Ise City is located on the Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture and it is known for being a spiritual city since it is the home to Ise Shrine, Japan`s most sacred Shinto Shrine featuring over 125 shrines centered around Naiku (Inner Shrine) dedicated to the Sun Goddess “Amaterasu” and Geku (Outer Shrine) dedicated to “Toyoukeno”, the God of agriculture. Near Naiku there is Okage Yokocho side street which is located in the center of Oharai Machi Town. Here you can experience an amazing time-travel back to the Edo Period thanks to its historical atmosphere while strolling and enjoying Ise traditional food for example Ise Udon or akafuku rice cake.

Not far from the city of Futami, which belongs to Ise City, there are Meoto Iwa Rocks connected by a shimenawa rope. They are also called “wedded rocks”, which serve as torii gate to the Futami Okitama Shinto Shrine. Inside the Shrine there are many frog sculptures, which are considered messengers of God. They are also believed to bring good fortune in returning lost items. For centuries, pilgrims have stopped at Futami Okitama Shrine in order to purify themselves before visiting Ise Shrine. Moreover, from March to April Miyagawa Tsutsumi Park, which runs along the Miyagawa river northwest of Ise Shrine, offer a spectacular view of cherry blossoms thanks to its 1,000 Yoshino cherry trees.

Toba City is part of Ise-Shima National Park and it located in the northern area of the Shima Peninsula facing both Ise Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The whole area is blessed by nature, the coast is flat but the inner part features mountains which turns pink in spring thanks to the presence of cherry blossom trees, red in autumn and green in summer. Toba area offers many things to do.

 You can soak yourself in amazing hot springs, explore Toba`s four inhabited islands by ferry and try delicious local food such as the Ise spiny lobster and abalone. You can also visit the Aquarium, which contains one of the largest numbers of species of fishes and animals in Japan for example crabs, sea lions, sea birds, otters, reptiles and more.

But one of the most interesting activities is discovering Toba`s female free diving called Ama. These “sea women” are fearless and powerful, they dive without oxygen tanks into the sea in order to find and gather sea urchins, pearl oysters, lobsters and precious abalones on the rocky seabed. The history of Ama is also described in ancient Japanese text, hence they have been handed down this tradition for over 2000 years.