Here are the basics:
• stroller friendly, though I would recommend wearing babies instead • I would not bring pets to this particular farm • awesome for even young kids- no thorns on the fruit plants, so even our 11 month old picked her own berries •
Hours: I will update the hours once I find my photo of the sign, sorry! We usually go around 2-3pm.
Usually berries are the ripest during the last week of July.
Directly from base, only about a 20 min drive.
40.783798, 141.363129
Our second year to visit this farm, and I am finally confident enough that y’all need to visit to release the pin. This may be a commonly visited farm, but we stumbled upon it without a pin, and I LOVE the owners. So kind, always so good to our kids, and their berries are amazing.
Entry fees are 500¥ per person, and both of our kids were free. To take out blueberries, you will pay 120¥/100 grams, which is DIRT CHEAP compared to ANY blueberry prices at local grocery stores. If I remember correctly, children under age 7 eat for free.
In total, we paid exactly 2000¥ for all-you-can-eat blueberries, and an additional gallon sized ziplock full of blueberries. The owners of this farm always encourage us to eat, eat, eat- especially towards the end of the season. They provide buckets to pick with, and even have small baskets for children.
This particular farm has always been extremely quiet, with lots of options as to areas that you can pick from. We have never even felt like we were picking around other people. 
Park directly in front of the greenhouse, when you drive in you will see the family’s house to the left, and the greenhouse to the right. There is a small parking area between the two.
As is often customary in Japan, this is both the family’s home, and their business. Make sure you are respectful, as this is where they live.
I would recommend wearing/bringing bug spray- the mosquitoes aren’t bad here, but the ants are. Honestly they weren’t pesky enough to pose a problem this year, but I remember they were THICK last year.
This family is extremely gracious, and almost always gives us a “free gift” or knocks down the price a little bit. Last year at the end of the season, when the berries were ripe, ripe, ripe, we took home almost 4lbs of berries for around $9.90.
If you’re new to Misawa, make sure you also check out my post on cherry picking. We are planning to hit the apple farms, strawberry farms, and maybe even pick some raspberries this year too.
Enjoy! The berries are delicious!
ALSO, be aware that there are apparently wild monkeys in this area too. I saw one cross the road behind us briefly and seriously almost started running, because I could not FATHOM what I had witnessed crossing the path in the manner that it did. It was only later in the day when we saw wild monkeys on the highway that I realized this was exactly what I saw.
There is a ferry/boat that does tours of the cove- we chose to just explore it by foot, especially since we weren’t sure of the hours, and since we didn’t actually make it up to Sai. We figured it would be less stressful with the kids to see things from the actual coast, too. Totally don’t regret choosing the hike/coast route.
The water is crystal clear, and Henry LOVED seeing the starfish, sea urchins, jellyfish, and tiny fish swimming through the water below him. The rocks to the create tons of tide pools, and we got to see some pretty neat sea anemone too.
Sea glass abounds on the shorelines, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find a glass float here if you arrive early and before it has been picked over. The area is stunning, and I 100% would not have been upset to spend several hours just sitting on the beach listening to the quiet waves.
Historically, this is called Buddha’s cove, and carries the same sort of ominous atmosphere as the Gates of Hell. The mysterious towering cliffs are formed by volcanic activity and the constant beating of the waves along the rocks, and they are unlike anything I have ever seen. They are mysterious and breathtaking, to say the least. Photos just do not do this area justice. The quiet, calm nature of the shoreline while we were there was something I could have just taken in all day.
We chose to make this a 2-day road trip, simply for the fact that it is honestly easier on us with our young kids. You could easily see everything you would like to in the Mutsu area on a regular weekend via car. We probably only spent around $30 on gas total.
If you’re new here on my blog, our kiddos are two (three this coming weekend… *sniff*) and 10 months old. They did awesome on the trip, but make sure you check out each individual post, because I definitely have my recommendations about bringing kiddos to the various places that we stopped. Our kids are pretty quiet, calm, and laid back (and they fall asleep anywhere and everywhere, clearly.) If you have rambunctious or restless littles, this may not be the best trip for you to take them on.
We visited the Gates of Hell first, then road tripped through the mountains to visit the rock formations of the West coast of Mutsu Bay / the Sea of Japan. The mountain drive is BEAUTIFUL. Stop at any restrooms/rest stops that look pretty, because there are some real gems tucked away in this area. We traveled along 338 on the way back to find the wild monkeys (we didn’t stop at the sanctuary- they are THICK along the sides of the road, so we just saw them as we drove through) and had the weather been a little nicer towards the end of the day, we probably would have stopped to hunt a few beaches for glass floats.
100% worth the gas and the hotel stay- I wish we would have taken our parents/families on this trip while they were visiting!
Let me preface ALL of this by saying, this is one of the three most holy places in Japan. If you read the history on the temple, you will appreciate the entire area culturally so much more. Do 
The area is open May 1st to October 31st, and for good reason. The roads to this area will be 100% snowed in if for some reason the snowy season starts before the closing date of the temple, so do keep this in mind if you go in the late fall.
As you can imagine, this is a pretty historically important and heavily important place to the Japanese, especially those actively practicing Buddhism, and it gives you a deeper respect for the quiet nature of the area once you know what the worship taking place is all about. Many Japanese come here to pray for their deceased loved ones, and while every Japanese individual we saw met us with “konnichiwa” and smiles at our babies, we absolutely remained quiet unless spoken to, in respect to the natives around us.
We happened to go on a cloudy, misty day, and while we were worried about the dreariness when we woke up, it turns out… it was PERFECT. Some of the reviews I have read since visiting actually state that the entire area blossoms with color under the dreary conditions, and that sunny days are much less saturated with the deep blues, greens, and yellows.
I HIGHLY recommend this being a place that you take your family/friends if they are visiting. It definitely IS kid-friendly, but as mentioned above, just please teach your kiddos that this is a place of reverence for the Japanese, and do your best to abide by that fact as a family while you are inside of the area. As a Christ-following family, we personally choose not to participate in any of the rituals, but we are 100% all about respecting those who do. The Japanese are actively worshipping/ praying- consider how you might have your kids act if they were in a church service.
Here are some fun superstitions too that I gathered from a few posts online and on Misawa Asks, if you like that kind of thing.
Make sure you check out my other two posts about our whole trip up to the Mutsu area, too! This has been one of my favorite trips so far, and I hope y’all love it as much too!
Entry fee is 1000 yen per person for 40 minutes. It is somewhat unclear from the signs/what they charged us on exactly how much kiddos cost, but they are CHEAP either way. They were kind enough to allow our babes in for free.
The cherries are THICK right now, as of the last week of June. You will leave that area with a stomach ache if you eat the entire time- I promise. And they are SO good. I took photos most of the time, and still ended up feeling full when it was time to leave. 
Basically NO bugs. Grass is very short. Seriously the easiest place for a fun day trip with even very young kiddos. Vending machines are also located to the side if you end up going on a hot day. I would highly recommend this for ANY age.
The drive from base is about 57 minutes without tolls, but it is a BEAUTIFUL drive. I am not sure if a toll route would change this, but I HIGHLY recommend the route that Google Maps took us while avoiding tolls. 
The Japanese asked us to come back as we left today, only after taking photos of our kids and gifting us a small bag of cherries for free. We will absolutely return. I’m tempted to go back again tomorrow, honestly.
Make sure you check them out too, you won’t be disappointed.
After parking, there will be a small walk to the hill that the majority of the azaleas are planted on. Before you reach this, there is a small road to your left that will lead to a couple other shrines- this is where the tiny azalea trees are sold, as well. If you go under the big arch and up the big hill, there is also a small playground area for the kids. There are water fountains, porta-potties, and plenty of room to sit out if you decided to have a picnic as well. I recommend you wear bug spray though, because last year the mosquitos were pretty bad. This year we didn’t notice them.
Drew also loves the skiing on this mountain, but says he doesn’t recommend it for beginners, as there are tons of sulfur pits hidden in the mountain. (Had I known that I would have totally worried about him more while skiing- haha.)
It has like 6 or 7 stories of bowling, batting cages, soccer fields, ball pits, bounce houses, skating rinks, pool halls, and arcade games.
We spent 3 hours in there and could have spent a solid 3-4 more, since we only explored like two levels of the place.
You will continue having your bowl filled immediately until you place the lid on your bowl. Once you place your lid on, the game is over.
