Unkai appearing daily in Machida.

The Japanese word unkai translates to “sea of clouds” and refers to the phenomenon where a layer of fog and clouds becomes so thick that it appears to form an ocean. Usually seeing this requires heading to a high mountaintop in the early morning, but right now there’s an unkai occurring in a much more accessible location, Yakushi Ike Park in Tokyo’s Machida district.

Located about an hour southwest of the Tokyo city center, Yakushi Ike Park is laid out around a pond (ike in Japanese). As part of a special event taking place right now, a layer of mist is created that stretches across the body of water once an hour, making the park’s double-arched Taiko Bridge appear to be floating in its own sea of clouds.

The unkai can be seen daily at 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30 a.m., as well as 1:30, 2;30, 3;30. And 4:30 p.m. Starting November 16, though, there will also be unkai at 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30, coinciding with a limited-time night-time illumination of the park, lighting up the maple and gingko trees just as their leaves will be turning their most brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow.

Even when the unkai isn’t present, the lit-up pond has a unique beauty after sundown, as on nights when the air is calm and windless the surface of the water becomes a perfect reflecting mirror.

And there’s yet one more way in which Yakushi Ike Park is going to look otherworldly cool this month. The park periodically serves as the venue for events organized by cosplay group Cossan, during which sections of the park are reserved from morning to dusk for use by cosplayers. This year’s final Cossan events at Yakushi Ike Park will be held from 9:45 to 4 p.m. on November 16 and 17.

Reservations are required for the cosplay event and can be made through the Cossan website here. The unkai and nighttime illumination run until December 1.

Park information
Machida Yakushi Ike Park / 町田薬師池公園
Address: Tokyo-to, Machida-shi, Nozuta-machi 3270
東京都町田市野津田町３２７０
Website

Source, images: @Press
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