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Uozu Buried Forest Museum

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Researched and written by Hinato

buried forestUozumirageSpecial Natural MonumentToyama Bay

Photo: Fred Cherrygarden / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · original

A visit to Uozu Buried Forest Museum is easy to underplan — bring more time, and less certainty about what you'll find, than you'd expect.

Two thousand years ago a cedar forest stood on the shore at Uozu. The Katakai River buried it in gravel, the sea rose over it, and in 1930 harbour works cut into the stumps — still rooted, still in position, preserved by groundwater. They are now a Special Natural Monument, the highest category Japan awards, and the museum is built over the excavation so that you look at them where they grew, some still submerged in the water that kept them.

The same building covers the other thing Uozu is known for. Toyama Bay produces spring mirages: on warm afternoons from late March to June, air layers over the cold water bend the light and the far shore of the bay stretches, doubles or floats. It is genuinely unpredictable and the museum runs a mirage observation room, a live camera and a daily forecast, which makes it the only place in Japan set up to help you catch one.

Visiting essentials

Best season

Late March–June for the mirage season | Year-round for the buried forest

How long to allow

60–90 minutes

Hours

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Last admission 4:30 PM

Closed: Closed Thursdays from 1 December to 15 March, except holidays | New Year

Entry fee

¥640 high school students and above | ¥260 elementary and junior high school students | Free for junior high age and under at weekends and on holidays

Access route

Directions

814 Shakado, Uozu. About a short walk from Uozu Station, or by car from Uozu IC. Admission ¥640 for high school students and above and ¥260 for elementary and junior high school students, with group rates for 20 or more; entry is free for junior high school age and under at weekends and on holidays. Closed Thursdays from 1 December to 15 March, except when the Thursday is a holiday, and over the New Year.

Local knowledge

**Late March to June for mirages, warm afternoons.** The bay's spring mirages need a particular combination of warm air over cold water and are most often seen on clear afternoons with a light southerly. The museum publishes a daily likelihood — check it the morning you go. **The stumps are the certainty.** Mirages may or may not happen; the buried forest is always there. Two-thousand-year-old cedar root systems in position, some still underwater, is worth the admission on its own. **Weekends are free for children.** Junior high age and under get in free on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, which is unusual and worth knowing if you are travelling as a family. **Winter closes on Thursdays.** From December to mid-March the museum takes Thursdays off. The rest of the year it does not. **Combine with the coast road.** Uozu sits on the stretch where the Tateyama mountains rise straight out of the bay. On a clear winter morning the drive between here and Namerikawa has one of the best mountain-and-sea views in Japan.

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