About/Getting to Wakasa

The town of Wakasa is immensely proud of its seas, lakes, and the country landscapes that surround them; it is a town based on the ethos of a recycling society that dates back to the Neolithic Jomon period, as typified by how the Mikata Five Lakes, which have been registered in the Ramsar Convention, receive water full of nutrients from the hills and villages, and feed it into the rich seas around Wakasa.

Wakasa has been one of Japan’s primary entry ports to Asia since recorded history began, a town with a great diversity of history and culture created by these natural gifts. Here, you will find the Uriwari no Taki (Breaking Waterfall), listed as one of Japan’s 100 Exquisite and Well-Conserved Waters; the Torihama Shell Mound, which tells us how people in the long-distant Jomon period lived; and Kumakawa-Juku, which flourished as a post-station town along the old Saba Kaido highway as far back as the Middle Ages.

Wakasa is a precious treasure for many different plants and animals, and of course for we who live here. We feel it is important to pass on together our love of Wakasa, our love of nature, to future generations.

An amazing fact you should know!!!

Some 70,000 years of sediment have been collected from the bottom of Lake Suigetsu, one of the Mikata Five Lakes. This sediment has striped layers, called “varves,” laid down year by year. These varves record what the area around the lake was like, what the climate was like, if there were any earthquakes, and so on. Lake Suigetsu’s varves are now used as a standard geological timescale by scientists around the world. These varves not only tell us about the past, but can perhaps also be used in research to forecast the future.
*Featured in middle school textbooks (Japanese language, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies).
Lake Suigetsu is only going to get more famous!