Akiyoshido Cave

Japan's largest limestone cave runs more than 10 kilometers beneath the Akiyoshidai plateau, with about one kilometer open to visitors on a well-lit, paved path. The cave formed over hundreds of millions of years when the area lay beneath the sea, and its most striking features include the Hyakumaizara, a series of rimstone pools resembling flooded terraced rice paddies, and formations named the Golden Pillar and Umbrella Forest. The entrance stands 24 meters tall with an underground river flowing out. Inside, the temperature stays at 17 degrees year-round. An elevator connects the cave to an observation deck above, where the limestone karst plateau stretches across the surface.