As a country sitting amidst four tectonic plates – the Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, and North American plates, Japan is a place where a lot of deep earth movement happened, and is happening even now. This is not always well understood by tourists, but I think that it is something that we should educate ourselves on. Hence, today I will introduce the Izu peninsula geopark Ito visitor center!



The geo-terrace, as it is more known, is an education center located at the Izu-Kogen Station of the Izu Peninsula. 



It is aimed at educating locals and tourists alike on the geology of Japan. Very well created posters adorn the wall, explaining the geological overview of the country and the formation process of the Izu Peninsula.



A diorama of the peninsula serve to allow tourists to have a birds eye view of the formations, and little markers show the geological points of interest to tourists interested in visiting the geopark located not too far away.



There are little experiment stations that allow for better understanding how subduction and volcanic eruptions work.



Aside from that, there are also tables where one is free to touch and examine rock samples that came from the area. I had such a good time that before I knew it, 2 hours had passed! If you are in the area, do pop by and let’s learn some geology together!

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