Chiba by Tokyo Bay: Mt Nokogiri's Hell-Peek, the Bay Ferry & Mother Farm — 2 Days

The most enjoyable way onto the southern Boso Peninsula is by sea. The Tokyo Bay Ferry crosses from Kurihama on the Miura side to Kanaya in about forty minutes, with open decks where children can watch the gulls, the passing ships and the Boso hills rising ahead. It lands you right at the foot of Mt Nokogiri, so the crossing doubles as both transport and the day's first small adventure. On a clear day Mount Fuji stands off to the west across the bay.

About ¥900 one-way / ¥1,600 round trip adult (approx., 2026); reduced timetable during the annual vessel dry-dock — check the daily schedule. Arrives at Kanaya Port. Allow about 40 minutes for the crossing.

Mt Nokogiri, the 'sawtooth mountain', was quarried for fine building stone for centuries, leaving sheer cut cliffs that give it its jagged profile. The ropeway lifts you from near the port to the upper ridge in about four minutes, with the whole sweep of Tokyo Bay opening behind the cabin as you rise. It is the easy way up for families — far gentler than the long stone stairways — and drops you a short walk from the temple grounds and the famous overhang.

About ¥1,200 round trip adult (approx., 2026); closed for maintenance roughly mid-January to mid-February, shorter winter hours. Base station near Hama-Kanaya. Allow about 20 minutes including the ride up.

Spread across the southern face of Mt Nokogiri, Nihon-ji is a temple said to date from 725, its wooded grounds dotted with stone carvings made when the quarries were worked. Its centrepiece is the Great Buddha, a seated stone Yakushi Nyorai about 31 metres high — carved from the living rock in the 1780s and restored in the 1960s, far larger than the famous bronze Buddhas of Nara and Kamakura. Paths thread past the Hyaku-shaku Kannon, a 30-metre relief carved into a quarry wall, and ranks of small stone arhats. Note that the grounds are steep and some trails remain under repair.

About ¥700 adult (approx., 2026); roughly 09:00-16:00. Steep, many stairs; some trails under typhoon repair. Allow about 70 minutes.

Near the summit of Mt Nokogiri, a shelf of bare quarried rock juts out over a sheer cliff, and you can walk to its railed edge and look straight down the mountain face — the reason it is called Jigoku-nozoki, the 'peek into hell'. From the ledge the view runs out over the temple grounds, the forested ridges and the whole shining sweep of Tokyo Bay. It is the mountain's signature thrill and a guaranteed hit with older children, though the railing is what makes it safe — keep a hand on younger ones.

Inside the Nihon-ji grounds, no separate fee; a short uphill walk from the ropeway summit. Railed edge. Allow about 30 minutes.

Back down by the bay, Ryoshi Ryori Kanaya serves the catch in generous, unfussy fisherman's style — heaped kaisendon rice bowls, sashimi and grilled fish — in a big seafront room with bay and, on clear days, Fuji views, plus its own hot-spring bath. It is a relaxed, well-priced spot that handles families and groups easily after a morning of stairs, and a good introduction to the simple seafood the southern Boso coast does best.

Open for lunch; kaisendon and sets roughly ¥1,500-2,500 (approx., 2026). By Kanaya port. Allow about an hour.

Kajiya is a small, long-running hot-spring ryokan a couple of minutes from Hama-Kanaya station and the ferry, serving seafood-centred dinners and offering a quiet onsen soak after a day on the mountain. It is a modest, family-run inn rather than a luxury resort; the value is the convenient bayside location, the hot spring and the home-style fish dinner. Staying over also lets you take an early Mother Farm the next morning before the crowds.

Small onsen ryokan; dinner-and-breakfast plans from roughly ¥13,000 per person (approx., 2026). A few minutes from Hama-Kanaya. Modest, not luxury; book ahead.

Spread over a breezy hilltop in Futtsu, Mother Farm is a long-running animal-and-flower park built for a full family morning. Children can meet and feed sheep, alpacas, cows, guinea pigs and capybaras, watch a sheep-shearing or sheepdog show, try hand-milking, and ride a long bobsled run; the hillsides turn yellow with rape blossom and pink with petunias in season. It is unpretentious and hands-on, the kind of place where small children happily lose a morning, with wide views back over the bay.

About ¥1,800 adult / ¥900 child (approx., 2026); hilltop and exposed — bring a layer. In Futtsu, about 30 minutes from Kanaya. Allow about 2.5 hours.

Come back down toward the coast for an easy seafood lunch before the afternoon at the cape. The Kanaya and Futtsu shore is lined with casual fish restaurants doing kaisendon, fried horse-mackerel (the local aji is famous) and grilled-fish sets at honest prices, many with bay views. It is a simple, child-friendly stop — order a mixed sashimi bowl or a fry set and a soft drink, and you are set for an afternoon walk on the spit.

Casual seafood restaurants along the Kanaya/Futtsu shore; sets roughly ¥1,200-2,200 (approx., 2026). Allow about an hour.

Cape Futtsu is a long, thin sand spit that reaches several kilometres out into Tokyo Bay, ending at a striking stepped observation deck shaped like a stylised fortress. Walk or cycle out along it, past pine groves and the remains of Meiji-era coastal forts, and climb the deck for a 360-degree view: the whole arc of the bay, the ships at anchor, the Miura Peninsula opposite and, on a clear day, Mount Fuji floating over the water. It is free, breezy and a fine, low-key way to end the trip.

Open park, free, any time. The observation deck is a short walk along the spit from the car park. In Futtsu. Allow about an hour.