It may be winter now but should you stay indoors? Take advantage of the crisp air and take a trip for healing by nature in the Izu Highlands, also check out Kumamoto and Gunma.

To visit a village of health and the inn of healing, travel an hour by Express Odoriko from Tokyo to a popular sightseeing spot, the Izu Highlands in Shizuoka. There is nature in abundance and a therapeutic hot spring inn. But first, visit the symbol of Izu Highlands, Mt. Omuro which you can ascend by chair lift to the top mountain which stands 580 metres and provides a 360 degree panoramic view right up to Sagami Bay. There is also a 1km hiking course around the crater. Have lunch around Katase-shirata Station at ‘Isshin’ that is opposite the station. Kodawari-isshin was founded 12 years ago and has a menu that is good for health such as swordfish shisendon - a specialty dish also called swordfish’s Otoro shisen-donburi with collagen and a spicy sauce which is very different and can only be tasted at this shop. The dish is reputed to bring down high blood pressure.

Next, head to Yasuragi no sato a health spot which has a special service for guests. Staff are dressed like therapists reflecting the owner's background as a qualified acupuncturist. Guests must fill in forms at check-in on their symptoms,weight,living habits,likes and dislikes in food and so on. An examination on the person's overall well-being will be held based on the form as the seven year old inn is a health facility which also provides meal, spa and lodging. Different types of therapy will be recommended, from cupping which is used to remove the impurity in blood, improves metabolism and removes toxin. To cure unbalanced internal organs there's the castor oil compress to stimulates intestine movement and a Seitai massage, followed by a soak in the open-air hot spring bath with a superb view and Yoga classes in the evening. Dinner is a macrobiotic diet which is good for health and despite the many dishes of local food which is in season from local veggies to seafood, the meal is below 1000 calories, natural,sugar free, tasty and ideal for health. Alcohol is forbidden at the inn to keep guests and their liver healthy. The morning starts with Qigong exercise under the sun to center the energy within the body, followed by breakfast which guests pick from a field of vegetables.

While in the region, take the chance to visit Futoko Port which is two stations after Izu-kogen Station. There, you can catch a cruiser and see the wild dolphins and whales of Izu depending on your luck, as well as Mt. Fuji if the sky is clear.

The next healing trip starts from Kumamoto Station. Change to the JR Hohi Main Line and travel for 1 1/2 hours to Aso, Kumamoto which has many interesting spots which are good for the skin and health. First take a long walk at the symbol of Kumamoto, Mt. Aso which has a walking course around the crater. At the foot of the mountain there is "Ashe Ice Cream" which looks like ashes from the crater but is actually, black sesame (ashe) which is good for health. Once refreshed, visit Aso Farm Land at Genki no mori (Health forest). There’s a program called "The age of physical strength measurement" and there is no age limit for joining this program which includes checking the blood pressure and a routine with an expert in the stretch cave to measure the age of physical strength through 12 facilities testing flexibility, arms and legs strength and balance.

Lunch across Mt. Daikanbo, midway between Mt. Aso and the spa town, next to a prestigious meat packing shop, Fujimoto founded in 1928 and mainly sells horse meat. A restaurant next to it has opened and serves special raw sliced horse meat, consider healthy food as it has low calories and contains glycogen which is 3 times more than beef providing great nourishment to the body. A specialty of winter is Sukiyaki of the sweet-tasting marbled horse meat which warms your body and tastes lighter than beef.

Head by bus into the spa town Tsuetate onsen, which has a 1800 year old history which is smoky and warm due to the hot springs. Stay at the inn and for one which is particular about healthy food, choose Yakuzenh-ryori(Herbal cuisine), Hagakure-kan a prestigious inn of 80 years. Guests are welcomed with Chinese herbal brew of oolong tea, blossoms of chrysanthemum and rose along with 8 herbs such as jasmine tea,fruits of wolfberry and prune. Rest at the Hime no yu (Princess bath) which stops springing from the source with low alkaline water which is good for women’s diseases. Another specialty is the sauna which uses the steam from the hot spring and doesn’t dry the skin but can improve your skin condition. It’s temperature is higher than normal steam sauna. Next, have a healthy mealsuch as Yang Guifei salad with snow fungus, Beef Achilles tendon which has plenty of collagen that's good for women’s skin and the specialty - a Chinese herb soup learnt by the inn's owner in China and with 10 ingredients from China specially added to the soup that is full of nourishment and tasty with stewed beef tendon, radish, boiled dumpling of pork from Kagoshima and Western-style chawanmushi made of milk. It’s only 5250 yen (S$ 82.20) for one night with two meals and is limited to three pairs of customers per day.

The morning at Tsuetate onsen starts with solemn, holy music from 9 a.m. every morning and healthy exercise near a bridge facing the sun called Tsuetate taiso which is from Shaolin Temple. You can also join the "Michikusa guide" in Tsuetate who brings visitors on an hour's walk in the town to improve their health which costs 500 yen (S$ 7.80). Check out Nagori-mushigama which people once used to steam food naturally and the open-air bath called Roten motoyu. Motoyu is the origin of Tsuetate and can be used free of charge. There are many steps in the town so walking around will be good exercise and tiring as well, so stop for local specialty, milk tofu which is free for those with the Michikusa guide and enjoy a ashi-yu (foot bath).

About one hour from Shin-osaka by Fukuchiyama Line which stops at the entrance of Tanpa and Sasayama is another trip for healing. Take a bus downtown from Sasayamaguchi Station in Sasayama city, Hyogo. It is the town of Sasayama Castle in the Edo period and the atmosphere of the past remains even now. Leave the town a bit and you can see the natural scenery of Japan. The town also offers a healhty and tasty adventure in health starting at a handmade soba restaurant in a house founded 300 years ago. The specialty is pale green colored soba kiri using the best buckwheat. Rake a walk and in between rows of old houses is a big 150 year old house with a sign saying "Tradition art and tea room" featuring antiques from the Taisho to Showa era and some hand-drawn picture plates for 100 (S$ 1.60) and 200 yen (S$ 3.20) that make great momentoes. At the tea room, you can taste black soybean coffee and tea which is tasty and with a strong flavour and specialty black soybean sweet natto. Black soybean is harvested in winter and is good for health, like lowering blood pressure, so don't be surprised to also find black soybean bread in the town. For lunch try a tofu ryori shop and the tofu set lunch which includes black soybean yudofu.