いこいの広場 Ikoi no Hiroba

The drive to reach Ikoi no Hiroba is beautiful. You'll see signs for it if you drive south just past Kawatana Town. There is construction up that way, so I wasn't sure where exactly the area is.

I took the two photos above from the road and kept driving in search of parking to get a better look.

I ended up parking about 800 meters down the road in front of a trail map. There was what looked like a very overgrown road that kind of matched up with the trail map. The map showed a 1.2 kilometer hike down to the river, but I couldn't figure it out. It may have been over my skill level of hiking, or it wasn't really the right trail.

I went home and researched it more. Apparently, there was a typhoon that came through the area in 2004 and destroyed Ikoi no Hiroba and they have been working to restore it ever since there. There was a sign pointing down to the river and that it was a 10 minute hike. I think that sign was posted pre-typhoon because there was no trail there.

Like I mentioned before, the drive was gorgeous! You'll drive through many tea fields like the ones above.