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Situated on the Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka, the hot-spring resort of ATAMI serves as the eastern gateway to Izu. It's an expensive, sometimes garish, place but is home to the outstanding MOA Museum of Art (daily except Thurs 9.30am-5pm; Y1600), which is carved into a hillside above the town. Though the steep admission is off-putting, the museum's remarkable architecture and collection of mostly ancient oriental art justify a visit. Note that you can buy slightly reduced tickets (Y1400) at the tourist information desk (Mon-Sat 10am-1.30pm & 2.30-5.30pm; tel 0557/81-6002) inside Atami Station, before hopping on a bus from the station concourse up to the museum (5min; Y160). Buses drop you outside the museum's lower entrance, from where you ride four escalators cut through the rock - taking in a laser show on the way - to the main exhibition halls. Each room contains just a few pieces from this magnificent private collection, of which the most famous is a dramatic folding screen entitled Red and White Plum Blossoms by the innovative Ogata Korin (1658-1716). But the most eye-catching exhibit is a full-size replica of a golden tearoom, lined with gold leaf and equipped with utensils made of gold, built in 1586 for when the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi invited Emperor Ogimachi for a cuppa. The museum's well-tended gardens contain teahouses serving matcha and sweet cakes (Y630).
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