April/9/2022
It takes about 40 minutes to get from Fukui Station to Nishiyama Park on the train. You can enjoy seeing the cherry blossoms and azaleas in spring, and the maple trees in autumn there. The park has a long history and has been designated one of Japan’s top 100 historical parks. It’s a major tourist destination in Fukui.
Before writing about the cherry blossoms in Nishiyama Park, I’m going to write about the park itself. Here are some facts about it.
- It has been selected as one of Japan’s top 100 historical parks.
- You can enjoy seeing cherry blossoms, azaleas, and maple trees there.
- There’s a small zoo there as well.
- There’s a road station where you can buy gifts and food.
Manabe Akikatsu, the head of the Sabae clan, created a park for everyone to use as a recreational spot in 1856. Surprisingly, Manabe himself helped with the work needed to create it. This is the background of Nishiyama Park. In 1914 a lot of cherry trees were planted there, and after 1958 a lot of azaleas were planted as well. In 2006 it was selected as one of Japan’s top 100 historical parks.
You can see about 1,000 cherry trees there in April, about 50,000 azaleas in May, and about 1,600 maple trees in autumn. (I’ve written entries about the azaleas and maple trees in the park, so please read them:2018 Autumn Leaves Festival at Nishiyama Park in Fukui Prefecture. I went to the 2019 Azalea Festival at Nishiyama Park in Sabae.)
There’s a small zoo in the park that has free admission. There are red pandas, a white-handed gibbon, peafowls, and red-crowned cranes there.
In Nishiyama Park, there’s a road station(道の駅）where you can get food like habutae mochi, mizu yokan, Echizen soba and satsukigase senbei.
April 9, 2022
I went to Nishiyama Park to see the cherry blossoms today. Usually the best time to see them is between early and mid-April. This is the cherry blossom forecast in English.
Fukui Station on the Fukui Tetsudo line, is near JR Fukui Station. It takes about 40 minutes on the train from Fukui Station to Nishiyama Park, and there are only two trains per hour. The fare is 380 yen for adults and 190 yen for children, and there are announcements in English. When you get off at Nishiyama Park Station, you can pay the fare in the first car.
When I reached Nishiyama Park, a girl was walking in front of me. She saw the cherry blossoms and said they looked like snow. I was surprised at her remarks but agreed with her. The cherry blossoms were white and beautiful and did indeed look like snow.
There were a lot of cherry blossoms, and I was amazed when I saw them. I recommend that you go and see them, as it’s one of the best spots to see cherry blossoms in Fukui.
There’s a lot of open grass in Nishiyama Park, so you can sit there. When I went, there were a lot of people sitting and eating. There were some food stalls in the park as well, and I saw some foreign tourists taking a lot of pictures.
Cherry blossoms are special for Japanese people, and going out to look at them is one of the most important Japanese customs. There’s also a zoo and a gift shop in the park. If you come to Fukui, check it out!
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＜Nishiyama Park Information＞
Open: 24 hours, 365 days
Admission: Free
Access: A 20-minute walk from JR Sabae Station
A five-minute walk from Fukui Railway Nishiyama Park Station
＜Nishiyama Zoo Information＞
Open: 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., closed Mondays (or Tuesday if Monday is a public holiday)
Admission: Free