A marvelous melange of museums, gardens and cascading waterfalls, set against an expansive Pacific coastline and enveloped my magnificent mountains. Ibaraki’s old and new will suit one and all.
The town of Daigo, with its doddery old stores, suddenly gives way to the roaring cascades of Fukuroda Falls, looming at 120 meters the falls offer a different background pallet with each season. Nature chasers will also marvel at the radiant strolling gardens of Kairaku-en, one of Japan's top three or why not switch from a stroll to a hike up the 877 meter-Mount Tsukuba and find out why its called the “purple mountain.” Get schooled like a feudal warrior at the impressive Kodokan, or for all things experiential there's Tsukuba EXPO Center. And for salt-lovers, don’t miss the Yamasa soy sauce tour, where you can, well…, taste a load of soy sauce — Yum. Yum. Sodium.