Mentai Park

MUSEUM

Mentai Park is a free mentaiko (fish egg) theme park located near the Kannami roadside station. Inside you can browse the store and restaurant selling various kinds of mentaiko goods, as well as enjoy mentaiko themed exhibits (Japanese only), games, and even a children’s play area upstairs! There are also footbaths outside which face Mt. Fuji and give you an amazing view on a clear day.

Mentai Park has a large car park and it can get crowded very quickly on holidays/weekends due to it being a popular place to visit for families.

Review

Mentai Park is a fun place to visit with friends and family. I have taken many of my friends here when they visit us from overseas and they loved it! There are a few hands-on exhibits on the first floor, with a play area on the second. It’s not very big so you could easily walk around in 30 minutes (longer if you have children who want to play), although the roadside station (Michi no Eki) and Wasabi Museum is close by so you could combine all three in one trip!

It can be difficult to get to without a car so I wouldn’t recommend trying to get here unless there are other things in the area you want to see.

ADDRESS

Mentai Park Izu,
753-1 Tsukamoto,
Kannami,
Shizuoka Prefecture,
419-0124

+81559289012 (Japanese only)
https://mentai-park.com/izu/ (Japanese only)

RECOMMENDED ROUTE:

Mentai Park has plenty of parking for anyone arriving by car. For public transport, either take the Izu Hakone Tetsudo Line to Izu-Nitta Station and walk 23 minutes or you can take a taxi.

Kashiya Park

PARK

Kashiya Park is a small park in the residential area of Kannami. It features a baseball field, multi-purpose open space, an event plaza, a “trick clock” and the Kashiya Yokoanagun, a geologic hole formation which was used as graves many years ago.

There is a free car park available.

When within the park grounds, there are a number of rules they would like you to follow:

Review

Kashiya Park is a small park which has a number of different amenities. If you’re looking for somewhere to relax within nature then give the park a try. It’s a nice short stroll with an open grassy area to have a picnic or play with your family. There is also a “trick clock” and the geological holes that you can explore. Aside from this there isn’t much to do at the park so unless you want to sit back and relax or possibly play sports then I recommend visiting this amongst other things in your itinerary.

I personally recommend going to see the clock first and then heading up to the holes but it’s completely up to you.

ADDRESS

Kashiya Park,
676-1 Kashiya,
Kannami,
Shizuoka Prefecture,
419-0112

+81559798104 (Japanese only)
http://www.town.kannami.shizuoka.jp/shisetsu/koen/koen-kashiwatani.html (Google Translated English available however I’m unable to access it as of May 2021)

RECOMMENDED ROUTE:

If you’re travelling by public transport then take the train from Mishima to Daiba on the Izu Hakone Tetsudo Line. Switch to the bus bound for Hachimizo (八ッ溝) and get off at Setsutoshi (切透し). You will need to walk from here to the park.

Diamond Centre Viewpoint

VIEWPOINT

This viewpoint is a hidden gem, placed right within the mountains of Kannami. The building itself is a local centre for the town, however the open roof has an amazing view of Kannami and Mt. Fuji. The roads heading up the mountain are littered with houses hidden in the forest, seeming like you’ve found a secret town built into the nature.

There are a lot of parking spaces for the centre, restaurant and store so parking should not be a problem for you if you drive there. It is also free of charge.

Review

This viewpoint was one of my first best hidden secrets that I found while aimlessly driving about the Japanese countryside. I love driving along mountain roads, especially in Japan because there’s usually some cool secret hidden amongst the trees.

Driving up the mountain from the east side was a delight. The houses in the nearby Emerald town were so hard to see amongst the trees and a lot of them were so raised it almost seemed like I was driving past treehouses! If you’re not comfortable driving on anything other than city streets then this drive is not for you.

Coming out of the deep forest, you can see an amazing view of Mt. Fuji (on a clear day). There isn’t much else to do here (that I’ve found) so I definitely think this is a viewpoint for the nature lovers.

ADDRESS

Diamond Centre,
1740-227 Hirai,
Kannami,
Shizuoka Prefecture,
419-0107

Phone number unavailable
Website unavailable

RECOMMENDED ROUTE:

I recommend going to this viewpoint by car as the drive itself is really good, however if you’re not comfortable driving on twisty mountain roads then you might not enjoy it. You can however take the ダイヤランド線 (Daiyarandosen) bus and walk two minutes to the viewpoint.