Summer’s day plan in Gotsu

Iwami Seaside Park (石見海浜公園) is one of the best places in Shimane. The main part of this park is a long sea coast (5.5km long). It extends from Hamada to Gotsu. The park has beautiful landscapes and it changes from season to season.

You can enjoy many activities here. In summer, many people go to the beach. Not only from Shimane, but also from Hiroshima or Tottori. People can play marine sports (banana-boat, surfing, snorkeling, and so on) here. Life guards are on duty at peak times. So, you can enjoy the time at ease especially if you are with children. This club holds a ‘kids program’ to learn enjoyable things at the sea in summer season. In this program, children can join some activities (banana-boat, snorkeling, nipper board, beach flags etc.). It will be a valuable experience for children. In summer, the park holds a beach volleyball competition and a life saving competition at the beach.

In the park, an instructor teaches Nordic walking. (It’s about once a month. If you want to get about this info, you have to ask the center, but the info is Japanese only.).

This area has an aquarium, named AQUAS. This aquarium is very famous for its white beluga. In Japan,  only four aquariums, Chiba, Yokohama, Nagoya, and Shimane have white beluga. The white beluga is famous for its bubble ringshow. AQUAS has many events each month.

In this park, there are three camping areas. One of these is free to use, and one has log cabins to stay. Additionally, any other tools for camping can be rented from the center. You can ask detail to the center (0855-28-2231 in Japanese).

Iwami seaside park office

Tel: 0855-28-2231 (8:30~17:30) Japanese only

 Iwami seaside park 

Written by  Natsuki

Arifuku onsen (有福温泉) is famous as a hot spring which contains minerals to make the skin beautiful. There are also some beauty salon treatments in Arifuku. Clearly, you'll need to speak a bit of Japanese to reserve this and chat with the esthetician.

“Beauty salon MaHaLo” which is located inside the “Higuchi Ryokan (樋口旅館)”　is one of the well-known salons. There, you can experience not only body massage but also facial treatment such as “Tea massage”.  This is a facial massage using “tea” which contains catechin, vitamin C and other ingredients that makes our skin smooth and fresh.You can also choose from many kinds of massage for example, whole-body massage, aroma oil massage, head massage, acupressure points massage and so on. You can choose any type of massage and you can decide how long to take. Fees depend on the types of massage you choose and the duration of the massage.

Additionally, Higuchi Ryokan sells special facial soap which is made from the hot spring water in Arifuku-onsen. This soap contains three kinds of oils and honey that make our body smooth. This soap is good for sensitive skin because it is an additive-free soap.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information

Higuchi Ryokan (樋口旅館)
*Access: Take san-in road(山陰道)to Gotsu, it is about 15 minutes drive from Hamada station
*Check-in time:15:00～20:00/ Check-out time:11:00
*Parking lot: 15 cars are available for free
*Address: 〒695-0156, Arifuku onsenn-cho695 Goutsu City Shimane
*Tel: 0855-56-2111 (Japanese only)
*Fax: 0855-56-2112 (Japanese only)
*E-mail address: higuchi@arifuku.com
*fee for massage: 5250～21000
Fees depend on the kind of massage. More information about "MaHaLo" is here
If you want to know more about “Higuchi accommodation” in English, click here

Arifuku Café is attached to Ryokan Higuchi, one of the traditional inns in Arifuku. The décor is beautiful. Check out the rocking chairs and solid wood table. This café’s biggest draw is its coziness.

All of the dishes arrive on Iwami pottery, like the ones in this picture

Menu:

Appetizer.

Arifuku Plate (1,500 yen)

Fried prawns, burdock root croquette, cream croquette

Apple Pie a la mode

Lunch menu ( we translated one of the menus to give you an idea of what they prepare but obviously the menus change. They have also been know to accommodate vegetarian diners if given enough warning in fluent Japanese!) Lunch menu is available from 11:00~14:30 and 17:00~closing time.

・Arifuku Plate (1,500 yen)

Fried prawns, burdock root croquette, cream croquette

・Arifuku Osakana Plate (1,800 yen)

Saute of fish and mushroom with shiso sauce

Each plate has salad, soup, quiche and mini-gratin. You can choose either bread or rice when you order the “plate” menu. All plates are Iwami-Yaki pottery.

Pasta:

・Nasumeat (1,000 yen)

Spaghetti of eggplant (nasu) and meat

・Neapolitan spaghetti (1,000 yen)

If you like ketchup.

・Spaghetti of pescatora (1,200 yen)

Seafood and tomato sauce

・Spaghetti of scallop and cream (1,200 yen)

・Spaghetti of salmon and mushroom (1,200 yen)

Cream sauce of this café. This spaghetti is  pretty filling!

・Spaghetti of shrimp and tomato cream (1,200 yen)

All pasta choices come with salad and bread.

Others:

・Burdock and rice hamburger

・Bean soup

・Apple Pie a la mode

・Sweet Potato Pie a la mode

・Takesumi coffee (600 yen)

The coffee beans are roasted with bamboo charcoal.

・Shoga (ginger) tea (400 yen)

Arifuku café also has many snacks and drinks. You can buy bread which is baked on site.

Information:

Address:

〒695-0156

Arifuku-Onsen-cho 685, Gotsu city, Shimane prefecture

TEL: 0855-56-0070 (Japanese only)

E-mail: higuchi@arifuku.com

Hours of opening: 9:00 ~ 22:00 (L.O 21:00), 9:00 ~ 15:00 on Tuesdays. Lunch time is 11:00 ~ 14:30. Open 365 days a year. Car park for public use.

HP: http://www.arifuku.com/cafe.html (Japanese)

http://www.arifuku.com/english/day/welcome.html (English)

Access: (car)

Exit Hamada expressway at Hamada-East I.C via Hamada expressway, it takes about 15 minutes by following the signage to Arifuku-Onsen-cho. It takes 90 minutes from Hiroshima prefecture (Do not get off the highway at Asahi I.C because route 50 is very narrow and dangerous).

by Hiro