Cool beauty in a hot town

It is recognized to be the city with the hottest temperatures in the whole of Japan. And to get to this city, I woke at 5am to make the journey, although the journey to this city is only 1.5hours away. You might question my sanity as of why I am waking up this early to expire to a city with the crazy hot temperature in the middle of the hot summertime. As some of you may already guess, I will do anything for any flowers that worth a visit ^^

This time, the highlight is a lake of lotuses located in the city of Tatebayashi. There are two things that are special about this place. First of all, it is a lake full of lotus blossoms! Secondly, you get to ride a boat to go up close and personal with the blooms.

The name of the lake is Jyonuma Lake (城沼 Jyonuma Ike) located inside the Tsutsujigaoka Park (つつじが岡公園 Tsutsujigaoka Koen) which is also a very nice azalea park in the springtime.

Nice and cool greenery

Although I reach the station early enough at 9.15am, it was already 32 degrees Celsius! Phew, they are definitely not joking about the heat. From the station, the walk to the boat pier across the park is about 35mins. There is an hourly bus service from the east exit of the station, which takes about 10mins to get to the park, but since I missed the bus by 5mins, I decided to walk to the park instead.

As I made my way on foot to the park, I can see signboard and banners to tell you to drink a lot of liquid, avoid prolonged exposure under the sun and other health advisories to avoid heatstroke. I think this is the only city that actually advises you to take heatstroke as a very serious matter.

The walk was pleasant in the beginning, but as you get nearer to the lotuses, it gets hotter as some parts of the walk are not covered or shaded by trees. I strongly suggest that you carry an umbrella if you do not want to end up as a heatstroke victim.

This part of the walk is really hot!

But once you are on the boat, the ride became really pleasant with the cool air breezing onto your face that refreshes you after that walk under the blistering hot sun.

Excited about the dragonfly

I was informed by the boatman cum guide that there are two varieties of lotuses in this lake. One kind is the flowering lotus which usually only flowers, but its root is inedible. The other one is the lotus with an edible root. The flowering lotus are smaller in size compared the other lotus.

I think this is the flowering lotus

I am sure this one is the lotus with the edible lotus root

The boatman also showed us how in the olden days, people used the leaves of the lotus plant to drink sake from it. He made a hole in the lotus leaf where the stem meets. He showed us that the stem itself has air holes in them and acts like a spout when you pour sake onto the leaf and drink the sake from the other end of the stem. They used to imagine that this is how elephants drink in the olden times ^^

The lotuses bloom when the air is cool so if you are planning to visit, the best time is to go in the morning before 11am.

When I was there, many of the lotuses are still budding and the boat guide informed me that this year was slightly cooler than last year, so it will take another two weeks for the flowers to be fully bloom. And when it does, I imagined that the whole lake will be peppered with pink blooms among the green leaves.

The Jyonuma Lake is easily accessible from the Tatebayashi station (館林駅) on the Tobu Iseseki Line (東武伊勢崎線). The walk is about 35mins along the main road to get to the lotus lake inside the Tsutsujigaoka Park. To get to Tatebayashi station, you can board the train, the Limited Express Ryōmō (りょうもう号) heading toward Ota (太田) from the Asakusa station. The fare is about 1,920yen and the journey is approximately 60mins.

Or you can do the cheaper way on local trains for Section Express (区間急行) heading toward Ota (太田) from the Asakusa station. The fare is about 890yen and the journey is approximately 1hour and 35mins.

The address for the Tsutsujigaoka Park is Tatebayashi-shi, Hanayamacho 3278 (館林市花山町3278). It is really easy to get to the park. You just have to follow the main road till you get to the City Hall and in less than 3mins walk, you will see the car park and entrance to the park. Or you can see the map on how to get there at the end of this post.

Another note on the bus service, it runs less frequently on weekends, which I think is ridiculous considering that there are more weekend visitors. I have the bus schedule which I obtained online which I also included here, but you can inquire for the latest bus schedule from the tourist office located immediately opposite the train station.

From Tatebayashi City Official website

From Tatebayashi City Official website

The fare for the boat ride (花ハスクルーズ Hanahazu kuruzu) is 700yen for adults and 300yen for children. The whole boat ride lasts about 30mins. Please note that they will sometimes cancel the boat ride if it rains heavily or if it is too windy as these weather might make the boat unstable. You may call ahead to check at the Jyonuma Tourist Information Center at 0276-73-7800 (in Japanese).

I believe you can see the lotus from July 10th till August 15th and the park is open from 8:30am onwards till 4pm.

Again, I am captivated by small creatures

Although the boat ride only lasts 30mins, but it was a fun ride! I definitely recommend visiting this lake if you want to get close enough to the lotuses.

Ducky is catching a fish in the shallow waters

Will you visit this hot town to see these beauties?

* I just have to update this post with this cute map I found from the website of the Tatebayashi City (in Japanese).

You can the boat pier located inside the park and the tanuki (racoon dog) is the symbol for Tatebayashi city ^^
Map from the Tatebayashi City

The direction from Tatebayashi station to the boat pier:

Map from the Tatebayashi City