Cherry blossom is so last year – now Japan is going crazy for wisteria tunnels
It is impossible to think of springtime Japan without immediately imagining cherry blossom, but now there’s a new bloom in town - and it’s also rather splendid.
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In recent years the wisteria tunnels at Kawachi Fuji-en, a botanical garden in Kitakyushu, a city in the south of the country, have started attracting their own hordes of floral admirers.
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Founded in the 1970s, it features 150 trees and over 22 different varieties of the flower in gorgeous pinks, whites, blues and purples.
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Known for its sweet, fruity scent, wisteria floribunda is native to Japan and at Kawachi Fujien the blooms appear in late April or early May, meaning a visit can be combined with a trip to see the cherry blossoms. Both wisteria and cherry blossom feature in classical Japanese poetry, Waka.
Wisteria can also be found in abundance at the Ashikaga Flower Park, north of Tokyo.
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Other flower-filled spots in Japan include Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki province, to the east of the capital. It is renowned for its displays of "baby blue eyes" flowers and also boasts one million daffodils and 170 varieties of tulips.
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Rishiri Island, meanwhile, off the northern tip of Hokkaido, is dominated by a 1,721m extinct volcanic peak, is a magnet for hikers, and is known for its wildflowers.
