Feel the spray of three famous waterfalls
Kegon, Nachi and Fukuroda are often called Japan's three great waterfalls, and each drops around 100 meters. At all three you can stand on a viewing deck near the base, close enough to hear the roar and feel the mist on your face. Kegon and Fukuroda are day trips from Tokyo, while Nachi, far south of Osaka, fits better into an overnight trip.
An elevator inside the cliff takes you about 100 meters down to a deck near the base, where the falls drop 97 meters in one white column. Kegon is in the mountains above Nikko, about two hours from Tokyo by train and then a bus up a winding road. The elevator can stop in bad weather, but you can still see the falls from a free viewing point at the top.
Here the 133-meter waterfall itself is worshipped as a god, so there is no shrine hall; you pray facing the falls from a small stage at its foot, close enough to feel the spray. A short climb away, a red three-story pagoda stands with the falls behind it, a view you may know from photos. It is about 25 minutes by bus from Kii-Katsuura Station, then a few minutes' walk down stone steps.
The falls spill 120 meters down a wide rock face in four steps, and a tunnel through the rock leads to viewing decks right in front of them. Autumn leaves frame the water in November, and in a cold winter the falls can freeze into pale blue ice. It is about two and a half to three hours from Tokyo by train via Mito, and trains on the last stretch are infrequent, so check the timetable.