Early May, Japan has three consecutive national holiday (plus a separate national date still within the same week). So, normally many Japanese people who are known for their long working hours will take some days off from work to make it as a long holiday for about 10 consecutive days. This long holiday is famously referred as Golden Week in Japan.
Entering my second year as a salary(wo)man in Japan, I also decided to take extra days off to enjoy a long holiday this year. In one of those days, I went to Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi Prefecture, about almost 2 hours long drive from Tokyo (with about 15 mins stop in rest area).
This flower park is especially packed with people around early May as the park observes the full bloom of its main attraction, Wisteria. There are four main colors of Wisteria that we can enjoy there; Purple, light pink, white, and yellow. However, the yellow one normally has its peak about a week later than the other colors. When I went there, a tunnel of yellow wisteria was still about to start blooming.
You can definitely enjoy the pretty flowers across the park although there are sooooooo many people. But for me, the highlight was the very nice scent from the flowers in every corner of the park. It simply made my day. So, I bought wisteria scent room spray for myself LOL. Btw, the scent is similar to the scent of jasmine.
I hope next year I can go to a bigger wisteria tunnel in Fukui, preferably during the weekdays where I hope I can expect fewer people!
Anyway, enjoy few photos from the park :)
