Visit Oita

Oita Station is the gateway to travel from within and outside of the prefecture. It has three JR lines as well as a depot for express buses from Fukuoka and Oita Airport.

Oita Station is home to JR Oita City, a new station building with the commercial facility “AMU Plaza Oita” at its core, where you can enjoy shopping and dining.

Bungo Niwasaki Market, located in front of the Oita Station ticket gate, offers a variety of Oita's famous confections, delicacies, prepared foods, and boxed lunches.

At City Rooftop Place, located on the roof of the building, visitors can play while learning about nature and Japanese traditions. Children's playground, shrine, mini-train, café, observation deck...it is one of the largest rooftop plazas in Japan where children and adults can enjoy themselves in one place.

In this way, there are spots where you can enjoy both the start and the goal of your trip. In addition, with many attractions such as museums, aquariums, and zoos centered around Oita Station, this area is recommended for sightseeing and shopping.

Two art museums are located within a 15-minute bus ride from Oita Station. Enjoy strolling around the museums and viewing works of art from Japan and abroad, including works by many artists produced in Oita Prefecture.

“Oita Prefectural Art Museum (OPAM)” is located in the center of Oita City. Based on the concept of “a museum of encounters and the five senses,” OPAM offers a variety of special exhibitions that can be enjoyed by visitors using all five senses.

Oita has a “romanticism.” cultural climate that has produced numerous artists. The museum's collection of Japanese and Western-style paintings, crafts, and sculptures by artists associated with Oita, who led the modern Japanese art scene, is not to be missed.

Visitors can enjoy unique exhibits, including installations based on diplomatic history and episodes, in the atrium exhibit on the first floor of the two-story atrium, which is open to the public free of charge. The large space and impressive works of art also make for a great photo spot. The museum store and café are open to everyone on a daily basis, even without using the museum.

The exterior of the museum, designed by world-renowned architect Shigeru Ban, is also a highlight, evoking the image of bamboo crafts, a traditional craft of Oita Prefecture.

Located in the lush green Uenogaoka Kodomonomori Park, the Oita Art Museum is a building with a calm atmosphere designed to blend in with nature.

The museum is a well-designed space with large light-flooded windows, high ceilings with a sense of openness, and a beautifully curved staircase.

The museum's four permanent exhibition rooms present works from the collection, ranging from early modern paintings to contemporary art, according to the season.

Works by local artists, including Japanese paintings by Heihachiro Fukuda, the first honorary citizen of Oita City, are also worth seeing.

In the park, visitors are greeted by Izumi Ando's “Planet Walking”.

Both the aquarium and the zoo can be reached by bus in 30 minutes from Oita Station. You can enjoy watching sea creatures and feeding wild Japanese monkeys, and it's a place where you can feel close to sea and mountain creatures.

Oita Marine Palace Aquarium ""Umitamago"" is located halfway between Oita City and Beppu City, close to Tanoura Beach. Its landmark is a modern building that blends in with the scenery of Beppu Bay. With the theme of ""an aquarium where you can become friends with animals,"" you can encounter about 500 species and 15,000 marine animals and fish.

The semi-open building consists of a two-story indoor space and a large, open outdoor space. One of the highlights is the large coral tank, which was the first in the country to be bred using only artificial lighting.

The Wonder Zone showcases the beauty of living creatures, such as hairtails lit up in the dark and jellyfish that change color under special lighting.

The outdoor area consists of a performance area and a touching area, and in the touch pool you can interact with rays, starfish, and sea cucumbers, and watch shows featuring marine animals. The interaction between the walruses and the trainers is one of the aquarium's specialties.

This is a nature zoo where you can observe wild Japanese monkeys up close. They do not live in fences, but on Mt. Takasaki, and come here themselves from the mountains. The highlight is the feeding time for the monkeys! Wheat is given to the monkeys once every 30 minutes and sweet potatoes once a day, and the monkeys come vigorously to get their food. Staff members are always available to explain about the ecology, habits, and episodes of the Japanese macaques, making it an enjoyable experience to observe the life of the monkeys in Mt. Takasaki.

Every year from May to August, the birthing season here is held, and a public contest is held to name the first baby monkey born. There are also other unique initiatives, such as a general election to decide the most popular handsome monkey.

You can walk from the ticket office to the monkey gathering area, but it's more comfortable to get there by taking the Sarukko Rail.

We will introduce you to local gourmet foods, including local dishes, meat, fish, and fresh vegetables that you can eat at restaurants in the city. Be sure to include them in your city tour.