INTERESTING PLACES IN

JAPAN

• THE BLUE POND IN HOKKAIDO

• KENROKUEN GARDEN
• HITACHI SEASIDE PARK
KENROKUEN GARDEN

Named one of Japan’s ‘three most beautiful

landscape gardens’, Kenrokuen Garden is filled
with charming bridges, walking trails, teahouses,
trees and flower. Once the outer garden of
Kanazawa Castle, Kenrokuen was opened to the
public in the late 19th century. Each season
reveals a different side of the garden’s beauty,
from plum and cherry blossoms in the spring to
colourful maple-tree leaves in the autumn.
THE BLUE POND
The Blue Pond in Hokkaido Prefecture, also
called Aoiike, is known for its ethereal blue
colour. Tree stumps protruding from the
surface of the water add to its otherworldly
appearance. This artificial pond was created
as part of an erosion control system, designed
to protect the area from mudflows that can
occur from the nearby Mt. Tokachi volcano.
The pond’s eerie blue colour is caused by
natural minerals dissolved in the water.
HITACHI SEASIDE PARK
Hitachi Seaside Park is famous for its 
fields of baby-blue flowers,
called nemophilas, which bloom across the
park in the spring. The park encompasses
190 hectares (470 acres), and more than 4.5
million blossoms blanket its fields every
April. During the autumn, the park’s rounded
shrubs called kochia (bassia in English) turn
a bright crimson colour, creating an almost
equally mesmerising sight.
THE END
TQ 