It may not seem obvious but along with many other historical experiences to be found here in Tambasasayama we have our own dinosaur, named after the city area, the Tamba giant, (Tambatitanis amicitiae) discovered originally in 2006 and weighing in at approximately 15 tons with a length of 12 meters.

In the following link you will find information about the main dinosaur (Tambatitanis amicitiae) and other dinosaurs found in the surrounding area. There is also Information about the geologic formation of the area (Named the Ohyamashimo Formation, from the name of the local area, Ohyamashimo) found here.

To commemorate the discovery of the dinosaurs two parks were set up, one, the Tanbaryunosato Park is very close to the discovery location of the main dinosaur, where nowadays you will find a full scale model of the Tamba Giant (*Google map reference here.)

The other park is the Tamba Namikimichi Central Park where you will find action models of two different dinosaurs. There are two children’s play areas with slides and obstacles etc., one designed for younger and one for older children, with the dinosaur theme. A large walking/cycling circuit, rental bicycles, free children’s cycling go-kart area etc.

As a tour, starting at the Sasayamaguchi JR station, where you can also rent bicycles, it’s a 7.5km ride to the Tanbaryunosato park, part of the way being a dedicated cycling road next to the Sasayama River.

From Sasayamaguchi JR station to the Tanba Namikimichi Central Park is a distance of approx. 2.5km. It is on the route from the Sasayamaguchi station to the Tanbaryunosato Park.

If you enjoy the park/parks in the morning you could move on to lunch. There are two main possibilities for lunch: 1) Atchan’s Japanese restaurant located opposite to the entrance of Namakimichi Park or, 2) Kuromamenoyakata, an all-you-can-eat restaurant themed around Sasayama black soy beans and other locally produced vegetables, meat, fish etc. It is approx. 4km from the Tanba Namikimichi Central Park.

Although we have listed only two restaurants there are a number of restaurants in the surrounding area to also choose from.

After lunch there are various cycling possibilities depending on the season. All the local rivers are lined with Sakura trees that are great for cherry blossom viewing. In summer time many flowers and fields are in full bloom, in Autumn there are many colored leaves. Or you could cycle to the Sasayama Castle area where there are many things to see. Whatever you choose to do, relax and have a great day!

As a final note, I should mention that there is a very recently renewed Dinosaur museum located ‘next door’ in Tamba City, it is the Chi-tan no Yakata (Tamba Dinosaur Museum).