Chiba · MinamibosoNo.1062★★Open in map →
Boshu Loquats
— Minamiboso's loquat country and its roadside station
Loquat flowers in winter, so it only fruits where frost is rare. The sheltered southwest coast of the Boso Peninsula is one of the few places in eastern Japan that qualifies, and Tomiura's roadside station is the front door to it.
- FromTokyo Stn
- ~1 hr 40 minExpressway bus from Tokyo Stn
- Get off atTomiura Biwa Club (Boso Nanohana expressway bus)
- On foot
- Boshu Loquats
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden place. It is a working roadside station on a national road, and the car park fills at weekend lunchtime. What is easy to miss is the location. A visitor without a car rarely gets to stand in the middle of a district that a fruit is named after, and the expressway bus from Tokyo sets down at the door. Most people treat the building as a rest stop; it works better as a shop-window for one crop and one stretch of coast.
Where it is
50 more notes in Chiba · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- The shop floorLoquat jelly, leaf tea and other preserves stacked beside the season's fresh boxes
- The open café terraceSeating built around the loquat soft-serve, the first of its kind made in Japan
- The pick-your-own deskBookings for loquat, strawberry and flower picking on farms around the town
- The rape-blossom fieldYellow ground outside the building, months ahead of the loquat season
How to actually get there
- From Tokyo Station Yaesu South Exit, board the Boso Nanohana expressway bus bound for Tateyama or Awa-Shirahama.
- Get off at Tomiura Biwa Club, the stop on the national road beside the roadside station.
- Walk in past the car park; the shop is on the near side and the café terrace behind it.
- For the return, cross the national road to the northbound stop.
- Boso Nanohana expressway bus from Tokyo Station
- Tokyo Station Yaesu South Exit →(Boso Nanohana expressway bus toward Tateyama or Awa-Shirahama, via the Aqua-Line)→ Tomiura Biwa Club. The stop is at the roadside station itself, so there is no connection to make. Services are run jointly by Nitto Kotsu and JR Bus Kanto and reserved seats are worth booking at a weekend. Read the current fare and departure times on the operators' own pages the night before.
- Same route, northbound
- Northbound coaches leave from the stop on the opposite side of the national road and run back to Tokyo Station. Check the final departure before you settle in at the café. Trains from Tomiura Station run later into the evening but take considerably longer.
About the place
Loquat is a fussy crop. It flowers in winter, so it only fruits where frost is rare, and the sheltered west coast of the southern Boso Peninsula is one of the few places in eastern Japan that qualifies. Chiba ranks second among the prefectures for the fruit, behind Nagasaki, and nearly all of that comes from three neighbouring municipalities — Minamiboso, Tateyama and Kyonan. Tomiura sits at the centre of that belt. The roadside station chose the fruit rather than the town for its nickname, which tells you plainly which of the two the district is known for.
How to enjoy it
Open-air loquat runs from late May to late June, and outside that window what is on sale is preserved fruit rather than fresh. The rape blossoms come at the opposite end of the calendar, in early spring. Either way this is an hour's stop rather than a day out.
Background & history
Loquat growing on the Boso Peninsula is usually dated to 1751, which makes it one of the older fruit industries in the region. In 1909 a grower from Tomiura began sending the season's first fruit to the imperial household, and the custom has carried on, with a break during the war, ever since. The roadside station opened in November 1993 and was nicknamed Biwa Club after the crop rather than the village.
Before you go
- Cash
- There is no admission charge for the roadside station. Payment methods differ from counter to counter, so carry cash as well as a card, and confirm the bus fare on the operator's site before you travel rather than at the kerb.
- Before you go
- Fresh loquat is seasonal; for most of the year the fruit here is in jars and boxes. Opening hours and the pick-your-own calendar move with the crop, so check the official site before building a day around either. As a working roadside station it is busiest at lunchtime on weekends and holidays.
- Another way
- By rail, take the JR Uchibo Line to Tomiura Station and walk about fifteen minutes south along the national road. It is slower than the bus from Tokyo, but it is the sensible approach if you are already in Tateyama or Kamogawa and want the coast in the same day.
- After you get off
- The coach sets down on the national road beside the roadside station's car park, and the shop entrance is a short walk from the shelter. Going back, cross the road to the northbound stop.