Verified
Onsen温泉
Tsuru-no-yu
Akita · 鶴の湯温泉
秘境Hidden spots · across Japan
The places thatnever makethe guidebooks.
A hand-picked guide to the Japan that guidebooks skip: mountain onsen, eight-seat bars, workshops still run by one family, shrines with no queue. Every place is chosen by us.
Verified means we've been there and know it's great. Wishlist is somewhere we've researched and want to visit and share.
Kyoto & Gifu free while we build · No account required to look · No ads, ever
秘密
- 県 Prefectures covered
- 47
- 選 Every place chosen
- By hand
- 広 Sponsored listings
- 0
- 圏 Maps travel with you
- Offline
名所What's inside
Millions pass by. A handful stop here.
No aggregated ratings, no sponsored placements, no restaurant that paid to be first. Every place is there because we chose it, not because someone paid for it.
選定How places get in
We'd rather tell you what we don't know yet.
Most travel guides present every recommendation with the same confidence. We don't.
Every place is clearly labelled so you know whether we've visited it ourselves or whether it's still on our own list to explore.
済
Verified
We've been there. We'd happily send a friend.
Every Verified place has been visited by us and met our standards. We'd love you to visit it and enjoy it too.
未
Wishlist
It looks genuinely worth the trip. We just haven't been yet.
These places are selected through our own research and are places we'd personally like to visit. Once we've been, they're either promoted to Verified, or quietly removed if they don't live up to expectations.
限
Carefully curated, never endless.
We deliberately keep every Verified collection focused.
Rather than trying to list everything, we aim to include only the places we'd genuinely recommend. As a guide grows, we'll create new collections instead of endlessly expanding existing ones.
That might mean:
- Kyoto City and Kyoto Prefecture become separate collections.
- East Tokyo and West Tokyo replace a single Tokyo guide.
- Or we'll publish More Secret Spots as we discover enough places that deserve their own collection in a given area.
The goal is simple: every collection should stay focused enough that you could realistically explore it, rather than becoming another endless directory.
分類Whatever you're looking for
Explore by category.
Sometimes you're searching for a café. Sometimes it's a mountain view. Use category filters to focus on what interests you, or browse everything at once.
食 Restaurant温泉 Onsen景色 Viewpoint神社 Shrine工芸 Craft喫茶 Coffee酒場 Bar自然 Nature美術 Museum体験 Activity
使い方How it works
Built for the trip, not the scroll.
01地図
Open the map
Every spot we have, pinned where it actually is. Filter by prefecture, by category, or by what is within reach of where you are standing.
02保存
Save it for later
Found your spot? Save it for reference for your next trip and build your own collection of places to explore.
03圏外
Go offline
Download a region before you travel. Rural Japan loses signal long before it runs out of things worth seeing.
信条How we work
Three promises.
- 信
Not funded by advertisers.
Nothing on the map is there because someone bought the slot. If this ever costs money it will be a subscription you pay, never a venue paying us.
- 私
We do not sell or share your behaviour. Ever.
No ad SDKs, no data brokers, no third-party analytics following you around. Your saved spots are yours.
- 足
We tell you which ones we have been to.
Every place is labelled Verified or Wishlist. Nothing is dressed up as first-hand experience when it is research.
開放Early access
Free while we build it.
Secret Spots is still finding its feet.
Right now we're focused on building something people genuinely love to use. That's why Kyoto and Gifu are completely free while we improve the app and learn from our early users.
As the project grows, we'll likely introduce paid collections or a subscription to help fund ongoing research, content and the discovery of new places. Until then, enjoy exploring.
- Full access to Kyoto and Gifu while we build
- Every place labelled Verified or Wishlist
- Save spots for your next trip
- Download regions before you travel
- New places added as we find them
- No ads, no sponsored listings, no tracking
開
What it costs today
Free
Kyoto and Gifu are completely open. We are not asking for card details, and there is nothing running in the background that will start charging you.
Start exploringPaid collections or a subscription may come later to fund research, content and new places. If and when that happens we'll say so clearly and well in advance, and anything you've saved stays yours.
工房Who makes this
A passion project from a studio in Kyoto.
Nekologic is a software studio in Kyoto. We normally build software, games and digital experiences for clients around the world. Secret Spots is something a little different: a passion project born from exploring Japan and sharing the places we think are genuinely worth discovering.
Secret Spots is an ongoing project, and we expect the collection to grow and improve. The goal is a trusted set of places we'd happily send our own friends and family to.
More about Nekologic共
Tell us what we've missed
If you spot something wrong, have a suggestion, or know somewhere that deserves to be in here, we'd love to hear about it. A bar with six seats, a workshop, a view you had all to yourself.
liam@neko-logic.comThank you for trying Secret Spots. We hope it helps you find somewhere memorable.
質問Questions
Before you download.
Every place is chosen by us and clearly labelled. Verified means we've been there and would happily send a friend. Wishlist means it looks genuinely worth the trip — we just haven't been yet. Once we go, a Wishlist place is either promoted to Verified, or quietly removed if it doesn't live up to expectations.
行
Go somewhere they haven't queued for.
Kyoto and Gifu are free while we build. Enjoy exploring.