6 Sightseeing and Experience Spots in the Aso Area You Can Enjoy Even on Rainy Days
The Aso-Kuju area is known for its magnificent nature and one of the world's largest calderas. If the weather is good, you can enjoy the majestic outer rim, grasslands, and the impressive Aso Five Peaks. However, even if the weather is unfortunate, there are plenty of spots where you can experience the charm of Aso. Here, we introduce spots and workshops that you can enjoy even on rainy, hot, or cold days. These are all places where you can fully enjoy the blessings of Aso's magnificent nature regardless of the weather.
1Aso Genki no Mori (Aso Farm Land)
Enjoy health-building activities for both adults and children at this all-weather sports facility.
A health promotion park supervised by health experts. Located in the heart of the great outdoors of Minamiaso Village, the approximately 1 million square meter site is packed with attractions, lunch options, and spas.
You can move your body to your heart's content even on rainy, hot, or cold days at the three all-weather sports facilities. From the "Genki Challenge Hall," where you use your head and body to clear giant mazes and obstacles, to the "Toddler Challenge Hall," where babies and toddlers can enjoy building the foundations of their physical strength and movement through playful exercise equipment, and the "Physical Age Measurement Hall," where you can have fun as if playing a game, adults and children alike can enjoy improving their health.
Facilities that provide deep healing for both mind and body are also available.
After refreshing yourself with exercise, head to a facility where you can feel relaxed. There are plenty of healing spots, such as the "Dome Reduction Bath," where you can experience health-promoting thermal therapy that warms and loosens your body from the core in an antioxidant reduction dome; the "Magma Clay Spa" (for women only), where you can experience a self-spa with mineral-rich mud packs and mud baths; and the "Oxygen Dome," where you can relax in high-concentration oxygen.
You can also enjoy lunch at the "Dai-Aso Restaurant," a health buffet supervised by registered dietitians that clearly lists nutrients and calories. Let's enjoy building health from the depths of our mind and body in the great nature of Aso.
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At "Aso Milk Farm" on the premises, you will find a wide selection of items, including homemade sweets like the "Rich Raw Cheesecake 1592 (Higokuni)" made with ASO MILK and cookies printed with Kumamon, as well as cheeses from around the world and Aso souvenirs!
- Aso Genki no Mori (Aso Farm Land)
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5579-3 Kawayo, Minamiaso-mura, Aso-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture MAP 
Approx. 40 minutes by car from Aso Kumamoto Airport
9:00–17:00 *Varies by facility and day of the week
None
Admission free
[Genki Challenge Hall] Adults 1,000 yen, Children 600 yen
[Toddler Challenge Hall] Adults 1,000 yen, Children 1,200 yen
[Physical Age Measurement Hall] Adults 1,500 yen, Children 800 yen
[Dome Reduction Bath] Adults 1,800 yen, Children 800 yen
[Magma Clay Spa] (Women only) Adults 3,600 yen
[Oxygen Dome] 1,100 yen
and others
0967-67-2100
Free
2Aso Sarumawashi Theater
The performances of laughter and emotion put on by the monkeys are a must-see.
Located at the foot of Mount Aso in Minamiaso Village, this theater offers the chance to enjoy traditional monkey performances. Since its founding in 1989, it has been a classic Aso tourist destination, loved by many as a spot where you can experience the traditional Japanese performing art of monkey shows up close.
The monkeys' cute and skillful performances, such as doing handstands or riding stilts and bicycles, are truly spectacular. With laughter, touching moments, and fun banter between the monkeys and their trainers, both children and adults alike can feel like kids again and enjoy the excitement. The 40-minute showtime passes by in the blink of an eye.
A theater equipped with heating and air conditioning, barrier-free access, and multilingual support.
The theater has a capacity of about 600 people. It is an indoor, all-weather facility equipped with heating and air conditioning, so you can fully enjoy it even on rainy days. The venue is barrier-free, allowing entry with strollers and accommodating up to 15 wheelchairs per performance. Furthermore, subtitles in English, Korean, and Chinese are displayed during the show, ensuring that international visitors can also fully enjoy the experience.
After enjoying the show, be sure to stop by the monkey mountain where you can feed the monkeys (100 yen).
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Operated by the "Suo Sarumawashi Association," which has a history of over 1,000 years in Yamaguchi Prefecture and is designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Hikari City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Enjoy this rare traditional Japanese performing art at your leisure.
- Aso Sarumawashi Theater
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- 793 Shimono, Minamiaso-mura, Aso-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture MAP
- Approx. 40 minutes by car from Aso Kumamoto Airport
- Two performances at 11:00 and 13:30, or three performances at 11:00, 13:30, and 14:40
*Please check the website for detailed performance schedules - Please check the website for details
- Adults 1,300 yen, Junior/Senior High School Students 1,000 yen, Children 700 yen
- 0967-35-1341
- Free
3ASO MILK FACTORY (Hana Asobi)
Abe Farm's flagship shop where you can experience the full taste of Aso.
A tourist spot located near Uchinomaki Onsen in Aso City. This is the flagship shop operated by Abe Farm, which produces and sells "ASO MILK," the first milk in Japan to receive three stars from the International Taste Institute, as well as other dairy products.
The shop inside features a wide array of products, including ASO MILK's pasteurized milk, drinking yogurt, and other dairy products, as well as sweets made with ASO MILK and carefully selected souvenirs from all over Aso, allowing you to experience the flavors of the region. You can also watch the production process at the adjacent cheese and sweets workshops, and cheese is available for purchase by weight.
Enjoy ASOMILK in dishes and sweets. Also features one of the largest rose domes in western Japan.
At the cafe next to the shop, popular items include the "Baum Soft," which features ASOMILK soft-serve ice cream atop "ASOMILKUCHEN" baumkuchen made in the sweets workshop, and "Cannoli," an Italian sweet consisting of crispy fried tubular dough filled with ricotta cheese cream.
Furthermore, the premises house the "Rose Garden Hana Asobi," one of Japan's largest rose domes and gardens, boasting 4,000 plants of 750 rose varieties maintained by gardeners using organic fertilizer. It is a soothing space not only during the spring rose season (late April to early June) when many flowers are in full bloom and the fragrant autumn rose season (mid-October to mid-November), but also outside of the rose season, thanks to the well-maintained greenhouse and garden.
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The attached restaurant, which welcomes you with "Welcome ASO MILK" instead of a welcome drink, offers a menu where you can fully enjoy the deliciousness of ASO MILK, such as fresh pasta and pizza made with ASO MILK cheese!
- ASO MILK FACTORY (Hana Asobi)
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- 781 Ozato, Aso City, Kumamoto Prefecture MAP
- Approx. 10 minutes by car from JR Aso Station
- Shop/Cafe 9:30–18:00, Restaurant 11:00–14:30, Rose Garden Hana Asobi 9:30–17:00 (Rose Dome only 10:00–16:30)
*Temporarily closed for pruning from Dec 1 to mid-April and Aug 1 to mid-October - None
- 0967-23-6262
- Free
4Minami Aso Soba Dojo
Experience soba noodle making in a region famous for Aso's prized buckwheat.
Minamiaso Village, which offers magnificent views of the Five Peaks of Aso, is one of Aso's leading buckwheat production areas. At the "Minamiaso Soba Dojo" located on the grounds of "Michi-no-Eki Asobo no Sato Kugino," you can enjoy a "soba-making experience" where you make and eat your own handmade soba noodles.
You will knead stone-ground buckwheat flour milled in-house, roll it out with a rolling pin, fold it, and cut it... It is all part of the fun that the noodles turn out with unique personalities, some thick and some thin. Both children and adults get absorbed in the soba-making process, which is not something you can easily experience every day.
The fragrant flavor of the soba is exceptional. Buying dried noodles as a souvenir is also recommended.
The soba you complete in the approximately 40-minute experience will be boiled by the shop staff so you can eat it on the spot. The rich aroma of the buckwheat flour and, above all, the deliciousness of the noodles you made with your own hands are exceptional! Children can participate from a young age if accompanied by a guardian, and applications are accepted for two or more people. You can also just have a soba meal inside the dojo, so even if you don't have time for the experience, you can still enjoy the deliciousness of Minamiaso-grown soba.
You can also purchase dried noodles made here inside the shop or at the adjacent roadside station, so be sure to take some Minamiaso-grown soba home as a souvenir.
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"Michi-no-Eki Asobo no Sato Kugino," where the soba dojo is located, is a popular tourist spot in the Minami-Aso area. It serves as a base for sightseeing in Minami-Aso, featuring a local products shop, a cafeteria, a large lawn plaza, a dog run, cafes, rental bicycles, and a mountain climbing registration desk.
- Minamiaso Soba Dojo
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- Inside "Roadside Station Asonosato Kugino", 2776 Hisaishi, Minamiaso Village, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture MAP
- Approx. 40 minutes by car from Aso Kumamoto Airport
- 9:00–17:00 *Activities 10:00–15:30, Dining 10:00–16:30
- Second Wednesday *Subject to change depending on the season
- From 3,300 yen for 2 people, 1 pot
- 0967-67-0507
- Free
5Art Washi Kobo Hakusui
Experience handmade paper making using the beautiful spring water of Shirakawa Suigen.
Shirakawa Suigen is one of the popular tourist spots in Minamiaso Village. It is the source of the Shirakawa River, a first-class river that flows all the way to Kumamoto City, with approximately 60 tons of water gushing out every minute, and it has been selected as one of the 100 Best Waters of Japan.
At a workshop right next to this spring, you can enjoy a "paper-making experience" using this beautiful water. You can make either one sheet of colored paper or two postcards. While touching the freshly sprung water, you scoop up the materials with a sugeta (bamboo mold), then decorate it with pressed flowers or colored water. Once finished, it can be dried on the spot, so your own unique washi paper will be ready in about 30 minutes.
Original washi paper works are also available for purchase. Enjoy drawing spring water and strolling around the source.
It is a precious experience to make paper with your own hands while touching the famous water of Aso. It is easy for children to make, so it is perfect for creating memories. The shop also sells original postcards, tapestries, kaishi paper, business cards, and other washi products made here, as well as products such as towels from Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.
Empty plastic bottles for collecting water from the spring are also available for purchase, so we recommend taking home some of the spring water you collected as a souvenir. It is a spot where you can experience the charm of Aso's proud spring water with your whole body.
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Supporter
The spring water pond at "Shirakawa Suigen" is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom and watch the water bubbling up. Coffee brewed with this spring water is exceptionally delicious, so we also recommend bringing a container to collect some water!
- Art Washi Kobo Hakusui
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- Inside Shirakawa Suigen, 2081 Shirakawa, Minamiaso-mura, Aso-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture MAP
- Approx. 40 minutes by car from Aso Kumamoto Airport
- 9:30–17:00
- Irregular
- 1,000 yen per session
- 0967-62-3264
- Free
6glass studio MATSU
Create stained glass using rare glass while gazing at the scenery of Aso.
A small stained glass workshop located in nature, overlooking the Minami-Gairin mountains. The "One-Day Stained Glass Experience" taught by stained glass artist MATSU is popular.
The glass used here is "antique glass" made using traditional hand-blown methods manufactured in Germany and other countries. It is a material with attractive delicate colors and textures. If you choose the "SPECIAL" course, you can create works using this glass, which is rare in Japan (the STANDARD course uses machine-made glass). You choose your favorite parts and use a soldering iron to bond the glass yourself.
You can choose your preferred project, from small motifs to large panels.
You can choose from several types of stained glass projects, such as hand mirrors, star ornaments, and night lights. The "Forest Window Decoration" allows you to create a tree motif inspired by the lush forests of Aso, making it a popular Aso souvenir. All projects can be completed in about an hour and a half.
Furthermore, the "Authentic Panel" allows you to create a full-scale stained glass piece within a wooden frame, which is recommended for those who want to take their time creating something for their home interior. Capture the memories of your trip to Aso in the special radiance of glass and take it home as a work of art... This workshop is also recommended for making souvenirs for your loved ones.
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Children can also participate. However, since there is a risk of burns if the soldering iron is held incorrectly, please participate with a guardian.
- glass studio MATSU
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- 1176-5 Kawayo, Minamiaso-mura, Aso-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture MAP
- Approx. 40 minutes by car from Aso Kumamoto Airport
- 10:00–18:00
- Irregular
- "Star Ornament Making" STANDARD course 5,800 yen, SPECIAL course 6,800 yen
"Hand Mirror Making" STANDARD course 4,200 yen, SPECIAL course 5,200 yen
"Forest Window Decoration" 15,000 yen, "Authentic Panel" 25,000 yen, and others - 0967-65-8108
- Free
Advance reservation required.
Please book one-day workshops via the website (https://glassstudio-matsu.com/workshop-class/workshop/) or by phone
