It's a well known sight at Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture -- entire hills covered in vibrant blue nemophila flowers, commonly known as baby blue eyes.
This spring, the park has plans to expand its grounds by 20%, or 7,000 square meters, and increase ticket prices during the time the flowers are blooming by 250 yen. This will bring ticket prices to 700 yen for adults and 460 yen for the elderly from April 13 through May 6.
An additional 800,000 flowers will be planted in the garden, bringing the total number of nemophila there to about 5.3 million. Due to this year's warm winter, the park expects the peak time to see the flowers will be one week earlier than last year.
"The three hills will all be dyed soft blue by the nemophila and it'll be a beautiful panoramic view that will delight everyone. We hope many people will enjoy themselves here," said a member of the park's staff.
The best time to see the autumn colors of the kokia, or lesser yellowlegs, will be about 10 days this October. The park is also making preparations to charge a seasonal fee for entry at this time as well.
The increase in revenue from the higher entrance fees will be used to expand the nemophila fields and maintain facilities such as rest areas and breastfeeding rooms.
The garden's nemophila fields have been introduced on the CNN website as one of Japan's most beautiful places to visit, and been featured in travel magazines and on social media. The park saw a total of 2,295,361 visitors last fiscal year, a record high for the second consecutive year.
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