Posted May 13, 2017 by Jonelle Patrick1 Comment Awesome Stuff To Do

Endless Fields Of Blue

Every once in a while you discover a place where the photos that made you run to the nearest station and jump on godzilla-knows-how-many-trains to get there did not lie. Not even a little bit.

Those pictures of hills swathed in an unbroken carpet of blue flowers at Hitachi Seaside Park? REAL.

And it’s not like there’s just a tiny patch of them either. The blooming Nemophila cover so many hills, there was no way to get the whole area in single shot. This is, like, a tenth of the place

Where I come from, these little pieces of flowery blue sky are known as Baby Blue Eyes, and are apparently native to my own back yard. (NorCal, that is). Still, nowhere I know in America do they singlemindedly plant one species of flower like they do in Japan (but as you see, they should, THEY SHOULD)

Open: 9:30 – 17:00, closed Mondays

Admission: ¥410

Hitachi Seaside Park is about three hours northeast of Tokyo, near Mito. To get there, plug your nearest station into the Train Finder or download a free Japan Travel mobile app to your phone (I use Navitime Japan Travel)with Ajigaura Station as the destination. There’s a free shuttle bus that runs every nine minutes between Ajigaura Station and the park.

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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly newsletter Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had

Jonelle Patrick View All

Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!