Seiichi Inoue's green hilltop retreat in Kawasaki

Set in the wooded Ikuta Ryokuchi hills of Kawasaki's Tama Ward, this 18-hole, par-72 course is one of the closest championship-pedigree layouts to central Tokyo. Its first nine opened in 1952 and the full 18 in 1954, laid out by the celebrated architect Seiichi Inoue on the rolling Tama Hills. Owned by the City of Kawasaki and run as a public course since 1992, it is today operated by Tokyu Resorts & Stays, and still bears Inoue's hallmarks: small, demanding greens guarded by deep bunkers, and holes that climb and fall through mature trees.

A post-war classic just beyond the city, where every green asks for a precise approach.

Locals have long called it simply "Noborito", and its appeal is the chance to play a historic Inoue design without leaving the metropolitan area. You can play with a caddie or self-play in five-seat carts, and a renovated clubhouse looks out over the green hills of Ikuta Ryokuchi park. The surrounding park is worth lingering in, with the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum and Nihon Minka-en open-air folk house museum close by. The club is about a 15-minute drive from Mukogaoka-yuen Station on the Odakyu Line, or 4 km from the Tomei Expressway's Kawasaki interchange, making it an easy half-day escape from Tokyo.