Izu (Nishi)

4th trip - 6 February 2005

Hassen & Yuki living between Izu and the Fuji-san, the access to Izu is now much easier for us! During our first visit to the west part of Izu - the most interesting as the less visited (there are no train to go there) - we spent most of our time visiting the famous Sawada Koen onsen, this onsen you have seen below which hangs on a cliff.

3rd trip - 21 August 2004

The usual trip, coming from Tokyo (again more than 5 hours to drive the 180 or so kilometers to the sea!) to Toi, and going down along the coast up to Kumomi... Here are some pictures taken at the Koibito point and at Koganezaki beach...

From there, we went further south and eventually arrived on west coast of Izu, visiting an onsen, and finally enjoying the southern part of the peninsula, Minami-Izu.

2nd trip - 3 July 2004

Back to Izu, but this time for a 1-day diving trip with Taka and his folks from the Finatics Dive Club. By the way, Taka's excellent web site is containing all information if you wish to go diving in Izu. We dived in Koganezaki, just after a typhoon. The water was rather mixed, and visibility reduced, but it was great to get wet again and meet some great persons!

Of course, the area itself is really beautiful - after all, we are in a National Park.

I tried to take some underwater shots, but due to numerous suspension, I was quite unlucky... buy I got a lion-fish, at least!

Final picture of the group in the bath, relaxing after diving...

For more and better pictures, have a look at Taka's dive report.

1st trip - September 2003

Nishi-Izu lays conveniently at less than 200 km from Tokyo. Since no train goes there, it is rather difficult to access by public transportation, making it a slightly quieter area than the east coast. But just slightly, and it still is very crowded during summer and some week-ends. Access by car is easy and rather interesting, as it involve crossing the mountains in the centre of the peninsula. Be however aware that the roads - and especially the highway close to Tokyo - can be so crowded that a 5-hours journey is normally expected.

Toi - Japanese gold rush

Coming from Tokyo through the centre of the peninsula, the first coastal place to be reached is Toi. This area is famous for a gold rush that happened there a long time ago.

Usugu - great coast line

Going south from there, we reach Ugusu, with its beautiful coast scenery. The whole coast of the peninsula is a National Park, and therefore more or less protected. Ugusu is also famous for diving, but we didn't go underwater there. Diving is performed from the shore, and it is usual, during summer week-end, to have to queue to be able to go in the water.

Matsuzaki - the ryokan

As mentioned, it is a great area to escape the busy life of Tokyo. To make this trip even better, we decided to stay in a very old, traditional ryokan, Osawa Onsen Hotel. This ryokan, located close to Matsuzaki, with some of its buildings being older than 400 years, display a beautiful garden, marvellous food and an incredible onsen. Drinking some green tea in front of the room, soaking in the rotemburo made of stone or the wooden inside bath surrounded by plants can easily make you forget all troubles of life. At least for a night...

Kumomi - the diving

A little south of Matsuzaki is located the small village of Kumomi. This place - one of the best spot for scuba diving in Izu - is easily recognised by the two rocks facing each other in the bay. We made there two dives, and although the place was a little crowded, it was truly a great experience. Visibility was OK (10 meters), temperature nice (26 degrees) and the fauna was attractive. More details can be found on the usual scuba diving pages at www.sogival.com in French or English, but here are already some pictures!

Note the number of cameras in the cleaning tank...

And all around, marvellous sights...

Futo - a hidden place with great view

We then headed north, stopping in Dogashima (not interesting, too much tourists: loads of buses bringing people directly on boats for a 30 minutes trip, exactly everything I hate) and Futo (a fantastic area - you need to walk 15 minutes to reach a spot where, from almost the middle of the sea, you have a great view of the surroundings.

Sawada Park - the best onsen in Japan?

Spending time in an onsen is a great way to discover true Japanese way of living. When you can rest in a rotemburo (outside bath) with a nice view, it is even better. Sawada Park Onsen is an unique rotemburo, located right on the edge of a cliff and overlooking the sea. We were lucky to be almost the only ones in the onsen (during busy time, it's standing place only !), and to have a marvellous weather. Look at the panorama from the bath...