20261014N golf course aerial

Uguisu no Mori Golf Club and Hotel Bato has welcomed a surge in golfers from South Korea. (Nakagawa, Tochigi prefecture)

YUTARO YOKOYAMA

October 25, 2026 10:45 JST

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — A small Japanese town surrounded by farmland two hours from central Tokyo went little noticed by foreign tourists until a few years ago when a golf resort helped boost such overnight stays by 12 times in just two years — with most visitors coming from South Korea.