Most people arriving at Chubu International Airport instinctively rush toward central Nagoya. But if you've been to Nagoya too many times already, or want a different starting point for your journey, exploring the ceramic hometown of the Chita Peninsula northward from the airport might be a better choice. This article doesn't teach you how to hurry—it shows you how to see the airport surroundings from a "arrive but don't enter the city yet" perspective, reunderstanding the value of the area around the airport.
Chubu International Airport is located in Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture. It takes about 80 minutes to arrive from Tokyo, and about 2 hours from Kansai International Airport. This sea airport, expanded and completed in 2019 itself is worth spending half an hour exploring—the observation deck's flight view allows you to see planes taking off and landing on the runway, the airport's Maneki-neko Art Museum and Buta Kare are airport-exclusive items. But what makes this place truly special is its deep connection with the surrounding towns, not the airport itself.
Highlights: The airport is no longer a transfer hub, but an entry point for regional exploration
Traditional airport transportation guides often treat the airport as a "node you must pass through"—calculating how long it takes to reach the city center and how much money to get to your accommodation. But at Chubu International Airport, this thinking actually wastes its geographical location advantage. The airport is located on the east coast of the Chita Peninsula, with Tokoname City—famous for its ceramics for a thousand years—to the north, and Sakurai Town, the hometown of colored pencils, to the west. For travelers who have already toured around Osaka or Tokyo and are preparing to depart from Nagoya, arranging an afternoon of local experience from the airport is much more efficient than dragging luggage into the city center and then heading out again.
This "airport-surroundings-first" way of traveling has relatively fewer people, but precisely because of that, the services are less standardized, retaining more flexibility. After arriving at the airport in the morning, you can check your luggage at the counter, then take the Meitetsu line slowly northward, exploring station by station, return to the airport in the afternoon to pick up your luggage and catch a late evening flight out. The entire itinerary saves about 1.5 hours of commuting time compared to going into the city and back out, and covers areas with the lowest tourist density.
Recommended Places: Three Deep Experiences Around Tokoname
The first recommendation is the Tokoname Ceramic Road (Tokoname-yaki paved road). This is a pottery district extending along the old street, originally an industrial cluster of ceramics that began in the Edo period, with over 50 workshops still operating today. Unlike the upscale feel of Kyoto's Kiyomizu-yaki, Tokoname's pottery style is rough and robust, focusing on large rice storage jars and flower pots, with prices ranging from 2,000 yen for daily-use vessels to 100,000 yen for artistic pieces. The district is small, two hours is enough to walk through, but you can directly enter the workshops along the way to observe the pottery-making process; some workshops even offer 30-minute simple wheel-throwing experiences, costing approximately 3,000 to 5,000 yen. The most recommended is the "Tokoname Ceramic Hall," a complex facility converted from an old factory. The first floor displays and sells works, while the second floor preserves the remains of the climbing kiln. Admission is free, making it the starting point to understand the region's industrial history. It is a 5-minute walk from Tokoname Station, open year-round from 9 AM to 5 PM, closed on Wednesdays.
The second recommendation is Mihama ATami Beach, located about a 25-minute drive north of the airport. This coastline is one of the best swimming spots on the Chita Peninsula, with white sandy beach stretching about two kilometers, backed by fully developed commercial facilities so you don't need to worry about finding food. Compared to Ise Beach in Mie Prefecture, this beach has extremely low foreign tourist density; even on summer weekends, you barely see Taiwanese or Hong Kong tour groups. "SEA SIDE PANKO" next to the beach is a seafood-focused restaurant, featuring same-day catch set meals, with lunch set prices ranging from 1,200 to 1,800 yen, and the freshness of ingredients is several levels better than chain restaurants in the city at similar prices. If you arrive at Chubu Airport in the evening, watching the sunset from here and then flying at night creates a very different airport memory. Mihama ATami Beach has no entrance fee, open all day, July-August is the best season for swimming, while April-June and September have cooler water but fewer tourists, ideal for photography.
The third recommendation is Toyotashi Castle Ruins, located on the hills south of Tokoname city center. It's a castle ruins built by descendants of the Mori clan retainers, and is the only castle in Japan named "Toyota." Compared to the grandeur of Himeji Castle, this feels more like a private mountain fortress; only the stone foundation of the tenshu (keep) remains, but the surrounding hiking trails are planted with over 200 Somei Yoshino cherry trees. The hiking experience during full bloom at the end of March to early April is described by locals as "like walking into an Edo-period film set." This isn't a place for expecting spectacular views, but if you want to insert a period of great contrast and tranquility into your busy Nagoya itinerary, what this offers is a completely different sense of nature and history intertwined, unlike city viewing. About 15 minutes by bus from Tokoname Station, alight at "Toya-shirent" station and walk 10 minutes—free admission, open all day.
Practical Information: Transportation Options from the Airport
The most flexible way to reach the three recommended places from Chubu International Airport is by renting a car or chartering a taxi. The airport car rental counters are mainly in the car rental building on the right side of the arrival hall in Terminal 1. When four or more people travel together, splitting the cost comes to about 2,000-3,000 yen per person, which is cheaper and saves time compared to public transportation. However, if you don't rent a car, the Mei-tetsu railway can also meet basic needs: the airport to Tokoname Station on the express train takes about 12 minutes, fare is 320 yen, and the Ceramic Road is a 5-minute walk from Tokoname Station. The only limitation is that Mihama Beach and Toyotashi Castle Ruins have no nearby train stations and require bus or taxi transfers.
If you arrive before noon, the recommended itinerary is: Check luggage at the airport (500 yen per piece per day) → Meitetsu to Tokoname Station (~12 minutes, 320 yen) → Walk the Ceramic Road for 2 hours (or 3 hours including the simple experience) → Return to Tokoname Station and take bus or taxi to Mihama ATami for lunch → On the way back, if there's time, detour to Toyotashi Castle. The entire trip takes about 6-7 hours,刚好 connecting with afternoon or evening flights.
Regarding expenses, excluding shopping and special experiences, the total budget for transportation plus meals is approximately 3,000-5,000 yen. If traveling with multiple people with limited time, the total cost of chartering a taxi may be lower than using public transportation separately—you can decide based on actual circumstances.
Travel Tips: Timing and Luggage Preparation Suggestions
The most important suggestion is: If you plan to use this "airport-surroundings-first" itinerary, make sure before departure that your luggage can be stored at the airport counter. The luggage storage at Chubu International Airport is located on the left side of the arrival hall on the first floor of Terminal 1, open from 6 AM to 10 PM, with fees of 500 yen per day or 700 yen for three days, and size limit is up to three pieces. Some large luggage cases may be rejected—bringing compressible soft-shell luggage bags will be more flexible.
Another reminder: All four of these places belong to "off the main itinerary" options, so the chances of encountering service staff who can speak Chinese are extremely low, and few can speak English. If you're concerned about language, it's recommended to write down or screenshot the names and addresses of places you want to go in advance. Key phrases (such as "Can I store luggage here?" "I want to participate in the experience class") written in Japanese to show the other party will have higher communication success than trying to communicate hard.
Finally, the greatest value of this way of traveling doesn't lie in the spectacular scale of any single attraction, but in the "atypical arrival impressions" they form together. Most visiting tourists' memories are of the haste from the airport directly entering the city. But if what you remember are the rough tactile feel of Tokoname ceramics, the orange-red light of the setting sun by the sea, cherry blossom petals falling on the castle ruins—these memories will give you completely different reasons to want to return to Chubu International Airport.
