It's good to get in your car, or onto your motorbike, and take your time visiting towns and villages in the mountains to enjoy the ever-changing scenery of the four seasons in Japan. During these long drives, you will often see signs for "Michi-no-Eki (roadside station)." These are rest areas lying along normal roads. There are around 1,000 of them spread all over Japan and they are popular spots used by more than 500 million people a year. Michi-no-Eki focus on tourist information and sales of locally produced food and crafts; however many of them are turning into tourist hubs, with hot springs and play facilities, workshop practice sessions, and museums etc., and there is an increase in the number of visitors taking a drive just to visit these rest stations themselves.

Over 1000 Facilities Nationwide

Kiso Narakawa is a rest area that focuses on the exhibition and sale of Japan's traditional representative "lacquer ware" crafts; it lies along National Route No. 19 in Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. With its vaulted, timber ceiling, the beautiful museum and shop give a calm atmosphere, more like that of an elegant art gallery than a rest stop facility. There is a theater on-site and a workshop that made the medals for the Nagano Olympics. And as well as learning about the tradition of lacquer, you can also actually receive hands-on instruction in lacquering techniques from craftsmen. The shop also does a roaring trade in wine made from local specialty grapes, and it has become a popular spot used by 100,000 people a year.

Since 1993, the work has been underway installing these Michi-no-Eki along normal roads too, like the rest areas such as highway parking and service areas. As of April 2013 there are 1004 such facilities, most of which are located in scenic mountainous regions, or along the coast. Using a mechanism whereby the local government constructs the building and private organizations manage the facility, the content of the services is left to local creativity and ingenuity. Consequently, the rest areas stand out as unique operations, with some using museums as an attraction to introduce the culture and nature of the region, while others develop a resort around a hotel.

Queues Form before Shops are Open

While Miki-no-Eki provide a gateway to local produce and tourist destinations, in many cases the actual buildings themselves have become attractions. Oguni-Yu Station lies along National Route No. 387 in Oguni-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture and is a unique conical building whose framework is made of locally produced cedar wood. The building's entire surface is covered with glass, which reflects views of the surrounding scenery and it looks just like a spaceship in a SF movie. In addition, there are many other examples of individual designs that interweave the character of the local region, such as facilities that look like samurai houses from the outside; facilities in the shape of a pottery vessel; facilities with a giant water wheel as a landmark; and so on.

When I visited Hachioji Takiyama, known for being the only Michi-no-Eki in Tokyo, at the weekend, I found a queue of some 30 people had already formed even before the shop had opened. The shoppers are aiming to buy vegetables grown and harvested locally such as spring onions; eggplants; leaf ginger; squash and so on. While I was watching, I saw quite a few customers buying big cardboard boxes packed full of vegetables.

"Local Gourmet" specialties such as dishes made using home-grown, seasonal ingredients, these fresh fruits and vegetables, or seafood are one of the major attractions behind the popularity of Michi-no-Eki. Breads and sweets that have previously only been familiar locally, gain a reputation through word of mouth as well as internet broadcasts and reviews once they have been sold at the Michi-no-Eki; and in many cases inquiries and orders from all over the country then come pouring in.

An Array of Unique Hands-on Experiences

Many Michi-no-Eki are busy places featuring an array of various hands-on experiences such as crop harvesting; pottery making; soba noodle making; bread making; canoeing and rock climbing etc. The experience of driving a train is the highlight of Aurora Town 93 Rikubetsu, which lies along National Route No. 242 in Rikubetsu Town, Hokkaido. If you book up, you can even drive it along 1.6 km of track that goes beyond the site itself. It can be reserved as a package with accommodation, and so many avid fans come from far away for the experience, time after time.

Meanwhile, Totto Park Kojima is a great fishing spot, looking out onto the Inland Sea at Misaki Town, at the southern tip of Osaka Prefecture. The facility is on a pier that extends 300 meters out from the land; and from early in the morning it is alive with fishermen trying to catch various species of fish such as red sea bream, squid and flounder.

Being outshone by the levels of activity at the Michi-no-Eki, the 'long-established' highway parking areas and service areas are also starting to develop as entertainment facilities. In 2010 the Yorii parking area in Fukaya City, Saitama Prefecture, on the in-bound lane of the Kanetsu expressway, refurbished its facilities on the theme of "The Little Prince" to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of the masterpiece's French author, Saint-Exupéry. The parking area is located in the middle of a long drive back home to central Tokyo from the tourist area of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, and so is a good place to release tension, relax and unwind. The building features a finished space allows you to enjoy a view of the world from the book's perspective in detail; with a restaurant that provides home-cooked food from the south of France, in the ambience of a street corner from Provence in the south of France where Saint-Exupéry grew up. The parking area has developed a real hand-crafted feel to its service, with a chorus of employees who give out the time and guided tours to introduce you to the author and the story etc. In addition, there is also an increase in facilities boasting an array of foods that would put a department store to shame; and more establishments are investing in customer service staff to chat about souvenirs and tourist information.

Michi-no-Eki are not just places to stop-off at during a trip; rather, the stop-offs themselves are a form of leisure, creating a new style of journey to enjoy.

(November 2013)