editorial

Words by Warren Singh-Bartlett July 6, 2026
Exploring this overlooked prefecture is made easy with Fairfield by Marriott’s michi-no-eki hotels.
<figure id="attachment_159433" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159433" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159433" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Village-and-Nemichi-Shrine-Koi-Pond.jpeg" alt="Gifu’s rural attractions include the mountain village of Shirakawa-go; the koi pond at Nemichi Shrine in Seki." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Village-and-Nemichi-Shrine-Koi-Pond.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Village-and-Nemichi-Shrine-Koi-Pond-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Village-and-Nemichi-Shrine-Koi-Pond-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Village-and-Nemichi-Shrine-Koi-Pond-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159433" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Gifu’s rural attractions include the mountain village of Shirakawa-go; the koi pond at Nemichi Shrine in Seki. (All photos courtesy of Fairfield by Marriott)</figcaption></figure>
Elbow-deep in a vat of fresh indigo was the moment I should have realized that, for the next two months, my nails would look as though they’d either been carefully painted or violently slammed in a door. But by then, it was already too late. Threading the fabric through my fingers, I squeezed and folded as instructed by our smiling sensei for the day: Kazuya Nohara and his wife, Miki. A menswear designer and master dyer respectively, they run Aiwayu, a traditional indigo-dyeing studio set among rice fields at the foot of the mountains outside Ikeda, in <a href="https://destinasian.com/travel-guide/japan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan</a>’s Gifu Prefecture.
I was here on a weeklong road trip through an often-overlooked region that a friend in <a href="https://destinasian.com/travel-guide/japan/tokyo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tokyo</a> once dismissed as “that place you fly over on the way to <a href="https://destinasian.com/travel-guide/japan/kyoto-travel-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kyoto</a>.” Notably, our itinerary was anchored by stays beside michi-no-eki, or roadside stations, where Fairfield by Marriott has built small hotels aimed at connecting travelers with rural Japan.
Established by the national government in the 1990s, the michi-no-eki system now encompasses more than 1,200 rest stops from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Alongside cafés, vending machines, tourism information, and immaculate restrooms, many host farmers’ markets and craft stalls. They are practical, community-minded spaces that encourage drivers to stop, linger, and explore.
It’s fair to say the average visitor—who sticks to the Golden Route and travels by rail—rarely encounters them, but both the michi-no-eki and the Fairfields make a persuasive case for getting to know Japan beyond its big cities. Bullet trains are marvels of efficiency, but they fool you into thinking the country is compact. Drive, and its scale quickly becomes apparent.
So, too, does its diversity—something outwardly homogeneous Japan disguises remarkably well. In the rugged central mountains, food, architecture, and accent can change from valley to valley. Long tunnels often deposit you not just in a new landscape but in different weather: autumn sunshine replaced by lowering cloud, or even falling snow.
Many michi-no-eki host local events; one in Nikko even has a museum. In hot spring–studded Gifu, they are often complemented by onsen facilities, and while these were usually closed by the time we arrived each evening, the prospect of a soak after a long day on the road was enticing. Not just rest stops, then—more showcases of regional culture.
<figure id="attachment_159430" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159430" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159430" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Grocery-at-Roadside-Station.jpeg" alt="Grocery shopping at a michi-no-eki, or roadside station." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Grocery-at-Roadside-Station.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Grocery-at-Roadside-Station-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Grocery-at-Roadside-Station-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Grocery-at-Roadside-Station-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159430" class="wp-caption-text">Grocery shopping at a michi-no-eki, or roadside station.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_159427" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159427" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159427" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Gifu-Takayama-Shirakawa-Go-.jpeg" alt="Takayama Shirakawa Go sits beside Michi-no-Eki Sakura no Sato Shokawa in northern Gifu." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Gifu-Takayama-Shirakawa-Go-.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Gifu-Takayama-Shirakawa-Go--300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Gifu-Takayama-Shirakawa-Go--1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Gifu-Takayama-Shirakawa-Go--768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159427" class="wp-caption-text">Takayama Shirakawa Go sits beside Michi-no-Eki Sakura no Sato Shokawa in northern Gifu.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_159431" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159431" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159431" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Sakura-no-Sato-Shokawa-Roadside-Station.jpeg" alt="Michi-no-Eki Sakura no Sata Shokawa is a 40-minute drive outside Takayama city." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Sakura-no-Sato-Shokawa-Roadside-Station.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Sakura-no-Sato-Shokawa-Roadside-Station-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Sakura-no-Sato-Shokawa-Roadside-Station-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Sakura-no-Sato-Shokawa-Roadside-Station-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159431" class="wp-caption-text">Michi-no-Eki Sakura no Sata Shokawa is a 40-minute drive outside Takayama city.</figcaption></figure>
This is the wave the <a href="https://fairfield-michinoeki-japan.com/en/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fairfield by Marriott Michi-no-Eki</a> properties are surfing. Offering comfortable overnight bases for motorists, the 29 hotels in the collection (including four in Gifu) are stripped-back and sensibly priced. There are no swimming pools, cocktail bars, or restaurants; instead, the emphasis is on self-sufficiency. Each has a laundromat and a kitchen area for reheating locally bought food. Tea and coffee are self-serve; fridges hold cold drinks and snacks. They epitomize Japandi style: glowing boxes that draw you in with their blend of warm wood and thoughtful minimalism. Rooms are spacious, restful havens designed not to compete with the destination but to support it—ideal gateways to a side of the country that remains unfamiliar to most foreigners, and even to many Japanese.
And there is much to discover. Gifu’s reduction to fly-over status is an unworthy fate for a region that played an outsize historical role. As the base of Oda Nobunaga, one of the three great feudal lords behind Japan’s unification, 16th-century Gifu was a thriving crossroads en route to the imperial capitals of Kyoto and Nara. It grew rich on trade and, for nearly 300 years, was known for producing the kind of high-end goods prized by urban elites: swords and knives, washi paper, indigo fabric, and fine clothing. But when Japan industrialized in the early 20th century, Gifu was left behind, eclipsed by neighbors such as Nagoya, now headquarters of the Toyota group. The prefecture instead held fast to older ways, its largely rural population maintaining centuries-old traditions and farming livelihoods passed down through generations.
Arrive today by shinkansen and you are greeted by a respectable midsize city of stadiums, communications masts, and high-netted golf ranges that straddles the Nagaragawa River. The introduction is deceptive. Beyond Gifu’s eponymous prefectural capital lies a place of wild beauty and exceptionally clear emerald rivers abounding with sweet freshwater ayu, which appears nightly on menus, skewered, salted, and grilled. This is a region of quieter charms: hamlets too small for convenience stores yet somehow large enough to support a luthier; modest beauty spots such as the Monet-esque koi pond at Nemichi Shrine; and mountaintop castles like Hachiman, the pale eminence above Gujo.
Naturally, there are hot springs—especially at Gero, Japan’s self-proclaimed “third most famous onsen resort”—as well as historic trading towns like Takayama, with its bustling morning markets and elegant merchant houses. Among them are the <a href="https://www.kusakabe-mingeikan.com/english.html?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kusakabe Mingeikan</a>, home to a rare sunken suikinkutsu water chime, and <a href="https://www.hida.jp/english/touristattractions/takayamacity/historyandculture/4000168.html?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yoshijima-ke</a>, a former sake brewery renowned for its masterful use of shadow, light, and space.
Our visit coincided with the onset of autumn, and the Japan Alps were ablaze: reds, yellows, and oranges set against brilliant blue skies, with the season’s first snow already dusting the higher peaks. At the Noharas’ indigo studio in the foothills of Mount Ikeda, we were shown the 700-year-old sho-aizome technique, which focuses as much on indigo cultivation as on dyeing. Kazuya and Miki grow the plants nearby, activating microorganisms in the soil with fermented liquids. The dye is left to ferment in vats, fed regularly with wheat bran and maltose. The result is a living color that deepens with age.
I worked with a hemp scarf, flimsy to the touch but strengthened, Kazuya assured me, by up to 30 percent through the dyeing process—one reason indigo was traditionally used for samurai clothing and agricultural workwear. It is also said to be cooling, antibacterial, and insect-repellent.
<figure id="attachment_159428" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159428" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159428" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Lobby-Lounge.jpeg" alt="The lobby lounge at a Fairfield hotel." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Lobby-Lounge.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Lobby-Lounge-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Lobby-Lounge-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Lobby-Lounge-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159428" class="wp-caption-text">The lobby lounge at a Fairfield hotel.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_159429" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159429" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159429" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Onsen.jpeg" alt="Many of Gifu’s michi-no-eki offer hot-spring bathing." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Onsen.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Onsen-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Onsen-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Onsen-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159429" class="wp-caption-text">Many of Gifu’s michi-no-eki offer hot-spring bathing.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_159432" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159432" style="width: 1800px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159432" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details.jpeg" alt="Details on the exterior of a farmhouse in Shirakawa-go, a mountain village in Japan's Gifu Prefecture." width="1800" height="1200" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details.jpeg 1800w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-Shirakawa-Go-Farmhouse-Exterior-Details-1568x1045.jpeg 1568w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159432" class="wp-caption-text">A farmhouse in the UNESCO-listed village of Shirakawa-go.</figcaption></figure>
Those indigo-clad farmers came to mind as we wandered Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO-listed village famed for its 300-year-old farmhouses with steeply pitched thatched roofs. A staple of tourist posters, it remains a delight despite the crowds, its street-side water channels alive with glistening carp. The village is inhabited—as the vegetables drying from many eaves attest—and we arrived shortly after the Water Discharge Drill, a dramatic annual soaking of roofs that provides protection from fire before winter heating systems are turned on.
They are much needed. Though Shirakawa-go sits barely 300 meters above sea level, there was a nip in the early November air. Many houses are still heated by open hearths, the ceremonial heart of the home, where seating was once arranged by hierarchy. At one, the servant’s seat doubled as the daughter-in-law’s—an uncomfortable insight into the traditional lives of women who married in.
I understand my Tokyo friend’s airy dismissal of Gifu. For him, life is urban, or it isn’t life at all. When I lived in deepest Gunma many years ago, and spent every weekend in Tokyo amid the neon lights and futuristic sights of the holy trinity of Shinjuku, Harajuku, Ebisu, I would have agreed. But as I think of indigo blue scarves drying in a garden breeze, autumn foliage igniting the hills beyond, and the soft jangle of handbells rung by passing schoolchildren to warn off bears at the forest edge; of sharpening knives and making paper; and of sampling food that rarely travels far, I think he is missing something.
In our magpie age of shrinking attention spans, Gifu is an outlier. Its charms are quieter and home- grown. It whispers where others shout, neither seeking nor demanding your attention. But given a chance, it enchants, for true beauty only reveals itself when you slow down enough to notice.
<figure id="attachment_159426" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159426" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-159426" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-A-Standard-King-Room-at-a-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Hotel.jpeg" alt="A Standard King room at a Fairfield by Marriott Michi-no-Eki hotel in Japan." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-A-Standard-King-Room-at-a-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Hotel.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-A-Standard-King-Room-at-a-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Hotel-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-A-Standard-King-Room-at-a-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Hotel-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Gifu-Road-Trip-Japan-A-Standard-King-Room-at-a-Fairfield-by-Marriott-Michi-no-Eki-Hotel-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-159426" class="wp-caption-text">Rooms at the Fairfield hotels are comfortably minimal.</figcaption></figure>
Stays at Fairfield by Marriott’s <a href="https://fairfield-michinoeki-japan.com/en/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">michi-no-eki hotels</a> in Gifu start at US$80 a night.
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This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">June/July 2026</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“The Gifts of Gifu”). Buy a single issue or subscribe <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Details on the exterior of a farmhouse in Shirakawa-go, a mountain village in Japan's Gifu Prefecture.

A Gifu Road Trip Lets You Delve into Japan’s Rural Charms