Omaezaki City

A Meiji lighthouse at the southern tip.

Omaesaki Lighthouse

Photo by Tomio344456 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Cape

A lighthouse first lit in 1874that you can still climb.

Omaesaki Lighthouse (御前埼灯台) is a Western-style lighthouse at the tip of the cape that divides Suruga Bay from the Enshū-nada Sea. Built under the British engineer Richard Henry Brunton, it was first lit in 1874. In 2021 it and its former keepers' quarters were designated an Important Cultural Property, and it is still in service. A spiral staircase leads up to the gallery; the visitor donation is 300 yen for adults.

First lit in 1874
Important Cultural Property, 2021
300 yen for adults

02 ／ Sea turtles

The northern limitwhere sea turtles come to nest.

The Omaezaki coast is the northern limit in Japan where loggerhead turtles come ashore in numbers to lay eggs, and in 1980 it was designated a Natural Monument. The city appoints turtle wardens and moves the eggs to a hatchery to protect them. In 2025 the first nest was found on 15 June, and 92 hatchlings emerged from it.

Natural Monument, 1980
Northern limit of nesting
92 hatchlings in 2025

03 ／ Dried sweet potato

Rescuers of a shipwreckwere thanked with sweet potatoes.

In 1766 a Satsuma domain ship ran aground off Omaezaki, and Ōsawa Gon'emon (大澤権右衛門) and his son, among others, rescued its 24 crew. Gon'emon is said to have refused a cash reward and learned to grow sweet potatoes instead. In 1824 Kuribayashi Shōzō (栗林庄蔵) devised imo-kiriboshi (芋切り干し), dried sweet potato slices, which the city counts as the origin of hoshiimo.

Sweet potatoes arrive, 1766
24 crew rescued
Imo-kiriboshi devised, 1824

Living here

40 minutes by bus from Kikugawa Station.

about 30,000 people

There is no railway station in the city. For the Hamaoka area, where City Hall is, the Shizutetsu Justline Kikugawa–Hamaoka line takes about 40 minutes from JR Kikugawa Station to its terminus, Hamaoka Bus Base (浜岡営業所). For the cape and lighthouse, you change buses on the way from Shizuoka Station. By car it is about 25 minutes from the Sagara-Makinohara interchange on the Tōmei Expressway.

People living here: 31,103people
Area: 65.57km²
Households: 11,500households
Rent (average for rentals): 46,667yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 16 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —5 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Omaezaki City in Japan34.638°N 138.128°E

to KikugawaLocal bus40min

Travel times follow 市公式「アクセスマップ」（総務課・2022-03-03 更新。市公式トップ・くらしの情報の「市役所へのアクセス」から入るページ）の公共交通機関の案内の最初に載っている値 (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Omaezaki City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

11.7km

牧之原市, 菊川市, 掛川市

Omaezaki City isthis kind of town.

01Omaesaki Lighthouse, first lit in 1874, stands on Shizuoka's southernmost cape, and loggerhead turtles nest on its beaches
02Sweet potatoes arrived after locals rescued a Satsuma ship, and imo-kiriboshi dried sweet potato was devised in 1824
03The city is home to the major port of Omaezaki and Chubu Electric Power's Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Omaezaki City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗