Hotels in Tokoname

Tokoname is a pottery town first and an airport town second, on the west coast of Aichi's Chita Peninsula. It is one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, and Tokoname ware, especially its unglazed red-clay teapots, has been made here for centuries. The best reason to linger is the Pottery Footpath, a hilly loop of narrow lanes lined with walls of discarded clay pipes and shochu bottles, old brick chimneys and working studios, plus a giant beckoning cat watching over the streets.

Chubu Centrair International Airport sits on reclaimed land just offshore, which is why many visitors only pass through for an early flight. Beyond the pottery quarter the town is small, quiet and fairly workaday, with little nightlife, and most travellers will base themselves in Nagoya for anything more than a night or two. Stay near Tokoname Station, where you can walk to the Pottery Footpath and still reach both the airport and Nagoya quickly by train.