Flower park in northern Japan looks too beautiful to be real
As Japan’s northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido has the country’s coldest winters. That, of course, means what sort of outdoor activities are feasible depends on the time of year, and so in its visitor guide the Shikisai no Oka park, in the town of Biei, refers to the part of the year when it’s not blanketed in snow as the “green season.”
The “green season” lasts from April to October, but honestly, it’s a bit of a misnomer right now. That’s not because of early snowfall, though, but because the park has so many more colors on display than just green.
“Hokkaido in September is bafflingly awesome,” tweets Japanese Twitter user @nagakiyasuto, who managed to fit a visit to Shikisai no Oka into his schedule during a business trip to Hokkaido last week. While his timing was impeccable, this amazing view is what greets visitors to the park every year at around this time, when the precisely planted rows of flower bloom and create a veritable rainbow on the ground.
As for what kind of flowers are contributing to this unbelievably beautiful scenery, the park says mid-September is when its pansies, sonnet snapdragons, poppies, salvia, marigolds, celosia, cosmos, petunias, dahlias, and zinnias blossom.
Biei is a little out of the way, located near the center of the prefecture, it’s not impossible as a day trip from Sapporo, Hokkaido’s largest city, but a visit works better as an overnight trip, staying in either the towns of Furano or Asahikawa, which Biei sits between.
Source: japantoday.com
