Especially beer and wine lovers should come Ushiku city and rejoice! You can access here from Tokyo St for approximately 1hour by local train, "Ueno-Tokyo Line" bound for Tsuchiura.
There are 2 sites you "must" visit!!
①Chateau Kamiya
Chateau Kamiya, located adjacent to JR Ushiku St. Ibaraki, is a brewery so steeped in the history of western alcohol in Japan.At the restaurant in this area, we can also enjoy the tasty food, using organic ingredients in Ibaraki prefecture.
According to the website (http://www.kamiya-bar.com/history.html),the founder,Denbei Kamiya, originally run his bar, the oldest bar in Japan in Asakusa,Tokyo. After that, in order to study winemaking, he moved to France. Soon after he came back to Japan, he founded Chateau Kamiya, where all processes, including the grape growing ,vintage, crafting, bottling, shipping,are done in this area.
②Buddha of Ushiku:
HUGE!!!!! With a height of 120m, Ushiku Daibutsu is the world's tallest bronze statue of Buddha.
Standing alone in the middle of rice fields, it looks taller than the actual height.
Around Ushiku area is the place where we can also enjoy the traditional Japanese countryside.