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There’s a stretch of road in the Kuju highlands where you crest a hill and suddenly see two white towers rising out of a forested gorge, cables strung between them like a giant’s harp. That’s the Kokonoe “Yume” Ōtsurihashi (九重“夢”大吊橋) — a pedestrian-only suspension bridge that happens to be the highest of its kind in Japan, and a genuinely dramatic way to spend twenty minutes if you’re already driving the Yamanami Highway between Yufuin and the Kuju Highlands.

Japan’s Highest Pedestrian Bridge

The bridge opened in October 2006 after a little over two years of construction, and an on-site data plaque we photographed at the bridge gives the numbers precisely: 390 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, and 173 meters above the valley floor at its highest point — a figure the plaque itself labels 日本一, “Japan’s No. 1.” That claim still holds for height. It briefly held the record for length too, until the Mishima Skywalk near Hakone opened in 2015 at 400 meters, but nothing has topped 173 meters for a pedestrian-only bridge since. The whole thing sits at 777 meters elevation and reportedly cost around ¥1.9 billion to build.

Looking Straight Down at a Waterfall

The reason to cross it isn’t just the height number, though — it’s what you can see from partway across. Look down through the gorge and you’ll spot Shindō-no-taki (震動の滝), a two-tiered waterfall (an upper “male” fall and lower “female” fall, roughly 80–90 meters combined depending on the source) tumbling into the Naruko-gawa, a headwater stream of the Chikugo River. It’s registered among Japan’s official 100 waterfalls, and the bridge deck is one of the only places you can see it from directly above rather than below.

A section of the deck near the middle is open metal grating rather than solid flooring, so you can see straight down through your feet to the gorge below. It’s a genuinely vertigo-inducing few steps if you’re not a fan of heights — flat, non-slip shoes are worth the effort, since a few sources specifically warn against heels here.

Visiting the Bridge

If you’re already in the area, it pairs naturally with a stop at Ryumon Falls, a wide curtain waterfall elsewhere in Kokonoe-machi’s back country.

Getting There

This is an easy add-on if you’re already driving the Yamanami Highway between Yufuin and Aso or the Kuju Highlands — see our guide to that route and getting an International Driving Permit for the basics on renting a car in Japan. If you’d rather not drive, Kamenoi Bus runs a seasonal weekend/holiday service from Yufuin Station Bus Center directly to the bridge (roughly April through late November, about 45–50 minutes each way) — check current timetables before relying on it, since it doesn’t run daily or year-round.