4131 Travel Guide

Kasumigaura is Japan's second-largest freshwater lake after Biwa, a 220-square-kilometre system comprising Nishiura, Kitaura, Sotonamigaura and several river channels of the Tone basin, with Nishiura the largest at 172 square kilometres. It averages only 4 metres deep and reaches 7 metres. The name uses ura, bay, rather than ko, lake, because it began as a marine inlet sealed off by dunes and sandbars. Its signature sight is the white-sailed Kasumigaura sailing boat: a Meiji-era haul-net fishing craft for pond smelt and icefish, replaced by trawlers in 1967 and since revived for tourism, with companion boats sailing alongside from late July to early December. The technique was designated a national selected intangible folk cultural property in 2018. The Tsukuba-Kasumigaura Ring-Ring cycle route circles 180 kilometres of lakeshore and Tsukuba foothills, was named a national cycle route in 2019, and offers seven courses with eleven hire-and-return points. Winter brings waterfowl, early summer brings irises, and Tsuchiura's Kasumigaura Comprehensive Park adds a Dutch windmill, nature centre and day-use bath. Severe eutrophication in the 1970s led to a 1981 prefectural ordinance and the 1984 national lake-water law, making the shore both a leisure area and a case study in lake restoration.

Oarai Isosaki Shrine sits on a headland facing the Pacific in Ibaraki. Tradition dates its founding to 856; it honours Onamuchi-no-Mikoto and Sukunahikona-no-Mikoto and is visited for healing, protection from misfortune and good fortune. The main hall stands above ninety stone steps and was rebuilt in 1730. What draws everyone is the Kamiiso Torii on the rocks below, said to mark the spot where the gods came ashore: at sunrise the sun rises behind the gate while waves break around its base, and the clear winter air makes it one of the most photographed scenes in Kanto, especially around New Year. The shrine has three torii in all, and the views shift as you move from the gate through the worship hall down to the shore. In place of the usual guardian lions, a pair of frogs watches the entrance, a play on 'kaeru', meaning both frog and returning, so they stand for a safe return and the recovery of lost things; many visitors come specifically to find them. Entry is free, 05:30-18:00 from May to August and 06:00-17:00 the rest of the year, with amulets and goshuin available 08:30-16:30. The torii is viewed from shore only, and the rocks are strictly off limits in heavy surf. The Umimachi loop bus takes sixteen minutes from Oarai Station, or walk forty; by car it is fifteen minutes from the Mito-Oarai interchange, with the car park closing at 19:00. Oarai Aquarium is next door, so sunrise, shrine, aquarium and a seafood lunch make an easy half day on the coast.

The Ushiku Daibutsu in Ushiku, Ibaraki, is a ~120-metre bronze Amitabha statue that long ranked among the world's tallest Buddhas. Inside, levels include the 'World of Light' exhibit and Muryoju Hall; from near the top you overlook the countryside, and the garden before it rotates flowers through the seasons — a rare giant Buddhist landmark in Kanto.

Tsukuba's Science Expo Memorial Park occupies part of the site of the 1985 International Exposition of Science and Technology (Science Expo Tsukuba '85), the event themed 'Humans, dwellings, environment and technology' that put Tsukuba Science City on the map. The grounds became a municipal park, with a 10-metre 'Gate of Science' at the entrance as a quiet marker of that optimistic era. Inside are broad lawns, a pond, an iris garden and five all-weather tennis courts. From late March to early April, 300 Somei-Yoshino cherries line the paths, making it one of Tsukuba's finest hanami spots and an everyday place for local families to picnic and play.

Lake Senba is a gourd-shaped freshwater lake in central Mito, covering 330,000 square metres but averaging only a metre deep. Its 3-kilometre loop path takes 40 to 50 minutes on the level, is marked with distance posts, and separates walkers from cyclists. In 1997 the lake was merged with Kairakuen, one of Japan's three celebrated gardens, into Kairakuen Park, often described as the world's second-largest urban park and known locally as Mito's oasis. More than 700 cherry trees line the shore and the Sakuragawa, lit up on spring evenings; the view from the third-floor Rakujuro of Kobuntei across the water to the Tsurunari plum grove is exactly the sweeping prospect that guided Tokugawa Nariaki's choice of site. A central fountain, a 30-metre waterside deck, black swans and tufted ducks, a D51 steam locomotive and a Mito Komon statue give the walk both nature and civic memory. Summer brings the Mito Komon Festival fireworks; clear winter air is best for birdwatching.

The Tone River (Tone-gawa) runs about 322 kilometres, the second longest in Japan, and drains 16,840 square kilometres — the largest basin in the country — earning the nickname Bando Taro ('Taro', the eldest son of the old eastern land). It rises on Mount Ominakami (1,831 m) in Minakami, Gunma, crosses the Kanto Plain and meets the Pacific at the Kashima-nada between Kamisu, Ibaraki and Choshi, Chiba. Historically notorious for floods and course changes, it was rerouted east by the Tokugawa shogunate's Tone Eastward Diversion works (1594-1654), freeing the Kanto from inundation; today its upstream dam group is a principal water source for the Tokyo metropolitan area, across 1 prefecture-level metropolis and 5 prefectures serving some 12.79 million people. Cherry rows on the levees, water-country marshscapes and estuary scenery make it the river that explains the Kanto.