Photo/Illutration The Yoshida residence boasts a beautiful Japanese garden created in 1961. It features trails leading around the pond, which is surrounded by ume and sakura trees. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

The first thing that enters my mind when I hear “Oiso” is Long Beach. Decades ago, I visited “the beach” anticipating sand, surf and sea. What I found instead was a mega waterpark next to a big hotel.

It wasn’t what I expected, but I remember having a jolly time without sticky sand in my hair and my body becoming a sheet of human sandpaper. Oh, and it helped that I was “tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from ...” uh, Ipanema? I confess--I just googled Ipanema’s exact location.

Oiso Beach is nothing to write home about. It’s certainly not a glistening white-sand beach with chic cottages, promenades and cool party people. It’s not Ipanema.

Oiso Beach consists of dark sand mixed with pebbles and is situated between drab, gray and busy Seisho Bypass and the seashore. As Japan’s first seaside beach resort, it could be more.

Oiso is nicknamed “the Secret Getaway for Meiji Era Politicians,” or Meiji Seikai no Okuzashiki. Movers and shakers of the era and beyond had villas here. Some big names are Okuma Shigenobu (1838-1922), Yamagata Aritomo (1838-1922), Saionji Kinmochi (1849-1940) and perhaps most famous, former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida (1878-1967).

Yoshida’s former residence is open to the public and is part of Oiso Joyama Park. His foster father bought the land in the 1880s and built a summer home. After World War II, politicians, literary figures, academics and anybody who was somebody would make what was called “a pilgrimage to Oiso,” or Oiso-mairi, to meet Yoshida.

The residence was gutted by a fire in 2009 but has been restored. The architecture is Japanese sukiya style but has elements of art deco. One room has a silver ceiling, shoji-covered windows and a Persian-looking carpet. The bathtub is a wooden boat.

I smiled to myself as I thought about water “in” the tub instead of outside. Yoshida was known for his sense of humor, and I’m sure there is some message in this.

On the second floor, look right, and you’ll see an unobstructed view of majestic Mount Fuji. Turn your head to the left, and it’s the vast Pacific Ocean. People who visit will surely imagine themselves in his shoes.

There’s a bronze statue of Yoshida in the Japanese garden. The figure is facing the United States, where he signed the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952, which officially ended Japan’s American-led occupation.

For reflective downtime, it’s Oiso.

(The facility is temporarily closed due to the novel coronavirus epidemic. It is expected to reopen on March 9. For more information, visit the facility’s Japanese-language website: http://www.town.oiso.kanagawa.jp/oisomuseum/kyuyoshidatei/index.html)

* * *

This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the Jan. 24 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s In and Around Tokyo," which depicts the capital and its surroundings through the perspective of the author, a professor at Meiji University.

Related News