
Shimane Aquarium AQUAS
"Bubble ring of happiness" can meet the popular beluga! It is the largest aquarium in Chugoku and Shikoku where you can see the only beluga in western Japan.
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A Mysterious Sight Straight Out of a Fantasy World
Designated as a National Natural Monument, this stunning location offers a surreal and mysterious landscape. After passing through a seaside cave from the Kokufu Beach, visitors emerge onto a vast, flat rock expanse known as "Senjōjiki", stretching out before them like a natural stone plaza the size of the Tokyo Dome.
Scattered across the surface are round, stool-like rocks, creating a whimsical scene that looks as if it were pulled straight from a fantasy world, with the sea as its backdrop. The surface of the rock is crisscrossed with regular, grid-like cracks, resembling tatami mats—hence the name Tatamigaura.
This is a marine terrace, formed from seafloor strata deposited around 16 million years ago, which was uplifted by tectonic activity, including the Hamada Earthquake of 1872 (Meiji 5). Fossils of whale bones, shells, and other marine life can be easily spotted embedded in the rocks.
The unique round "stool-like" formations are called nodules, formed when fossilized material acts as a nucleus for mineral buildup over time.
With its wealth of unusual geological features, Tatamigaura is truly a “natural geological museum”—a place where science and fantasy beautifully intersect.
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"Bubble ring of happiness" can meet the popular beluga! It is the largest aquarium in Chugoku and Shikoku where you can see the only beluga in western Japan.
If you look in the direction of Shiroyama from the town of Shinzuwano, where the Senbon Torii of Akumaki is beautiful, you can see the approach of Shiroyama, where the Torii of Akumaki are tightly lined with Torii. After climbing the tunnel of about 1,000 Torii about 300m, you can see the approach to the road.
It is a complex of museums and theaters that has become one, and is a complex arts and cultural center representing the western part of Shimane Prefecture, consisting of the Shimane Prefectural Ishimi Museum and the Shimane Prefectural Iwami Art Theater. The facility where museums and theaters have become one is rare nationwide.
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