Shizuoka

Shizuoka Prefecture is perhaps best known internationally as the southern gateway to Mount Fuji, offering some of the most dramatic views of Japan’s iconic peak — particularly from the Miho no Matsubara pine grove, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Shizuoka is Japan’s largest producer of green tea, and the terraced tea fields that blanket the hillsides around Kakegawa, Makinohara and the Abe River Valley are a defining feature of the landscape. The region’s mild climate and fertile soil also make it one of the country’s top producers of wasabi, mandarin oranges (mikan) and strawberries.

The prefecture is split into two distinct cultural areas: the Shizuoka city side to the east, historically tied to the Tokugawa shogunate — Ieyasu Tokugawa spent his final years here — and the Hamamatsu side to the west, a hub of manufacturing and music culture known as the birthplace of both Yamaha and Honda. In between, the Izu Peninsula juts into the Pacific, offering dramatic coastal scenery, hot spring towns and fresh seafood that draw visitors throughout the year.