Hitachi City and Juo Town were merged on November 1st. This merger has been promoted to revitalize the northern coastal area of Ibaraki Prefecture. After the merger, the new Hitachi City has a population of about 202,000 people, and it ranks second to Mito City in the prefecture. In this article, we would like to introduce you to Juo Town which has now been incorporated into Hitachi City. There is a well-known Public Hotel “Unomisaki” and also a hot spring called “Urarano-Yu” on the beautiful seaside of Juo Town (showcased in Hyotan No144). This time, we are going to recommend some other interesting spots around Juo.

◆Juo Dam（十王ダム）
  This dam was built in 1993, and is the newest multipurpose dam in Ibaraki Prefecture. The concrete wall of the dam is still white, so it sets off the red flood gates very well. The height of the dam is 48.6 meters and the volume of water kept in store totals 2.86 million tons. And it is rare in the country as a dam from which one can see the sea, being only four kilometers away from the seashore. In the deep green dam’s lake, many carp and goldfish go free, and we can see a beautiful shoal of them from the road beside the dam. The dam’s lake is surrounded by mountains, and we can see the Joban Expressway far away on the north side. The autumn colors around Juo Dam are at their best in mid-November.
◆ The “Juo Dam” Fountain（十王ダムの噴水）
  The fountain in the dam’s lake is one of the highlights of Juo Dam. The fountain seems to rise out of a forest, if you look at it from the Joban Expressway. The fountain has three kinds of spray directions, upper, lateral, and radiant directions. The spray release times are from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. from June till November, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from December until May. And it is lighted up at night. The spray release time is every hour on the hour, lasting 10 minutes. When the fountain time comes, the rings of the clock tower’s 12 bells begin automatically and the fountain starts slowly in the center of the dam’s lake. The fountain shoots up 50 meters high into the air, and its silver spray is set off well by the green surroundings.
◆　 Juo Panorama Park（十王パノラマ公園）
This park lies on a hill, overlooking Juo Dam, and its observatory in the shape of a UFO is a landmark of this park. There is an open space for sports, a roller type slide, cherry blossom hills, and so on. It is also a family park with a full view of the Pacific Ocean and the Abukuma Mountains. From the top of the observatory, we can see a panoramic view of the coast lines, from Fukushima in the north to Oarai in the south. The symbolic flower of Juo Town is the cherry blossom. There are 35 different kinds of cherry blossoms, 400 cherry trees in the park, and each tree has a plate around the trunk, which indicates its name, the times of its flowering, and a picture of its petals. During the cherry blossom season, town-run street stalls are set up in the park, and many people enjoy looking around them. The Juo Dam’s cherry blossoms are beautiful, too.

Map of interesting spots is shown next page