Trout Fishing Near Tokyo!? Yes! Unbelievably Beautiful Place too!

Trout Fishing at Yatarou Kiyokawa... Just thirty minutes from Atsugi! And how I spent my Sunday today.... Heaven! What can I add/say about heaven?


Here's some photos.... There's nothing to add!

There are at least three big waterfalls like this

(These photos were all taken by me or my wife, Yuka, today. 

Please use as you wish - Screw Getty images!)

The road up to the fishing place. Beautiful!

View from just above the waterfall pictured above

This was a medium sized one. We caught twenty five rainbow trout 

in 3 hours! Wow!

This kid and his dad caught five that I saw

First fish of the day and a big one!

Beautiful and clean. Hard to believe that this place is 1 hour by car from Tokyo

Just after cleaning. What a catch!

Plenty of places to barbecue right by the river too!

Freshly caught and freshly cooked!

The kids just dig this place!

Another keeper! Ji-chan (grandpa) is catching fish like crazy too!

View of the mountains

More photos and information here: Trout Fishing at Yatarou Kiyokawa


Yatarou Kiyokawa
Kiyokawa Mura, Susugaya 5012
Aiko Gun, Kanagawa Ken, Japan 243-0112

神奈川県愛甲郡清川村煤ケ谷5012

Tel: 046-288-1500


Here's a map: http://yahoo.jp/I5yFwm

Strawberry Picking Near Tokyo - Take a Pictorial Vacation to Pick Strawberries in Japan!

It's called "ichigo gari"（イチゴ狩り) in Japanese literally translates into "strawberry picking." You can take the family to pick strawberries in Isehara in Kanagawa prefecture which is just an hour away from Tokyo by train or car.

Isehara is a very rural area and beautiful area of Japan. It is home to the exquisitely scenic Tanzawa-Oyama Quasi-National Park that features Lake Miyagase and Mount Hiru.

Lake Miyagase and Mount Hiru in Isehara

That Isehara is so beautiful and full of nature might come as some surprise to most people as it is so close to Tokyo, the biggest and most crowded city in the world. Isehara is right next door to Atsugi and I wrote about taking the kids trout fishing in Atsugi last year. Please refer to: Nature's Hideaway Just 1.5 From Tokyo! Trout Fishing!? It's True!!! 

Ya Taro River - Great from trout fishing!

Today I'd like to tell you strawberry lovers about going to a great place that allows you to pick strawberries and eat them right on the spot in hothouses in Isehara. If you love strawberries, then you've died and gone to heaven here!

Plum tree blossoms in front of one of the hothouses

View of one of the hothouses from a distance

The place is named Tsuzuki Ichigo En (都築いちご園) which translates to "Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden." (How in the heck 都築 is read "Tsuzuki" is beyond me but my wife says that any Japanese who graduated from high school should be able to read it!) Here at Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden, you can take your family to a very enjoyable trip to pick strawberries and eat until you explode.... And I do mean explode! 

View up the road from Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden. There's a train line in the distance and that is the Odakyu line to and from Shinjuku station

The shack where you pay your entry fee to all you can eat strawberries at Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden

For thirty minutes of picking and eating the prices are ¥1,300 (about $15.78 USD) for anyone over 6 years old and ¥700 (about $8.50 USD) for kids under 6 for thirty minutes. If you don't want to pick and just take photos, like me, it's free!  

Inside the hothouse

Now some people might think that thirty minutes of picking strawberries and eating them is a bit pricey, but it's not really when you see that the strawberries are very large. My eight-year-old says he ate 34 of them in the thirty minutes. His grandfather says he ate 50. Both of them said they were about to explode from eating so many strawberries!

This was the typical size of the strawberries but many were much larger. Can you eat 70 or 80 of these in thirty minutes? I can't.

All fresh, natural and no insecticides or chemicals used at all

Families bring the kids in for a wonderful time

There are at least a dozen huge hothouses like this one housing strawberry fields at Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden

Everyone can get sweetened condensed milk to eat the strawberries with too if they like

Of course, you can buy the chemical free organic strawberries to take home or as a present for friends and family

If you are sick and tired of the crowds in Tokyo and want to go enjoy nature but don't want to take a long train or airplane ride, then Isehara is right next door. I highly recommend it.

If you go to Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden, make sure you call ahead and make reservations as it gets a good crowd, especially on weekends!

To contact Tsuzuki Strawberry Garden: Please call: 0463-92-6277 (I'm sure these folks don't speak English, sorry!)

It is so far out in the country that there isn't an address. But here's some information online and a map:

Nature Hideaway Just 1.5 Hours from Tokyo! Trout Fishing!? It's True!!!

I have found heaven on earth near Tokyo! If you love the outdoors and trees, sky, nature and beautiful running streams, and fishing, you and your family will go crazy over this place.

I have found a place that is just an hour and a half drive, with easy access from Tokyo. It's a place that looks like deep in the mountains of Hokkaido or that of another country. It could never, in my wildest dreams, be a place so close to Tokyo, the most crowded city and expensive city in the entire world. 

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGE VIEW. BREATHTAKING!

Country mountain road leading up to Ya Taro Kawa (Ya Taro River)

It is so clean and beautiful that you can go in Rainbow Trout Fishing there. And it's only 1.5 hours from Tokyo!?

Ya Taro River "Fishing Spot" Waterfalls

Yes. You read that correctly. There's a place near Atsugi called Ya Taro Kawa (Ya Taro River) and up stream there's a place that you can take the kids and family and barbecue and catch stocked trout. 

It's called Ya Taro Kawa Masu Tsuri Ba 谷太郎川ます釣り場  (Ya Taro River Trout Fishing Spot). Trout Fishing near Tokyo? In a beautiful mountain setting? No kidding! It's real! 

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW. BREATHTAKING!

Ya Taro River Trout Fishing Spot is about 30 minutes drive from Atsugi station 1.5 hours from Tokyo). The drive there that takes you up into the mountains to a place that does not look like anywhere in Japan I've ever seen in my entire life. You can find a road access map here.

There is a trout farm upstream and we could see the fish in the water. 

It's like an entirely different world! I have been here in Japan and dreaming about fishing for all this time and never thought I'd ever see anything like this so close to Tokyo. 

Tom Mizuno and his beautiful wife caught several - barefoot - too!

It reminded me of the creeks in the mountains of Southern California that we used to hike up into in the early 1970's and catch trout in.

There were very few people around there fishing so we rented a spot and set up camp and our barbecue. Between nine of us, we caught about 40 Rainbow Trout! We barbecued about 12 and took the rest home. They were incredibly delicious!

Then we set up the barbecue and barbecued fish and steaks. If you want to have a brew or two, make sure you have a designated driver as the road up into the mountain to the fishing spot is awful narrow! Like I said, it didn't seem like Japan.

So, while the hard-core fisherman might seek more rugged adventure, this place is great fun for families with small children and a wife, like mine, who would never tolerate tracking through the brush to find secret spots to fish. 

                                           

I highly recommend Ya Taro Kawa Masu Tsuri Ba 谷太郎川ます釣り場 as a place where one can go spend the day with friends or company employees and doing the friendly "bonding thing".... It's also fantastic for small companies to bring the entire families together so that people can get to know each other better and become a "family."


The prices? Incredibly cheap. Unbelievable. It costs ¥3,200 yen per day per person! Times start at 6:00 am and end at 5:00 pm. Where in the Tokyo can you go and spend an entire day enjoying nature, relaxation and fishing for only ¥3,200!!! Bring a barbecue and a tent, refreshments and a soft cushion to sleep on and you are in heaven!

遊漁料　　　マス・・・・・・お一人様３,２００円

営業時間　AM６:００～PM５:００

その他　　貸しサオ,仕掛け,餌（イクラ・ブドウ虫）(All fishing gear rental OK)

　　　　　炭,マキ,鉄板の用意あります。(Barbecue spots available)

　　　　　ルアー・フライ可能　 (Lure & Fly fishing, OK)

Don't believe me? Well, if I were you, I wouldn't believe it either! But seeing is believing! Here's tons more pictures? 谷太郎川ます釣り場 (If that link doesn't work, copy and paste this one: http://bit.ly/iLOcwg. And here, once again, is Ya Taro Kawa Masu Tsuri Ba 谷太郎川ます釣り場 link. If that link doesn't work, cut & paste this one: http://homepage3.nifty.com/yatarou/index.html (Japanese only)


Google Translator here: http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wT#ja|en|