

Checked against official information on Nov 15, 2026.

Pages we checked

Photo and data credits

A village of thatched gassho-style houses Chainwit. (CC BY 4.0). Cropped and resized.