Matsuzaki

13 June 2026

After visiting the Muroiwa Cave we chose to have a quick stop in the local town of Matsuzaki. On our drive in, we saw it had been designated as one of Japan’s “Most Beautiful Villages”. There’s a fair few of these villages scattered across Japan. The name is a tiny bit of a misnomer, as it’s not a ranked list - I think towns might self-select to join. Nonetheless if you’re looking to slow travel across Japan it could be a cool idea to hop between some of these little villages.

Cover of "the most beautiful villages in japan" brochure featuring Matsuzaki — A brochure we picked up later

Matsuzaki is famed for a number of things, according to this brochure - its sunset, rice paddies and the little cave that we had just visited.

Inside spread of a Matsuzaki tourist brochure showing photos of rice paddies, a sea arch, Mount Fuji, and a sunset

Unfortunately we didn’t get to check those out to fully appreciate Matsuzaki. Like Shimoda, we found ourselves walking through quite a sleepy part of the town, so there was not much happening. Unlike Shimoda, the town centre does offer free parking at its Tourist Information Centre which gives Matsuzaki bonus points.

As we got out of the car, we could also spot swallows swooping around the river. Rather excitingly, from the colouration on their backs I could pretty easily tell it was not the usual swallow I would see closer to Tokyo.

Swallow in flight over a pebble riverbank, with building reflections in the water behind — Excuse the blurriness

Swallows are such a pain to get a photo of, but luckily these guys would occasionally stop down on the riverbank for me.

Two Red-rumped Swallows resting on a muddy riverbank

It seemed to be the Red-rumped swallow!

On one of the houses lining the river, you could also see a bunch of swallow nests.

Underside of a building's balcony overhang with swallow nests tucked along the ceiling

Two Red-rumped Swallows perched on an electrical wire against a stone building

The bridge crossing the river even had some swallow artwork so I guess this is a long-time hotspot for them.

Bridge over the Matsuzaki river with a swallow mural painted on its side, mountains in the background

Other than the swallows, the town has a number of houses with the “sea cucumber” patterned walls (namako-kabe) which we had seen in Shimoda.

Traditional Japanese storehouse with namako-kabe diamond-patterned walls surrounded by trees

Old Japanese house with a large namako-kabe patterned wall facade

Traditional building with namako-kabe walls and a small figurine of a craftsman beside the gate — With a figure of a guy making the wall

This one on the corner also functions as the Hamacho Cafe which looks like it has some amazing vibes - would be worth going to if you came to Matsuzaki a bit later in the day (it was still quite early, so it was closed).