Best Visiting Spot List

Built in 1919 as a private villa, the former Japanese inn Kiunkaku is one of the Three Great Villas of Atami. Around thirty years later, in 1947, it was turned into a ryokan, meaning a traditional Japanese inn, highly valued and loved by many creative minds such as novelists Osamu Dazai and Junichiro Tanizaki. Nowadays, it is open to the public as one of Atami’s designated tangible cultural assets. The main building in the lush and vast garden is built in a distinctive Japanese style, while mosaics on the walls and stained glass windows are reminiscent of Western aesthetics, creating a wonderful, historical fusion between East and West.

Ubukeya is a ”Uchi Hamono” shop established in 1783 in Osaka. It was located in Edo during the Bakumatsu period, and is still around now. The store name came from the praises that their products ”can cut your ubuke (soft hair), can cut and remove”. They sell a range of products, from tweezers to Japanese knives, to scissors, western knives and other knives. If you take care of them meticulously, they can even be passed on to your grandchildren's generation. Apart from that, you may also find it interesting to see the wooden, quirky architecture of the shop.

An exhibition center where Chichibu Yomatsuri, one of Japan's three major hikiyama (float) festivals, is introduced through historical material and a live performance.

The Moyai statue is well-known as a meeting place at the Shibuya Station. It is a unique stone sculpture that has different faces carved on the front and the back.

We are a privately-owned modern art museum opened in November 1988. We have a range of exhibitions, mainly of oil paintings, but also sketches, photos, sculptures, objets d’art and other works. The museum encourages visitors to engage with art through the experience of not only looking at, but also touching and moving the items on exhibit, or making them produce sounds. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Kajiya for about 15 minutes We are seven minutes' walk from the Kajiya bus stop

[Takes around two hours 15 minutes at a regular pace - suitable for regular walkers] Known as the ”stone Buddha walking course” as stone Buddhas have been placed along the route to show you the way. Start from Jukkokutoge-sancho Station, which overlooks all ten of surrounding ancient kingdoms of Japan, namely Izu, Suruga, To'otoumi, Kai, Shinano, Musashi, Sagami, Awa, Kazusa, and Shimofusa. The station also affords a great view of Mr. Fuji.

Shaped like the fugure eight, this loop bridge connects Kinsei-dai (Venus Lookout) in Suwayama Park and the mountaintop observatory square called Venus Terrace. This winding bridge, thrusting out toward urban Kobe, offers you a magical night view right before your eyes. Lights of ships and planes arriving and taking off from Kobe Airport resemble shooting stars. The Futatabisan Driveway leading to Venus Bridge is closed to vehicles from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. (closed to two-wheel vehicles all day).

Tamagawa Fireworks Festival is held in the summer, and it is crowded with many people.

In 1180, Yoritomo Minamoto raised an army to destroy the Taira family and revive the Minamoto family. He lost the Battle of Ishibashiyama, and guided by Sanehira Doi, hid in “Shitodo-no-Iwaya” (Shitodo Cave). Springwater flows down there and the rocks have become covered in moss. The cave, where it is cool even in summer, has an enchanted atmosphere as it contains rows of statues of Kannon and stone pagodas. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Motohakone for about 40 minutes The cave is a 10-minute walk from the Shitodo-no-Iwaya Iriguchi bus stop

Shiraito Falls is named for its appearance that resembles myriads of hanging silk threads. It is Natural Treasure and was selected as one of Japan’s Top 100 Waterfalls.

Ibasen is a folding fan and uchiwa shop established in 1590. They sell a range of fans with varying uses, such as ”Edo folding fans” made of yukata (casual summer kimono) cloth, ”mai-ogi” used in traditional Japanese dances, and ”kazari (decorative) fans” used as decoration. Also, don't forget the uchiwas with prints of kabuki (classical Japanese dance-drama) actors and famous spots in Japan, that are based on the publications of ukiyoe masters like Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

A hall built in remembrance of Mamoru Shigemitsu, a former foreign minister who was the government representative who signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the US battleship Missouri. It showcases his career as a diplomat and politician, using photos, videos and other materials. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Okuyugawara or Fudo-Taki for about 20 minutes We are a five-minute walk from the Okuyugawara bus stop

Adachi Fireworks Festival is held in the summer, and it is crowded with many people.

Rakugo is a type of humorous storytelling which depicts the daily lives of townspeople, fairy tales, and more. This is an old tradition which has been loved in Japan since the Edo period. Ikebukuro Engei-jo is a place in Ikebukuro where you can enjoy rakugo. There are chair seats available, so you can sit for a long time without trouble. Let yourself get sucked into the world created by the rakugo storyteller.

This waterfall is only 15 meters high, but a large volume of water flows through it. A Migawari Fudoson (a guardian who acts as a substitute to take on people's illnesses and other bad health) has been enshrined on the left side of the waterfall, and the right side has a Shusse Daikokuson which supports wealth and success. There is also a teahouse near the waterfall. Yugawara zeolite was discovered at the Fudo Waterfall by Dr. Kinichi Sakurai in 1931. The Yugawara zeolite discovered was found to belong to the oldest Neogene Yugashima Group on the Izu Peninsula. Zeolite has also been discovered in Okuyugawara, near the Yugawara water purification plant and Jatai Bridge near the upper part of the Fujiki River where the Yugashima Group is exposed, but Fudo Waterfall has also produced zeolites such as laumontite, mordenite, epistilbite and chabazite. Yugawara’s zeolite is thought to have a close relationship to the Yugawara hot springs as the areas in which it is found share the same water source as the hot springs. Access: From Yugawara Station, take the bus headed to Okuyugawara or Fudo-Taki for about 20 minutes The falls are next to the Fudo-Taki bus stop

Koto Fireworks Festival is held in the summer, and it is crowded with many people.