Tokyo Bay as seen from Kanaya Bay in Chiba Prefecture (Photo: Rie Toda)

Trip to Minamiboso Southern Chiba

An easy getaway from Tokyo

Tokyo Bay as seen from Kanaya Bay in Chiba Prefecture (Photo: Rie Toda)
Kotaro Toda   - 2 min read

Whenever I get tired of the busy pace of life of Tokyo, I often head to neighboring Chiba Prefecture. In a little over an hour's ride away, the high rise buildings of Tokyo feel far away as you have been transported to a landscape of blue seas and lush mountains. Within this landscape, you can feel the richness of Chiba Prefecture's food culture.

Chiba Prefecture can be reached by train, car, or by ferry. A great way to experience the warmth and sunshine of Minamiboso involves a drive and ferry crossing along Tokyo Bay. Most of Chiba Prefecture comprises of the Boso Peninsula. The southern part of this area is known as Minami Boso. Because this area is surrounded by warm offshore currents, it is relatively warm in warm and cooler in summer when compared to other nearby prefectures. The coastal area are also frost-free meaning that flowers start to bloom in January.

On a recent trip to this area, we chartered a bus from a bus company called Tabitonosha, which took us from Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture to Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture via the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line. After traveling in a roundabout way from Kawasaki, we arrived at Kurihama Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture. From the port, we traveled on the Tokyo-Wan Ferry to Kanaya Bay in Kyonan-machi, a port town in Chiba Prefecture.

Some of the ways you can enjoy this area include walking, surfing and cycling. On this occasion, we enjoyed seeing the autumn colors, while also tasting some seafood, in addition to doing some glamping. We also bought some local produce and enjoyed taking a ferry ride.

Although I mostly traveled mainly on the western side of the Boso peninsula, on the opposite side its Kamogawa City which has some large hotels and Kamogawa Seaworld.

Getting there

Although you can drive to this region via the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, or take the Tokyo Bay Ferry, I think that combining the two makes the trip even more exciting.

Kotaro Toda

Kotaro Toda @kotaro.toda

Kotaro has more than 10 years of experience with the American Music TV Station Group in London, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He has contributed to magazines such as SevenSeas, Esquire (Japan), Marie Claire (Japan), and Keizaikai. He is also the author of On The Road In Europe, a book chosen by Hajim...