Take a day trip from Tokyo to this retro wonderland surrounded by nature! 

Sagamihara

Day Trip From Tokyo: Retro Video Games and Swan Boats

Sagami-Ko Park (県立 相模湖公園) is located in Sagamihara city in Kanagawa prefecture, and is a great destination for a simple day trip from Tokyo. The lake is surrounded by mountains (which look amazing during sakura season, and in the fall), and you can step into a time-warp of showa era retro goodness in the Japanese arcades.

As soon as you enter Sagami- Ko Park, you will see bright colored swan, dinosaur, and whale shaped boats floating around the enclosed lake. You can go to two boat rental establishments to rent a swan or dinosaur paddle boat, a rowboat, or to ride in one of the bigger boats with the other tourists.

At this location you can rent swan paddle boats, dinosaur paddles boats, or regular row boats. You can also take a ride on their giant swan boat with other tourists. 

There are a few restaurants in the area but be aware that a lot of them may be closed either permanently or just randomly for the day.

Kawachiya has a large menu of traditional Japanese restaurant fare such as soba, udon, and katsudon, with prices ranging from  ¥550 ~  ¥750. 

Matsukien Restaurant 松木園レストラン

As you can see on the outside this is a very retro restaurant, and it has kissaten/family restaurant fare such as spaghetti napolitan, and katsudon. The restaurant is located across the street from the main area.

For vegetarians: I ordered the spaghetti napolitan without bacon!

There are retro arcade games on the main floor of both boat rental shops. You can use regular coins (no need to get special tokens) and they are fairly cheap to play.

Shinkou Boat's selection of arcade games is smaller, but the games they have are cuter and more retro/antique! 

Katsuse Boat has a large selection of carious kinds of arcade games with most of them being retro (maybe around 80s-90s?).

For something sweet you can head over to Meimu (迷夢) which serves ice cream and kakigori.

Sagamiko Koen Parking Lot 相模湖公園 駐車場

Sagami-Ko Park is about a  10-15 minute walk from Sagami-Ko Station.

Cost: 1500 ~ 2500 JPY depending on the boat you rent.

A simple shrine by the water. You can get a great view of the lake from the lookout and there's a public toilet to the right of it.

This is a gorgeous shrine, with cherry blossom trees going all up the staircase. There are a lot of steps and it's quite steep but you can get a gorgeous view of Sagami-Ko which is extra special during cherry blossom season!

If you're entering the area from the parking this will be the first boat rental building you will see with "Let's Boating" written on the side of the building. At this location you can rent swan paddle boats, whale paddle boats, or regular row boats. You can also take a ride on their giant whale boat with other tourists. 