Tokiwa Park
常盤公園 (宇部市)
Green space designed around the seasons — plum, cherry, hydrangea, maple, snow.
Photos
Photos from Wikimedia Commons — click any image for the photographer and licence.
What this place is
Tokiwa Park (常盤公園, Tokiwa Kōen) is a park located in Ube City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.There are great white pelicans living in an enclosure at the park. "Katta-kun", a pelican named because his parents came from Kolkata in India, was born there in 1985 and became a mascot for the park after visiting schools nearby by himself.An anime film titled Katta-kun Monogatari was made about him in 1995.Katta-kun died in 2008.Australian black swans that had originally been donated by Ube's sister city of Newcastle in Australia lived in the lake until 2011.In either 1978 or 1983 some of these were donated to Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture where some continue to reside in Lake Senba.There was an outbreak of H1N5 avian influenza there in February 2011, leading to a cull of local birds.All mute swans and black swans at the lake were killed, along with some ducks.
Background text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Why it is worth the trip
- A planting plan that guarantees something in bloom or colour in almost every month.
- Paths, ponds and pavilions arranged so that the view reframes itself every few steps.
- A local gathering place: morning walkers, picnic blankets, festival stalls and evening illumination.
What you can do here
- Do a slow loop of the main path and stop at each designed viewpoint.
- Bring a bento or grab something from a nearby konbini and picnic on the lawn.
- Photograph the seasonal star — check the park's bloom calendar before you go.
- Rent a bike where available; larger parks are far quicker to see on two wheels.
Getting there
We do not have step-by-step transit directions for this spot yet. Open the location on Google Maps for routes from where you are staying.
Good to know before you go
- Peak bloom weekends are extremely busy; weekday mornings are calm.
- Bloom dates shift by up to two weeks per year — check the latest forecast before committing.
- Alcohol and barbecues are restricted in many parks; look for the posted rules at the gate.
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