Culture, Crafts & Cuisine

Culture, Crafts & Cuisine

5 days (4 nights) Recommended Itinerary (3 nights in Mito and 1 night in the Fukuroda Hot Spring resort)
For travelers flying to and from Ibaraki Airport
           
  • 5 day – 4 night (3 nights in Mito and 1 night at Fukuroda Hot Spring Resort) travel plan featuring shrines, gardens, traditional pottery and the chance to try some local delicacies!
  • For travellers flying to and from Ibaraki Airport

Day 1

Ibaraki Airport

  • Ibaraki Airport

directions_bus 40min by bus

Mito Station North Exit

directions_bus 15min by bus

Kairakuen Garden

  • Kairakuen Garden
    Located in the center of Mito, Kairakuen Garden is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan. The garden features a flat hill from which you can get a panoramic view of Lake Senba and its surroundings, and local people often come here to relax. The garden is landscaped according to the principles of yin and yang, and you can enjoy walking through the bamboo forest, as well as the beautiful gardens of seasonal flowers.
    Detail

directions_busdirections_walk Take a bus or walk.

Stay at a hotel in Mito

Day2

Mito Station

train 25min by train on JR Joban Line and JR Mito Line

Kasama Station

directions_walklocal_taxi 20min on foot or 5min by taxi

Kasama Inari Jinja shrine

  • Kasama Inari Jinja shrine
    One of Japan’s three most popular Inari shrines, Kasama Inari Shrine features a main hall with beautiful carvings that has been designated as an Important Cultural Property. Wisteria flowers on a 400-year-old tree bloom in early May, and the shrine is also known for its chrysanthemum festival in autumn. Some visitors pray for prosperity in agriculture, commerce, and the manufacturing and fishing industries, while others pray for a safe birth or successful match-making.
    Try some inarizushi (soy-sauce-flavored tofu pouches with fillings such as vinegar rice, walnuts and other ingredients.)
    Detail

Try some inarizushi (soy-sauce-flavored tofu pouches with fillings such as vinegar rice, walnuts and other ingredients.)

directions_walklocal_taxi 28min on foot or 6min by taxi

CraftHills Kasama / Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum

  • CraftHills Kasama
    Crafthills Kasama provides various kinds of things related to Kasama pottery, such as classes to learn and experience how to make pottery, a permanent exhibition of highly-evaluated Kasama pottery works, a relaxing café lounge, and a souvenir shop. In the gallery near the souvenir shop on the first floor, there is space for temporal displays, where you can appreciate original works by local pottery artists. This is an inspiring art facility.
    Detail

directions_walk 20min on foot (strolling around the town)

Kasama Station

train Approx. 20min by train on JR Mito Line and JR Joban Line

Uchihara Station

directions_walk 5min on foot

AEON MALL Mito Uchihara

shopping and dining

directions_walk 5min on foot

Uchihara Station

train 11min by train on JR Joban Line

Mito Station

Stay at a hotel in Mito

Day3

Mito Station

train Approx. 80min on JR Suigun Line

Hitachi-Daigo Station

Strolling around the town of Daigo / Machikado Art Museum

Eat Okukuji-Shamo Don (a bowl of rice with chicken-omelet-like toppings) for lunch at Tamaya Ryokan in front of the station.

Hitachi-Daigo Station

train5min by train on JR Suigun Line

Fukuroda Station

local_taxi 5min by taxi (fees: roughly 1,000 yen)

Get to the entrance of Fukuroda Falls.

directions_walk 7min on foot

Fukuroda Falls (required time: 45min)

  • Fukuroda Falls
    Fukuroda Falls is said to be one of the three great waterfalls of Japan. Water cascades against a giant rock cliff in four levels, so it is also called ‘Yodo-no-taki’ (four-time falls). There are some spots to see the waterfall closely, and from there you can enjoy magnificent scenery every season.
    Try some Ayu-no-shioyaki (broiled sweet fish sprinkled with salt) and skewered konjak with miso at stalls.
    Detail

directions_walklocal_taxiwalk or take a taxi to the hotel.

Stay at a hotel in the Fukuroda Hot Spring resort

Day4

Fukuroda Station

train Approx. 80min on JR Suigun Line

Mito Station (change trains here.)

train 70min by train on JR Mito Line

Yuki Station

local_taxidirections_walk 5min by taxi or 15min on foot or 10min by bike (Bicycle Rental is available at Yuki Station.)

Yuki Tsumugi (silk fabric) Museum ‘Tsumugi no Yakata’

  • Yuki Tsumugi (silk fabric) Museum ‘Tsumugi no Yakata’
    Strolling around the town of Yuki (Try some yude-manju (local sweets: boiled buns with a sweet bean jam filling.)

directions_walk 15min on foot or ride on the rental bike.

Yuki Station

train Approx. 75min on JR Mito Line

Mito Station

Stay at a hotel in Mito

Day5

Mito Station North Exit

directions_walk 4min on foot

Kodokan Mito Han School

  • Kodokan
    Kodokan was established in 1841 by Nariaki Tokugawa, the 9th feudal lord of the Mito Domain and was the largest of the clan warrior schools. Kodokan is comparable to a university today; students could study subjects such as medicine, pharmacy and astronomy as well as martial arts. Japan’s last shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, was educated at the Kodokan for five years from the age of six. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Yoshinobu spent four months confined to a room in Shizendo, part of the Kodokan complex at that time.
    Detail

directions_walk 5min on foot

Mito Station South Exit

directions_walk 10min on foot

Meiri Shurui: Besshunkan (Japanese Sake and Umeshu Museum)

  • Meiri Shurui Besshunkan

directions_walk 10min on foot

Mito Station South Exit

directions_bus 40min by bus

Ibaraki Airport