Pix4Japan: Makaino Ranch near Mt. Fuji

In June 2022, I visited Makaino Ranch (まかいの牧場) located in the city of Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, which is located at the base of Mt. Fuji on the western slope. The ranch is a family-friendly and pet-friendly ranch/farm resort, that offers some fun and unique experiences for folks that might be living most of their daily lives in urban Japan.

Although the ranch (references also use the terms farm, park, and resort) primarily caters to families with children, there were many young couples on dates visiting the ranch as well. If you have a teenager in your family, they might not be terribly excited about visiting this ranch—but you can tell them there are several Instagrammable spots and activities they can post on TikTok if that is their thing.

My primary attraction to Makaino Ranch lies with the nostalgia of seeing a smelling farm animals after living in Japan for nearly 40 years. I was raised on a dairy farm, so my experience at the ranch brought back many childhood memories making the trip well worth my time and delightfully enjoyable.

I arrived with my border collie at around noon. It was only a two hour drive from Tokyo on the Tomei Expressway, and upon arrival, I had three large different parking lots to choose from—so parking does not seem to be an issue unless you try to visit late in the afternoon on a weekend or on a national holiday.

In conversations with the staff, the park was closed most of 2021 and has slowly opened up this year with guests asked to wear masks when indoors, sanitize your hands, maintain social distancing, and use designated mats at certain points to clean the soles of your shoes (this is standard practice to help prevent exposing the animals viruses and is not related to COVID-19).

Interactive activities include riding saddled horses, petting ponies, feeding calves with milk bottles, milking a cow, walking goats, and more. Note that milking cows and feeding calves cannot be done willy-nilly anytime a tourist wants to try. Cows and calves have a regular milking and feeding schedules, so be sure to check such schedules in advance if this is one of the activities that you would like to experience.

They also give visitors rides on trailers hitched to actual farm tractors that can take you on small tours of the ranch. There were a few modern and older tractors on display (deactivated for safety) where children were lining up to sit in the driver’s seat and pose for shots by mom and dad. For kids raised in the city, this must be an exciting activity on a par with sitting in the driver’s seat of a fire engine!

Since I visited with my border collie, I had to skip most of the interactions with the farm animals. Regardless, I was more than satisfied with just letting her see and smell farm animals for the first time in her life. Having spent her whole life in an urban setting, she showed very little interest in the sheep and was a bit scared of the cows, horses, and ponies! 😂

Whereas I visited on a weekday, not all of the facilities were open. But if you visit on the weekend, there are several buildings offering classes for both adults and children on various crafts using natural materials from the surrounding woods, tote bag decorating, spinning wool into yarn, and more. Be sure to check ahead before scheduling a visit if the crafting workshops are a part of your plans.

Other facilities provide the opportunity to make butter, sausage, and cookies using locally sourced ingredients— especially the milk and butter from the dairy cows on the ranch.

In addition there are several photo spots where you can take selfies for Instagram (here the teenagers might get excited) where you can have Mt. Fuji as your backdrop assuming the skies are clear. There are also wooded areas where you can take a nap on hammocks strung up between the trees, a day-glamping ground, a “sky-high” swing (use at your own risk), several flower gardens, and many spots where you can just sit and relax, have a picnic, or just take a break.

If you visit with young kids, they will likely have a blast especially if they have been raised in an urban setting. Teenagers can wander off by themselves for the all-important Instagram shots or TikTok videos, and adults, too, can just enjoy a break from the concrete jungle and cooler temperatures the park has to offer.

Before heading home, be sure to try out one of the cafes near the park entrance that offer locally produced ice cream. After the a long day walking throughout the entire ranch shooting photos and enjoying time with my dog, the ice cream was even more delicious than I could have anticipated!

Address:

1327-1 Utsuno, Fujinomiya-shi, Shizuoka-ken 418-0104

〒418-0104 静岡県富士宮市内野1327-1

Google Maps:

https://goo.gl/maps/xXSayu7eZUBJ6Spn6

Website:

Makaino Farm Resort

English info (downloadable PDF)