Oguni Region: Nabegatataki Waterfall and Kurokawa Hot Spring - Behind-the-Falls and Misty Walking Course

A full-day course through nature and hot spring atmosphere in Oguni region, nestled in the outer rim of Mount Aso in northeast Kumamoto Prefecture. Start by visiting Nabegatataki, renowned for allowing visitors to enter behind the waterfall. The sight of water falling like a curtain, viewed from behind, is a spectacular scene found nowhere else. After tracing the footsteps of Dr. Kitasato Shibasaburo, whose portrait is on the new 1,000-yen note, at his memorial hall in the countryside, proceed to Kurokawa Hot Spring Town at noon. Slowly savor the steaming alleyways lined with stone pavement and Igozaka slope through local cuisine and food-stall snacking. In the afternoon, bask in the 360-degree grand panorama at Oshido-ishi Hill where megalithic stones dot a grass-covered summit, and finish with soft-serve ice cream at Seno-moto Plateau with views of both Aso and Kuju. The sound of waterfall spray, wisps of hot spring steam, and the wind across grassland—a nature walk that captures all the charm of Oguni region in one day, soothing to the heart.