Chiba south · Shirahama, MinamibosoNo.1292★★Open in map →

Nojimazaki Lighthouse

historyOff the trail — and worth it

A white octagonal lighthouse on the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula, and one you are allowed to climb. From the gallery you look over the Pacific and the ships bound for Tokyo Bay; below, a path loops around the rocky cape.

FromTokyo Station
~3 hrHighway bus + local bus
Get off atNojimazaki Todai-guchi bus stop (Nitto Kotsu / JR Bus Kanto)
On foot
Nojimazaki Lighthouse

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is one of southern Chiba's best-known sights, not a hidden one. What keeps it off most overseas itineraries is distance: from Tokyo it takes a highway bus and then a local bus to reach the tip of the peninsula.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Itsukushima Shrinea small shrine beside the approach to the lighthouse gate
Kirarin-kan museumthe lighthouse museum attached to the tower, with a Fresnel lens on display
Spiral stairs and gallerythe climb inside the tower, ending at a viewing gallery over the Pacific
Cape patha walkway along the rocks that loops around the headland
Lovers' Bencha bench on the high ground at the tip of the cape, facing the open sea

How to actually get there

Tokyo Station (Yaesu South exit) → Tateyama Station (Boso Nanohana highway bus, just under 2 hr)
Tateyama Station → Nojimazaki Todai-guchi stop (local bus toward Awa-Shirahama)
Nojimazaki Todai-guchi → Nojimazaki Lighthouse (walk ~10 min)

Highway bus to Tateyama, then a local bus: Tokyo Station (Yaesu South exit) →(Boso Nanohana highway bus, just under 2 hours)→ Tateyama Station →(local bus toward Awa-Shirahama, run by Nitto Kotsu or JR Bus Kanto)→ Nojimazaki Todai-guchi stop → walk about 10 minutes. Highway buses leave Tokyo Station through the day; check the local-bus connection at Tateyama before you set out.
Back via Tateyama Station: Take the local bus back to Tateyama Station, then the highway bus to Tokyo, which arrives on the Nihonbashi exit side of Tokyo Station. Check the time of the last highway bus from Tateyama before you leave the cape.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Nojimazaki is the cape at the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula, where Chiba meets the open Pacific. On it stands a white, eight-sided lighthouse about 29 metres tall, still a mark for ships heading into Tokyo Bay. It is one of only 16 lighthouses in Japan that the public can climb. A spiral staircase inside the tower leads up to a viewing gallery over the ocean and the shipping lanes. Beside the tower, a small museum called Kirarin-kan tells the light's story. The cape around it is laid out as a park, with a coastal path, a shrine and a bench facing the sea.

How to enjoy it

Climb the tower first. Visits start at 9:00 on weekdays and 8:30 at weekends and holidays, and end at 16:00 from October to February, a little later from March to September. Then walk the path round the cape to the bench at the tip, where the sun sets over the sea. On 1 November, Lighthouse Day, there is a special opening.

Background & history

The lighthouse was one of eight promised under the 1866 Tariff Convention, known in Japan as the Edo Treaty, signed with the United States, Britain, France and the Netherlands. A French team led by engineer François Léonce Verny designed the first tower, built of brick. It was lit in January 1870, the twelfth month of Meiji 2 in the old calendar, as Japan's second Western-style lighthouse after Kannonzaki. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 snapped it about 6 metres above the ground. The present reinforced-concrete tower keeps the octagonal plan and was lit in 1925. It is a registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

Before you go

Cash: Climbing the tower is a 300-yen donation for junior-high age and up (Tokokai's listed rate). Have coins ready for the local bus — Nitto Kotsu asks riders to bring small change.
Good to know: Visits pause for lunch from 12:00 to 13:00, and the tower closes in rough weather or during works. In September 2026 climbing was suspended twice for a morning — once for an equipment fault, once for a typhoon power cut — and resumed the same afternoon both times (Tokokai notices, checked 1 Oct 2026).
Another way: From Chikura Station on the JR Uchibo Line, take a bus to the Awa-Shirahama terminal and walk about 20 minutes to the cape.
After you get off: From the Nojimazaki Todai-guchi stop, walk south toward the sea — about 10 minutes to the lighthouse.