This is a very nice place to visit. I don’t recommend going here via public transportation since it’s up on a mountain and will require a lot of walking to get up there, it can be slippery. For drivers they do have two parking areas one for handicapped drivers and one for regular drivers. I recommend parking in the handicapped zone since very few people visit this place at one time. If you go in the summer be aware that there are a lot of bugs! In its heyday this place was very beautiful but now it’s not kept up like it was back then but still looks decent enough. If you’re in the area it’s worth a visit. For those who may not know it was owned by former prime minister Nakasone and he hosted people up here like Ronald Reagan and his wife and other political figures. It’s a big thing in this area and there are pictures in several places.

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2026.7.25 Admission 300 yen Hinode Sanso, where former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and former U.S. President Reagan held talks. I remember being surprised back then that Reagan was coming to Okutama. The inside is well maintained, and the impressive facilities and furnishings befitting a former prime minister's mountain villa are displayed just as they were. The appliances are outdated now, but at the time they were all the latest, expensive items. Inside, his achievements are presented on various photo panels. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion of politicians, but I visited because I wanted to trace a page of history. Many of the people involved have passed away, but I think it's worth seeing once. The staff who manage it were also very courteous.

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A quick detour on the way back from Tsurutsuru Onsen. JAF discount (240 yen) The villa of the late Daikun'i. You keep climbing up through the mountain villages of Hinode Town, and suddenly you come out at this place. Of course security must have been tight back then, but now there are just a few staff on duty, which feels a bit lonely. Inside there are 3 buildings, including the one where the Ron-Yasu summit supposedly took place (I think it was more of a friendly chat than a summit) And at the very back is an impressive building called the Shoin. It's a lavish building that feels out of place in such a rustic mountain setting. There you can watch a DVD honoring the late Mr. Nakasone. If you're in the area, I think it's a memorial museum worth stopping by at least once. Also, the ticket stub doubles as a 200 yen discount coupon for Tsurutsuru Onsen. Don't throw it away.

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2024.11.02 In late-Showa Japan-U.S. diplomacy, if you say "Ron," it's "Yasu." Not Chi, not Kan, not Pon. And of course not "The culprit is Yasu" either. What am I talking about? Ron is Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, and Yasu is Yasuhiro Nakasone, who served as our country's 71st–73rd Prime Minister. Ever since Nakasone, who placed great importance on Japan-U.S. relations, went way out on a limb at a certain breakfast meeting to stress that importance with "Japan is an unsinkable aircraft carrier" and "Japan and the U.S. share a common destiny," the two started calling each other by nicknames. The place where Yasuhiro Nakasone hosted President Reagan during his visit to Japan was his own villa in Hinode Town. The Japan-U.S. summit at the Hinode villa took place on November 11, Showa 58. President and Mrs. Reagan flew on Marine One from the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base, landed at nearby Hirai Junior High School, and came to Nakasone's villa as many Hinode townspeople welcomed them. Nakasone reportedly served tea to the Reagans, shared a meal with them by the irori hearth, and they talked at length. Many of you probably remember seeing footage of Nakasone blowing a conch shell horn (horagai) in front of President Reagan. The stage for that was this Hinode Sanso. So… it turned out to be better than I expected. I originally dropped by to kill time before a memorial service for my great-aunt, planning on about 30 minutes, but first of all, the grounds are big. Even rushing through, you'll want at least an hour. It was rainy today, the leaves hadn't turned yet, and nothing was in bloom, so sadly I couldn't walk around the garden, but if possible it's the kind of place where you'd want to time your visit right and bring a bento. There are 3 buildings on the grounds. The one closest to the entrance is a thatched-roof house called "Seiundo." It's the building that shows up on TV the most. Right inside the front door is the irori room where Nakasone made tea for the Reagans. In the main room where they ate together hangs a framed piece of calligraphy by Nakasone reading "Taiheiyo Nami Shizuka." It probably carries a lot of the feelings of Yasuhiro Nakasone, who went through the Pacific War as a military man, of sorts, and served as prime minister while the Cold War was still on. By the way, there was a straw hat with "Kogarashi Monjiro" written on it hanging to the right of the entrance; maybe a playful touch from Gunma-born Yasuhiro Nakasone? Behind Seiundo is the tea room "Tenshintei." It's said to be named after Okakura Tenshin, but apparently it was originally a stable attached to Seiundo, which was the thatched-roof main house… Further back past Tenshintei is a building called the "Shoin." It was built in the first year of Heisei and apparently used as a guesthouse for VIPs. It's a sedate mansion very much built in the bubble era, and as a building there's nothing special about it. But the big living room and Nakasone's quiet study at the very back are worth a look. Thinking about what conversations took place in this space, what thoughts were pondered, and what was decided, I could immerse myself in the feeling of touching a bit of Showa history. Nakasone's villa was donated to Hinode Town in Heisei 18 and has been open to the public since the following year, Heisei 19 (2007). Apparently it was originally a farmhouse whose roof had even caved in, and in Showa 37, at the request of the then-mayor of Hinode, Yasuhiro Nakasone took it over and fixed it up. There's even a little stream running through the grounds. Since I was looking at it through the biased lens of "a politician's villa," I came this time thinking it'd just make a good story, but it turned out to be a surprisingly lovely place. Just before the villa there's also a somewhat famous smoked cheese shop. The Ohkuno area where the villa is also has hot springs, so someday when the weather's nice I'd like to plan a return visit as a sort of hike…(*´ω｀*)

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Former Prime Minister Nakasone's villa Former President Reagan came here too The famous Hinode Sanso Now it stands quietly… There's also a display of his study; I wonder what he thought about while spending time here… Japan's future, the state of the world, did he do some writing here too… I found myself imagining You can feel the seasons in the spacious garden I think it's a valuable memorial museum

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