Grab your umbrellas and get ready to see the silver/blue/purple/pink lining to Japan’s rainy season.

June is the rainy season in Japan, but it’s not storm season, as those tend to come in late summer. Instead, the June weather is characterized by a possibility of drizzles or rain showers on just about any day, but offsetting that random unpleasantness is the certainty that Japan’s beautiful hydrangeas are coming into bloom.

The flowers should be hitting their peak bloom within the next week or so in most places, and so travel portal Jalan recently conducted a survey, asking 1,027 for their picks for hydrangea-viewing spots so beautiful they’ll have you feeling sunshine in your heart even on a rainy day. Each participant was allowed to give three responses, and when the votes were tallied, the result was the top 10 list below.

9 (tie). Sanuki Manno Park
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Located in the town of Nakatado, Kagawa Prefecture, this is the only national park on the island of Shikoku. The lush forested area surrounds one of Japan’s largest reservoirs, and inside the park are roughly 20,000 azaleas of some 40 different varieties.

9 (tie). Migaeri Falls
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Even outside of hydrangea season, Migaeri no Taki, as it’s called in Japanese, is a sight to see, having been selected as one of the 100 most beautiful waterfalls in Japan. If you make the trip to this Karatsu, Saga Prefecture landmark now, though, you’ll get to see the view’s foreground framed with 40,000 hydrangeas to admire as you listen to the soothing sounds of the cascading water.

8. Mimurotoji Temple
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Mimurotoji is also known as “the flower temple” for its seasonal flora, which includes 20,000 hydrangeas growing in the shaded woodlands on the southern side of the temple grounds. It’s said that spotting a heart-shaped cluster of blossoms is a sign that you’ll also soon find your true love, and with the temple being in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, you can also be sure of finding some great matcha nearby.

7. Togenkyo Misaki
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“Misaki” means “cape” (the geographical kind), and this park, located on the coast of Higashiusuki in Miyazaki Prefecture, has an area around four times the size of the Tokyo Dome stadium. That gives it space for two million hydrangeas, and some beautiful color synergy between the shades of the blue flowers, blue ocean, and blue sky.

6. Tanshu Hana Kanonji Temple
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We’re back in Kyoto Prefecture again, this time in the town of Fukuchiyama for what’s said to be the oldest hydrangea-famous temple in central Japan. Tanshu Hana Kanonji was in the year 720, and in the millennium-plus since over a hundred different kinds of hydrangeas have taken root on its grounds, with 10,000 plants present today. As an added bonus, Fukuchiyama is about 90 minutes by train from Kyoto Station, meaning that it’s a bit outside the radius of hyper tourist crowding in central Kyoto City.

5. Kyuanji Temple
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Many travelers’ itinerary within Osaka Prefecture begins and ends with sights in Osaka City, but heading north to the town of Ikeda means you can visit this temple and take in the beauty of its “floating hydrangea” pond.

4. Hasedera Temple
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The star attraction of Kanagawa’s Kamakura is its world-famous Great Buddha statue, but just down the road is Hasedera. Backed by a steep mountain, the inner part of the grounds rise up from the main gate and walkways wind up the slope, with hydrangea blooming on both sides of the path.

3. Unshoji Temple
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This Oga, Akita Prefecture temple refers to its field of hydrangeas as a “blue heaven,” and looking at the captivating, calming view, it’s hard to argue. Being located in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region means that hydrangea season comes a little later to Unshoji, with the best viewing times usually from mid-June through mid-July.

2. Michinoku Hydrangea Garden
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Also in Tohoku, Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture’s Michinoku Hydrangea Garden covers a section of cedar forest. With 400 different types of hydrangeas, few, if any, other places in Japan can match its variety.

1. Hakone Tozan Hydrangea Train
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Finally, we head back to Kanagawa Prefecture one more time. The town of Hakone is a popular destination year-round for its hot spring baths and traditional inns nestled up in the mountains, and to get up there, the Hakone Tozan train line leisurely makes its way back and forth up a series of switchbacks. This section of track, it just so happens, is lined by hydrangeas, and during the flowers’ season they’re lit up at night, making their colors stand out all the more vibrantly against the darkness around them. With reserved seats, the special Hydrangea Train, which this year runs from June 14 to 30, lets you sit down and really enjoy the view, and might be just as sublimely soothing as the hot spring bath you’ll slip into later on.

Source: Jalan, PR Times
Images: PR Times
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