Howdy all, to preface: 2nd time out of the USA, my why here are I want to learn more about Buddhism(Zen specifically, but still curious about all) because I have begun to practice it, Shintoism from pure awe and curiosity, a few older anime/manga I really enjoyed (NGE, Berserk, Trigun, FMAB, etc…), the architecture and engineering, a culture so much more foreign than mine, the landscape/flora/fauna, and local arts/traditions.
I've spent 4 days so far here, 2 1/2 Tokyo, 1 1/2 Fujikawaguchiko. I stayed in Ueno and did ~30 miles of walking while I was there, felt like I scratched the surface on a good amount of areas but didn't dig deep anywhere. I'm going to Matsumoto today and kamikochi after just because I am a lover of mountains and especially their own ways of creating biodiversity, but so far I feel that the only things I'm going to know about are crazy tourist areas. I know I am a tourist and maybe deserve to be with my flock, but I was wondering about suggestions that fit my interests for the remainder of my time, I could extend to 3 weeks if I really felt like I didn't want to move on. I also am going to track north to Hokkaido or maybe just aomori.
Please help me understand where I can go that won't be rude for a dumb American tourist to be there but also isn't inundated with tourists, I went to the Chureito Pagoda and felt ill to see a place I thought was built to pray for the dead of many wars being so noisy and full of people not being respectful of others' space. I quickly moved on to hiking and was alone almost instantly again and got to see the kinds of plants endemic to this land. I don't think I'm better than others, I know that I'm a tourist too. I don't want to ruin more spots but I do want a quieter impression of this country. Thanks in advance.
by bruc1874