Tonami Tulip Fair

Posted on May 4, 2007 by Adam R.

Located in Toyama Prefecture, Tonami City's floral symbol is a Tulip, which I found strange until I decided to go have a look at the Tulip Fair which is only about 4 a four minute drive away from our home. On arrival I was stunned by the amount of people qued up at the entrance and was glad to find out they had an express lane for locals who already held complimentary tickets.

As soon as you pass through the gates the wave of fragrance hits you and your confronted by a vast ocean of color from countless thousands of tulips in bloom. To be honest I have never seen anything like it in my life, the tulips must number in the hundreds of thousands. One of the great things is your are allowed to walk amongst the blooms on the access tracks used by the gardeners, this makes for amazing photo opportunities. One of the surprise features of the Tulip Park is a teahouse where you can take a break and enjoy as much hot tea as you can drink. The teahouse is a very old style of architecture and many gaijinJapanese word meaning "outsider" commonly used to describe foreigners. Considered somewhat impolite. visitors will not have seen this style of buliding in Japan before. Featuring an open fire in the center of the teahouse you can expect to be sitting with around one hundred or so others inside.

There are several stores selling specialty Tulip products from Tulip perfume, Tulip ice cream, Tulip candy and all sorts of Tulip inspired gifts. A large hot food area about two-hundred meters to the right on entry to the Tulip Park offers yakisoba, pizza, yakitori, beer, hotdogs and even hamburgers were on offer. The Tulip Park caters to all ages, so you can expect a lot of families to be amongst the your fellow visitors. Crowds are very big and consistent so you will have to wait to get that photo with no one else in it but it will be worth the wait.

If you do not take your camera you will truly regret it, as words cannot describe fully the rainbow of colors at Tonami Tulip Fair. There is also a mutli story art gallery about five minutes walk to directly to the left on entry to Tonami Tulip Park. Next to the art gallery is another major food area offering specialty stalls and alcoholic drinks.

http://kanko.toyamaken.jp/english/tonami_guide.html