From world-famous wisteria tunnels to serene lakeside scenery, enjoy Kitakyushu’s breathtaking spring blooms on a scenic drive close to the city.

World-Famous Wisteria & Hidden Scenic Spots

A pathway lined with trees that have hanging purple wisteria flowers, creating a canopy over the path.

Plants create magical landscapes that captivate visitors even more because they can only be seen for a limited time each year. Just a short drive from the city center, the area around Kawachi Dam is home to some of Kitakyushu’s most breathtaking seasonal flower spots. Check the best viewing season and set out on this relaxing half-day drive.

Duration : Half day

Transportation : Car

📍Places to visit on this course

  1. Kawachi Wisteria Garden

  2. Hotori no Shoten

  3. Minamikawachi Bridge

  4. Kawachi Tofu Nakamura Shôten

🚩START!

Kitakyushu Urban Expressway Otani IC

By car (20 minutes)

⇩

🚗

1. Kawachi Wisteria Garden

A tunnel of hanging purple wisteria flowers along a pathway.

🌸 Spring Only! A Dreamlike Wisteria World Resembling an Impressionist Painting

This privately owned wisteria garden gained worldwide fame through social media. From late April to early May, wisteria flowers reach full bloom, allowing visitors to stroll through and enjoy their beauty. The highlights are two wisteria tunnels measuring 80 meters and 110 meters long, popular spots for stunning photos.
The garden closes after the flowering season, but reopens from mid-November for autumn foliage viewing.

📍 Basic Info

By car (5 minutes)

⇩

🚗

2. Hotori no Shoten

Display of assorted baked goods and cookies in clear plastic bags on wooden tables and trays inside a cozy cafe with wooden decor and a chalkboard menu with Japanese writing and drawings.

🍪 Enjoy Seasonal Scenery and Baked Sweets in a Peaceful Setting

Located on a hill overlooking the Kawachi Reservoir, this cozy baked goods shop offers coffee and soda made with homemade fruit syrups. On some days, bread baked in a wood-fired oven is also available. Surrounded by trees, it’s the perfect place to relax and enjoy the changing seasons. Open on weekends only.

📍 Basic Info

By car (2 minutes)

⇩

🚗

3. Minamikawachi Bridge

🌉 Japan’s Only Remaining Lens-Shaped Truss Bridge

A red bridge crosses a river with green hills and trees in the background under a blue sky with white clouds.

Built in 1927 to support the construction of the Kawachi Reservoir and supply industrial water for the Yahata Steel Works, this 133-meter bridge features a rare lens-shaped truss design. Viewed from the side, its curve resembles a convex lens. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2006, it can be admired from the walking paths around the dam as a valuable piece of civil engineering heritage.

📍 Basic Info

By car (2 minutes)

⇩

🚗

4. Kawachi Tofu Nakamura Shôten

Assorted packaged Japanese food items placed on a wooden surface with a rice field in the background.

🧈 A Long-Established Tofu Shop Crafting Tradition for Over 60 Years

Set amid peaceful countryside near the Kawachi Dam, this traditional tofu shop has been in operation since 1958. Tofu production begins every morning at 1:30 a.m., using only soybeans, nigari (coagulant), and fresh groundwater. Zaru tofu, yose tofu, fried tofu, and ganmodoki are all carefully handmade—perfect as local souvenirs.

📍 Basic Info

⇩

By car (20 minutes)

🚗

Kitakyushu Urban Expressway Otani IC

🏁GOAL!

  • A bowl of udon noodle soup topped with green onions, tempura, beef, and a fish cake, served alongside onigiri rice balls wrapped in seaweed.
  • Packaged cookies labeled 'Koubou Hibiku' with a logo of a cat holding leaves on a bag, displaying a round, cookie with a textured surface in a clear plastic bag.
  • A modern building with glass doors and windows, decorated with flags and signs, including a cartoon tiger mascot wearing a white hat and cape, outdoors on a sunny day with trees in the background.
  • A sign with Japanese characters and contact information in front of a traditional Japanese building with a tiled roof. There are white azalea flowers to the left of the sign, set against a stone wall and background trees.