park

Seeing Red: Hitachinaka Seaside Park

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Ticked off another thing on my Japan bucketlist and went to the Hitachinaka seaside park yesterday in Ibaraki prefecture. A nice way to enjoy the long weekend.
Had timed the visit so it fit in perfectly with the autumn kochia season. Last year, my autumn trip was to Oze. This time it was to the Hitachinaka flower park. A massive spanse of an area dedicated to flowers. Key times are spring and autumn where they plant seasonal flowers for en-masse viewing. There’s a 10km cycling route and a ride theme park area as well. You could spend the large part of a day there. Spent about 3 hours there and still didn’t see everything. I wouldn’t mind going back in spring.

I came for the red kochias there and they were pretty awesome. Cosmos flowers were also out. Lots of people on a long weekend though but still got to take lots of pretty pictures.
You’ll be seeing red. And lots of it!

From Hitachinaka seaside park

Brace yourself for the throngs of people:

From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park

These flowers are called cosmos:

From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park

These burning bushes are kochia:

From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park

So that’s where my shoes went!

From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park

The saddest fountain ever:

From Hitachinaka seaside park
From Hitachinaka seaside park

After a day walking around, there’s only one thing for it – an onsen.
Highly recommend this one: http://www.ajigauraonsen.jp/

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Bloomin’ Tulips

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Move over cherryblossoms, bring on the tulips.
I think tulips would have to be my favourite flowers. Yep, way better than roses any day.

Went for a gourmet spring picnic with some friends over the weekend, back to Showa Kinen Park for the tulip festival. It’s such a great park. You might recall I went there last autumn to see the autumn gingko leaves. Was nice to go this time around in the spring. It’s supposed to really nice when all the cherryblossoms are in full bloom too, but this year the cherryblossom season happened really early and they were all over by the end of March. Instead, all the tulips were out. So colourful, so pretty, so many people. That’s Japan for you.

Gave the old camera a bit of a workout.

This is how your picnic, gourmet-style:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Ahh, spring love:

From Showa Kinen picnic

Oh, this park bench must be mine:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

A spectacular tulip garden spread:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Don’t you just want to bury yourself in a bed of tulips.

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Aah so many tulips.