This guide covers the Limited Express and local bus route from JR Miyazaki Station to Mimitsu, and the opening hours of the port town's museums. It then turns to Tateiwa Shrine and the river mouth's short history, before widening to Omi Shrine and the Cape Umagase sightseeing boat elsewhere in Hyuga, with rental bicycles and lunch to finish.
Getting to Mimitsu from Miyazaki by Train and Bus
The journey from Miyazaki has a rail leg and a bus leg: a Limited Express train carries you from JR Miyazaki Station to Hyuga-shi Station, and the Nanbu Purattto Bus then takes you on to Mimitsu. The numbered steps give the order of travel, and the figures you need for each leg come straight after them.
- Board a Limited Express Nichirin or Hyuga train at JR Miyazaki Station and ride to JR Hyuga-shi Station, about forty-five minutes.
- At JR Hyuga-shi Station, board the Nanbu Purattto Bus toward Mimitsu Station and pay the adult fare given in the table.
- Get off at Mimitsu Station.
The ride time for the rail leg and the adult bus fare follow in the table.
| Leg | Detail |
|---|---|
| JR Miyazaki Station to JR Hyuga-shi Station, Limited Express Nichirin or Hyuga, ride time | about 45 minutes |
| Hyuga City Station to Mimitsu Station, Nanbu Purattto Bus, adult fare | 300 yen |
| City bus, adult fare, junior high school age and older, per boarding | 200 yen |
The ride time and the adult fare above are the figures to work from when you plan the way back. Decide on your return before you leave the stop, and budget the fare and the ride time on top of whatever you plan to do in town.
The Mimitsu Museums: Opening Hours and Admission
A handful of places in Mimitsu open on the same schedule: Mimitsu-ken, the Hyuga City Museum of History and Folklore, and the Mimitsu Machinami Center. Their shared opening hours are set out in the table at the end of this section, so a single glance tells you the window for each of them. Start with whichever you reach first.
The Hyuga City Museum of History and Folklore charges admission, with an adult price and a reduced price for elementary, junior high and high school students. Both figures appear alongside the hours below, so you can settle the cost before you walk in.
A simple order works: begin at the Mimitsu Machinami Center, move on to the Hyuga City Museum of History and Folklore, and finish at Mimitsu-ken. Keep the end of the shared opening window in view as you go, and save Tateiwa Shrine and the riverbank for after the stops that keep set hours.
| Place or item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Mimitsu-ken, Hyuga City Museum of History and Folklore and Mimitsu Machinami Center, opening hours | 9:00 to 16:30 |
| Hyuga City Museum of History and Folklore, admission, adult | 220 yen |
| Hyuga City Museum of History and Folklore, admission, elementary, junior high and high school students | 110 yen |
Tateiwa Shrine and the Port Town's Past
A Meiji-era gazetteer records Mimitsu as a trading settlement that grew up at the mouth of the Mimi River, with tile-roofed houses packed closely together. The same gazetteer notes that the river mouth formed a small harbour where a number of vessels used to call. Walk down to the water first, then read the town back from the river.
The gazetteer records Tateiwa Shrine on the south bank of the Mimi River. Within its grounds, ringed by a sacred fence, is a stone that is said to be where Emperor Jimmu rested on his eastern expedition. The town is said to keep the memory of that visit, so begin your look around at the stone.
The river itself is said to have been a battlefield where the Shimazu and Otomo clans clashed, the Shimazu camped on the south bank and the Otomo on the north. Pay your respects at the shrine, then stand on the bank with the water in front of you and the town at your back, and take the story in.
Where to stay
Places to stay near Hyuga, Miyazaki, Japan →
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Omi Shrine and Cape Umagase Elsewhere in Hyuga
Away from Mimitsu, in another part of Hyuga, Omi Shrine sits on a columnar-jointed rock face above the Pacific, and a shrine guidebook notes that local people know it affectionately as the Ise of Hyuga. Look at the rock beneath the hall as closely as the hall itself.
The same guidebook records a sazare-ishi, a conglomerate stone, that was found within the shrine grounds and is said to be among the largest in Japan. Put it on your list alongside the rock face, and treat the pair as the heart of a visit here.
Cape Umagase, also called Hyuga Cape, is a coastal stop elsewhere in the city. The Tobishima Maru is the sightseeing boat for the cape, and it charges separate prices for adults and for elementary school children; both appear in the table that follows the photograph. Settle who pays which fare before you board.
| Tobishima Maru sightseeing boat, Cape Umagase | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult, per person | 3,000 yen |
| Elementary school child, per person | 1,500 yen |
Rental Bicycles and Lunch in Hyuga
A rental bicycle scheme in Hyuga offers a city bike, a cross bike and an electric-assist bicycle, each priced by the day. The electric-assist bicycle also comes with a short rental counted in hours rather than days, which suits a ride built around a single stop; the full price list is in the first table of this section.
Pick-up and return for the rental scheme sit within a single daytime window, and that window is given with the prices. Plan to collect a bicycle early in the window and hand it back before the window ends, leaving yourself a margin so that lunch does not run into the return.
For lunch, Hyuga Umaimon-dokoro Marumi serves a set meal of the day at a tax-included price, and it keeps separate lunch and evening hours, each with a last order ahead of the finish. The price and the hours are in the final table of this section; time your arrival against the lunch last order, not the end of service.
| Rental bicycle | Price or hours |
|---|---|
| City bike, three-speed, two days | 1,600 yen |
| Cross bike, five-speed, one day | 800 yen |
| Cross bike, five-speed, two days | 1,600 yen |
| Electric-assist bicycle, under three hours | 1,000 yen |
| Electric-assist bicycle, one day | 1,500 yen |
| Electric-assist bicycle, two days | 3,000 yen |
| Pick-up and return hours | 8:30 to 17:30 |
| Hyuga Umaimon-dokoro Marumi | Price or hours |
|---|---|
| Set meal of the day, tax included | 1080 yen |
| Lunch hours | 11:00 to 15:00, last order 14:30 |
| Evening hours | 17:00 to 21:30, last order 21:00 |
If the day runs long, places to stay in Hyuga are worth sorting out before you leave Miyazaki.