Parks & Gardens
Landscaped gardens, national parks, and green spaces
17 spots
Hitachi Seaside Park
Hitachi Seaside Park transforms twice a year into one of Japan's most photographed landscapes. In late April through mid…
Kairakuen Garden
Kairakuen is one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, but unlike the meticulous aristocratic gardens of Kanazawa and Okayama,…
Mount Tsukuba
Mount Tsukuba is a twin-peaked mountain rising 877 meters from rice fields and suburban sprawl, visible from Tokyo on cl…
Oarai Aquarium
Aqua World Oarai is one of Japan's largest aquariums, specializing in sharks (54 species, the most of any aquarium in Ja…
Oarai Beach
Oarai Sun Beach is a 1.5-kilometer crescent of pale sand facing the Pacific, backed by pine groves and bordered by rocky…
Senba Lake Cycling
Senba Lake is a narrow, 12-kilometer-long reservoir on the northern edge of Mito City, created by damming the Naka River…
Ajigaura Beach
Ajigaura Beach is a 4-kilometer stretch of sandy coastline facing the open Pacific, known as one of Kanto's best surf br…
Lake Chuzenji & Kegon Falls
Lake Chuzenji sits at 1,269 meters in a volcanic caldera formed 20,000 years ago when Mount Nantai erupted and lava damm…
Senjogahara Marshland
Senjogahara is a 400-hectare highland wetland at 1,400 meters elevation, formed when volcanic lava flows blocked drainag…
Ashikaga Flower Park
Ashikaga Flower Park is home to over 350 wisteria trees, including a 160-year-old giant wisteria (fuji) whose canopy cov…
Kinugawa Onsen
Kinugawa Onsen is a hot spring resort town in a narrow mountain gorge carved by the Kinugawa River. Discovered in the Ed…
Nasu Onsen
Nasu Onsen is a collection of seven hot spring sources scattered across the volcanic slopes of Mount Nasu, a highland re…
Nasu Animal Kingdom
Nasu Animal Kingdom is a 43-hectare zoo and animal park specializing in highland and grassland species from around the w…
Akechidaira Ropeway
The Akechidaira Ropeway is a 3-minute cable car that ascends 300 vertical meters from the Akechidaira Plateau to an obse…
Nanrakuen Garden
Nanrakuen is a traditional Japanese landscape garden built in 1688 for the lord of Matsuyama Domain, featuring seasonal…
Morioka Castle Ruins
Morioka Castle (盛岡城跡公園, now Iwate Park) was built in the early 17th century by the Nanbu clan, who ruled the Morioka Dom…
Motsuji Temple Garden
Motsuji Temple was once larger than Chusonji, containing 40 temple buildings and 500 monks' quarters during the Northern…