01 — Explore by area
Wakayama City & Around
Wakayama City is the prefecture's front door — an easy hour from Kansai International Airport, yet most travellers race straight past it. They miss a hilltop castle ringed by cherry trees, the 231 stone steps of Kimiidera and its early-blooming sakura, and Wakaura Bay, whose tidal views inspired the poets of the Man'yoshu thirteen centuries ago. Evenings belong to tonkotsu-shoyu ramen, eaten at counters that argue politely over which shop defines the style. Add the Amalfi-like fishing port of Saikazaki and the harbour lights of Porto Europa, and the city rewards a slow first day in Wakayama. Beyond the city line, this section also covers Iwade, home of the great Negoro-ji temple complex, and Kainan, whose Kuroe quarter raised lacquerware to a craft of national rank — all an easy day from the castle.
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Wakayama Castle: The Third Keep and What to Look For Inside
Wakayama Castle stands on Torafusu-yama, a wooded hill of only 48.9 metres in the middle of the prefectural capital, and counts among Japan's hundred fine castles. It…
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Junkissa Lierre: Waffles and Morning Sets in a Meiji Villa at Wakaura
Junkissa Lierre occupies a Meiji-era villa at Wakaura, the stretch of coast on the southern edge of Wakayama City that poets have been writing about since the Nara…
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Michi-no-Eki Negoro Sakura no Sato (Roadside Station)
Michi-no-Eki Negoro Sakura no Sato is a farm stand and rest stop in Iwade, on the northern edge of Wakayama, five minutes by car from the Iwade-Negoro interchange. It…
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Tomogashima: Walking the Meiji Fort Ruins of an Uninhabited Island
Tomogashima is a cluster of uninhabited islets off Kada, at the western edge of Wakayama City. Under Meiji the army fortified them to guard the Kitan Strait and the sea…
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Summer Time Rendering: An Anime Pilgrimage to Tomogashima and Kada
Summer Time Rendering, Yasuki Tanaka's time-loop thriller, unfolds on an island called Hitogashima that does not exist — though almost everything on it does. Hitogashima…
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Sushi Tozaemon: Good-Value Sushi and Sashimi Lunches in Iwade
Sushi Tozaemon (すし藤左ヱ門) is a smart little sushi restaurant in Iwade, on the inland edge of the Wakayama City area, and it has earned a loyal lunchtime following for one…
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Michi-no-Eki Shiki-no-Sato: Wakayama City's FOOD HUNTER PARK
FOOD HUNTER PARK is the reinvention of Shiki-no-Sato, a long-standing farm-and-nature park on the eastern edge of Wakayama City and, unusually, the only michi-no-eki…
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Capsule-Toy (Gachapon) Hotspots in Wakayama City
Gachapon — the coin-operated capsule-toy machines you find all over Japan — are a small, addictive pleasure, and Wakayama City turns out to be a surprisingly good…