Iwanai and Izu - things to see and do

I cleverly decided to visit two far-flung bits of Japan in their respective quiet seasons, Iwanai's a snow town and Izu's more of a summer hangout. So this isn't an exhaustive list by any means - between working, hangovers, and being a lazy ass I skipped a few obvious tourist hits - but here's a bit of Tripadvisoring* for anyone planning to visit.

Iwanai

Iwanai Picasso Museum, or the 'Arai Memorial Art Museum' to be correct, is a really bizarre experience. Why some rich eccentric decided to put their private collection of Picassos in a Bond-villain hideout on a mountainside in a faraway bit of Japan is beyond me. The main collection is something like two hundred pieces - there's a lot of identikit sketches and none of the 'wow factor' stuff, but it's worth it just for the overall weirdness of the location. They don't get a lot of visitors and there's a slight Shining feel to the empty corridors, but the top floor's got an incredible view across the bay, so aim for sunset. The hotel next door also has an onsen if you like a bit of a soak after some culture. Annoyingly it's not tattoo friendly though.

Just around the corner from the museum is a Buddha park, going from the top of Mount Murayama. It's nice and... that's about all I can say about that. It doesn't take long to trek from the viewing platform at the top of the hill down to the bottom but it's a pleasant, if slightly eerie, stroll through a hundred-odd statues. Bring insect repellent if you don't want to turn into a chew toy.

Honorable mention goes to Park Golf, which is a sort of Japanese version of pitch and putt but played with a bigger ball. Eighteen holes takes about an hour, so sneak in a beer or two. Iwanai has an amazing course up on the road from town to Murayama with views across the valley. The Japanese take their all of their sports SUPER serial, wearing full PGA Tour getup for what's basically souped-up crazy golf, so the people watching's good - you can see more than a few older guys playing with two balls (narf) on their own, perfecting that record score.

That's it for Iwanai really, of what I saw. It's a great drinking city with a ridiculous ratio of bars for the population. Forty-two and counting apparently, gotta love a port town. But it has possibly the best sushi in the world, and is a jumpoff point for Hokkaido which is a hiker's paradise. If you've got a car everything's in grabbing distance from whiskey to lakes to bears (oh my).

Izu East Coast

You could make a life mission out of visiting every hotspring in Izu, and in the on-season I could imagine Shimoda being rammed with tourists, it's all little summer cafes, sandy beaches and boat trips. But there's a couple of year-round options.

Jogasaki-Kaigan station puts you about ten minutes' stroll from the Jogasaki coast walk. At the north you can run around a pretty safe park with paved walkways, a suspension bridge and some nice views of the cliffs. Bring the kids, get an ice cream, have a laugh at the cock-and-balls shaped lighthouse. Further south things get a bit more hardcore with a six kilometre trail sidewinding down the coast, up and down between the inlets. Expect to see snakes, lizards and enough giant spiders to fuel the best sort of nightmare, but not many other people. I went on my own and twisted each ankle at least twice, so after a while I was fully prepared to end up in my own personal 127 Hours remake.

At the south end of the coast walk is Izukogen station where you can hop a shuttle bus to Mount Otaru, famous for looking like an upturned rice bowl. Yes indeedy. The mountain has a cute little ski lift up to the top where you can do a lap and enjoy the view. Unless, like me, you neglect to check when the ski lift closes in which case you can spend a good hour going back and forth on buses. Izukogen town is also an adventure funtime of weird museums - teddy bears, toys, teapots, I saw at least one in appropriate Gollywog poster. There's a Cactus Land Fun Park - I know right, try and hold yourself back.

So, cultural learnings of trying to fill tourist days in strange bits of Japan - expect about the same level of options as a British seaside town. No, not Blackpool, one of the shit ones. Like Clacton. Basically the main draw after eating and drinking is the outdoors, skiing in Hokkaido and scuba/surf in Izu, so hope for good weather.

* You can totally use Tripadvisor as a verb. No you shut up.

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