Ibaraki Prefecture

Ibaraki Prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo, is easy to like (and easy to overlook) because it is close enough to the megalopolis and Narita Airport that you can access the best of big city conveniences, yet it is far enough from the urban sprawl to be considered inaka (countryside). Yes, breathable air and respite from the madding crowd.

From many Yamanote line stations in central Tokyo you can reach Ibaraki’s southern areas in less than an hour by train, and there are plenty of commuters who do make this trip daily—so many in fact that a special train service (the Tsukuba Express) was started in 2005 to accommodate the high volume.

Most notable of the many towns and cities in this part of Ibaraki is Tsukuba, home of Tsukuba Science City and one of the top universities in the country (not coincidentally, they have a sister-city relationship with Cambridge, Massachusetts, location of both Harvard and MIT). Nearby Mount Tsukuba offers pleasant hiking (or a cable car to the top) and great views, with a famous shrine worthy of a look at the foot of the trails.

Ibaraki’s capital city of Mito is a little further north, roughly two hours by train from Tokyo. Mito is known all over Japan mainly for two things: Kairaku-en and nattou. The former is considered to be one of the top three gardens in the country (Kanazawa’s Kenroku-en and Okayama’s Koraku-en being the other two). Visit during the late winter plum blossom festival for best visual results. Nattou is a gooey fermented soybean concoction that most people either love or hate. You can enjoy it (or not) all over Japan, but Mito is THE place for the stuff.

Northern Ibaraki’s biggest draw is probably Fukuroda Falls in the town of Daigo. While Kairaku-en makes the top-three list for Japanese gardens, Fukuroda earns a trip to the podium as well for being one of the three most beautiful waterfalls in the land (along with Kegon Falls in Nikko and Nachi Falls in Wakayama).

The rest of Ibaraki’s attractions are not so well known outside of the local areas, but this might make them even more worth investigating.