Sakaiminato & Detective Conan Guide 2026: Tottori Manga Towns

Tottori is the home prefecture of two of Japan’s most beloved manga creators, and that makes it a natural two-day pop-culture pilgrimage along the coast — one of the best family trips in the San’in region. Day one is Detective Conan country in Hokuei; day two is the Mizuki Shigeru Road of yokai monsters at Sakaiminato, with a night in a lakeside onsen famous for a bath that floats on the water in between. This guide explains how to do it, and pairs with our Sakaiminato, yokai and Conan coast itinerary.

At a glance: Two days along the Tottori coast for families and manga fans — the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory and Conan statue street in Hokuei, a night on Lake Togo in a ryokan with a lake-floating bath, then Shigeru Mizuki’s 170-plus bronze yokai, his rebuilt memorial museum and the Sakaiminato seafood market. Reachable by JR (including a Conan-themed station and a yokai train), though a car links the two towns fastest.

Day one: Detective Conan’s hometown

The small town of Hokuei is where Gosho Aoyama, creator of “Detective Conan” (known abroad as Case Closed), grew up — and the franchise is one of the best-selling manga in history. The Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory is the museum devoted to him, with original drawings and manuscripts, a recreation of his studio, interactive detective gadgets and tricks straight from the series, and displays tracing his career from his Tottori childhood. It delights serious fans and casual visitors alike; admission is about ¥700 (2025), and it closes on Tuesdays. For families travelling with young Conan readers it is the emotional centre of the trip, but even those who have never opened the manga come away impressed by the sheer scale of the franchise on display.

Between the museum and JR Yura Station — officially nicknamed “Conan Station,” with a giant Conan figure greeting arrivals — runs the Conan Street, a roughly one-and-a-half-kilometre stretch dotted with bronze statues of Conan and the series’ characters, themed bridges and shops selling Conan goods. It is free, open-air and an irresistible treasure hunt for fans, who pose with each statue along the way, and the whole small town leans cheerfully into its most famous son. With a lunch stop at one of the themed cafes, where the menus nod to the series, it fills the early afternoon nicely before the drive on to the lake.

The night is spent on Lake Togo, a brackish lagoon where hot springs bubble up through the lakebed, at Hawai Onsen. Its landmark inn, Bourou Togetsu, has been open since 1931 and is famous for an open-air bath built out over the water itself — the only lake-floating bath of its kind in Japan, where you soak with the lake lapping at the rail and the sunset spreading across the surface. Rooms look out over the water and dinner draws on the lake and the nearby Sea of Japan. The setting is gentle and scenic rather than grand, and makes a memorable, photogenic night that children and adults both enjoy.

Day two: the yokai town of Sakaiminato

A drive west brings you to Sakaiminato, hometown of Shigeru Mizuki, the manga master whose “GeGeGe no Kitaro” brought Japan’s folklore monsters — the yokai — back into the popular imagination. The town has turned its main street into a shrine to them: from the station, the eight-hundred-metre Mizuki Shigeru Road is lined with more than 170 bronze statues of yokai, from the one-eyed boy Kitaro to the flying cloth-monster Ittan-momen and hundreds of weird and wonderful spirits set into the pavement and shopfronts. Yokai-themed sweets, stamp rallies and lanterns that glow after dark make the whole street a walk-through manga — free, endlessly browsable and genuinely magical for children.

At the far end stands the Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum, completely rebuilt and reopened in spring 2024 in a larger building. Its exhibits move from his Sakaiminato childhood and his harrowing experiences as a soldier in the war — in which he lost an arm, and which marked his work deeply — to the creation of Kitaro and his lifelong cataloguing of yokai, with original art, a recreated workspace and immersive yokai rooms. It is the substantial, storytelling counterpart to the playful street outside, and is open daily; admission is about ¥1,000 (2025).

Sakaiminato is also one of the busiest fishing ports on the Sea of Japan, so lunch belongs at the port’s seafood market, where the day’s catch is sold straight from the boats and cooked to order. In winter the prize is snow crab — both the high-grade matsuba and the more affordable beni-zuwai, sometimes served all-you-can-eat — while the rest of the year brings tuna, squid, mackerel and shellfish in heaped bowls. To round out the day, the nearby Sea and Life Museum, in an old sake warehouse, tells the story of the town’s relationship with the sea and keeps a collection of marine specimens — including a giant taxidermied great white shark that children remember long afterward.

Practicalities for 2026

This route works well by rail for car-free travellers: Yura (“Conan”) Station is on the JR San’in Line, and Sakaiminato is the terminus of the JR Sakaiminato Line, whose trains are themed as a “yokai train” — a charming way to arrive. That said, the two towns sit at opposite ends of the coast, roughly an hour apart, so a car links them fastest and makes the Lake Togo overnight in between effortless. The route is gentle and family-friendly year-round; winter adds the draw of snow crab at the Sakaiminato market. Yonago Kitaro Airport (named for Mizuki’s creation) is the nearest airport. For the sacred peak nearby, see our Mount Daisen and western Tottori guide.

FAQ

Where is Detective Conan’s hometown? Detective Conan’s creator, Gosho Aoyama, is from Hokuei in central Tottori. The town has the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory museum, a statue-lined Conan Street, and JR Yura Station, officially nicknamed “Conan Station.” It is the natural first stop on a Tottori manga trip.

What is Mizuki Shigeru Road? It is an eight-hundred-metre street in Sakaiminato lined with more than 170 bronze statues of yokai (folklore monsters) from Shigeru Mizuki’s “GeGeGe no Kitaro.” It runs from JR Sakaiminato Station, is free to walk, and lights up in the evening. The rebuilt Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum sits at the far end.

Is this trip good for children? Very much so. The Conan statues and museum, the yokai street, a bath that floats on a lake, and a seafood market with a giant preserved shark all appeal to kids, and the days are relaxed rather than rushed. It is one of the most family-friendly itineraries in the San’in region.

Can I do this without a car? Yes, with planning. Yura Station is on the JR San’in Line and Sakaiminato is reached on the yokai-themed Sakaiminato Line. But the two towns are about an hour apart at opposite ends of the coast, so a car makes connecting them and reaching the Lake Togo onsen considerably easier.

When is snow crab available at Sakaiminato? Snow crab — both matsuba and beni-zuwai — is a winter catch, roughly November to March. Outside that window the market still serves abundant tuna, squid, mackerel and shellfish, so it is worth a meal year-round, but for crab specifically, visit in winter.

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