Oouchijuku - Aizuwakimatsu, Fukushima

Map Location

This is a historic Japanese village.

Its not far from Aizuwakimatsu. Some people arrived by taxi, I'm guessing from the nearby railway station.

It was just a little bit busy when we were there, but not overly crowded.

At least in winter the houses were mostly pretty closed up to keep the cold out. We'd recommend going into one of the restaurants to eat since they are nicely decorated inside aswell. Perhaps in summer you can see inside more easily.


There is a hill behind the town where you can go to get a view over the town.

To no Hetsuri, Fukushima

Map Location

This is a very pretty little river walk just south of Aizuwakamatsu. Its not far from the train line which looks like a very nice way to see the area.

Fukuroda Waterfall - Ibaraki, Japan

Map Location

These falls are about an hour East of Nasushiobara in a town called Daigo. Its in Ibaraki prefecture.



These falls are quite famous due to the fact they freeze in winter and are very beautiful. Unfortunately, we went in late December and they weren't yet frozen. We'll go back early next year to view it frozen.



The drive to Daigo features really beautiful winter scenery. As you enter Daigo there are a lot of nice old Japanese buildings too.



The falls are a short walk from the parking area. You walk through a tunnel to get to the falls. There are some steep strenuous paths you can walk along with beautiful views.



There are quite a few well regarded onsens nearby. We recommend Sekisho open onsen for lunch and a soak.

Oya Temple, Utsunomiya, Tochigi

Map Location

Oya Temple is located a short distance outside Utsunomiya. Its interesting because of the giant statue and the underground caverns.

As you get close you will start seeing shops selling local rock and various builds made out of it. If I had to guess its not very good rock to make things out of because its very light and porous. But the statue is pretty neat and its a good place to visit.

First stop is the statue. If you look closely around the statue you can see areas where big arches have been made and collapsed. Near the statue is a small temple with some nice garden which you must pay a small fee to enter. There is a very old human skeleton that they found in the area on display.

Some distance away is our favorite part. Huge underground caverns made when the excavated rock in the area. Also there is an interesting display where you can compare the local rock with other kinds of rock.

Its a good area for a short visit if you are in Utsunomiya.

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Shiobara/Nikko in Autumn, Tochigi

The autumn colors are out in force in the mountains now. Mt. Nasu is very beautiful though we've had horrible luck with the weather on two visit. This article is about a driving trip to the Shiobara/Nikko area that starts in Nasushiobara. We did the trip in late October and the colors were beautiful but only in the higher altitudes.



We started out driving Northwest on route 400 up into the Shiobara area. We travelled through this area pretty quickly because we know it well, but if you haven't been here then there is lots to see and do. You might consult our map if you want some ideas.



We drove into Shiobara Town and then took route 19 southwest. We took a short side trip to Swamp Lake (there must be a better translation than this Japanese to Chinese to English one) to check out the autumn colors. That colors around the lake and nearby mountains were just magnificent. There are lots of nice onsens in this area if you want to stay longer, but we kept going.





Return to route 19 and short while later the toll road starts. The views were beautiful the whole way and some of the ski resorts have really beautiful grounds at this time of year. The traffic was heavier than usual weekend traffic but never got slow. The toll road empties out onto highway 121. We headed north through some really lovely country along the side of a river.



Then we joined up with route 400 again now heading Southeast back towards Nasushiobara.

The whole trip took the best part of a day of slow driving with lots of stops.

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Okukinu - Tochigi

Map Location


Okukinu is a fantastic area in Tochigi in between Nikko and Oze. This walk is a very good overnight trip. Though if are very fit you could do it in one long, long day.

Its a very nice drive to get to the area, though the road is a bit narrow in parts. There are lots of ryokan on the way in too so it could easily be made into a 3 day trip. You can't miss the starting area. There is a big car park and the road closes to regular traffic.

From the parking area its about one hour walk to the first of a small group of in park ryokan. You can take a bus if you prefer. The walk is nice, there is a bit of construction at the start but you will soon be past that.

We stayed at Hatsuchomeyu Onsen. Its very nice and covered in a separate post.

Its a 2 1/2 hour walk to the top. There are some quite long steep sections but its beautiful along the way. At the top there is a great alpine meadow. Its a good place for lunch. From there you can walk to the top of a small mountain with nice views, but its not a must see. You can also walk to Oze, but that must be a very long walk.

Its a 3 1/2 hour walk back to the car park. You might consider taking the bus back from the onsen area. The whole walk starting from the onsen, finishing at the carpark and including the small mountain must be about 20 km. If you skip the mountain and take the bus its probably 12 or 13 km.
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Nasunogahara Park - Nasushiobara, Tochigi

Map Location
This is probably the largest park in the Nasushiobara area.

Like most parks in Japan it is worth visiting in the different seasons because its character changes a lot with the seasons. There is a fountain with a shop, little hall (we once saw a bonsai exhibition there) and a place you can rent bicycles. There is a beautiful wooded area. And a very nice field which is great for a picnic. There is a nice view from the hill area. I bet it would be a good place to go for a run, though its some distance from downtown so you couldn't run to it (and I hate driving to go for a run).

This is a great park for kids. There is a large playground area. And a great obstacle course. You have to pay a small amount to use the course. Both of them are sensational. These are not your watered down, wimpy, low litigation playgrounds found in Australia or USA. These are exciting and slightly dangerous playgrounds of my youth. I had a lot of fun on the obstacle course.

There is also a rather prominent, kitch windmill which I hate.

See also Nasushiobara Cherry Blossom

Asahi Brewery - Fukushima

Map Location

Free beer! And only an hours drive from Nasushiobara. How did it take us a whole year to discover this?

At the brewery there is a barbeque restaurant with beer and you can do a factory tour. The barbeque area is nice. We just sat and had some snacks and a few beers. I'd like to go back there for a barbeque some time.

Its quite different to the Sapporo beer factory tour (in Sapporo, Hokkaido). For a start its guided. And its much more a tour of an operational beer factory (which was not in operation on the day we were there). It was a good tour with English signs along the way and an English brochure for us to read. At the end of the tour there is free beer! You get one 300ml (guessing there) glass of beer (the photo is a 700ml beer in the restaurant) and can have 3 (I think) refills. There are some nice little snacks too.

The beer hall and tour at Sapporo were much more beautiful and historic. But the Fukushima tour was very interesting. I think it would be fantastic when the brewery is actually operating. And the friendly staff made it very pleasant too. And its free beer an hours drive from Nasushiobara!!!!

No photos allowed on the tour and we were too busy drinking to take serious travel photos so sorry, no extra photos.

Sendai Hira - Fukushima

Map Location

Its just a short stop. But its right next to Abukuma Caves. There is a good panoramic view from the top of this hill.

Most notably, it looks like hang gliders take off from there sometimes. There was a windsock and a launch ramp. Nearby there is a camp ground, which I am sure is primarily used by hang gliders.

There is also a little temple on the way up the hill. We didn't stop there.

The camp ground has some nice looking little huts too.

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Abukuma Caves - Fukushima

Map Location


This is a fun cave visit. Its located next to an observatory that you could combine in the same trip. When we were there, there was a huge event on with a stage, bands, comedians and a lot of food stalls. But I am sure thats not the normal case.

Honestly, I don't think the caves are so good. At least the formations are fairly tame compared to what we have seen before. But it was fun because the pathway becomes very restricted in parts and you have to crawl and scramble to get past some bits. It might be a bit scary for even mildly claustrophobic people.

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Shakagatake and Kengamine Mountains - Tochigi

Map Location


This map picture will serve you much better than the google map above once you get close. There are two carparks. The first one must be very useful when the flower gardens are in bloom (reportedly quite beautiful) and is close to the tent site. The second carpark is the one where you should park if you want to climb the mountains in this post.

There are shorter walks between and around the carparks that are quite nice.

Kengamine is about 2 1/2 hours return. Its a beautiful walk through green forests with great panoramic views (its _frequently_ cloudy). There are two tracks from the parking area so you can walk up on one path and back down the other. There is a pretty little temple in a rocky area about 1 hour walk in which you may assume to the top but actually the top is a little way further. The temple is the most beautiful part and the right place to stop for a meal if you plan to stop. The temple is also the place where the two tracks from the parking area meet up.

After Kengamine the walking gets a bit harder on the way to Shakagatake. We thought it would be a nice short walk. Its not. The return walk is probably a bit over 4 hours from the carpark. Also the maps along the trail are not that good. There will be two unexpected junctions along the way. Just turn left at both junction on the way in and you will get there. Apparently, there is a shorter way to get to Shakagatake but we don't yet know where that starts from.

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River Valley Walk - Shiobara, Tochigi

Map Location (very rough)



So now we have a project to get to know Shiobara better and visit a lot of Onsen in the area. This is an excellent walk.


I can't locate this place accurately on Google Maps. Drive up the river on highway 400. Park in the carpark on the left before the first tunnel at the sign shown below. If you go through a tunnel you have just missed it. This corresponds with the downstream/right hand yellow dot on the above map.



OK. Now its easy. Just walk down the hill, cross the suspension bridge and turn left and you will be on your way. (the path loops around to the right and you will be walking upstream.



The walk is only 3.3 km., but its pretty steep and hard going. It starts off with a suspension bridge with great views. Then continues through beautiful rain forest. There are fantastic views of the river all the way along and a good waterfall at the end. Actually there is a nice picnic area at the end too.



The downside of it is that once you complete the walk there are only two reasonable ways to get back to the start. One is to walk the return path which is a bit of a slog. Or you can walk back along the road. We chose the road and it was quite horrible but much faster. The traffic was especially intimidating on the narrow road. Next time I think we will walk the longer way. My admiration of Japanese elegance and love of beauty took a bit of a dent with the amount of rubbish that had been left by the side of the road too.

Afterwards we went up to our first main Shiobara onsen. We visited Green Village Onsen (Map Location). It was OK but nothing special. Then we walked along the river a bit and found some real outdoor onsens along the side of the track. You still have to pay to use them, but they are really very attractive. They are however mixed (only men there today).

More Shiobara pictures

Goshikinuma Swamps, Bandai, Fukushima

Map Location



Also known as the Five Colored Swamps. I think they could up their marketing appeal by calling them the Five Colored Lakes.

Anyway, the swamps are a series of small lakes colored various shades of blue and green by mineral deposits. Some of the lakes are quite striking. There were lots of photographers on the walk with tripods and fancy cameras.



It takes about an hour to walk the length of them. We walked back along the same route but you could walk back along the road and stop for a meal or visit one of the other (rather kitch looking) attractions. I marked both ends of the walk on the map location. At the busy end there is a shopping area and you can rent boats and row about on the largest of the lakes. There are some huge carp in that lake.

We drove up a beautiful toll road to the onsen area but they were all booked out so we didn't stay there.



The other main interesting thing about this area is it looks to be a pretty busy ski area in the winter. There are lots of resorts and ski fields.

More Bandai area photos

Lake Inawashiro, Fukushima

Map Location

This is a beautiful, big lake near Aizuwakamatsu.



We didn't spend so long here, but its obviously a good place to have a relaxing time away from it all. I think we'll be back.

There are nice quiet camp grounds (even on the public holiday). There are sandy beaches that look good for swimming. There is a boating area where a lot of powerboats and jetskis are available.

There is also a migratory bird sanctuary which is visited by white swans in winter, but there were no birds there in September when we visited.

Tsurugajo Castle, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima

updated: May 12, 2008
Map Location

This is my favourite castle to visit so far in Japan.



The castle is beautiful and well maintained. There is a good display inside and the view from the top is excellent in every direction. The gardens are also very beautiful, especially the walk around the top of the moat. There is also a little teahouse in the grounds.



I guess the most famous thing about Tsurugajo is a samurai troop called "The White Tigers". They were made up of 16 and 17 year olds. As near as I can tell they were a division in training but were largely massacred in a brave defence of their castle. The most famous part was 20 of them who were on top of a hill looking down and thought they saw the castle overrun and on fire so they all committed suicide. It turns out they were wrong and the castle wasn't overrun or on fire. Their suicide success rate was 95%!

Next door there is a museum. The museum is dedicated to the history of the area going right back to early human development. There is a good printed guide in English.

More Aizuwakamatsu Photos

update: this is also a very good place to visit in winter and especially spring for cherry blossom. In 2008 the blossom was at its best on the weekend of Apr 19th, 1 week after Nasushiobara and 3 weeks after Tokyo.







More Photos
photo location to be cleaned up soon. Sorry for the mess!

Aizu Sake Historic Museaum - Fukushima

Map Location

We have long wanted to go to a Sake Factory. This is more of a museum than a factory tour. Its a worthwhile activity while you are in Aizuwakamatsu.


The building is quite old and still in operation. There is an exhibit of how sake is/was made. Also you can walk through part of the actual factory. At the end and start of the route you can try and buy lots of their sake.



More photos from Aizuwakamatsu

Japan Tourist also has an excellent site with info about this area.

Hiroshige Museum Gallery - Bato, Tochigi

Map Location
Museum Website

This is a nice little art gallery. You can easily spend a couple of hours here looking at their great display of wood prints. The museum is dedicated to Utagawa Hiroshige and his contemporaries.


There is a shop there where you can buy some prints too. Thats where we went to get our famous Hokusai (a Hiroshige contemporary) wave print in the 36 views of Mt. Fuji series.

Also there are art classes there sometimes too. I don't know the details, but we happened to be there once when there was one on and our friend was on the course. He made a nice wood print which he showed me later. I'm not sure how one we get into the class. Our Japanese is almost certainly too weak, but Japanese speakers might inquire at the gallery.

The building is also quite nice with some nice little gardens out the back.

Also you can walk up the hill behind the gallery and there are some walks you can do through the forest.


There is also lots of pretty scenery around here and a nice pottery shop that I will post about later.

Tochigi's very own Mt. Fuji

Map Location

Up in the Shiobara area there is a mountain called Mt. Fuji. Its nothing like the Mt. Fuji we all know. Its a nice walk, but frankly, I'd recommend Numappara or Nasu or our favorite Yaita walk (not written about yet) before Mt. Fuji. Though it might be very beautiful in autumn I think. We'll be back then to check.


Its a fairly short walk which you can start from the nearby hot spring village or you can drive through the village and turn left just before the vegetable stands and park at the parking area. Or you can continue a bit further, turn right again and park at the much larger marshland parking area. I've tried to size the Map Location
so you can see the town and all the roads. The walk around the lake was not possible due to typhoon flooding, but that looks very good for autumn.


The walk itself is a couple of hours if you walk right around the mountain. Its green and beautiful. No matter where you start you will walk by town and there is a short side trip to see the marshes. There are a couple of short steep bits but its an easy walk overall. You walk past an area where the volcanic gasses are coming up from the ground. It smells sulphurous.

I'll write about our stay at the hot spring hotel in a separate post.

More Photos

Shiobara Waterfall - Tochigi

Map Link

The drive from Nasushiobara up to Shiobara and beyond is very beautiful. There is much to explore up there and we have only scratched the surface. Expect quite a few posts about this area coming soon.



Unfortunately the typhoon hit the area pretty hard. I have no idea if the rice (much of which is lying down now) will recover. There is lots of water in the river so it made the drive up the valley even better than usual.


The waterfall is a short walk starting from the side of the road and following a beautiful little tributary to the main river. Its just a short walk, maybe half an hour. I bet its even better in the wet season (July).





Carpark Sign.

The carpark also marked on the Map Link is a bit up the hill from the falls. Here is the sign to look out for.

Further up the road are lots of well regarded hot spring hotels. Much further is Hinoemata and Oze (which we will be writing about soon).

More waterfall pictures

Harmony Hall, Nasushiobara, Tochigi

Map Link

Harmony Hall seems a bit out of place in Tochigi.



Its a nice performing arts building with a fairly decent program. Its well worth checking out if you live in the area.

We just went to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Upcoming program includes the Kodo Japanese drum group, a bunch of interesting sounding classical events including some foreign visitors and lots of more local things like the local nature societies photo display.

We normally think of Nasushiobara as being a real farmer town. Nobody dresses up for anything. But when we went to Harmony Hall to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra plenty of people had put on their dress up clothes and it felt (just a little bit) like we were in Tokyo for a second.
At least with our horrible Japanese its hard to make much sense of the website. Even the Google translated one. So I'd recommend just dropping by one time and you can get a pretty good idea of whats coming up. Or shooting me an email and I can tell you whats on the way.

Harmony Hall Website
Harmony Hall Website (Translated)

The hall is a very stylish concrete building. It seems to me have been very badly designed for actually getting people in and out.