Nyudozaki

The northern tip of the Oga peninsula, where a treeless grass headland runs out to low cliffs and stops. There are no trees because of the wind. The lighthouse is striped black and white — the pattern exists so it can be seen against snow — and it is one of only sixteen lighthouses in Japan that visitors are allowed to climb.

The 40th parallel crosses here and there is a line of monuments in Oga stone marking it, arranged so that the sun sets along them at the equinox. Behind the cape are a handful of shops and restaurants doing ishiyaki, the local method of cooking fish soup by dropping fire-heated stones into a wooden tub, which boils it violently at the table. The car park is large and free, the grass is walkable, and the sunset over the Sea of Japan is the reason people stay until it is dark.