1.
Atami; the seaside hot-spring resort town
A hot-spring town on the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture, less than an hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen. It was the archetypal destination for company trips and honeymoons during the postwar boom, and its name still evokes that era of resort tourism.
The name is written with 熱い (hot) and 海 (sea) — hot springs once bubbled up in the shore itself.
Common expressions
- 熱海温泉: the Atami hot springs
- 熱海の花火大会: Atami's fireworks displays, held many times a year
- 社員旅行で熱海: "Atami for the company trip" — a stock image of Showa-era corporate life
Cultural note
Atami's decline in the 1990s and its revival as a weekend destination are a familiar case study in Japanese discussions of regional tourism. It is also the setting of the classic melodrama 金色夜叉, whose seaside scene is marked by a statue on the beach.