Shirakawa was my local village for 7 months when I worked in Japan on a working holiday visa. It is in Fukushima (officially called Shirakawa-shi) and not to be confused with Shirakawa-mure which is in Gifu and is a much more beautiful place to visit! Although I lived up a mountain so trips to the town were limited to my days off work (mostly to get food supplies for the week), there are a few attractions to see while you’re there. It has a small local train stop called Shirakawa station and a major stop on the Shinkansen Tohoku line called Shin-Shirakawa, so it is easy to get too. There is usually taxies to find on both sides of this station and rental car places in case you need to get around.
Some love for Shirakawa
Anyway, onto the attractions:
Shirakawa Castle
Shirakawa Castle
Shirakawa castle’s true name is Komine castle, but I didn’t meet anyone who called it that. Like most areas surrounded by garden in Japan, it’s most beautiful during Cherry Blossom season. It’s a traditionally constructed and looking Japanese castle and was used originally as a security check point for travellers across the Tohoku region. It was controlled by various sides over the years and has been ruined and reconstructed several times mostly in power battles. The most recent destruction however was in 2011 when the great Tohoku earthquake hit. Below is a photo I took of one of the corners of the castle walls which was destroyed during the quake:
Damage to Shirakawa castle
The gardens surrounding Shirakawa castle are an attraction in itself too (well for Shirakawa anyway). It includes a small museum. By small, I mean it’s 2 rooms about 8 metres squared each which features history of the castle and local area including artwork, such as the below which I shamelessly took a photo of. It is all in Japanese with no English translation anywhere
Shirakawa museum artwork
Lake Nanko
Lake Nanko in Shirakawa
Lake Nanko is the opposite side of Shirakawa to Shirakawa castle, it takes around 45 minutes to walk between them. You can get green tea served in the local shop which is recommended. It’s very picturesque and it’s best season is Autumn when the red and yellow colours come out to decorate the landscape. It’s a great place to have a picnic with friends too.
Black Shop
Black shop is a Japanese geeks paradise. Unfortunately I can’t find a photo of the outside, even though I’m sure I took one at some point. But basically it’s a detached square building which is entirely black on the outside, covered in yellow text saying what’s inside (manga, DVDs, Playstation games, etc). Inside contains all of those as well as an extensive second hand clothing section, retro games, figures, watches, snowboards, instruments, etc. It’s all second hand so they buy as well as sell. But if you have any interest in Japanese entertainment, this place is a must go, it’s one of the biggest stores of its type I’ve come across in Japan, which is odd it being in Shirakawa. Here is an example of one of the things I’ve seen inside:
Sony PSX
The 100 yen shops are entertaining at first too, and there are plenty of options on places to eat, especially ramen. Feel free to leave comments on anything else to do in Shirakawa as I think I’ve run out of ideas now!
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