Moopon

1. Once visitors exit immigration and customs at Kansai Airport, visitors will be on the 1st floor. Follow the signs for “Railways”, taking one of the 4 escalators or 3 elevators to arrive at the 2nd floor.

2. Once on the 2nd floor, follow the signs to one of several walkways and walk across the road to Kansai-airport Station. Visitors need to exit the air terminal building to arrive at the JR Station (two separate buildings connected by a walkway). Two train companies use Kansai-airport Station: JR (blue/green) and Nankai (orange). Only JR can take visitor to the platform Haruka departing from. DO NOT use Nankai.

3. Before entering tickets gate, find JR Ticket Office where visitors can purchase ticket or reserved ticket for JR train.(there is a huge sign in English above their head).JR ticket office staff may or may not speak English, but they can read place names and train types written in the Roman alphabet. 

4. With one’s tickets, go through JR ticket gate and take an escalator to get to Platform 4.

Hiroshima Peace Park, located in central Hiroshima City, was built to memorialize those who died during the atomic bombing and as a testament towards world peace. There are about 300 cherry trees planted around the park especially along the river. You can also enjoy the sight of cherry blossoms(Yosakura) at night.

by tram
From Hiroshima Station, take tram line 2 or 6 to Genbaku-Domu Mae (原爆ドーム前) station. The ride takes 15 minutes and costs 160 yen.

The beautiful Adachi Museum of Art, located in Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture, was founded in the hopes of combining natural garden beauty with artwork to increase interest and appreciation in Japanese art.

 The founder, Adachi Zenko, created the museum in 1980, utilizing his passion for Japanese art and landscaping.

The award winning garden at Adachi Museum of Art is a sight visitors do not want to miss.

 Deservingly it has received the best garden award in Japan every since 2003.  

The flowers, leaves, etc., change according to the season, allowing visitors to enjoy its beauty throughout the year.  

However, the garden can only be viewed from the museum building.

The art exhibits in the Adachi Museum of Art also change seasonally.  

The museum is home to nearly 1300 twentieth century paintings and artworks.

In addition to rotating collection, the museum has a permanent display of paintings by Yokoyama Taikan.

There is also a ceramics exhibit.

Hours: 9:00 to 17:30 (until 17:00 from October to March)
Closed: Opened all Year Round
Admission: 2300 yen (50% off for foreign visitors)
 
Access Information:
**From Matsue Station, take a train to Yasugi Station.  The journey is about 20 minutes and the cost is 410 yen (Japan Rail Pass holders can utilize their Rail Pass here).
From Yasugi Station, board the free shuttle bus to the museum. There is one shuttle bus every hour. The bus ride is about 20 minutes.
**From Okayama, there are limited express trains that stop at Yasugi Station before proceeding to Matsue City.  



 

Minamidera 
Architecture by Ando Tadao, Artwork by James Turrell
Minamidera, built on the former site of a temple, is a new structure designed by Ando Tadao, the star architect who also designed the art museums on Naoshima. Inside is James Turrell's "Backside of the Moon", an intriguing art piece that plays with your perception of light.

Emerging from behind a curtain of mountains, to a hot springs oasis is truly Yufuin (由布院), Oita Prefecture, in Kyushu.
It is located near Beppu, another famous hot springs resort in Oita Prefecture.

Visitors may be surprised when they first enter Yufuin.  
Mount Yufu with its twin peaks can be seen from almost every location in town, watching over the town residents.
The walkways with the traditional onsen (hot springs) eateries will be encountered as well as many modern boutiques and cafes.  
Yet, there are horse (with tourists in their carriages) galloping through town. Yufuin is a combination of traditional onsen town meeting the 21st Century.
 

Visitors will find the Yufuin to be easy to explore.
There are walkways throughout the town.
Along the pathway, visitors can see art museums, boutiques and café, with beautiful Lake Kinrinko at the end of the walkway.
There are shops around Lake Kinrinko for visitors to browse as well.
There are rice fields and farm houses off the walkway showing a rural side to this town as well.
 

The lodging, hotels and ryokans (traditional inns) are not in one area, but spread out throughout the town.
Visitors may wish to walk to other ryokans to bath in the onsen (hot springs bath)
there as some ryokans allow non-guests to use their bathing facilities for a nominal fee.



 

Shoya no Yakata is a popular hot springs ryokan (inn) located in Yufuin, a famous hot springs resort in Oita Prefecture.
Shoya no Yakata is located in the northern part of Yufuin, on a hill.
Visitors can see steam clouds emerging from the hot spring sources in this part of Yufuin.
 

Shoya no Yakata is famous for its cobalt blue water.
 The baths are separated by gender.
 Shoya no Yakata has outdoor onsen (hot spring baths), as well as family baths and even a foot bath.
A family bath is a private bath where only member of that family can use the bath.
A nominal fee is charged for the privacy.

Hot Spring Bath Daytime Use Hours:  9：30 to 16:00
Daytime Admission Fee:  800 yen
Price of Overnight Stay including Two Meals:  From 26,000 yen per person



 

The Iya Valley (祖谷渓谷 Iya Keikoku) region in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan is a scenic area known for its dramatic mountain valleys and old vine bridges.
The Iya Valley and the inner parts of Shikoku have historically been remote and difficult to enter, making them a favorite retreat for refugees and defeated Heike warriors although access has improved in recent years.

Iya Onsen Hotel
The Iya Onsen Hotel is located high up on the steep slope overlooking the Iya Valley.
A notable point in the hotel is that its outdoor hot baths located along the river and you have to take a cable car some 170 meters below the hotel itself. 
The bath water is a lukewarm 39 degrees Celsius.

Daytime Hours: 7:00 to 18:00 (Last entry at 17:00) 
Daytime Admission: 1500 yen (including outdoor bath, indoor bath, and cable car) 
Overnight Stay: from 12,000 yen per person including 2 meals
Level of English: Good English website is available.

Food
The image is Kaiseki ryori (Traditional multi-course Japanese meal), which is used Local products.

The Iya Valley is usually divided into two areas.
Nishi Iya (West Iya) located around the entrance to the valley and is slightly more developed and more accessible as there are relatively frequent buses to some of the major attractions. Oku Iya (Inner Iya, also called Higashi Iya or East Iya) lies further back into the valley so is difficult to reach without a rental car or other means of private transportation. 

Access Information
A rental car is recommended to visit the area.

1. To Nishi Iya (West Iya)
 *From Awa Ikeda Station to Kubo, take a bus and transfer to another bus bound for Nijukazurabashi or Mount Tsurugi.
Get off at the Nijukazurabashi bus stop.
The one way journey will take 2 hours with a cost of 1790 yen. There are only 4 buses a day.
Moreover buses from Kubo to the bridge operate only on weekends and holidays from April to November.
2. To Oku Iya (Inner Iya)
Rental car stores are available around Oboke and Awa Ikeda Stations.
A rental car is recommended, particularly for visiting the less traveled Oku Iya area.
Note: The roads are very narrow and have frequent blind curves, which make driving both hazardous and slow.

A popular ryokan (inn) located within Yufuin, a hot spring resort in Oita Prefecture, is Baien.
The ryokan has both Japanese style tatami rooms as well as Western bed-based guest rooms.  
 

The large, outdoors hot springs baths are quite beautiful (gender separated).
On clear days, bathers are able to view Mount Yufu while they are relaxing in Baien’s warm waters.
And the baths are not limited to Baien’s overnight guests.
Visitors not staying at Baien may experience the beautiful baths during the day for a nominal fee.
 

Baien also has a large Japanese traditional garden which may be fun to explore.
The garden is 10,000 tsubo in size (1 tsubo is 3.3 ㎡).
There are different flowers according to the season, making walking through the garden a great, beautiful exercise.
 

And the food served at the ryokan is pleasing both to the eyes and the stomach.
Food prepared at a ryokan is cut and shaped in a creative and aesthetic style.
Being in tune with the seasons, guests may find a seasonal leaf or flower (like a dandelion in the spring)
served alongside their meal.
 

Hot Spring Bath Daytime Use Hours:  11:00 to 15:00
Daytime Admission Fee:  600 yen
Price of Overnight Stay and Two Meals:  From 19,000 yen per person

 

Yufuin visitors may wish to pop into Musoen, a popular ryokan (inn) located in Yufuin, Oita Prefecture, for a refreshing bath.
The ryokan’s outdoor onsen (hot springs) boasts the best view of Mount Yufu.   

Musoen has 31 Japanese style guestrooms and 3 Japanese-Western type rooms.
The baths are gender separated.
In addition to the outdoors bath, this ryokan has indoor baths and private, family outdoors and indoors onsen.

Overnight guests at Musoen can enjoy the superb dinner and breakfast included the overnight stay price.
 Food served at the ryokan is pleasing both to the eyes and the stomach.
The food is cut and shaped in a creative and aesthetic style.
Being in tune with the seasons, guests may find a seasonal leaf or flower (like a dandelion in the spring) served alongside their meal.
 

Hot Spring Bath Daytime Use Hours:   10:00 to 15:00 
Daytime Admission Fee: 700 yen 
Price of Overnight Stay including Two Meals:  From 18,000 yen per person


 

Located in the southern part of Yufuin,
a popular hot springs resort in Oita Prefecture, is Saigakukan,
a ryokan (inn) offering its visitors nice sized onsen (hot spring baths)
with views of Mount Yufu.

The onsen are separated by gender and there
are both indoor and outdoor onsens.
The onsen water used at Saigakukan is drawn from two
hot spring sources with different qualities.

The first type moisturizes the skin.
 The other type is a hydrogen carbonate onsen,
which is said to be the “water of beauty.” 

The inn boasts fine dining facilities featuring
the treasures from the mountain and the sea.
Visitors not spending the night at Saigakukan are more than welcomed to enjoy
lunch and a bath for a nominal fee during the onsen’s daytime hours.
 

Hot Spring Bath Daytime Use Hours:10:00 to 16:00 (last entry at 15:00)
Daytime Admission Fee:  620 yen 
Price of Overnight Stay including Two Meals:  From 17,000 yen per person