Ibaraki Travel Guide

Japan's largest aquarium by number of shark species — 58 varieties of shark in a massive open-ocean tank, including whale sharks and sand tiger sharks. The facility's research programs are conducted in collaboration with Hitachi marine science and the exhibits explain the Pacific Current ecosystems of Ibaraki's coastline.

One of Japan's three great waterfalls — a four-tiered cascade of 120 metres total height in a narrow gorge accessible through a 110-metre observation tunnel bored directly into the cliff face. Each season transforms the falls: spring snowmelt rages white, summer shows the full green gorge, autumn turns the cliff trees red, and winter freezes the tiers into blue ice columns.

Japan's most photographed seasonal landscape — approx. 5.3 million nemophila (baby blue eyes) covering an entire hillside in mid-May, turning it an ocean-like blue that contrasts with the Pacific behind. The same hill turns scarlet with 30,000 kochia (fireweed) bushes in October. One of the top flower spectacles in Asia.

A vast natural history museum surrounded by wetland nature reserves — the museum's dinosaur fossils, mammoth skeletons, and diorama ecosystems rival Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science at a fraction of the price. The attached Satoyama (rural landscape) trail through wetland and oak forest is one of the finest easy nature walks in Kanto.

Japan's main space mission control and astronaut training facility — free tours show the ISS operations control room, a full-size replica of the Japanese Kibo module, space suits, and recovered rocket components. The exhibit building includes hands-on simulations and genuine JAXA mission footage.

One of Japan's three great gardens (with Kenroku-en and Korakuen) — a 13-hectare public garden opened by Lord Nariaki Tokugawa in 1842 with 3,000 plum trees of 100 varieties. The plum blossom festival (February–March) turns the garden into a fragrant pink-and-white landscape and is the largest plum festival in Japan.

One of the oldest and most important shrines in eastern Japan — the patron deity of martial arts and military victory, Kashima Shinkage-ryu (Japan's oldest surviving sword school) was born here. The approach through the Kashima Forest is 2km of cedar trees 500–1,000 years old, and the ancient stone lanterns lining it are covered in centuries of moss.

One of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains and the most climbed peak in the Kanto region — a twin-peaked mountain (877m) with a rope-way on each peak, a 360-degree viewing deck, and ancient Tsukuba Shrine at the base. The mountain appears in Man'yoshu poetry from the 8th century and is considered one of Japan's most sacred peaks.

A coastal shrine with a torii gate standing directly in the Pacific surf — one of Japan's top 10 most photographed shrine gates. The shrine has guarded the sea since the 9th century, and the rocks around the torii gate are rich in tidal pools. The Pacific sunrise over the gate (particularly at New Year and summer solstice) is extraordinary.

The world's largest bronze standing statue at 120 metres (statue 100m + 20m base) — a bronze Amitabha Buddha you can enter and ascend to chest level (at 85m) for panoramic Kanto Plain views. The approach through a flower-lined garden contrasts strikingly with the sheer scale of the figure, which is visible from 20km away.