Compact town full of charm Enjoy hot springs and art in the car
Dedicated Site
This RV park is "RV Park Smart".
RV Park smart is operated by Trust Park Co.Overnight stay facility exclusively for online reservationsIt is. For details on how to make reservations, etc., please visit the Trust Park Co.
A small museum in Tsunaki, a town of greenery and sculptures, offers a rest for the soul.
Located right next to RV park smart Tsunagi (Tsunagi Hyakkodo) across the Somechiku River, this museum opened in 2001 and is the center of cultural and artistic activities in the Minamata and Ashikita regions. The museum was originally started in 1984 as part of the "Town Development with Greenery and Sculptures" project to revitalize the area after Minamata disease and to create an attractive cultural space. The museum houses approximately 450 works by artists associated with Kumamoto Prefecture, including Kazuyuki Sakaino, a painter who served as director of the Second Ebihara Art Institute, as well as costumes of Thai hill tribes. In addition to exhibitions, the museum also conducts resident-participatory art projects featuring contemporary art. In addition, there is a monorail that leaves from the terrace of the museum's coffee shop and goes up to Maizuru Castle Park, which is located at the top of Jyuban Iwa, a strange rock that rises behind Tsunagi Onsen Shikisai, in front of the museum. It takes about five minutes one way, but is said to be the second steepest monorail in Japan. Why take the monorail from the museum to the top of the rock? Actually, Maizuru Castle Park is the museum's outdoor art zone. Don't forget the outdoor art.
To reach the open-air baths with a spectacular view, take the retro monorail!
A day spa facility located on the opposite bank of the Tsunaki River. Its attraction is, first of all, inexpensive! Admission is 400 yen for adults, and you can bathe as many times as you like. From the reception desk to the large baths, visitors proceed through a cave-like tunnel passageway dug through the rocks. It is somewhat exciting. The spring water is a simple, slightly alkaline spring, and the large bathhouse is equipped with a low-frequency bath, a jet bath, a bubbling bath, a cold water bath, and a sauna. The most attractive feature is the open-air bath with a view. To get there, visitors take a special retro monorail. A 100 yen round-trip ticket is required in addition to the admission fee, but it is still inexpensive! The ride slowly climbs up the slope of the mountain to the open-air baths, where you can enjoy the view. We enjoyed the spectacular view in the open-air bath with a view. There are also family baths and a restaurant. What more could one ask for?
Former Akasaki Elementary School and Irigon no Yado
Japan's Only Abandoned School Floating Above the Sea: Former Swimming Pool to be Art Space and Inn
If you want to take a short detour further, go to the Fukuhama area by the sea. Here is Akasaki Elementary School, which was closed in 2010. What is unusual about the three-story school building is that part of it is supported by concrete pillars that were raised out of the sea. Designed to resemble a cruise ship, the clock tower in the center of the school building is cut at an angle, reminiscent of the chimney of a cruise ship. On the side facing the sea, there is a round window in the corridor, from which the children used to hang their fishing lines. Currently, the school building is off-limits to visitors, but they can enter the schoolyard. In May 2023, the swimming pool and changing rooms of the elementary school will be restored by a contemporary artist as a biotope and an uninhabited inn. For more information, please contact the Tsunagi Museum of Art. (Reservations must be made online in advance.)
Oyster Restaurant, also using the site of a former elementary school, serves oysters in a European-style oyster hut.
About seven minutes from the former Akasaki Elementary School on Prefectural Route 56 along the coast, on a hill overlooking the Shiranui Sea, you will find Hirakuni Elementary School, which was also closed. Every year when oyster season comes, the local fishing cooperative opens the Tsunagi Oyster Bar, a European-style oyster hut, on weekends and holidays. Tsunaki oysters are carefully nurtured in the nutrient-rich waters of the Shiranui Sea, and although the meat is small, it is said to be very creamy with concentrated umami flavor. The side menu also includes locally caught turban shells, fire clam, and red shrimp, and the oysters can be taken home as well.
10：00～16：00 Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from January to late April
Fukuda Farm
Shiranui Sea below Mini Spanish Village on the hill
A Spanish-style building appearing on top of a small hill, this tourist farm was started by a mandarin orange farmer in 1960, and now houses a mandarin orange farm, a pressing and processing plant, and a locally produced Spanish restaurant on the premises. The Valencia Pavilion is the farm's restaurant that boasts paella, the Spanish Pavilion where you can buy the farm's original processed products such as sangria wine and other local foods, and Gracia, a bakery that is directly managed by the farm. And every Sunday, flamenco shows and live music are performed free of charge on the patio (courtyard). In addition, there is an original beer brewery and other facilities for a relaxing stay.
Roses, the queen of flowers, are in full bloom in spring and fall Enjoy rose sweets at a roadside station
The park was developed by reclaiming Minamata Bay, where mercury sludge had accumulated, in the hope of revitalizing the area from Minamata disease. The 13,000-square-meter rose garden has about 5,000 roses of 800 varieties, and every year in spring and fall, it attracts visitors with the beauty of the queen of flowers. In spring, the vine roses, with their branches entwined around pillars and arches, bloom, creating a gorgeous atmosphere together with other four-seasonal roses in the groves. In autumn, although the vines do not bloom, the beauty of each individual rose stands out, as they say that standing autumn roses are truly beautiful. Rose Festa" and other events are held during the blooming period. The blooming season is from late April to late May in spring and from mid-October to late November in fall. Adjacent to Minamata Roadside Station, visitors can enjoy rose soft drink (350 yen) containing petal extract of the queen of roses, the damask rose, which spreads the fragrance of roses the moment you eat it.
address (e.g. of house)
54-162 Tsukiura, Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture
