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Japan’s eco travel scene has grown up: record visitor numbers, a government push for regional dispersal, and a new generation of sustainable stays, plant-forward restaurants, and nature-first activities that make responsible travel feel anything but austere.
Japan has never needed much convincing to take sustainability seriously. Inbound visitors reached a record 42.7 million in 2025, and total expenditure by foreign visitors hit approximately JPY 9.5 trillion — a record for the third consecutive year. But those numbers come with a catch: approximately 73 percent of overnight stays are concentrated in just five prefectures — Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, and Fukuoka — creating a significant geographic imbalance, according to the World Economic Forum. The good news is that Japan is actively working to fix it. The government has introduced an “under-tourism” program that focuses on attracting visitors to less-visited prefectures, aiming to reduce the concentration of travelers in popular spots while highlighting the cultural heritage and natural wonders of other regions. And the market for doing it responsibly is expanding quickly: demand for ecotourism in Japan is projected to grow from $14.4 billion in 2025 to $24.7 billion by 2035.
The pivot from volume to quality is also underway in a big way. Consultant company AUN Consulting expects the market to transition from a focus on volume to a focus on quality and sustainability in 2026, with high-value-added travel plans — including luxury accommodation and unique cultural experiences — predicted to see higher demand. That shift is reshaping what it means to travel to the country. By 2025, at least 100 regions across Japan had begun implementing sustainable tourism initiatives, with 50 of these areas receiving international recognition for their eco-friendly efforts. Spending patterns are changing, too: service consumption, including accommodation, dining, and transport, now accounts for 70 percent of total visitor expenditure — a clear transition from product-based shopping to experiential travel focused on the quality of the stay.
None of this is abstract policy language to the travelers actually booking. Japan’s forests, coastlines, ancient temple towns, and subtropical islands have long made the case for themselves. What’s changed is that the infrastructure around visiting them conscientiously has caught up. The ryokan that composts its food waste, the Michelin-starred restaurant that won’t serve you anything with an industrial supply chain, the treehouse suspended in Okinawan jungle canopy — these are no longer niche finds. They’re the defining options for how to do Japan right in 2026.
Where to stay
Hoshino Resorts Iriomote Hotel — Iriomote Island, Okinawa
Located in the Iriomote Ishigaki National Park, Hoshino Resorts Iriomote Hotel aims to become Japan’s first ecotourism resort in order to protect the island’s natural environment and create a sustainable tourism system. Over 4,850 plant and animal species inhabit this 289.3-square-kilometer island, which is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The hotel has limited reservations to stays of two nights or more to encourage reduced greenhouse gas emissions and avoid overtourism.
Additionally, it has put several programs in place to achieve zero emissions, including being “disposable plastic-free,” holding employee beach cleaning events, and running tours to promote conservation of the endangered Iriomote wildcat. In 2023, the hotel launched an initiative to recycle food waste as compost in cooperation with pineapple farmers on the island, and in April 2024, began composting food waste from its restaurants on the hotel grounds. The “Iriomote Wildcat Trace Tour” lets guests track one of the rarest felines on Earth through the resort’s jungle surroundings — a kind of wildlife encounter that doesn’t require a safari flight.
Treeful Treehouse Sustainable Resort — Nago City, Okinawa
At Treeful Treehouse Sustainable Resort, every room is an individual treehouse several feet off the ground. The Spiral Treehouse offers 360-degree views of the surrounding forest, while the AeroHouse is a more luxurious space. Treeful Treehouse uses solar panels to produce more electricity than it needs, and the drinking water comes from a nearby well by the Genka River, purified using UV light instead of chemicals. Compost toilets are used to reduce waste, and instead of mowing or spraying herbicides, a goat named Donna helps take care of the plants. Built around the philosophy of coexistence with nature, the founders, Satoru Kikagawa and daughter Maha, designed every treehouse, every beam, and every panel with sensitivity — nothing ripped from the forest, everything carefully negotiated, with treehouses elevated at least 1.2 meters off the ground so sunlight and roots can still thrive below. River trekking, sauna sessions above a private waterfall, and fireside dinners round out the experience.
Myojinkan — Chino City, Nagano Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture’s Myojinkan is a world-class wellness resort located inside the quasi-National Park Yatsugatake Chushin Kogen. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the Japanese Alps, Myojinkan is one of only four hotels in Japan to have been awarded the Green Key, a certificate of excellence in sustainable and eco-friendly operations. The cuisine on offer is based around the philosophy of Shindo Fujitsu (macrobiotics) and features organic rice and vegetables cultivated at a nearby farm by the staff themselves. The ryokan’s motto is to “luxuriate in doing nothing.” Most of the rooms do not include TVs and are designed with Zen and nature in mind. A stay here functions as a full-body reset, the kind best appreciated slowly.
Bettei Senjuan — Minakami, Gunma Prefecture
This high-end ryokan retreat harmonizes with nature, blending traditional Japanese aesthetics with modern eco-conscious design. Perched on a hillside overlooking the Tanigawa mountain range, each room features a private open-air onsen bath fed by natural hot springs and views out to Mount Tanigawa. The ryokan maintains a strong commitment to sustainability, using geothermal energy for heating and cooling and sourcing many of its materials locally. A fine example of how luxury and environmental consciousness can coexist in Japanese hospitality — and how the two, when managed correctly, make each other better.
Where to eat
Faro — Ginza, Tokyo
“We focus on offering vegan menus. Plant-based foods place less strain on the environment, and we believe the vegetarian lifestyle represents a sustainable way of living. Vegan menus reduce demand for livestock, which place a heavy burden on the environment,” the restaurant states in its Michelin profile. Located on the 10th floor of the Shiseido Building, Faro has earned the Michelin Green Star for the fifth time for its sustainable practices and received the highest score of five radishes for four consecutive years in the We’re Smart Green Guide, a guide that evaluates sustainable restaurants.
The seasonal menu is a celebration of Japan’s bountiful fresh produce, made possible by the close connection executive chef Kotaro Noda and dessert chef Mineko Kato have with local farmers and other producers. Noda’s signature dish is his award-winning jagaimo (Japanese potato) spaghetti, which is a textural extravaganza of blanched and crunchy potato tendrils in a dashi broth. The restaurant uses pesticide-free vegetables sourced from contracted farmers and strives to utilize all ingredients to reduce food waste. Vegan and omnivore course menus are both available at lunch and dinner; reservations are recommended well in advance.
Mumokuteki Cafe — Kyoto
Mumokuteki Cafe serves an entirely animal-free menu under the concept ikiru wo tsukuru — loosely, “creating a way of living.” It functions as part of a larger complex that includes a café, a lifestyle goods shop, and a farm operation, all operating under the same name and philosophy. What makes it particularly credible among plant-forward spots is its supply chain transparency: the rice is cultivated without pesticides at its own farm in the area of Miyama in the Kyoto Nantan region. Vegetables are sourced from contracted farmers in the Kinki region using low-impact agricultural methods, and the menu uses kombu and shiitake dashi — no fish-derived stock. It’s a second-floor find above a lifestyle shop near Nishiki Market, easy to miss and worth going out of your way for.
Kōsa Kyoto — Ace Hotel, Kyoto
Farm-to-table with a California-Japan edge, Kōsa operates out of the third floor of Ace Hotel Kyoto. Kōsa’s kitchen is led by Chef Katy Cole of Tokyo’s beloved 20-seat bistro Locale and Bar Juni next door. Intuitive, sensitive to season and inspired by the sublime ingredients selected from her deep network of regional producers, Chef Katy draws inspiration from the weekly harvest for a modern Japanese steakhouse by way of California. The menu changes frequently enough that returning the next night is a reasonable plan.
What to do and see
Japan’s most compelling eco-activity requires no equipment, no reservation, and no Wi-Fi. Shinrin-yoku — forest bathing — was developed in 1982 by the Forest Agency as both a physiological and psychological exercise, responding to Japan’s technological revolution by providing an antidote to high-octane lifestyles and encouraging Japanese people to reconnect with and preserve the natural landscapes around them. The science behind it has held up: subjects who took 80-minute walks in the forest were found to have a significantly reduced heart rate, and the practice decreased participants’ depression scores, fatigue, anxiety, and confusion. Given that nearly 70 percent of Japan is forested, it is easy to access peaceful nature escapes even near big cities.
For something more rigorous, Yakushima Island is filled with primitive rainforest, with one-fifth of the island designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding natural beauty. Hiking here under a cathedral of ancient yakusugi cedars — some estimated between 2,000 and 7,200 years old — is a reliably disorienting experience in the best possible way. If your interests veer more toward a spiritual pilgrimage, the Kii Peninsula south of Osaka is home to the sacred forests of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park. The Kumano Kodo trail system, one of only two UNESCO-designated pilgrimage routes in the world, threads through old-growth forest and remote mountain villages — a walk that rewards slower travel at every turn.
For water-focused adventure, the Seto Inland Sea offers island-hopping by bicycle across the Shimanami Kaido, a 70-kilometer route linking six islands through lemon groves and small fishing communities. It’s the kind of travel that leaves the place at least as good as you found it — which, in 2026, is exactly the point.
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