Japan

A riverside district reaching out to create a three-river delta. A huge spa and an amusement park welcome every visitor.
The town of Nagashima is located in the northeastern part of Mie in a delta area created by the Kiso-gawa, Nagara-gawa, and Ibi-gawa rivers. Since the land is low, people built banks called ‘waju’ in order to develop farms and protect them. Farmers today still make high furrows, a process called ‘taka-une zukuri.’ The riverside farm scenery remains much as it was in the old days, and paddy field boats carrying seedlings and manure are common sights.

Nagashima-onsen, with hot spring waters gushing out at 60 degrees Celsius, is located in the delta area, and is a place of scenic beauty designated as Suigo Prefectural Nature Park. It is now a huge leisure complex, comprised of Nagashima Spaland, which has about 40 different attractions, such as the 33,000-square-meter outdoor bath Yuami-no-shima, a super coaster called Steel Dragon 2000, Jumbo Kaisui Pool (seawater pool), the world’s largest water park, and accommodations including Hotel Hanamizuki.

You can also enjoy visiting Jazz Dream Nagashima, the largest outlet shopping mall in the Tokai region, as well as the theme park for flowers and gourmet Nabana-no-sato, found 8 kilometers further along the Nagara-gawa River.