Golf Courses in Japan

It is known that the most of golf courses in Hokkaido and Tohoku area close during freezing winter time, from the middle of  November to the end of March. On the contrary, summers in those area are relatively cool and dry comparing to hot and humid area such as Kanto, Kansai and Kyushu area. Especially summer in Hokkaido is quite dry and comfortable climate,  you should visit Hokkaido from June to September if you want to enjoy golfing there. Hokkaido is known for having the most golf course by prefecture in Japan, the number reached over 160. 

Tohoku area consists of 6 prefectures , Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures, and Sendai is a capital city of Miyagi prefecture and the pick of Tohoku's urban centers. It takes only 2 hours to Sendai, 3 hours to Morioka and Yamagata,  4 hours to Aomori and Akita  from Tokyo station by a bullet express train. There are not many golf courses in Tohoku area compared to Hokkaido, however,  there are splendid courses ranked in top 100 in Japan  such as   Natsudomari Golf Links in Aomori and  Bonari Kogen Golf Club in Fukushima. 

Kanto region consists of 7 prefectures, Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi and Tokyo. Tokyo is a capital city of Japan, the largest number of population in the world. You can find almost everything what you want  in Tokyo, however, there are not many golf courses. If want to stay in Tokyo and play golf, we recommend you to visit neighboring prefecture, Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, Ibaraki have many excellent courses, on average 1 hour drive from Tokyo, depending on traffic jam. 

There are 85 golf courses in Saitama, the prestige golf club like  Kasumigaseki Country Club  a venue of  Tokyo Olympics 2020.  In Chiba  prefecture, there are over 150 golf courses, surprisingly 33 golf courses exist in only Ichihara city. Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Kanagawa have also excellent courses, such as Sagamihara G.C., Horai C.C., Karuizawa Kogen G.C. , The Royal Golf Club and so on. 

KOSHINETSU region consists of 3 prefectures, Nagano, Yamanashi and Niigata prefecture.

 Nagano prefecture well known as the "Roof  of Japan" is a wonderful place to visit for lots of beautiful mountains, cultural history and its cuisine.  Nagano, the prefectural capital and host of Olympic games held in 1998, is home of Zenkoji which over 4 million worshippers visit annually is worthy of visiting definitely. Apart from those,  many popular mountain and ski resorts such as Hakuba, Azumino, Karuizawa, Shigakogen, Madarao and so on is well known. Karuizawa loved very much by John Lennon is picturesque resort town and located beneath of Mt. Asama. With 1 hour  access from Tokyo to Karuizawa by Shinkansen, hotels, restaurants, shops, golf courses and outlet shopping mall, especially summer vacation periods, many tourists visits.  

  Yamanashi prefecture is located to the west of Tokyo and to the south of Nagano. If you plan to see Mt. Fuji while playing golf, it is one of the best option to visit  Fuji five lakes area in Yamanashi. Of all iconic images, Mt Fuji is could be seen from the most of golf courses,  a number of parkland and hilly golf courses built dense forests, hills and mountains. 

 Niigata prefectures  well known for the best rice and sake production in Japan is located to north of Nagano facing to Japan sea.  There are many popular ski resorts and onsen  such as Naeba, Yuzawa, Myoko and so on.

CHUGOKU region consists of 5 prefectures, divided by Chugoku mountain range into 2 areas, Sanyo area facing to inland sea consists of Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi and Sanin area facing to Japan sea consists of Tottori and Shimane.

The biggest city , Hiroshima is not only known for the first atomic bomb attack in 1945, but also  Miyajima to glance at floating torii , which in Japanese means "Shrine Island".

Okayama is also popular place as historic ceramic, seafood and delicious fruits.  

In Shimane,  there is the great Izumo Taisha Shrine, which ranks with Ise-Jingu Shrine, is one of the most important Shrine in Japan and Iwami Ginzan silver mine, a Unesco World Heritage. 

Considering play golf in this region, we would recommend to choose Sanyo area since there are about 140 golf courses in Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi and  the prestige golf club like  Bicchukogen Hokubo Country Club, JFE Setonaikai Golf Club, Ube72 Country Club and Shimonoseki Golf Club and so on.  

SHIKOKU region consists of 4 prefectures, Ehima, Kagawa, Kochi and Tokushima prefecture. The origin of the name of SHIKOKU came from  the island was divided into four regions,  SHI means four and KOKU means regions. 

The island well known as pilgrimage to the 88 sacred places of Shikoku is  surrounded by beautiful nature, remote temples, local cuisines, historic castles, gardens  and golf courses. 

 Ehime prefecture is located to the west of the island  and facing to inland sea. The prefectural city, Matsuyama the biggest city in the island   

 Kagawa prefecture  well known for Sanuki Udon (Noodles) is the smallest countries in 47 prefectures.