San'in Kaigan Geopark

The underlying themes of the geopark are "geological features, the natural environment, people's lives, and the formation of the Sea of Japan".

[2] The geopark includes sites that relate to the surrounding geomorphology and geology.

Examples include the rice terraces and Tajima cattle grazing areas located on the gentle slopes formed by landslides, red snow crabs and other fishery products from the Sea of Japan, the Oriental white stork habitat in the Toyooka Basin, the local handbag manufacturing industry, onsen (hot springs), and the cultivation of melons and Chinese shallots in the sand dunes.

One of the major geosites is Genbudo Cave formed in Quaternary basalt, located in Toyooka City.

This site is internationally significant, as it is where reversed geomagnetic polarity was first proposed and in respect of its importance in this regard, Genbudo Cave was included by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022.