Spring in Japan is not only about cherry blossoms; many other beautiful flowers start blooming around the country, so don’t be sad if you can’t visit during the cherry blossom season. There are many beautiful gardens, parks, shrines, and very well-organized fields that showcase various flowers. Japanese people love flower-viewing so much that these places can get crowded, but they are worth visiting. Many matsuri or festivals celebrate these flowers, such as Fuji Matsuri (Wisteria Festival), Bara Matsuri (Rose Festival), Tsutsuji Matsuri (Azalea Festival), and so on, you name it!

Most of the flowers in this post bloom in April and May. Almost every week, I went to a different place to admire different flowers, take photos and enjoy the festive atmosphere in some places. My motto was: Japanese flower gardens? Gotta see them all! Maybe I’m a little bit obsessed with flowers and Japanese gardens, but I always think I might not get the chance to see a certain place again, so I’m trying to make the most of my time here. I guess there are many beautiful gardens all over Japan, but I limited my visits to Tokyo and the Kanto area.

This year many flowers bloomed earlier, starting with cherry blossoms, so it was very much like a treasure hunt or chase for flowers. With a little planning in advance and following the state of flowers on the official sites of the places or Instagram, you can get to see the flowers at their best. If you also love flowers and plan on chasing them around Tokyo, I hope this list will help you find the best places 🙂

Azaleas (つつじ tsutsuji)

Nezu Shrine (根津神社 Nezu–jinja)

Azaleas are the first to bloom after cherry blossoms. They can be seen everywhere in Tokyo in April and May, but there is a special place where the landscape filled with colorful azalea bushes will really take your breath away; that is Nezu Shrine. Located in Bunkyo-ku, the shrine is home to the Bunkyo Azalea Festival, where you can admire 100 varieties of azaleas. There are also many typical Japanese festival food stalls selling okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and so on. It is free to visit the temple, but there will be a small fee to enter the azalea garden.

Shiofune Kannon Temple (塩船観音寺 Shiofune Kannon-ji)

An even larger temple complex famous for its huge azalea garden is Shiofune Kannon Temple. Still, it is not actually in Tokyo, but in Ome, it takes about an hour and a half to reach it from central Tokyo.

Nemophila (ネモフィラ nemofira)

Showa Kinen Park (昭和記念公園 Showa Kinen Koen)

It was also known as baby blue eyes, it was in Japan where I have seen them for the first time, but it seems they are actually native to California. You can see them at Showa Kinen Park, Tachikawa in Tokyo. This is a huge park, with various other flowers that can be admired, a great barbeque space, a large picnic space, many children’s playgrounds, and so on. You can easily spend a whole day there.

 

Hitachi Seaside Park (ひたち海浜公園 Hitachi Kaihin Kōen)

For a sea of nemophila flowers that, along with the blue sky during a sunny day, make for an unforgettable landscape, go to Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki. It takes about 2 hours from central Tokyo, and getting there can be a bit hard without a car, but it is definitely worth the trip.

Wisteria（藤 fuji)

Kameido-Tenjin Shrine (亀戸天神社 Kameido-Tenjin-jinja)

Ohhh, the wisteria hysteria hits Japan as well every year in May. And I can see why there is all this hysteria around wisteria; how not to love its long purple strings and its special fragrance? In the metropolitan area of Tokyo, you can admire beautiful wisteria at Kameido-Tenjin Shrine, which has been a spot for wisteria viewing since the Edo period. The shrine also features festival-style foods, and you can see beautiful wisteria with Tokyo Sky Tree in the background at this shrine.

Ashikaga Flower Park (あしかがフラワーパーク)

If you are willing to go a bit further but see a mesmerizing landscape, Ashikaga Flower Park is the home of many types of wisteria, featuring a grand wisteria tree that is 130 years old. It is definitely one of the best flower parks in Japan and is known worldwide for its beautiful grand wisteria.

Roses (バラ bara)

Kyu-Furukawa Gardens (旧古河庭園 kyū-furukawa teien)

A beautiful location combining a western-style garden and residence with a Japanese garden. You can find it in the Tokyo metropolitan area, a few minute’s walk from Komagome station on the Yamanote Line. The western-style garden features beautiful roses that bloom in spring and autumn. What surprised me about the roses here is that they were really huge compared to those I have seen so far. With the beautiful western-style residence in the background, this rose garden really makes you feel like you are not in Japan anymore.

Keisei Rose Garden (京成バラ園 keisei bara-en)

This beautiful rose garden, featuring 1,600 varieties of roses, is located in Yachiyo City, Chiba, and it takes about an hour by train to get there from central Tokyo. I already wrote more about it here, so please check it out if you’d like to know more about it and my impressions 🙂

Poppies ポッピー

Showa Kinen Park (昭和記念公園 Showa Kinen Koen)

What represents the beginning of summer better than poppies? And you don’t have to go far away if you want to see a beautiful landscape filled with many poppies, just a trip to Tachikawa would be enough. I was surprised to find out that you can find poppies at Showa Kinen Park, and in July, there will even be a field of sunflowers in this park. When I went there, they had a special event for picking poppies, so everyone could pick a nice bouquet and bring it home.

 

Sky of poppy (天空のポピ Tenku poppy)

Located in Saitama, this place might look a little harder to reach, but the landscape there looks really wonderful. The red of the poppies and the blue skies make for an amazing view (so, try going there when the weather is good). I haven’t visited it yet, but it’s on my list—more info here (unfortunately in Japanese only).

*When the photos are not mine, and I indicated the source, it means I haven’t been to that place (yet).

So this is it, my adventure chasing beautiful flowers in and around Tokyo during April and May. There will probably be a summer version of this post as well! I hope you enjoyed it, and it inspired you to go on a flower hunt as well hehe.

Have a beautiful day, and thank you for reading!