JAPAN | A visit to Ito on Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture

Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and back to Tokyo. Three weeks plus some extra days.

Prior to the group trip, I – Timothy – am solo in Tokyo. Using artificial intelligence, I concocted a busy four days featuring Ito on the Izu Peninsula and Sawara, also known as Little Edo. I also end this Journey Across Japan with a solo spell in Minato, near Taito and Tamachi Station.

Between my visit to the Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Izu-Kōgen and my train ride back on the Saphir Odoriko, I had a few hours to kill in Ito, or Itō if you prefer. I went, I saw, I had lunch, I returned to the station.

Itō (伊東市) is a coastal city on the eastern shore of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, celebrated for its hot springs, seaside scenery, and relaxed resort atmosphere.

Set along the Pacific-facing Sagami Bay, the city lies within the Fuji–Hakone–Izu National Park and enjoys a mild climate with hot, humid summers and gentle winters. Its landscape is marked by hilly terrain, rivers, and an indented coastline of small bays, all framed by the lush greenery typical of the Izu–Tōbu volcanic zone.

Although modest in size, with around sixty thousand residents, Itō has long been one of Japan’s best-known onsen destinations, particularly popular with visitors from Tokyo thanks to its easy rail connections.

The town’s reputation for hospitality dates back to the early post-war years, when it was designated an ‘International Tourism and Cultural City‘ in 1950. Modern train links—first in 1938, and later extended with the opening of Izu-Kōgen Station in 1961—helped turn the once-quiet fishing community into a favoured retreat for city dwellers seeking sea air and hot springs.

Itō’s origins, however, reach far deeper. During the Edo period, the area consisted of a handful of farming and fishing hamlets under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate. It achieved a curious moment of maritime fame in 1604 when the English navigator William Adams (of ‘Shōgun‘ fame), serving under Tokugawa Ieyasu, was ordered to construct Japan’s first Western-style sailing ships here. The second of these vessels, the San Buena Ventura, later crossed the Pacific Ocean to Mexico.

Adams is still remembered in Itō, where a street bears his name—Anjinmiuradori—in honour of this early contact between Japan and Europe.

The modern municipality emerged from the merger of several neighbouring villages in the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, eventually becoming a city in 1947. The Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 left its mark, when a tsunami more than five metres high struck the coast, but Itō rebuilt quickly and continued to grow as tourism expanded.

Today, the town remains synonymous with relaxation and coastal charm. Visitors can stroll along the palm-fringed promenade beside the Matsukawa River, admire the traditional timber architecture of Tōkaikan—a beautifully preserved 1920s ryokan now open to the public—or unwind in one of the many hot spring baths that draw from natural volcanic sources.

A short ride away, the upland district of Izu-Kōgen offers museums and scenic attractions such as the Izu Teddy Bear Museum, Mount Omuro with its sweeping views of Mount Fuji, and the whimsical Izu Shaboten Zoo.

Combining traces of Edo-period history with the leisurely grace of a modern resort, Itō embodies much of what makes the Izu Peninsula a beloved escape from Japan’s urban bustle: sea breezes, gentle landscapes, and the quiet rhythm of a town built around water, both hot and cold.

Spending time in Ito

I walked all the way to Ito Marine Town, a mall-vibed development with shops, a boardwalk and restaurants. There I had lunch, ordering from a tablet. A common method in Japan, it turns out.

Although it was a Saturday, I found Ito to be quite and certainly after 4 PM. As if the town closed. So while I was happy to see some coastal and rural Japan, I can’t say I was particularly charmed by Ito. But maybe I looked in the wrong places.