Hitachi Seaside Park is located 120 km north-east of Tokyo. The 200-hectare park faces the Pacific Ocean and is flush with a variety of flowers of various colors that are in bloom all throughout the year. Among them are 4.5 million nemophilas (baby blue eyes) on hills that occupy some 3.5 hectares of the park’s total area. The flowers are very popular amongst international tourists who visit Japan.
More than 9 million residents live in the capital city of Tokyo. Tokyo has various kinds of tourist attractions. The latest cultural trends can be found in Shibuya or Harajuku, Shinjuku and Ginza are known for shopping, and Tokyo is full of traditional sites including Asakusa’s Sensoji Temple and Meiji Jingu Shrine.
Nagoya is the capital of Aichi Prefecture, located in the center of Japan’s main island Honshu. In the past, Nagoya was an important castle town. On the castle grounds stand the reconstructed main keep and the palace of the ruling lords. Present day Nagoya is one of Japan’s industrial centers and home to both traditional and modern manufacturers like Toyota. Toyota’s museums focus on the development of automotive technology while the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park is all about Japan’s trains. Located on the Shinkansen Tokaido Line between Tokyo and Kyoto & Osaka, Nagoya is an excellent base for Japan travel.
Sumo has a long tradition in Japan and is the country’s national sport. There are six professional sumo grand tournaments held each year, three of them in Tokyo (January, May, and September) at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. Some sumo stables allow visitors to watch their morning practice sessions. Usually, only sumo wrestlers are allowed to step into a dohyo (sumo ring). At Raien Sumo Tokyo, you can try sumo yourself and dress and train like a sumo wrestler, a rikishi. A sumo experience lesson with former sumo wrestlers teaches sumo basics, including how to put on a mawashi belt.