Author:Nicolas Delerue, Issue: March 2003, Topic: Tourism, Location: Tsuchiura City

In the coming issues we will present some ideas of what to do around Tsukuba on a sunny Sunday (or a "Moony Monday", for that matter).

Kasumigaura Park in Tsuchiura is a nice place on the bank of Lake Kasumigaura. The park features an European-style windmill, a nice watermill and an information center where you can see pictures of the fish in the lake and learn about its history (if you understand Japanese, there are also explanations that go along with the pictures).

The park is located to the south of Tsuchiura. To go there by bicycle you can of course follow Tsuchiura-Gakuen Dori, but you will be on a crowded road with many cars, which is quiet unpleasant! A nice way from Tsukuba center is to turn left off of Tsuchiura-Gakuen Dori and go across the paddy fields heading westward to the southernmost tip of the Tsukuba-san range (any road in that direction will do it). After a few kilometers across the fields you will reach a river (the Sakura River). Cross it and keep going westward for a few hundred more meters. You will then reach Tsukuba RinRin Road, an old railway that has been converted into a bicycle path (you can not miss it: it looks like a road but with poles to prevent cars from turning onto it). Turn to the right and follow the old railway until you get to Tsuchiura. On your way, just before passing under the Joban highway you will see on your left-hand side a little Shinto shrine. After the Joban highway, you are almost at the height of the lake and the fields around the path become wetter. The old railway ends in Tsuchiura City when it meets a river with a small, motorized watermill. Turn to the left and follow the river. You will cross a road, then reach locks and a little tunnel under a railway. Go through the tunnel, and keep going a few more hundred meters until you reach another road. Turn right on that road to cross the river. After a few minutes, you will pass a little harbor on your left and then reach another bridge (just before a "Wondergoo" shop). Turn left on that bridge and follow the narrow road along the shore. After a few hundred meters you should see the windmill (and as you follow the shore you can not really get lost). At the end of this narrow road you will find Kasumigaura Park.

You can find more details and pictures of this park at http://alientimes.free.fr. To provide the best ideas to everybody, we need your suggestions. Please email us at sunny-sunday.tsukuba[at]delerue.org and tell us where you go on sunny Sundays.

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