Step into Spirited Away at Egawa: a site of beauty in Japan that tourists have yet to discover

If you loved the scenery in Chihiro’s train journey in Spirited Away, you’ll love this unique location just one hour away from Tokyo.

Japan has some spectacular places for tourists to visit. From cultural world heritage sites like Mt. Fuji and the monuments of ancient Kyoto to places of natural beauty like protected islands and national parks, Japan is brimming with beautiful photo opportunities, just waiting to be captured and shared online.

Some of the country’s best locations, however, are the ones hidden away in secluded areas and kept well away from tourist guidebooks. Recently, we’ve been spellbound by the Venice of Japan in Kyoto and the unusual torii gates at Motonosumi Inari Shrine, and now we have another little-known location to add to the list: the Egawa Seaside in Chiba Prefecture.

The unique location has been been likened to Salar de Uyuni, the famous salt lake in Bolivia, which turns into a giant mirror, reflecting the sky when a layer of rainfall covers the area.

▼ Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat, covering a space of 10,582 square kilometres (4,086 square miles). It’s located 3,656 metres (11,995 feet) above sea level.

The Egawa coastline has been referred to as “Japan’s Salar de Uyuni” and “Mirror of the Sky”, as a similar effect can be seen here on the water’s surface, making it a popular spot with local photographers. On clear days, Mt Fuji can be seen in the distance.

As night falls, the lights from the ironworks across the bay begin to sparkle, making for a beautiful sight.

Some visitors liken the area to the beautiful rail journey in Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed anime film, Spirited Away. The scene in the movie shows the main character, Chihiro, running to a platform through shallow waters that reflect the sky beautifully, making it seem like she’s running on air. The train takes her and her magical friends on a ride through the watery landscape, creating some beautiful imagery.

While there’s no train running through the shallow waters here, it’s easy to imagine one arriving, with the telegraph poles pointing to some type of electrical activity in the otherwise serene area.

The poles, built on a causeway which becomes completely covered at high tide, were built to power observation stations that prevent clam poaching at nearby mud flats. Similar telegraph poles strung across the water can be found at two other locations in Kisarazu City, Chiba, at the Kaneda and Kuzuma shorelines, however the ones at Kaneda were removed recently due to corrosion.

▼ There’s nothing distinctive about the shoreline at Kaneda as it appears today.

There are concerns that the two other locations may also follow suit and remove the floating telegraph poles, so if you’d like to see the spectacle, it’s best to visit soon before the unique landscape disappears forever.