Irohazaka

Irohazaka is one of Japan's most famous mountain roads in its own right, long before Initial D used it as the setting for one of the series' most memorable downhill battles. The name comes from the old “iroha” Japanese syllabary — each of the road's 48 numbered hairpins is labelled with the next character in that ancient alphabet, first-gear corner after first-gear corner, stacked down a single mountainside in Nikko.

Today the pass actually runs as two separate one-way roads — a modern uphill route and the original, narrower downhill route the anime is set on — both cutting through Nikko National Park. In autumn the entire mountainside turns red and gold around the switchbacks, and it's genuinely one of the most photographed drives in the country for exactly that reason.

It's a long day trip from Tokyo Bay, but a proper one: real elevation change, real hairpin discipline, and a payoff view over the valley that no highway interchange can match.