This is basically a great place to hang out at the beach - the parking here is free and the swimming area is cordoned off with safety nets to stop malignant jellyfish from floating into the area. As such in the summer Rippleland's white beaches are a popular destination with Amakusa's young people and families alike. Above the beach and across the road there is more parking, a restaurant, gift stores, a super slide and also a great, new onsen. Ariake is also the site for the tallest mountain in Upper Amakusa and there is a lookout platform at the top, easily reached by road. The walk up to the top is beautiful and not too taxing, but of course if you want to save your legs you can drive there.
Many people come here on New Year's Day to see the first sunrise of the year.
On a clear day the view from the top gives you a good perspective on the lay of the land. In contrast with the youthful vibrancy of the new beach complex is the Santa Maria-Kan a family run museum, which holds many artefacts from the time of the secret Christians. During the Edo period spanning from the end of the 16th century to the middle of the the 19th century, the government of Japan banned Christianity. In Kyushu and particularly the Amakusa area, foreign missionaries were having great success in converting the poor local population to Christianity. The Tokugawa government who had just managed to conquer all of Japan's bickering clans and bring them all under Tokugawa rule, was afraid that the foreign missionaries would upset this fragile balance and peasant loyalty would turn to foreign lands.