Guides · Places
A month in Itako, Japan's lake country
Itako sits where Lake Kasumigaura and Lake Kitaura meet, in the flat, green water country of southern Ibaraki. It is about 85 minutes from Tokyo Station by highway bus and around half an hour from Narita Airport, and it is a quiet, easy place to live for a month.
Getting there and around
- Highway buses run from Tokyo Station's Yaesu South Exit to the Suigo-Itako bus terminal in about 85 minutes. Most services take no reservations, so seats are first come, first served.
- By JR it takes about 110 minutes from Tokyo, with changes. Local trains on the Kashima Line run about once an hour.
- Narita Airport is about 30 minutes by bus or 50 by train. Buses to the airport must be booked in advance.
- This is car country. Kichi Itako has parking for two cars, and we can help you sort one.
A water town
Itako is a town of canals and lakes. Lake Kasumigaura, the second-largest lake in Japan, and Lake Kitaura meet here. Boat tours along the canals pass under a series of small bridges and take between 30 and 70 minutes.
In late May and June the Suigo Itako Iris Garden, a few minutes' walk from Itako Station, fills with around a million irises of some 500 varieties. The iris festival draws people from across the country, and the blooms usually peak around 10 June. The rest of the year the town is quiet, green and unhurried.
Within a short drive
- Kashima Shrine, and the Pacific coast at Kashima for beaches and surf.
- Katori Shrine and the old canal town of Sawara, across the Tone River in Chiba.
- Hot-spring baths around the lakes that take day visitors.
Kichi Itako
Kichi Itako is a furnished three-bedroom house on its own plot: 116 square metres over two floors, with a living room that looks out over open fields, a tatami room and parking for two cars. ¥120,000 a month covers the rent, utilities and wi-fi, with no deposit and no key money, plus a one-off ¥30,000 cleaning fee paid up front. It is let on fixed-term leases of 30 days or more, and it suits a family well. See Japan with kids: one house, not two hotel rooms.
Japanese guidance treats rentals shorter than about a month as lodging, which needs a lodging licence or a home-sharing registration. A lease of 30 days or more is a tenancy: your name on a lease, a tenant's privacy and a resident's price. That is why every Kichi has a 30-day minimum lease. The minimum applies to the lease, not to your calendar, so if you are coming for two or three weeks you book the month and use as much of it as you like.
Ready when you are
A month in the lake country.
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Questions
Questions people ask
How do you get from Tokyo to Itako?
The simplest way is the highway bus from Tokyo Station's Yaesu South Exit to the Suigo-Itako bus terminal, about 85 minutes. Most services take no reservations, so seats are first come, first served. By JR it takes about 110 minutes, with changes.
How far is Itako from Narita Airport?
About 30 minutes by bus or 50 minutes by train. Buses to the airport must be booked in advance.
When is the Itako iris festival?
It runs from late May to late June, and the irises usually peak around 10 June.
Do I need a car in Itako?
It helps. Local trains run about once an hour, this is a part of Japan where a car earns its keep, and Kichi Itako has parking for two.