Shimane Guide: Oda Edition

The city of Oda is just outside the limits of Izumo, about 45 minutes to one hour by car. It is accessible by train, but the San-In line only comes  few times a day, is slow, and often late. Also, nothing is within walking distance to Oda Station.

I recommend exploring the area by car. I have divided the Oda activities up into two regions, which are about an hour apart form one another: Mt. Sanbe region and Iwami Ginzan region

Mt. Sanbe region

Before you climb Mt. Sanbe, visit Sanbe Burger, at the foothills of the park. You might recognize Sanbe Burger from Izumo, but this is the original. Definitely worth a stop. You will need the calories if you plan to climb to Sanbe.

Mt. Sanbe or Sanbe-San, as it is known in Japanese, is the generic name for a range of mountains in Japan. Osanbe San is the tallest.  There is also Ko-Sanbe, which is a steep course, involving climbing on all fours, and Jo-Sanbe, which is much easier, but offers a strange and surreal view from the top, covering with netting.

I have personally climbed Ko Sanbe, Jo-Sanbe and O-Sanbe. Here are some images from those hikes:

After climbing the mountain, you will be a sweaty mess. How about rinsing off at the nearby Sanbe Onsen, an internationally famous place with traditional outdoor baths. Usually people with tattoos are not allowed in Japanese Onsens, but Sanbe welcomes them. Admission is cheap and I usually spend about 1 hour at the onsen.

After the Onsen, I recommend dinner at Café Doma. This was one of my go-to cafes in Shimane, but it also serves great food. I recommend the curry rice, or whatever their seasonal special is. Here are some photos from this great café.

Iwami Ginzan region

Iwami Ginzan is a restored mining town in another part of Oda. It is a UNESCO world heritage site with a visitor center completed in 2007. There are two main things to view here: the mining town, and the mines. One could easily spend hours walking slowly down the main road of the mining town, visiting tiny tea shops and souvenir shops, but the mine itself is also worth a visit. Foreign visitors even get a special discount, and when I took my father, they even had an English-speaking guide present. 

Park at the Visitor's center and take a bus to the start of the town, or park near the police station and walk. It's about a half-hour stroll from the start of the town to the entrance of the mines. 

A walk through the old mining town

view of the mining town from atop a temple

a walk up to the shrine

view from along the mining town

a patio of a local shop

view of the houses and fall leaves

crossing a bridge while walking through the town

crossing over a bridge in the town

view from inside a store

ascending the stairs to a temple

view from the path to the mines

cemetery near the entrance to the mines

the mining town

underground in the mines

things got pretty narrow

but at least it was well lit

After visiting the mines, which was surround by Shimane’s lush and beautiful scenery, I recommend having coffee or lunch in the mining town. Café Cagliari serves excellent coffee and muffins. The gregarious owner lived in Italy for a while and will spare you no detail if you are willing to listen. 

Shimane Guide

Matsue Castle, in Matsue, Shimane

Welcome to My Shimane Guide!

This little-known, little-explored prefecture is a sight for all types: the  savvy traveler, jaded with the beaten path in Japan, the twenty-first century romantic, seeking isolation and adventure, the cultural nomad, on a quest for novelty and quiet excitement.

My first experience in Shimane was when I traveled to the  Izumo Taisha via the overnight train from Tokyo. Since that time, I felt a special connection to this prefecture, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to spend a year living in Kawamoto, Shimane, a town of 3,000 people. During that year, I was able to travel around the prefecture nearly every weekend. I also met many local Japanese people who took me to places I would not have been able to find on my own. I decided that I want to share the wealth of knowledge I acquired, so that any English-speaker thinking of traveling to Shimane on their own will have access to the same resources, or, at the very least, be able to learn about a part of Japan that eludes even the Japanese.

Shimane 101

Shimane is the least densely populated prefecture in Japan. The local industry is largely agricultural. With more and more young people moving out of Shimane to find work in the cities, 1 out of every 8 houses in the prefecture is abandoned.

Shimane occupies a long stretch of coastline on the Sea of Japan. Most of Japanese’s major cities  (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Hiroshima) are located on the Pacific Ocean side. For those who do not know, there is a big different in climate from the Pacific Ocean side (call Sanyo) to the Sea of Japan side (called San-in). San-in weather is extreme. Winter is distinguished by long months of snow and little sunshine.

Since 2014  Shimane has slowly been picking up traction because  Princess Noriko of the imperial family married the son of the head priest in Izumo Taisha, and now people from all over Japan are making the pilgrimage there. When I first traveled to the Taisha in 2010, Izumo was a ghost town. When I returned in 2014, it was a bustling tourist destination. My photographs of the town and train station are now sadly outdated, and will live forever as a time capsule on this blog. It is likely, too, that this guide will soon be outdated and serve as nothing more as a artifact of a particular place at a particular time. 

I'm breaking this guide up into sections, starting from east to west. Click on the links below to check out each place:

Matsue City Guide

Inner Izumo  City Guide

Outer Izumo City Guide

Oda City Guide

Ohnan Town Guide

Hamada City Guide

Masuda City Guide

I would also like to promote other English-language bloggers in Shimane, and I will be providing links to their blogs, in various posts.

For general Shimane Information I recommend these website:

More Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: a photoblog from one a long-tiem resident of Shimane

Iwami Travel: travel information in English

Made in Matsue: an in-dept website about all things in Shimane's Capital city

Other articles about Shimane's strangeness:

Read about our snarky mascot here and here. 

Women apparently have the best skin in Japan.

Another account of the night train to Izumo.