Oze National Park (尾瀬国立公園)

Oze (尾瀬) is a national park and excellent hiking destination in the mountains about 150 kilometers north of Tokyo. Its most well known features are the Ozegahara Marshland and the Ozenuma Pond. A number of surrounding mountains are also included within the park. Oze is extremely popular during the blooming of skunk cabbages in the late spring and early summer and during the fall colors of early autumn, whereas in the winter it is covered in deep snow and is rarely visited.

Oze has numerous trailheads through which visitors can enter the park. The trails are well maintained, and there are wide elevated boardwalks that pass over the Ozegahara Marshland and around Ozenuma Pond. Hiking from the Hatomachitoge trailhead past the marshland and pond to the Oshimizu trailhead can be done in six to eight hours by decent hikers, and there are no overly difficult inclines.

The park can be visited in a day trip from Tokyo, but to avoid an early start and a lot of traveling in one day it is also possible to stay overnight. Within the park grounds there are a few mountain huts where travelers can stay for the evening. Accommodation can also be found just outside the park in the Tokura area, from where buses depart to the southern trailheads.

Read On >>>

Everything Japan Revival!

Hello everyone,

It's been about 8 months without any updates from my hiatus. I'm going to have this blog back and running around mid-February! Keep a look out for new posts.

Read On >>>

Shinagawa (品川)

Shinagawa (品川) is one of Tokyo's 23 wards, and Shinagawa Station is one of the city's busiest stations. Its convenience as a transportation hub has attracted many hotels, offices, restaurants and shops to the area. Shinagawa has been catering to travelers since the Edo Period (1603-1867), when it was the first stop on the main road linking Tokyo with Kyoto.

Shinagawa developed into an important town in the early 1600s after the construction of the Tokaido, the principal route connecting Edo (modern day Tokyo) and Kyoto, and Shinagawa was the first of fifty-three post towns along the way after departing from Nihonbashi. Post towns provided food and lodgings for travelers, much like the hotels of Shinagawa do nowadays.

Eventually, the city of Tokyo expanded and absorbed Shinagawa. The rustic feel of a post town was replaced with the familiar trappings of a modern Japanese city. However, the former Tokaido road with a few minor shrines, temples and sites of interest have been retained. A small information center is located along the road near the Ebara Shrine.

Read On >>>

Ashikaga Flower Park (あしかがフラワーパーク)

One of the best places to view fuji flowers is the Ashikaga Flower Park (あしかがフラワーパーク) in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture. Ashikaga Flower Park features lots of blue, white and pink fuji, as well as yellow laburnum that look like yellow colored fuji.

One large Fuji tree is 100 years old and its branches are supported to create a huge umbrella of blue Fuji flowers. There is also a long tunnel of white Fuji flowers, while a tunnel of yellow laburnum needs a few more years to become an actual tunnel. Yae-Fuji, a variety with more than the usual number of petals, can also be viewed.

Besides the Fuji, you will find many other flowers, restaurants and a shop selling plants and local products. The entrance fee depends on the season's beauty and is around 1000 Yen per adult during the Fuji peak season.

The Fuji in Ashikaga Flower Park are usually in full bloom in the beginning of May, one to two weeks later than the Fuji of Tokyo. Because Ashikaga Flower Park is considered one of the best spots to view Fuji flowers in Japan, the park can be very crowded even on weekdays during the peak season.

In recent years, the park has also become very popular in the winter season for putting on a massive winter illumination display. Drawing larger and larger crowds every year, the park opens its gates every evening from early December to early February to let visitors wander through the elaborate exhibition.

Almost every corner of the park grounds are decorated in hundreds of thousands of multi-colored LED lights, covering flower bushes, lining walkways, and arranged into huge, creative objects and sets on an impressive scale. Some of the more eye-catching attractions include several large, continually-changing LED "screens" which cycles though creative imagery, music-synchronized light shows, light tunnels, and countless Fuji-like LED chains hung from the same lattices the flowers hang from in the spring.

Photos:
Image Source
Image Source
Image Source
Image Source

Read On >>>

Boso Peninsula (房総半島)

The Boso Peninsula (房総半島) is the large peninsula just east of Tokyo across Tokyo Bay. With its mountainous interior and many beaches along its shoreline, the area comes with a resort-feel and is also popular for its flowers which start blooming as early as February.

No more than 15 kilometers away from Tokyo at its closest point, the Boso Peninsula is well connected to the city by train, bus and expressway. The fairly developed western coast faces Tokyo Bay and is connected to Tokyo via the Aqua Line expressway, a combination of tunnel and bridge. The more rural southern tip offers natural and historic sights and scenic views as far as Mount Fuji on clear days, while the eastern coast faces the Pacific Ocean and has beaches popular among surfers.

Photos:

Image Source

Image Source

Read On >>>