Hitachi Seaside Park Kochia Carnival

The same hill that turns blue in spring turns red in autumn. Miharashi Hill at Hitachi Seaside Park is planted each summer with tens of thousands of kochia, the summer cypress, round green shrubs that redden as the nights cool until the whole slope is a rolling field of crimson pompoms against the sky and the Pacific. The Kochia Carnival runs from mid-September to the start of November, opening with ten nights in late September when the still-green bushes are floodlit.

The colour deepens through the month and the park puts the reddest hill in mid-October, before the bushes fade to a dull brown at the end of the season. Around it the park's cosmos fields bloom at the same time, so a visit can take in both. Weekends in October are busy, though far less so than the nemophila season; a weekday morning before noon gives the clearest light and the fewest people on the hill paths.

The park is reached by train from Tokyo to Katsuta on the Joban Line and a bus to the gate, and it opens 9:30 to 17:00 through the carnival. Admission is charged, and a seasonal supplement is added at the peak: the park has set that window at 9 October to 3 November 2026, when adults pay ¥800 rather than ¥450. The park sets the carnival dates each year, 18 September to 3 November in 2026, so check before travelling. It is large enough to need half a day, and autumn on the Ibaraki coast can be blustery.