Ibaraki Prefecture offers tourist attractions such as Mt. Tsukuba, Fukuroda Falls, and Itsukushima Shrine; sightseeing events such as the Gion Festival, Hitachi Cherry Blossom Festival, and Kashima City Fireworks Festival; and local delicacies such as Shishi-nabe (lion's head stew), Shomon-semochi (rice cracker), and anko-nabe (red conger).
Ibaraki Prefecture is located in the northeast of the Kanto region. It is said that the name of Ibaraki Prefecture is based on a description in the Fudoki of Hitachinokuni and that the name is derived from Ibaraki in the Manyoshu, the oldest extant collection of poetry in Japan.
Ibaraki Prefecture is also called "Ibaragi" or "Ibaraki," depending on who you ask, but the official reading is "Ibaraki.
When one thinks of sightseeing in Ibaraki Prefecture, the first thing that comes to mind is the Ume Festival held at Kairakuen Garden and Mount Tsukuba. Kairakuen Garden is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan, and the Ume Festival held at this garden will be held a total of 118 times in 2014. The Ume Festival has been held for more than 100 years.
Although not as large as the Kairakuen Plum Blossom Festival, the Tsukuba Plum Blossom Festival will be held 41 times in 2014, and both festivals attract large numbers of visitors. The fantastic scenery of white and pink plum trees in full bloom and the scent of plum blossoms around the area will make you feel as if you are in a dream world just by being there.
In Ibaraki Prefecture, there is Fukuroda Falls, one of the three most famous waterfalls in Japan, where you can see the ice fall in winter when the entire waterfall freezes over, and the Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival), a spectacular festival where various dolls are displayed on a 100-tiered platform.
Oarai Town, which recently became the setting for an anime production, is attracting not only tourists but also an increasing number of anime fans, and the town is also working with the Self-Defense Forces to revitalize the town.
The enjoyment of sightseeing is not limited to the beauty of nature. Food is another enjoyment of sightseeing. The local cuisine, which can only be tasted in a particular area, is a precious memory of the trip.
In Ibaraki Prefecture, Yoshinuma-cho in Mito City offers a variety of delicious foods, such as salmon takikomi-gohan (rice cooked with salmon) using salmon from the Naka River, and sumitsukare, a celebratory dish eaten on the first horse day of February using the heads of salmon.
Ibaraki Prefecture is also one of Japan's leading soba (buckwheat) noodle producing areas, and each of them has their own unique sudon with different ingredients.
And speaking of Ibaraki Prefecture, natto (fermented soybeans) is a typical food of Mito. Mito's natto is made from small soybeans and can be enjoyed not only over rice, but also in a variety of other dishes.
In spring, beautiful flowers bloom one after another. At Miharashi no Oka, an event called "Flowering" is held from late March to early May, where visitors can enjoy a variety of spring flowers. The park is divided into a vast area of about 200 hectares, with large flower gardens spread over several areas. In spring, daffodils, tulips, nemophila, and roses are at their best, zinnias in summer, a...»
This bronze statue of the Great Buddha stands 120 meters tall, comparable in size to the Kasumigaseki skyscraper.It is the sixth tallest standing statue in the world.It is the world's largest "bronze" humanoid structure (Buddha statue) above ground level and is registered in the Guinness World Records as the "World's Largest Bronze Buddha Statue. Visitors can enter the womb and take an elevator u...»
The waterfall spans the Taki River, a tributary of the Kuji River, and boasts a height of 120 meters and a width of 73 meters. It is also called "Yodo no Taki" (Four Degrees Fall) because the water falls in four stages down a large rock face. From a distance, Fukuroda Falls appears as a gentle white line, but as one approaches, it reveals a roughness that seems to strike the ground. The charm of...»
This five-story facility with a total floor space of approximately 19,800 square meters is one of the top-class aquariums in Japan. It is a comprehensive museum of the sea that incorporates museum and science museum-like exhibition techniques, and offers a wide range of fields to see, touch, and play. With a total exhibition tank capacity of approximately 5,100 tons of water, the aquarium introd...»
This historic shrine was built in 856 and sits on a hilltop on the nature-rich Oarai coast. The white torii gate "Kamiiso-no-Torii" built on the reef where the waves wash over the rocks is a spectacular sight, and the sea, the wild splashing of the waves, and the sunlight create a fantastic atmosphere. In addition, the sound of the rough waves crashing against the rocks and the gentle undertow o...»
Located in Okkuji Prefectural Natural Park, this bright blue iron bridge over the Ryujin Gorge spans over the Ryujin Dam that impounds the Ryujin River, which flows through a beautiful V-shaped valley. The bridge is a popular sightseeing spot for tourists, offering a panoramic view of the four seasons, especially during the season of fresh greenery and autumn foliage. The bridge is 375 meters lo...»
Located at the foot of Mt. The park is the largest comprehensive leisure land in the prefecture, with facilities such as a zoo, amusement park, leisure land and municipal swimming pool on its vast grounds. Approximately 1,000 cherry trees, including yaezakura, yamazakura, and someiyoshino, are planted in the park, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom from early to mid-April. These cherry tre...»
Kasama Inari Shrine is one of the three major Inari shrines in Japan, along with Fushimi in Kyoto and Yutoku in Saga, and has a history of more than 1,350 years. The deity is Ukanomitama-no-kami. During the Edo period (1603-1867), the shrine was highly revered by successive feudal lords, who donated the shrine grounds, pavilions, and other facilities. The shrine is still well known to many people...»
The Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of Nature opened with the basic philosophy of "learning from the past, understanding the present, and measuring the future. The museum is characterized by the following three features. First, the museum has a vast site area of 15.8 hectares, which includes a wooded area adjacent to Sugo Swamp and a satoyama environment such as yatsudani rice paddies. This natural en...»
Ryujinkyo Gorge Located in Okkuji Prefectural Natural Park, this scenic spot has been selected as one of the 100 most scenic spots in Ibaraki. It is a V-shaped gorge formed by the erosion of the Ryujin River over a long period of time, where clear water flows through steep rocky terrain and is dotted with numerous waterfalls, pools, and rapids. The beautiful scenery is called the "Yabakei of Kan...»
The shrine was originally built in 701 by Fujiwara no Tokitada, a lord of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, as an offering from Usa Jingu Shrine in Tsukushi. An old Tendai Sect scripture states, "In the early hours of July 22, 1179 (the 3rd year of Jisho), a letter was written at Shimotsuma Hachimangu Shrine in Jyoriku Province, and it says Kanetomo," indicating that Hachiman worship was already widesp...»
The zoo is one of the largest zoos in the northern Kanto region, and its vast grounds are home to 540 animals of about 100 species, including elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, Ezo brown bears, capybaras, prairie dogs, and birds, allowing visitors to enjoy a wide variety of animals from small to large animals. The park offers a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean. The daily "snack time," free-ra...»
Touching, making, playing, and eating: this is a theme park where you can create these memorable experiences. Visitors can enjoy the blessed natural surroundings, the townscape inspired by the European countryside, and the animals. This is a hands-on agricultural park that fosters excitement. With a variety of animals, hands-on classes, playground equipment, and restaurants in the park, more mem...»
Koudoukan was founded by Nariaki Tokugawa, the ninth lord of the Mito Domain, and is registered as a Japanese Heritage site as an educational heritage of modern Japan. Based on the founding spirit of Prince Nariaki Tokugawa, "to stabilize people's minds through education and to develop the nation on the basis of education," Koudoukan functioned as an educational institution that taught literature...»
The Tsukuba Experimental Botanical Garden covers an area of approximately 140,000 square meters. The garden is home to approximately 4,000 plant species, including major Japanese plants, plants closely related to our daily lives, and rare plants that grow in tropical, subtropical, and arid regions of the world. Here, visitors can enjoy the way plants live, the various characteristics they have dep...»
It is located on a hill on the cape. It is also closely related to Oarai Isomae Shrine, and the two shrines are said to form a single belief system. Gods of worship The main deity is Sukunahikono-no-mikoto, and Dainamochi-no-mikoto is also enshrined. Onamochinomikoto, also called Okuninomikoto, is the deity of Oarai Isomae Shrine, and is said to have created the country with the help of Sukunah...»
One of the largest facilities in the Kanto region, it offers a wide variety of facilities, including a restaurant, convenience store, direct sales of agricultural products, processing and sales facilities for specialty products, and an observation gallery. It is located in Shimotsuma City, Ibaraki Prefecture, along National Route 294. Surrounded by beautiful nature, it is located between the Koga...»
This is a spot filled with the charms of Ogo, "the town of Fukuroda Falls and the town of travel. There is a restaurant where you can enjoy delicious Ogo cuisine, a relaxing hot spring, and a store space where you can find fresh vegetables and souvenirs. It also serves as a tourist information center, providing information on attractions, access, and lodging. When you visit Daiko, this place can ...»
Mito region has a large production of soy beans. Farmers make their own homemade natto, and nowadays natto is famous as the region’s specialty. According to an oral tradition, natto was first made in 1083, when Yoshiie Minamoto headed for Oshu for Gosannen no Eki and he stayed at the house of Ichimori Choja in Wataricho, Mito city, where boiled soy beans were used for horse food and its leftover t...»
The dish pickled in soy sauce together with dried chipped radish in fermented soybeans. Small soybeans are the feature.Small soybeans were made from the domain duties age and were the soybeans which don't point to tofu and fermented soybean paste, but it succeeded as fermented soybeans. It was sold at a tourist spot taking the long-nosed goblin fermented soybeans sold as a gift with opening to tra...»
Angler fishing is popular in the sea of Ibaraki prefecture. There are various forms of dishes using anglerfish, such as hotpot, liver dish, “Dobujiru” soup, deep fried angler, and marinated angler. Angler is famous as a fish that all parts besides its bones can be eaten. Angler’s liver, stomach, ovary, skin, fin, meat are called “angler’s seven properties”, which you can enjoy different feels and ...»
This is a project City of Namekata which is located between two lakes, Kasumigaura and Kitaura, in Ibaraki is promoting. “Namegata Don” is their proud food that 18 member stores are exercising their ingenuity to make the most of the local vegetables from Namegata plateau and the seafood from Kasumigaura. For example, they deep fry or tempura catfishes, whitebaits, 川 shrimps and carps. Normally it ...»
Ishioka-shi where shipment of wild boar meat is permitted only in Ibaraki-ken. This area was the area where damage to agricultural produce by a wild boar is more serious than before, and a game friend meeting in a prefecture was doing an extermination every year. Whether the wild boar can be used for town promotion, the this place gourmet who cooperates with Ishioka-shi Yasato chamber of commerce ...»
Mito city in Ibaraki has a deep affinity with ramen, including the fact that Mito Mitsukuni, the lord of Mito Domain, was the first one to have eaten ramen in Japan. The biggest feature of Mito Stamina Ramen which was born in Mito city is its soy sauce-based sweet-and-hot あん and thick noodle. Pumpkin and lever quick-fried and cooked, and sweet-and-hot あん(sauce) is made, and they are put on the top...»
Lotus roots in Ibaraki are mostly grown in Kasugaura and Tsuchiura city. The best season is November. Boiled lotus root is often used for happy ceremonial occasions, as its holes are taken as a lucky charm saying the holes bring a visible and predictable future. きんぴら(Kinpira) and fill-and-fry are its long-time standard menu. People in the local area host some events to suggest good recipes to cook...»
”Miso Peanuts” is a simple local food handed over from the ancient times in Ibaraki, where peanuts are grown (plentifully). Both local people and tourists love the taste of gentle sweetness of Miso and crispy texture of roasted peanuts. Originally, this was born based on the farmers' wisdom how to eat the imperfect-for-shipping peanuts. Containing much of polyphenol, protein, and minerals, peanuts...»