Originally Posted by
jib71
I don't think so. I would suggest staying an extra night on the peninsula. That said, I could find activities to fill my time if I had a day in any of those cities - Numazu has Baird Brewery, which might be worth a stop for a craft beer fan. Shizuoka has a museum devoted to Keisuke Serizawa (a kind of Japanese William Morris), who made some gorgeous textile art, and Hamamatsu has a refurbished inn ...
Fantastic regional food? I've had good seafood. The region produces a lot of eel, tea, wasabi ... but I'd never thought of it as a particularly outstanding gourmet destination. Don't get me wrong - I like the region. I find that Shizuokans are often relaxed, friendly, and hospitable.
Thanks for the feedback!
Are you suggesting you'd sooner spend an extra night on the peninsula, or you would actually recommend staying an extra night (3n) on the peninsula?
Aside from the local wasabi farms, Izu is supposed to be known for their fresh line-caught ayu from the Kano river, their inoshishi nabe (wild boar) which I've also seen prepared in gyoza, ramen and other dishes, local aji and of course, excellent sakes incl. one from Morimoto Brewery in Kikugawa City which interests me (although I'm sure it could be found in Tokyo). I'm not a big fan of shochu but apparently it can be found made with wasabi... along with plenty of other touristy things that probably sound more interesting than they taste, like wasabi ice cream.
Anyhow, there seems to be a lot to do and see on the Izu peninsula and the distance between Shuzenji onsen station and the capes seem to be significant; I wonder if it would be worth spending 3 nights rather than 2 just to be able to take full advantage of the area; hikes, beaches- and our ryokan? I just worry that a lot of the food in Shuzenji seems geared to cater to weekend tourists and doesn't seem interesting outside of the kaiseki meals in a handful of ryokans. Lots of lunchtime soba shops, bentos; not unlike to Hakone. Three consecutive nights of similar kaiseki sets reusing the same seasonal ingredients might get tiring. I think I'd need to venture inland to really find more quality and diversity and it sounds like destination-wise, there's not much to do or see outside of the peninsula. I guess we'll just head back to Tokyo.