VIDEO: Visit the former prime minister’s villa near Yokosuka NB

Nojima Island is a short 20-minute drive from Yokosuka Naval Base and here you’ll find stunning views of the Hirakata Gulf and many more attractions to surprise and delight you. Spend some time with nature and breathing in the sea air at its large park, which offers areas to camp and to barbeque, or enjoy the quaint atmosphere of the area’s historical buildings. Nojima Island also has a cave and an observatory platform on its peak of island, where you can get a great birds’ eye view.

While you’re there, don’t miss the villa of Ito Hirobumi, Japan’s first prime minister. The large wooden villa built in 1898 has a thatched roof and showcases a typical Japanese traditional style villa building from the era. Today, visitors are allowed as it is now a museum dedicated to its former tenant.

Inside, check out an exhibition about Prime Minister Hirobumi and look out onto the impressive garden of his former home. It was interesting to compare the view of the gulf from this point and compare it to how the same was depicted by Ando Hiroshige in his Ukiyo-e work, “Evening Glow of Nojima Island.”

Take your time and sit in the spacious tatami room to enjoy the elements surrounding this villa just as the nation’s first prime minister used to do.

Villa of Former Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi

LOCATION: 24 Nojimacho, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture (a 20-minute drive from Yokosuka Naval Base or a 5-minute walk from Nojima Koen Station of Seaside Line)

HOURS: 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 (July and Aug. – 5:30 p.m.) (Closed first and third Mon., and Dec. 29 – Jan. 3)

ADMISSION: Free

TEL: 045-788-1919