Stripped naked, my anxiety heightened entering Sakaiminato’s onsen public bath. Not so much from self-consciousness at my less than svelte form after four days of eating on a cruise. More that I wondered how I would be received in the ritualistic world of onsen. This wasn’t metropolitan Tokyo but a small port town that sees few gaijin (foreigners), undressed or otherwise.None of my fellow male bathers batted an eyelid, however, and my blissful soak in the 42C hot spring began a refreshingly tourist-free experience on Swan Hellenic’s new ten-day cruise along Japan’s unheralded western seaboard.With sterling strong against the yen it makes the country – mistakenly perceived as expensive – excellent value. And Japanese tourism is booming: the 42.7 million visitors in 2025 broke the previous year’s record.Yet all this success has triggered a backlash. In spots such as Kyoto’s temples and Tokyo’s neon-lit Shinjuku district, visitor numbers are getting out of control.Take Hiroshima, where our voyage began. Hundreds of holidaymakers were jammed into the sobering Peace Memorial Museum dedicated to Hiroshima’s A-bomb destruction in 1945. It was all just too much: the crowds completely spoiled the reflective thoughtfulness the museum deserves.When our small ship, SH Minerva, hosting 71 guests, set sail into the Seto Inland Sea through the narrow Kanmon Straits to enter the Sea of Japan, however, a gateway opened to sacred sites and natural wonders few visitors see. For the west coast is so much quieter than many other parts of this wonderful country. Travel writer Mark Stratton enjoyed Swan Hellenic’s new ten-day cruise along Japan’s unheralded western seaboard He found the west coast of Japan was ‘so much quieter’ than many other spots across the countryWe were to call at ports along Honshu Island’s coast, where we were greeted by drumming displays and traditional singing that afforded a genuinely warm, unjaded welcome. My early favourite stop-off was Sakaiminato, a town of 30,000 people – where I visited the onsen – and known for delicious snow crabs.On a quiet Sunday afternoon, a shuttle from Minerva delivered me to Mizuki Shigeru Road, where I was immersed in an authentic Japanese day out – few other Western tourists in sight. Here, sets of families and couples enjoyed matcha ice-creams, strolling by artisan craft shops selling ornate chopsticks.I ambled over to the Chiyomusubi distillery, which dates from 1865, and like locals around me sampled the sake. So relaxing – a feeling of ‘real’ Japan.Next morning’s off-ship excursion was to Adachi Art Museum’s and Yuushien’s heavenly gardens. If this was Kyoto, the crowds would be anything but Zen. Instead there was space to breathe and smell the fragrant peonies.Mr Adachi’s rags-to-riches rise saw him amass a fine Nihonga nature-themed art collection that fills a museum, surrounded by one of Japan’s finest dry landscape gardens of raked gravel, clipped pines and water chutes representing the sea, mountain forests and cascading waterfalls in miniature. One of the excursions included venturing to Adachi Art Museum’s and Yuushien’s heavenly gardens (pictured)We sailed onwards to Maizuru, home to a major repatriation centre post-Second World War that processed some 660,000 defeated Japanese troops. Here, our excursion was to Amanohashidate, a two-mile-long sandbar crossing Miyazu Bay.This proved an utterly bonkers outing. For the best perspective of the vista, we took chairlifts that, somewhat bizarrely, were pumping out Mozart. Then at the hilltop viewpoint overlooking Amanohashidate, we were encouraged to engage in a centuries-old practice called matanozoki .This required bending over to view the famous sandbar with your head upside down and between your legs. When you do so, the sandbar is said to resemble a dragon ascending to heaven. It didn’t. And I almost toppled over.To complete the surreal experience, at the nearby venerated Shinto shrine – served by 83 generations of priests over the centuries – a costumed Darth Vader was sitting outside strumming a guitar.Yet it was all great fun, really, finished off with a blow-out lunch with lacquer bowls of glass noodles, miso soup, tempura vegetables, beef hotplate and pickles.During talks by lecturers on board, Japan’s enigmatic ways were teased out. ‘My professor told me the worst thing you can do is learn Japanese,’ joked Dr Ivan Evlasev during a lecture on its impenetrable language. ‘He said it will be difficult for the first 25 years, then it gets easier.’ The voyage also led Stratton to Sado Island, pictured a shrine on the islandA further day’s sailing north, we arrived at Sado Island. This is a pretty little volcanic isle where the coastal rice trade has bequeathed elegant homes built by wealthy shipbuilders and merchants. Several hundred years ago Sado was struck by an earthquake, exposing abrasive rocks. As a result, locals took to fishing for shellfish and collecting seaweed in wooden coracles that bounced off the exposed stone.I went for a try in one – which looked like a floating hot tub.Japan invariably delivers moments of unsurpassable poignancy. Nearing Hokkaido Island, where we finally disembarked, our ship pulled in to Sakata, so off the beaten track that a mere 20,000 tourists (foreign and domestic) visit annually.Here, the marvellous snow-streaked Mount Chokai dominated the town, and we were greeted by another lively display of costumed drumming.The landscape was as beautiful as any I’ve experienced in Japan. After traversing Shonai Plain’s lime-green rice paddies, we neared three sacred mountains.On Mount Haguro I followed a divine 400-year-old pilgrimage route with precisely 2,466 stone steps to the summit through a dizzyingly tall giant cedar forest.In a wooden five-tiered pagoda I met an ascetic monk. At a Shinto shrine I clapped, as instructed, to awaken the forest deities. On the island, Stratton sailed in a wooden coracle – a boat used by locals to fish for shellfish and collect seaweed The writer also embarked on a 400-year-old pilgrimage route on Mount Haguro with 2,466 stone stepsIf this had been on one of Japan’s main tourist circuits it would have been logjammed by content creators offering: ‘One of ten great pilgrimages to do before you die.’Instead, with silence tempered only by birdsong and the bells of ascending pilgrims, I reflected how Japan’s raw beauty inspires the essence of its beliefs, not least Shinto’s worship of the nature. It was a tough old climb on my legs though. Time for another onsen. TRAVEL FACTS Swan Hellenic offers an 11-night ‘Japan and Korea Cultural Shore and Northern Landscapes’ voyage on SH Minerva from £8,650pp (swanhellenic.com). Return flights from London to Tokyo from £1,100pp JAL (jal.com).