Irago Cape marks the tip of the Atsumi Peninsula, the long green arm that encloses Mikawa Bay, and its white lighthouse — one of Japan’s fifty famous lighthouses — stands on the rocks where the bay’s calm waters meet the open Pacific swell. Beside it curves Koijigahama, the ‘Beach of the Road of Love’, a kilometre of pale sand celebrated in poetry and popular with couples, while the peninsula behind is one of Japan’s most productive flower and vegetable coasts, blanketed in yellow rapeseed blossom each early spring and serving some of Aichi’s best seafood in the port shacks around the ferry terminal.
🗓️ At a Glance
| Location | Tahara, Atsumi Peninsula, Aichi |
| Hours | Cape always open |
| Admission | Free |
| Time needed | Half day |
| Best time | January–March for rapeseed blossoms; summer for beaches |
What to See
- The white Irago Lighthouse at the bay-Pacific meeting point.
- Koijigahama beach, the poetic ‘Road of Love’ sands.
- Early-spring rapeseed blossom fields across the peninsula.
- Fresh seafood — giant clams and shirasu — at the port.
Combine Your Visit
- Combine with Mikawa Bay on the drive down.
- Pair with a ferry hop toward Ise from Irago port.
- Read our Aichi overview .
Getting There
- By car: about 1.5–2 hours from Nagoya to the cape; the practical option.
- By train + bus: Toyohashi Station then Toyotetsu bus down the peninsula, ~90 minutes.
Tips
The cape is genuinely remote — allow a full half day and ideally a car, stringing together the lighthouse walk, Koijigahama and a seafood lunch of the peninsula’s famous grilled giant clams (o-asari). From late January the Nanohana Garden’s rapeseed fields bloom brilliant yellow against the blue Pacific, the peninsula’s most photogenic season, and the Ise-wan ferry from Irago port makes an elegant onward route to Toba and Ise.
