Well, after the nemophila plants bloom and die, they uproot everything and plant kochia (bassia scoparia).
The kochia kind of look like green tunbleweed bushes and I've heard some also call them "broom plants" because when dried they look like brooms.
With the drop in temperatures, the green bushes turn reddish.
After seeing this on a news program many years ago, it was on our list "to see".
From Tennodai, it was a little over 2 hours to get to Hitachi Seaside Park.
It was still impressive to see.
One area that we passed through on our way to Hitachi Seaside Park was Isozaki. Ibaraki is the second largest producer of sweet potato in Japan (I think the top producer is Kagoshima in Kyushu).
Fields and fields of sweet potatoes!
If you'd like to see a video I took from the train, please look here-- at about the 3 minute area I hope you'll be able to see all the harvested sweet potatoes!
It was exciting to see all those sweet potatoes from the train.
We had intended to eat at the conveyor belt sushi restaurant there, but the lines were krazy!
So we went back to the shop we ate at...Morita Suisan.
I ordered the same thing I did back in May and this time around Satoshi ordered the kaisen donburi too.
We were happy to get a table quickly and as always the food was delicious.
There was also a gelato shop that sold gelato made from different varieties of sweet potato.
Satoshi and I shared this double...left side is akaioimo (literally red large potato), which tasted more like pumpkin and right side was tamaotome (literally round maiden).
Both were delicious.
Autumn is starting here, hopefully we'll be able to see some fall colors which is forecast for the end of November.
We have a special holiday tomorrow as the new Emperor will be crowned.
Hope you have a nice week.
Daimaruya
18-38 Shakamachi
Hitachinaka, Ibaraki
Phone: 029.263.7777
Hours: Mondays-Saturdays 10:00-17:00, Sundays-Holidays 9:00-17:00
7 comments:
the colors of the fields are simply gorgeous!
is that last flower the one that smells like apricots? Kwai fa?
I'm always a little sad to find out that because I don't research enough or read Japanese, I miss a lot of interesting sights, like the sweet potato fields and snacks you saw.
I went to Hitachi Seaside Park about 5 years ago to see the kochia because it looked so cool in the pictures (did we watch the same program?) only, on the train ride over, didn't know we must have passed all those sweet potato fields. I guess that's also a downside of cheaping out and not having a tour guide, LOL
v
Rowena, it was really something to see!
V, yes it is kwai fa(didn't know the Chinese name until you wrote it). When we went to the park in May, I didn't know about the sweet potato, but on this trip, there were so many dug up that when I looked out the train window, I realized that it was fields of sweet potato.
Take care you two.
Kat
Really lovely photos Kat!
Thanks Kirk :)
Take care.
Kat
So funny that we went at the same time!
K, When I saw your posts on IG, I thought so too! Hope you had a nice time in Japan.
Take care.
Kat
Post a Comment