Kawazu Waterfalls

It was raining this morning, so we visited a couple of museums on the way out of Shimoda. One had a great collection of maps from the 1800s, when Japan was just opening up to trade, along with more history about the town.

We then headed up into the hills to see the Kawazu Seven Waterfalls, which, as the name suggests, are a series of seven waterfalls in the forested centre of Izu. We parked up and, in another coincidence, ended up getting on the same bus as Louis and Kit, who we’d had dinner with the night before. The bus takes you up to the top waterfall, so the walk back to the car was all downhill – definitely the best way to do it, judging by the number of out-of-breath tourists we passed walking the trail in the opposite direction.

The waterfalls were stunning, and the rain actually added to the atmosphere. Each waterfall had a nearby shrine offering a different type of blessing. You’re not really supposed to swim in them, but I decided to get in at waterfall four – it wasn’t nearly as cold as I expected.

We ended up seeing all seven falls, and at the last (or first, depending on your direction) and largest one, there was an outdoor onsen that used to belong to a hotel, which unfortunately burned down in 2022. The onsen is all that remains. We stayed there for about 45 minutes before heading back up the trail to find something to eat.

We stumbled upon an amazing soba restaurant that served cold noodles with dipping sauce and a fresh wasabi root for you to grate yourself. It was simple, but one of the best meals I’ve had in Japan – the noodles were homemade, and the whole set, including the wasabi root, cost just £6.

We continued north, turning off the main road to drive through Japan’s oldest stone tunnel, built in 1904, on the way up to Yugashima, where Seb and Iman were staying for the night. That evening, we headed out to an izakaya before I dropped them back at the hotel and stayed up the road in the van for the night.