• Understand
• Get around
• See
• Do
• Buy
• Eat
• Drink
• Sleep
• Get out

View of Senba Lake from Kairakuen hilltop during cherry blossom season

[edit] Understand

When Tokugawa Ieyasu reunited Japan in 1603 and established the Tokugawa Shogunate, with its headquarters at Edo, he installed members of his own Tokugawa clan as rulers of Mito and only two other domains, present-day Nagoya and Wakayama. These three cadet lines (known as Gosanke 御三家) were eligible to supply an heir in case any ruling shogun failed to produce one. They were thus among the most loyal of the Tokugawa loyalists. However, the Mito School of fiercely chauvinist Confucian scholars also helped to redefine the Japanese nation in a way that provided the ideological foundation for enhancing imperial power during the Meiji Restoration and its aftermath.

[edit] Get in

[edit] By plane

The Rose Liner airport limousine bus runs between Narita Airport and the Mito-Oarai Interchange, Mito Station, Katsuta Station and points north to Hitachi. There are nine daily round-trips, and the journey to Mito Station takes about two hours at a cost of ¥3000. Schedule

From Haneda Airport, Airport Limousine buses make runs directly to Mito every hour, but only during the afternoon and evening (about 2 hours, ¥3500). Otherwise, take the Keikyu Line train to Shinagawa, then the JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku Line to Ueno to pick up a train bound for Mito (2 to 3 hours, ~¥2600-4600, depending on what train you take; see below).

[edit] By train

Mito is on the JR Joban Line, which starts at Ueno station in Tokyo.

Limited Express trains depart from Ueno for Mito every 30 minutes during the day: Super Hitachi trains depart at the top of the hour, and Fresh Hitachi trains depart at 30 minutes past the hour. The trip will cost ¥4220 (no charge with the Japan Rail Pass) and take 65-75 minutes, depending on the number of stops the train makes.

Local clunkers will cover the journey in two hours at a cost of ¥2210. Direct local services for Mito depart from Ueno 2-3 times per hour.

[edit] Get around

Mito has a number of train stations within its boundaries:

• On the Joban line - Mito, Kairakuen (station only open during plum blossom season), Akatsuka, Uchihara
• On the Kashima line - Mito, Higashi Mito, Tsunezumi, Oarai

The bus system in Mito, like all parts of Japan, is very complicated but once mastered, very useful. Most areas are serviced with buses coming a few times each hour. The bus for Kairakuen leaves from terminal 6 on the north side of Mito station.

Taxis are always available and the average flag fall is 660 yen.

The principal tourist attraction, the Kairakuen, is an easy half-hour walk from Mito station's South Exit. Just walk down to the river (Sakura-gawa), take a right and keep going along the north (righthand) shore of the lake. In April, you'll walk by cherry blossoms the whole way. The waterfowl will also provide some amusement.

[edit] See

• Kairakuen Garden (偕楽園). Open 6:00 am to 7:00 pm Apr 1 - Sep 15; 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Sep 16 - Mar 31. One of Japan's Top 3 gardens. Although most famous for its 3,000 plum trees, which bloom in February and March, the garden also contains walkways through large stands of tall cedar trees and bamboo, and past expanses of flame-red azalea and snow-white bush clover, as well as camellia, magnolia, and cherry blossoms, depending on the season. Views within the garden are impressive enough, but the hillside garden also provides spectacular overlooks of Senba Lake and Park, full of cherry blossoms in April.
  

  

  Kobuntei villa in Kairakuen
• Kobuntei (好文亭). This well-preserved, old-style samurai residence on the grounds of Kairakuen is well worth seeing, with its fine natural woodwork, thatched roofs, hand-painted paper doors, surrounding garden, and beautiful vistas from the higher floors. Look for the Chinese-character cheat-sheets on the walls of the Chinese poetry composing room. Admission ¥190.
• Tokiwa Jinja (常磐神社), at the south gate of Kairakuen, [2]. This large Shinto shrine is dedicated to Mito clan lords Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1700), known as Mito Komon, and Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860).
• Giretsukan (義烈館). This small museum on the grounds of Tokiwa Jinja houses a huge rolling taiko drum, an ancient large-barrel cannon (or mortar) on wooden wheels, a lineage chart of the Tokugawa shoguns and their Mito cousins, the 400-odd volumes on Japanese history compiled by the Mito School, and other items from Mito's samurai glory days. Few signs and no pamphlets in English. Admission ¥300.

[edit] Do

[edit] Buy

Natto Crackers (Area is famous for Natto)

[edit] Eat

Mito is famous for its nattō (納豆), a famously smelly and sticky glop of fermented soybeans. It's an acquired taste and even many Japanese (particularly those in Kansai) loathe the stuff.

[edit] Drink

• Drunken Duck, on the south side of Mito Station (relocated from Katsuta), tel. 029-232-3999, [3]. "An English-style pub, with Aussie grub" (and "now with wireless Internet").

[edit] Sleep

near onsen resort

[edit] Get out