Kanade no Mori Resort — a family-friendly stop at the foot of Mt. Omuro
An unplanned stop on a Golden Week drive through Izu — Kanade no Mori Resort, at the foot of Mt. Omuro. A new resort with a marché, restaurants, glamping, and a public restroom that actually has a nursing room and diaper-changing space. Family-friendly in ways that don't always make it into the guidebooks.
On a Golden Week drive through Izu, we ended up at a place we hadn't planned on visiting. Kanade no Mori Resort (official site), in the Izu Kogen highlands at the foot of Mt. Omuro. It opened in October 2023 — still fairly new.
The plan that day was to climb Mt. Omuro. But by the time we reached the chairlift station, the wind had picked up and the lift was suspended for the day. Standing in the parking lot, I remembered: there was a place we'd stopped at last summer, just a few minutes from here. So we turned the car around and drove to Kanade no Mori instead.
It turned out to be a thoroughly satisfying half-day with the family. From now on, this is going to be a regular stop on our Izu trips.
Last summer — first visit, with the trout-catching pond
We first came here on August 24, 2025. We were driving through Izu with our daughter, looking for somewhere to break up the day, and Kanade no Mori happened to be on the way.
That summer day, the resort was running a trout-catching event — and our daughter loved it.
A large shallow pool, full of rainbow trout. Kids wade in, chase a fish around with their hands, and try to lift one out. It's the kind of experience that doesn't really exist in everyday Tokyo life — pure, physical joy.
The trout you catch is skewered on a bamboo stick on the spot, and grilled in front of you over charcoal. Salt-grilled, simple, very good. The flavor of a fish you caught yourself lands differently from anything bought.
For the kid and the adults alike, it became the kind of summer day that stays with you.
This time — an unplanned return after the chairlift shut down
May 4, 2026. Greenery Day, a national holiday in Japan. The original plan was to climb Mt. Omuro, a 580-meter volcanic mound famous for the "crater rim walk" around its summit, reached by a two-seater chairlift.
But on the day, the wind was strong and the lift was suspended. As we stood there figuring out what to do, last year's Kanade no Mori came back to mind. On the map, it was right there. So we drove over.
When we pulled into the parking lot, Mt. Omuro was right in front of us, sharp against the sky. The mountain we couldn't climb, given back as a view from the parking lot. Not a bad way to start a re-visit.
A small note: last summer the parking lot was nearly empty. This time, it was filling up. Word is getting out, slowly.
Marché, restaurants, glamping — a place you can spend the whole day
Kanade no Mori is split into a few different areas:
- Marché — a roadside-station-style shop with a generous selection of local food, souvenirs, and café drinks
- Restaurants and cafés — including a dry-aged-beef steak house
- Seafood BBQ — a grill spot focused on seafood
- Glamping & BBQ (Komorebi Area) — accommodation and day-use, set among tall cedar trees
- Activity room — indoor play space, useful when the weather turns
It's a "roadside station × upscale resort × outdoor camp" rolled into one site. You don't need a fixed itinerary — you can just arrive, drift through, and stay for hours.
What I most want to share — the restroom is family-friendly
Now for the part of this post I most want people to find.
The restrooms at Kanade no Mori have a nursing room and a diaper-changing space, both clearly signposted.
A nursing icon next to a diaper-changing icon, with dedicated rooms attached to the main restroom block. The whole building is new, so the toilets themselves are clean.
If you've traveled with a baby or toddler, you know the actual difficulty: can we change a diaper here, can I nurse somewhere quiet, is this even clean? Kanade no Mori covers all of that — and yet, somehow, almost no one is putting this information online. The official site doesn't shout about it. Nor do the reviews. It's the kind of detail families really need but search engines won't surface.
If you're planning an Izu drive with small kids, this place deserves a real look as a stop.
A national-park resort — and what's coming next
I had a chance to ask one of the staff: "Are there plans for a hotel here?"
The answer went something like this: "We're inside a national park, so there are strict rules on new construction — height, footprint, use. We're adding what we can, within those limits."
The site sits inside Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, where development is restricted to protect the landscape. Big-hotel growth isn't possible. So instead, the resort grows by adding smaller, modular pieces — glamping pods, BBQ areas, a marché, dog runs — one at a time, within the rules.
"Constraints, then ingenuity." As someone who builds products, I know that way of working well.
Walking the property, you can see several areas under active construction. The next time we come, something new will probably be there. A resort that's still growing, in real time — and that becomes part of the appeal of returning.
Two dog runs, both already open
For dog owners, two off-leash areas are now in operation:
| Area | Dogs | Hours | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wan! Park | Small dogs | 24 hours | Free |
| Wan! Field | Medium to large dogs (all breeds OK) | 9:00–16:00 | Free |
The medium-and-large area, Wan! Field, opened on January 11, 2026. About 868 m² (up to 50 m at its longest), wood-chip surface — a generously sized free dog run that's relatively rare in this region (official announcement, JA).
Inside a national park, where every new use has to be negotiated with the rules, having proper space for dog owners feels like a real win.
Notes for the road
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Ito, Shizuoka — Izu Kogen, foot of Mt. Omuro |
| Google Maps | Search "奏の森リゾート" (Kanade no Mori Resort) |
| Official site | kanadenomori-resorts.jp |
| Opened | October 2023 |
| Parking | Spacious, free |
| Restrooms | Clean, nursing room and diaper-changing space available |
| Food | Marché / dry-aged steak house / seafood BBQ / café |
| Stay | Glamping (Komorebi Area) |
| Dogs | Two dog runs (small / medium-large), both free |
| Seasonal | Trout-catching event in summer (please confirm with the resort) |
Part of me hopes the place stays quiet. The other, bigger part hopes it gets popular enough to keep being loved for years — that matters more.
Next time, I'd like to take our daughter back for the trout pond again.
Kanade no Mori Resort: a worthwhile detour in Izu Kogen for families with small children, dog owners, and anyone who likes the idea of a glamping-style day trip.