2 days Trip to Kinugawa Onsen and Edo Wonderland

2019 spring trip to Kinugawa, Osaka and Shirahama

I visited Edo Wonderland in Kinugawa Onsen in March, 2019. I visited there with my family member who are from Canada. Some of them do not understand Japanese at all. I also took a few children from 7 years old to 10 years old. In this post, I would like to tell the story from the point of the view of the traveler with the foreign tourist and young children.

Board on Tobu Railway’s Limited Express “Spacia” to get Kinugawa Onsen from Asakusa

The limited express Spacia Kinu at Tobu Asakusa station

From Tokyo, there are two ways to get Kinugawa Onsen directly. The first one is taking the limited express train from Shinjuku. The other way is taking the limited express from Asakusa. In our trip, we chose the limited express from Asakusa. We departed from Asakusa at 08:00 am by the limited express “Spacia Kinu”.

We visited there on March 21st, 2019. That was “Shunbun no Hi (Vernal Equinox Day)” which was the holiday in Japan. I expected that was busy day. But it was not so much.

This train fleet is not very updated. But the seat is still very good. It is higher than the limited express seat standard.

It took 2 hours to get Kinugawa Onsen from Asakusa station. The Limited Express Spacia gave us very comfortable trip.

On board sales is still available on the limited express Spacia.
Edo Wonderland in Nikko and Kinugawa area is very fun place for any generations. I share my trip report to Edo Wonderland in this post.
I had a cup of beer and french fries on board. It wan in the morning but I was on the pleasure travel.

Got a discount ticket at Kinugawa Onsen station tourist center before taking bus to Edo Wonderland

The limited Express Spacia Kinu arrived at Kinugawa Onsen station.

The train arrived at Kinugawa Onsen on time at 09:59. We dropped our luggage at the hotel in Kinugawa Onsen before going to Edo Wonderland.

Tourist Center in Kinugawa station. You can find this very easily nearby the ticket gate.

Edo Wonderland is 15 minutes away from Kinugawa Onsen station by the bus. But before taking the bus, I dropped by Tourist Center in the station. Because I wanted to the admission ticket for Edo Wonderland at the discount price. It was 10% cheaper than the window price. (Adult regular admission 4,700 yen and the discount rate 4,230 yen). I also purchased the round trip bus ticket there. The bus fare was not discounted. But if I paid the fare in the bus, I had to prepare many coins. It was much easier to handle it.

The bus stop #3 at Kinugawa Onsen station for Edo Wonderland. You may find the bus stop on your right side when you get out the station.
Nikko Osaru Land (Nikko Monkey Park) was demonstrating in front of Kinugawa Onsen station.

We got the bus at 11:00 am. It was a bit behind the original schedule. The bus runs every 20 minutes daytime. If you miss it, the next one comes up soon.

The entrance of Edo Wonderland looks the old style checkpoint

We arrived at Edo Wonderland around 11:15 am.

There was the staff who wore the costume of the guard at the entrance. We showed our ticket there to enter.

We showed the ticket to get approval to enter from him.

After entering the entrance, we just walked on the path in the forest for 5 minutes and we found the scenery of Edo era of Japan.

Ninja is most recommended costume for kids.

Sample photos of the various costumes

In Edo Wonderland, there are many kinds of “Edo Style” costumes, such as Lord, Samurai, Princes, Farmer, Merchant, Hipster. It is available not only for kids but also adult. In my travel group, we had two girls and one boy. They wanted to wear Ninja costume. The price was 3,000 yen per the costume. I was interested in the costume too but I gave up because of our budget. Ninja costume includes the toy sword and kids could keep it as a souvenir.

The staff took care of changing the costume.

The kids were not interested in other costumes. But Ninja costume was the best one for kids. Because there are many places to play in Edo Wonderland. This is the perfect costume for moving, jumping and running kids.

By the way, we waited for 30 minutes after we chose the costume. Because the number of staffs and the changing rooms were limited. And some of the adult costumes were already sold out. If you really want to get dressed, you should get there as early as possible.

Ninja trick residence and Ninja maze

The wooden signage at the entrance of Ninja residence (left) and Ninja maze (right)

After the kids wore the costume, they started to play. There were many place for kids to play. But these two attractions were the most favorite for our kids.

In Ninja residence, there were lots of tricks, like small ladder, the corridor under the floor, spinning wall.

The small ladder in the middle of the photo is the first trick.
It was a bit tight for adult.

Especially our kids wore Ninja costume. That was perfect to play there. If they would wear other costume, like Lord, Princes, they would struggle. We did not think about it when we got the costume. But we got the right one.

In Ninja maze, there were many tricks too. And the departure point was like a cave.

Most restaurants in Edo Wonderland offers the common Japanese food.

Many restaurants are located in the middle of the village.

There are 7 restaurants in Edo Wonderland. Most restaurants are small. It is crowded in lunch time. The menu is the common Japanese food, like, Udon noodle (thick white noodle), Soba noodle (buckwheat noodle) , curry rice. There is no western style food available.

We had a lunch at Matsumae-ya and I ate curry rice. The price was 1,000 ryo. In Edo Wonderland, the unit of currency is “Ryo” which was used in Edo era. But it means 1,000 yen. Of course you can use Japanese Yen there.

If the restaurant is very busy, you can buy some take-out food. One of the restaurants, Yama-Kujira sold the skewered meat.

The performance in Ninja Grand Theater

The stage just before show. The photo shooting and recording movie are not allowed during the show.

In Edo Wonderland, there are many shows going on. I picked the Ninja performance. Because it is easy to understand for our family members who do not speak Japanese. And our kids wanted to see this.

Before the show went on, the story of this show was told but it was in Japanese only. Some of our family members could not understand the story. But in most part of the show was Ninja action. The luggage barrier was not a big issue. Anyone can enjoy this show.

We waited for about 15 minutes before the theater opened. But there were about 50 audiences waiting there already. I don’t know the exact capacity of this theater. But it can accommodate a few hundreds guests. Anyway if you really want to watch this show, you should get there at least 15 minutes before the show time.

When we waited on the line, we received the paper from the staff for “Ohineri”. Ohineri is a sort of the tip for the performer. This paper can be used to wrap some coins and we can throw it at the end of the show. This is very old way and I was wondering if anybody did it in this day. However many audiences threw it to the stage at the end of the show. And my family member wanted to do it too. It was the good old Japanese style. If you want to do it, do not forget to prepare some coins.

If you are not interested it Ninja but want to see the show, “Mizugei-za” is recommended. This is the old Japanese style water show. Japenese is not required to understand this show.

Edo Wonderland official site – Mizugei-za

Oiran Dochu which is Edo style parade

In Edo Wonderland, “Oiran Dochu” is the last event of the day. “Oiran” is a courtesan in Edo era.

The group of Oiran walked through the village. There were lots of visitors along the street. But it was not super crowded. We could see it very easily.

After we watched “Oiran Dochu”, we took the bus to go back to Kinugawa Onsen station. We stayed there overnight.

Many resort hotels are located along Kinugawa gorge.

We stayed in Kinugawa Onsen but you can make a day trip to Edo Wonderland from Tokyo. We left Edo Wonderland around 16:00. There are still lots of trains running from Kinugawa Onsen to Asakusa.

Kids friendly and foreign tourist friendly

There are lots of places to play for kids. And the theme of this attractions are very attractive for the foreign tourist. Even though many things are explained in Japanese dialogue only, the luggage barrier is not a big issue. This is highly recommeded for everybody.

I have just shared my experience in this post. I hope this post will help you to plan to visit Edo Wonderland.

Comments

  1. Jennifer says:

    Hello again!
    Another quick question for you. From Haneda we are taking the Keikyu line straight to Shinagawa and then the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
    1). Which Keikyu line goes straight to Shinagawa? Don’t want to get on the wrong train.
    2)Which direction is the Shinkansen transfer when we get off the Keikyu line which I read is on an upper level?
    Many, many thanks.
    Jennifer

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