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Futami Seaside Park

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

FutamisunsetIyoKoibito-misakiroadside station

Photo: osamu tanaka / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · original

Regional food in Ehime says as much about the place as its temples or its scenery, and Futami Seaside Park is where that shows.

The Futami coast faces due west across the Iyo-nada, and the town built a park around that single fact. There is a 380-metre artificial beach, a headland called Koibito-misaki with a bell and a wishing stone, a viewing deck arranged for the sunset, and a roadside station with a market selling jakoten and local produce.

It is on the national hundred best sunsets list and was designated a Lovers' Sanctuary in 2007, which is a real Japanese scheme and explains the bell. What makes it worth the stop rather than the eye-roll is that the sunset here genuinely is the event — the sun goes into the sea with Kyushu-bound shipping crossing in front of it, and the whole park is oriented to watch. It is three minutes from Iyo-Kamitanada Station and free.

Plan your visit

Hours

Park open at all times | Roadside station and market keep daytime hours

Closed: Open year-round

Time to allow

60–90 minutes

What it costs

Free | Free parking at the roadside station

Best season

Year-round | Sunset in any season

Getting there

Getting there in detail

Takagishi-Ko 2326, Futami-cho, Iyo. From JR Iyo-Kamitanada Station or by car from Iyo IC on the Matsuyama Expressway. Free to visit, with a car park at the Michi-no-Eki Futami. The site includes a 380 m artificial beach, the Koibito-misaki headland, a sunset museum, a restaurant and a produce market. Phone.

Insider tips

**Time it for sunset and nothing else.** The whole park is oriented west across the Iyo-nada. In the middle of the day it is a roadside station with a beach. **Park here for Shimonada.** JR asks tourists not to use Shimonada Station's car park, and this roadside station is the recognised alternative — park here and take the train one stop. **Eat the jakoten.** The market sells the local fried fish cake made from whole small fish, ground bone in, which is a southern Ehime speciality. **Sunset time moves a lot.** From about seven in midsummer to five in December. Check before planning the evening around it. **Combine with the coast drive.** Route 378 along the Iyo-nada between Matsuyama and Ozu is called the Yosan Line coastal road and is the reason to be on this shore at all.

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