Tomida region covers an area of about 150 hectares, with half of it being the Iwamura township. In 1988, environmental researcher Haruhiko Kimura, then a professor at Kyoto University of Education praised this rural landscape, awarding it the title of “Japan’s best rural landscape”.

Surrounded by low hills, double and triple mountain ranges, the area northeast of the castle town lies in a gentle basin that slopes slightly from east to west. This Iwamura Basin is characterized by a scattering of traditional farmhouses and white walled storehouses with tiled roofs amongst wide rice fields. The ever-changing scenery here throughout the four seasons is spectacular, with trees in the surrounding mountains expressing a range of seasonal colors, rice crops transforming from green to gold, and sometimes snowy landscapes in winter.

Enjoy Iwamura’s beautiful rural landscape while walking or cycling, and from Japan’s Best Rural Landscape Observation Deck, offering a panoramic view of the Japanese countryside that we continue to cherish and protect, together with the people of the Tomida district of Iwamura town.