The Sakai Line between Yonago and Sakaiminato both ways (about ¥660 on the 2023 fare table, so check the current fare) and the Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum (¥1,000). The road, the statues and Yokai Shrine are free. Add your fare to Yonago and lunch.
Best time to go
Any time of year. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable for walking; in winter the sun sets early, which suits the evening lights (sunset to 10 p.m.).
Closing days
The museum says it is open all year (9:30-17:00, last entry 16:30). The road is a public street. Shop hours vary.
Walking (our estimate)
Light: roughly 3-4 km, mostly the 800 m road each way with stops.
Shigeru Mizuki, the creator of GeGeGe no Kitaro, grew up in Sakaiminato, a small port town on the Sea of Japan coast of Tottori, and the town has built itself around him. Mizuki Shigeru Road, an 800 m shopping street opened in 1993, runs from the station to a memorial museum and is lined with more than 170 bronze statues of yokai, the spirits and monsters of Japanese folklore that he drew. The road itself is a public street, so it needs no ticket. It is a day trip from Yonago, and it fits neatly onto a Tottori trip: Yonago Kitaro Airport is named after the series too.
Times, fares and opening hours are approximate. Check the official pages under Sources before you go (last checked September 21, 2026).
Day 1
Yonago → Sakaiminato: the road, the shrine and the museum
The Sakai Line to the end of the line, the yokai statue street from the station to the museum, and back, or stay on for the evening lights.
Morning
Yonago → Sakaiminato on the JR Sakai Line
The Sakai Line runs from Yonago to Sakaiminato in about 45 min, according to Sakaiminato's tourism association. In the 2023 timetable the fare was ¥330 one way and trains ran roughly hourly, with longer gaps around midday, so check the current timetable before you set off. JR paints some Sakai Line trains with illustrations from the series and marks them in its timetable; the tourism association warns that the schedule for those trains can change at JR's discretion, so treat a ride on one as a bonus. Coming from Yonago Kitaro Airport, the airport has its own station on the same line (about ¥190 to Sakaiminato) and is about 10 min from Sakaiminato Station by car.
Morning
Sakaiminato Station and the tourist information office
The road starts right outside the station. The Sakaiminato tourist information center (215 Taishomachi) sells the stamp rally book (¥600 for 35 stamp points, if you like collecting) and rents bicycles, which are handy if you want to see more of town than the road. Sakaiminato's guide also lists a Yokai Post, where mail gets a yokai postmark, at the office and inside the museum.
Walk the road to the museum: about 800 m, but you will stop every few steps, so give it a good hour or more. Kappa Spring, a small plaza with a 3 m tower and nine yokai statues, is a good place to rest. The road is a working shopping street with regular traffic crossing it, so watch for cars at the crossings.
A short walk along the road from Kappa Spring. The shrine is where visitors draw a yokai fortune slip, and the road's own guide describes it as a popular power spot whose sacred object, a black granite stone, was consecrated by Mizuki himself. It is small and easy to walk past: look for the shrine among the shops.
Shops along the road sell food and sweets in yokai shapes, and the city calls itself the town of fish and Kitaro, so seafood is easy to find. Opening hours vary shop by shop; we could not confirm them, so look at the door.
Afternoon
Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum
At the far end of the road, about 10 min on foot from the station. It reopened on April 20, 2024 after a renovation and shows original artwork and material about Mizuki's life, with a library of his manga. Open 9:30-17:00 (last entry 16:30) all year, according to the museum. Admission is ¥1,000 for adults, ¥500 for junior high and high school students and ¥300 for elementary school children, and free for pre-schoolers. Many guides still quote older, lower prices from before the reopening. Ask at the desk about photography inside.
Every night from sunset until 10 p.m. the statues are lit and more than 50 yokai silhouettes are projected onto the pavement, so the road looks quite different after dark. If you head back instead, the 2023 timetable showed trains from Sakaiminato to Yonago into the late evening; check the current one.
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Where to stay
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Stay in
Sakaiminato
The way to see the road after dark: the statues are lit from sunset to 10 p.m. The town is small, so book ahead in busy seasons.
The rail hub for the area, where the San'in Line and the Yakumo limited express stop, with the most choice of hotels. Sakaiminato is about 45 min away on the Sakai Line.
Yonago to Sakaiminato in about 45 min, with a station at Yonago Kitaro Airport on the way. Fares were ¥330 (Yonago) and ¥190 (from the airport station) in the 2023 timetable, so check the current fare.
From Okayama, on the Shinkansen line, the Yakumo runs through the San'in coast towns, including Yonago and Matsue. It has reserved seats, and Japan Rail Pass holders can ride it. The journey to its end at Izumo takes about three hours, so check the timetable for Yonago.
The airport serves Tokyo Haneda, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shanghai, according to its own site. It is about 10 min by car from Sakaiminato Station and about 25 min from Yonago Station, and the Sakai Line stops at the airport station.
Sakaiminato's tourist information office rents bicycles, and its 2026 update to the rental service was announced in April. We could not confirm the current prices, so ask at the office.
The road is a working shopping street and people live above the shops. Keep your voice down in the evening and don't stand in shop entrances to photograph statues.
Do not climb on the statues or sit on them. Wait your turn for a photo: it is a popular street.
Yokai Shrine is a place of worship. Bow, keep the path clear and take photos quickly when others are waiting.
Watch for cars at the crossings. The road is not closed to traffic.
Photography rules inside the museum may change: follow the staff and any signs.
FAQ
How long do I need in Sakaiminato?
Half a day is enough to walk the road, see Yokai Shrine and go through the museum, and a full day is comfortable with lunch. This is our own estimate. Add the evening if you want to see the road lit up after sunset.
How many statues are there?
The museum's road page counts 178 yokai bronze statues, and Sakaiminato's tourism guide says 177. Both are official pages and the number changes as statues are added, so we say more than 170.
Is the road lit at night?
Yes. According to the museum's road page, the statues are lit every night from sunset until 10 p.m., with yokai shadow projections on the pavement.
Is the museum open every day?
The museum's official page says it is open all year, 9:30-17:00 with last entry at 16:30. Check the page before you go in case of temporary closures.
Can I combine this with Detective Conan in Tottori?
Yes. Yonago is on the San'in Line, and JR West runs a Detective Conan Train between Tottori and Yonago. Our Tottori route is set up to be reversed: fly into Yonago Kitaro Airport, do this day, then go east.
Can I fly here?
Yes. Yonago Kitaro Airport, on the Sakai Line, has flights from Tokyo Haneda, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shanghai, according to the airport's site. It is about 10 min by car from Sakaiminato Station.
Combine with nearby routes
Have more days? These routes start or end close to this one.
