Hitachi Seaside Park

Miharashi Hill in this park near the Ibaraki coast is planted twice a year and each planting has become internationally recognisable. In late April about four and a half million baby blue eyes, Nemophila menziesii, flower across the whole slope at once, and because the hill is bare and the sea lies immediately beyond it, the blue of the flowers runs into the blue of the sky with no horizon in between - which is the effect people travel for. In autumn the same hill carries around thirty thousand kochia bushes, round and green through summer, which turn deep crimson in the middle of October. The park is large, around 200 hectares, with cycling paths, a small amusement area and other planted zones including tulips and zinnias, but the hill is what carries it. Both seasons are short and both are extremely busy.

What you actually see

• The blue hill - four and a half million nemophila flowering at once in late April.
• No horizon - flowers running into the sky above the sea beyond the slope.
• Autumn kochia - about thirty thousand bushes turning crimson in mid-October.
• A large park - 200 hectares with cycling paths and other planted zones.

When to go

Late April for nemophila; mid-October for kochia. Half a day, arriving early.

Honest expectations

Both peaks last roughly two weeks and both are severely crowded - the hill path becomes single file. Buses from Katsuta queue for an hour on peak weekends. Outside the two seasons the hill is bare. Entry, parking and cycle hire are each charged.

Nearby

Mito and Kairakuen are south-west; the Ibaraki coast runs north.