Hot Springs by Train: Katsuura  — A Healing Escape to a Hidden Hot Spring Retreat Surrounded by Nature and a Beautiful Rias Coastline

Getting to Katsuura and Ubara Onsen

How to Enjoy Katsuura and Ubara Onsen in Chiba!

STAY | Isoka no Yuyado Ubarakan

Waiting on the other side of a tunnel is a hidden, century-old ryokan tucked quietly inside the Boso Peninsula’s quasi-national park.
All ten guest rooms make the most of a location cradled between mountains and the sea, letting you feel close to nature’s rhythms and scenery without ever leaving the inn. You can enjoy a truly restorative time, as you open the window and see a canopy of stars and lush greenery, and listen to the birdsong drifting in.

The waters of Ubara Onsen are sodium chloride–bicarbonate springs, said to be effective for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, and chronic digestive complaints.

The inn’s signature feature is its three distinct natural hot spring baths, each of which can also be reserved for private use: the Observation Bath, with its panoramic view over Ubara Utopia; the Tunnel Bath, reached through a small passageway; and the fantastical Cavern Bath. Each offers its own singular way to soak.

Meals here center on original, creative cuisine built around Katsuura’s seafood bounty. All the ingredients, including spiny lobster, abalone, turban shell, and splendid alfonsino, are in season and sourced locally, arriving as vividly plated dishes that satisfy both the eye and the appetite.

Isoka no Yuyado Ubarakan

Address: 998 Ubara, Katsuura, Chiba
Tel: 0470-76-0521
Access: 12-minute walk from JR Ubara Station
Price: From ¥28,000 per person (one night, two meals)
URL: https://ubarakan.com/

Experience  |  Katsuura Morning Market

Katsuura’s morning market is said to date back to 1591, when Uemura Tosanokami Yasutada, the lord of Katsuura Castle at the time, encouraged fishing and farming and established the market as a place to trade agricultural and marine goods. That’s a history spanning more than 430 years.

The market’s location has shifted a few times over the centuries, but it’s still held today on a rotating basis: at Shimo-Honcho Asaichi Street from the 1st through the 15th of each month, and Naka-Honcho Asaichi Street from the 16th through the end of the month.

Once cherished simply as the neighborhood’s kitchen, the market now draws plenty of visitors from further afield too.

Stalls brim with produce from both the mountains and the sea, alongside homemade pickles, salted seafood, bamboo crafts, and all manner of food and drink. There is so much on offer that it’s hard to know where to look first. More young people and newcomers to the area have joined as vendors in recent years too, adding even more variety to the lineup.

On weekdays only, a walking workshop through the market is also on offer (¥1,000 per person, limited to three participants a day). Touring the market alongside a vendor is a great way to discover its deeper charms.

Katsuura Morning Market

Address: Shimo-Honcho Asaichi Street, Katsuura, Katsuura City, Chiba (1st–15th of each month) / Naka-Honcho Asaichi Street (16th–end of month)
Tel: 0470-73-2500 (Katsuura City Tourism Association)
Hours: Approx. 6:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.
Closed: Wednesdays, January 1
Access: About a 10-minute walk from JR Katsuura Station
URL: https://www.katsuura-kankou.net/asaichitop/

See  |  Ubara Utopia

Ubara Utopia refers to the stretch of coastline in the southeastern part of the Ubara district; a scenic spot whose appeal lies partly in how easy it is to reach, just a seven-minute walk from Ubara Station to the entrance.

It earned the name “utopia” from a plan in the early Taisho era to develop the area into a resort community.
The terrain of Ubara Utopia is shaped by several capes jutting out into the Pacific, forming a classic rias coastline carved by rough waves. Trees and coastal plants cloak even the tips of the promontories that reach into the deep-blue sea, spilling down over the inlets below. Drawn by this intricate natural landscape, many writers and poets, such as the late Meiji-era female poet Yosano Akiko, have visited over the years and left behind works inspired by it.

Be sure to walk the hiking trail while you’re here. The roughly 90-minute course strings together one highlight after another, from Taoyamedaira, Hitotsuyama, Kedo Point, Hakuho Point, Myojin Point, to Twilight Hill (Tasogareno oka), letting you take in all the charm of the area. At Taoyamedaira you’ll find the “Bell of Happiness,” a designer bench fitted with a bell, while Twilight Hill opens onto a sweeping panorama and has become a popular photo spot.

Ubara Utopia

Address: Ubara, Katsuura, Chiba
Tel: 0470-73-2500 (Katsuura City Tourism Association)
Access: 7-minute walk from JR Ubara Station
URL: https://www.city.katsuura.lg.jp/page/1164.html

Eat | Ganso Katsuura Tantanmen Ezawa

Katsuura tantanmen (thick flat noodles), the area’s beloved local dish, was first served by this restaurant’s predecessor, the “Taishu Shokudo Ezawa” diner, founded in 1954.

It’s said to have caught on as a way for local ama (women divers) and fishermen to warm up after braving the cold sea. What sets it apart from ordinary tantanmen is the soup: a soy-sauce base built from chicken, pork bone, and seafood stock blended with a house-made sauce, topped mainly with minced onion and ground meat. The finishing touch, and the real key to its flavor, is a layer of vivid red, house-made chili oil. Spicy yet deeply savory, it’s the kind of dish that’s easy to get hooked on after just one bowl.

Today it’s grown into a citywide specialty, with around 40 restaurants across town certified as official purveyors.

Ganso Katsuura Tantanmen Ezawa

Address: 296-8 Shiraikubo, Katsuura, Chiba
Tel: 090-4410-5798
Hours: 11:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Closed: Mondays (subject to irregular closures)
Access: 15 minutes by car from JR Katsuura Station
URL: https://www.facebook.com/tantanmen.ezawa/

Draw Energy from Katsuura’s Dynamic Natural Landscape

Located in the southeastern Boso Peninsula, Katsuura City stretches along a dramatic rias coastline, its beautiful scenery dotted with spots that practically beg to be photographed. Shop while chatting with vendors at the celebrated morning market, said to be one of Japan’s three great morning markets and running for more than 430 years, or dig into a bowl of local specialty Katsuura tantanmen. It’s a place where you can simply let time slip by at its own gentle pace.

About the Author：Maki Maeda

*Photos courtesy of: Isoka no Yuyado Ubarakan, Katsuura City Tourism Association, and Ezawa