Hitachi Seaside Park – Tsunami Survivor

The Miharashi No Oka hill offers visitors the sight of the panoramic splendor of the Pacific Ocean. Yet it is not the sea views that people come to see in Hitachinaka, a small city on the east coast of Japan. It is the Hitachi Seaside Park, devastated by the tsunami of 2011 but now restored to its former, somewhat bizarre, glory.

Image Credit Flickr User Shin__k

Image Credit Flickr User Dacheket

The park is not large, it covers only 3.5 hectares yet the flowers draw people from all over the Ibaraki prefecture and beyond. There is something on offer all seasons. It is truly famous for the nemophilas which wash the whole area in to a blue hue.

Image Credit Flickr User Shingo

Image Credit Flickr User Shingo

As well as the nemophilas there are shrubs which change color with the season – from green to a deep red. Many have commented, tongue in cheek, that if you look carefully you will find the Lorax here. The park is, quite simply, amazing – and a testament to the ability of the Japanese people to bounce back from disaster.

Image Credit Flickr User Shingo

Image Credit Flickr User jpwadachi

Image Credit Flickr User Tanaka

Image Credit Flickr User Norimix

Image Credit Flickr User Shingo

Image Credit Flickr User Dcheket

Image Credit Flickr User Dachoket

Image Credit Flickr User Ajari

Image Credit Flickr User Ajari

Image Credit Flickr User Ajari

Image Credit Flickr User Ajari

Image Credit Flickr User Shin__k

Image Credit Flickr User shin__k

Image Credit Flickr User shin__k

Image Credit Fickr User Ajari

First Image Credit Flickr User Shingu
Please note that some pictures were taken before the tsunami hit.