Michi-no-Eki Shirasaki Kaiyo Koen: A Roadside Station on White Limestone

Overview

Shirasaki Kaiyo Koen sits at the end of a headland in Yura, on a shelf of white limestone with the sea on three sides. It is smaller than it once was: a typhoon in September 2018 wrecked much of the park, the town gave up on a full rebuild, and only the least damaged buildings reopened, in the spring of 2019. What survived is what travellers use most — the car park and outdoor toilets stay open around the clock, and parking is free.

The shop carries what Yura takes from the sea and the hillsides: wakame and akamoku seaweed, whitebait, citrus. The extra-early Yurawase satsuma was found on a single tree in this town in 1985 and still carries its name. Tengu shoyu is brewed here too, named for the tengu of Kokokuji — the temple where the monk Kakushin is said to have brought the fermenting method back from Song China. At the counter, akamoku and whitebait rice bowls are 1,050 yen, a prawn-cutlet burger 750 yen, a soft serve 400 yen.

Pitches and cabins are bookable through the park's site, the water below is a well-known shore-diving ground, and the viewpoint takes in the sunset and, on a clear night, the Milky Way. Hours are staggered — the desk from 8:30, the shop from 9:00, the kitchen 9:30 to 17:00 with last orders at 16:00 — and the station closes over the New Year. Leave the Yuasa-Gobo Road at Hirogawa and allow about half an hour; the bus from Kii-Yura runs only at weekends and on public holidays, and the coast road shuts in heavy seas.