Ibaraki Hidden Gems
17 spots
Hitachi Seaside Park — Blue Nemophila Hills
Hitachi Seaside Park transforms twice a year into one of Japan's most photographed landscapes. In late April through mid…
Kairakuen Garden — Plum Blossom Poetry
Kairakuen is one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, but unlike the meticulous aristocratic gardens of Kanazawa and Okayama,…
Kamiiso no Torii — Ocean Gate Sunrise
A single vermilion torii gate stands on a rocky outcrop at the edge of the Pacific, surrounded by crashing waves and spr…
Kodokan — Samurai Academy
Kodokan was established in 1841 by Tokugawa Nariaki as the educational heart of Mito Domain, embodying the Mito School o…
Kasama Pottery — Climbing Kiln Heritage
Kasama-yaki pottery has been produced in this hillside town for over 250 years. Unlike the aristocratic refinement of Ar…
Mito Natto — Fermented Soybean Breakfast
Natto — fermented soybeans bound by sticky, stringy threads — is Japan's most divisive food, beloved by locals and bewil…
Oarai Fish Market — Morning Catch Kaisendon
Oarai Port lands some of the finest Pacific seafood in the Kanto region — flatfish (hirame), Pacific saury (sanma), monk…
Tsukuba Science City — JAXA & Research Labs
Tsukuba was purpose-built in the 1960s as Japan's science city, a planned urban environment designed to concentrate the…
Mount Tsukuba — Sacred Twin Peaks Cable Car
Mount Tsukuba is a double-peaked mountain sacred to Shinto mythology, rising 877 meters from the Kanto Plain. The two su…
Kasama Inari Shrine — Fox God Forest Sanctuary
Kasama Inari Shrine is one of Japan's three great Inari shrines, dedicated to Ukanomitama-no-mikoto, the Shinto deity of…
Ushiku Daibutsu — World's Tallest Buddha Statue
Ushiku Daibutsu is a 120-meter-tall bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha, standing in a lotus garden surrounded by flat farm…
Oarai Aquarium — Shark & Jellyfish Wonderland
Aqua World Oarai is one of Japan's largest aquariums, specializing in sharks (54 species, the most of any aquarium in Ja…
Oarai Beach — Pacific Coast Sandscape
Oarai Sun Beach is a 1.5-kilometer crescent of pale sand facing the Pacific, backed by pine groves and bordered by rocky…
Kasama Himatsuri — Night Fire Climbing Kiln
The Kasama Himatsuri (Fire Festival) is an annual late-April event when the historic 11-chamber Nikko-gama climbing kiln…
Senba Lake Cycling — Lakeside Loop Trail
Senba Lake is a narrow, 12-kilometer-long reservoir on the northern edge of Mito City, created by damming the Naka River…
Tsukuba Winery — Japan's Oldest Wine Estate
Ushiku Chateau (despite the name, located in Ushiku, not Tsukuba) is Japan's oldest winery, established in 1903 by entre…
Ajigaura Beach — Surfing & Coastal Escape
Ajigaura Beach is a 4-kilometer stretch of sandy coastline facing the open Pacific, known as one of Kanto's best surf br…