Michi-no-Eki Awaji

Michi-no-Eki Awaji opened in March 1998 at the foot of the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Iwaya, at the northern tip of Awaji Island, and calls itself the roadside station closest to the bridge. The bridge is the reason to stop. It is 3,911 metres long with a central span of 1,991 metres, which was the longest in the world from 1998 until Turkey's 1915 Canakkale Bridge opened in 2022. From the waterfront here you look straight up at the deck and its cables, and ships pass underneath on their way through the strait.

Food is the other reason. The second-floor restaurant, Kaikyoro, has terrace seats facing the bridge and serves Awaji beef bowls, sea bream rice and the dish most people come for: nama-shirasu don, raw whitebait over rice. In 2026 it costs 1,580 yen at Kaikyoro, or 1,000 yen at Ebisumaru, the station's seafood-bowl shop. Raw shirasu is seasonal, though; in 2026 it is sold from 25 April to the end of November, and outside that window you get other bowls. There is also an Awaji beef burger stand and a crepe and soft-serve counter.

Awaji is known for sweet onions, and the souvenir shop sells onion ponzu and onion soup made in-house, next to a fish counter and a farm-produce hall added in 2024. The onion soft serve people associate with the island is not sold here; in recent years it has only appeared as an occasional seasonal item, mainly on Awaji's southern side.

The station is open every day: 9:30 to 17:30 on weekdays and from 9:00 at weekends and on holidays. Kaikyoro opens at 11:00 and takes its last order at 17:00. Parking is free, with 92 car spaces and room for 11 large vehicles.

By car it is about five minutes from Awaji IC on the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway. Without one, take the Jenova Line ferry from Akashi Port to Iwaya (about 13 minutes, 700 yen); the station is about 2 km from the port, so take the local bus or a taxi, or rent a bike.