It is the biggest sunflower field in Japan and is best visited in August.
All of the gently-sloping hill will be covered by 1.3 million sunflowers and one can witness a shining summer spectacle right there.
Himawari Matsuri or the “Sunflower festival” is held here for one month every year. This year it will be held from July 20th to August 24th.
During this festival, you can see and enjoy a lot of attractions such as a display of the world’s brightest sunflowers, Sunflower Labyrinth, tour the park on a car called “Himawari Go”, visit the ostrich and duck farm, ride a mini SL (steam train) and battery-operated car, witness a fireworks display, and watch various performances of Hokuryu Taiko (drum), YOSAKOI, popular songs show, and Bon Odori (dance). You can also have fun at a beer party.

This 211.4 m deep Crater Lake, famous for its world-class transparency, will attract you by the changes on its surface every moment.

Its water level is mysteriously always the same although there are no rivers running in or out. Also called “Misty Mashu”, it is always hidden by a thick mist but sometimes shows a mystic beauty like that of a kaleidoscope.
The unique color of its water is like flowing indigo made by holily pure water with no impurities is called “Mashu Blue”

The cryptic highlight of Hakodate city in early summer is a fantastic view of the city in the mist. When the temperature of the air drops, water vapor becomes small grains and the mist occurs. At the top of Mt. Hakodate, an enchanting "Misty Night View" sometimes appears during this season.

【Photos courtesy of : Hakodate Official Travel Guide “Hakobura”】

【ISE JINGU】<Quoted from “SOUL OF JAPAN” P.36>
ISE JINGU, officially ”Jingu”,includes 125 jinja,centered around Kotaijingu(Naiku) and is dedicated to Amaterasu-Omikami,and Toyo’uke-daijingu(Geku).
Jingu is roughly the same land size as Paris in France. More than 1,500 rituals are conducted here yearly to pray for the prosperity of the Imperial family and the peace of the nation.

【SHIKINEN SENGU】<Quoted from “SOUL OF JAPAN” P.46>

Adjacent to the main sanctuary where the sacred palace of Amaterasu-Omikami stands, is a site of exactly the same size. A new building with the same dimensions as the current one is constructed at this alternate site every twenty years. The divine treasures to be placed inside the sacred palace are also remade. Once they are prepared the sacred mirror symbol of Amaterasu-Omikami is moved to the new sanctuary by the Jingu priests. This ritual is called Shikinen Sengu. It is carried out at Geku and other jinja as well.
The first Shikinen Sengu was conducted 1,300 years ago. Although the Shikinen Sengu tradition has been temporarily suspended at times due to warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries, it has continued to be an important part of Jingu to the present day.

Shikinen Sengu involves thirty-two rituals and ceremonies beginning with the ritual cutting of the first trees for the new buildings and continuing until the transfer of the sacred mirror eight years later.

【Photos courtesy of : Jingu-shicho】

To get to “Ise Jingu”, take 2 hours ride on the Kintetsu Railway from Kyoto and Osaka or 1 hour 20 minutes ride from Nagoya to the nearest station of Uji-yamada. “Osaka Namba Station” and “Kintetsu Nagoya Station”, you can take a service of sightseeing limited express named “Shimakaze”, started only on March 21st 2013. As the first car of this train is the “View Car” with a big window, you can enjoy beautiful scenery there.
If you get a “Kintetsu Railway Weekend Free Pass”, you can freely get on and off any lines of Kintetsu for 3 days (even available on Saturday or Sunday)

●KINTETSU RAIL PASS wide/ KINTETSU RAIL PASS

Limited discounted railroad pass only for foreign tourists. For more details, find a “KINTETSU RAIL PASS wide” at the middle of top page of KINTETSU CORPORATION.

<Related websites>

Mie Pref. Visit Website

Mie Tourism Guide Visit Website

UNIVERSAL MUSIC JAPAN is now showing parody videos on youtube of “Call Me Maybe”, world famous Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest hit tune, played or danced by people all over the country as “PR videos of regions”.

SHINYOKOHAMA RAUMEN MUSEUM started a new event of “World’s Local Ramens” to invite and introduce Ramen restaurants that have no shops in Japan and adopt their local climate and food culture as a part of the 20th anniversary of the museum.

The first restaurant for this event, “IKEMEN HOLLYWOOD” from Hollywood, USA, opened on April 24, 2013.

Ikemen’s concept is very much like Hollywood, the home of entertainment.
As such, the naming of menu items, the interior décor, and the outfits of the ikemen all take on a distinctively entertainment-based theme. The fare is a Japanese/American fusion of characteristically unrestrained American taste that’s not confused to one nationality intermingling with the food culture of Japan.